That was my opinion the day he signed for the Arsenal and it still is. If he was playing for us now or he was guaranteed to be Arsenal's number one I would applaud and support his move. If I was good enough to play for this club and my country and we were the 5th best club in the country why would I want to move - especially after saying so often as long as the club is in the premiership he would stay.

I will agree to differ on this one big_gaz. We are clearly poles apart.

Would be very interested to hear 3rd party views on this.

ok the bloke who picks the chewing gum off the underside of the bus seats then..>?

Got my hopes up then, thought we might be starting to get some actual defenders in - (w)Right Back Training With Town!

I agree with Marshalls-Mullet, which pro-footballer in their right mind would turn down the opportunity to go to one of the best clubs in the country (at the time).

NEWFLASH - Big Gaz starts on Connor Wickham for moving to a prem club ;)

bens a blue - Thanks, finally someone talking sense.

Ipswich are bigger than Arenocups

bens a blue - At the time we were 5th in the premiership, last year we skirted relegation in the Championship - so you can't compare Connor to Wright.

It would be interesting to know yours and Mullet's ages, were you fans in the 70s and early 80s when we were a far bigger club than Arsenal

Gaz - FYI I was born in 1980, so pretty much missed all of the good years. But am well aware of the history.

We are talking about 2001 son.

Sorry Big Gaz, I apologise, I respect my elders, clearly I know nothing about football and your knowledge is far better, I shall go crawl back under my rock!

Talk about ageist!

At the time we were 5th yes, but it was our first season back in the big time, and we could easily get relegated the following season (which we DID) due to the fact our budgets could not compete to that of Arsenal, Man Utd, Liverpool etc... Wright was offered good money, at a stable prem club, with an opportunity to further his career.... plus lets use some comman sense, selling him whilst our prem status was secure he was worth a lot more than if we had of kept him another season, got relegated and needed to panic sell to increase our cash flow asap! You're prob talking a difference of £3m.

Didn't I read that we had signed Richard Wrights mentor/goalkeeping coach from the days when he was a good keeper ?

I was not trying to be ageist - just saying that Arsenal have not always been the giants they are now.

We sold him to Arsenal for £ 6m - however we spend £ 4.5 million on Sereni and signed Finidi George at the same time so the funds all went straight away.

How negative to sell a player in case we get relegated. The goals leaked by poor goalkeeping that season (remember Blackburn away - all goals down to Marshall) would have kept us up.

You may recall ITFC did not want to see Wright, with the lure of the dollar and persuasion through that leech Jonathon Barnett he chose to go. And therefore should not ever be considered to play for us again.

Gaz - You miss the point EVERY time. I would suggest Ben was justifying Wrights motives, not the clubs motives.

You really have no case. Wrights motives at the time of leaving;

1. Join a larger club that would challenge for honours (they won the title in 2002, we got relegated)
2. Establish him self as Arsenal No1, and strengthen his claim as Englands No1.
3. Probably double his wage. Who would turn that down.

Things did not work out for him, but they would be the motives at the date of the move. The fact that it went sour is an argument based on hindsight.

Your 'arguments' just do not make any sense.

See what you are say Marhsall's Mullet - we'll all have to agree to differ as I totally disagree with Wright's motives. What a shame we live in a world where so many people are seemingly motivated by money.