England Legend Ian Wright Comes to Passionate Defence of Jude Bellingham After Media Attack
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Despite England qualifying for the World Cup in North America next summer with minimal fuss - with eight games, eight wins, 22 goals scored and 0 conceded - not all is well with the English media and the players.
Indeed not. Despite positive results on the pitch, the media have decided they must find something negative to talk about. For whatever reason, they have begun to paint Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham as the villain.
After the Three Lions’ victory over Albania on Sunday, Thomas Tuchel was asked what he thought of Bellingham not celebrating Harry Kane’s second goal - despite clear evidence that he did celebrate with his teammate.
Then, he was criticised for 'throwing a strop' after being substituted immediately after. Once again - not the case. He looked somewhat annoyed, before hugging Morgan Rogers and shaking Tuchel's hand. If anything, it is encouraging that he wanted to keep playing despite the game, and qualification, being wrapped up.
For a little while now, there has been talk over Bellingham's attitude and 'petulance', despite these people not knowing him personally. A lot of people have had enough of this witch hunt, including Arsenal and Crystal Palace legend Ian Wright.
When on the Stick to Football podcast, released on Thursday, November 20, Wright launched a passionate defence of Real Madrid's number 5, when asked about his comments, saying "They [the media] hate that they can't get to him" by Gary Neville: "His parents have kept him away from the Premier League. He doesn't play in the Premier League; they kept him away from the [English] journalists.
"They can't get to him through his club, through Real Madrid - so they can't taint the way that Real Madrid are thinking, 'yeah we're gonna keep him in line and that'. They can't get through to this guy, and this is somebody who is very much an achiever, he goes out, he's a winner, he wants to do it, he wins."Ian Wright
Wright continued,
"What they said about Jude not celebrating [Kane's goal], was a complete fabrication - a lie. So what they're trying to do, they're trying to build something [negative], because England have qualified so easily, not conceding any goals. They won all the games easily, so they need to have something to pile on top of the narrative."Ian Wright
After that, Wright continued: "I worry for Jude simply because he's somebody that they [the media] can't control. They can't control him. Obviously coming off the who else [after his goal vs Slovakia at the Euros] and what he did at the World Cup, he's showing people that 'I'm here, I'm black, I'm proud, I'm ready to go'.
Some very strong words from a man who always comes to the defence of players when they face media backlash. The topic started when, as touched on above, Neville asked him about his comments on Instagram the other day, which were: "They need to create this kind of beef, because there's nothing else to talk about till the World Cup, so it's gonna be this all the way to the World Cup."
"They hate that they can't get to him [because he plays abroad]. They hate that they can't influence his career like they have done to so many before him. A blessed young man with talent and love in abundance."
Safe to say that 'Wrighty' is the sort of person that everyone loves - even rival fans of the clubs he played for during his career. It is a shame that a person of such high profile has to stand up for Bellingham, but such is the way with the English media.
Despite being an Englishman, the 22-year-old has never played in the Premier League. His one season in English football was with boyhood club Birmingham City, before joining Borussia Dortmund in 2020, and then Real Madrid in 2023.
With the way the press are in England, it is hard to see Bellingham playing in the English top flight anytime soon. Furthermore, it is weird to picture him playing for any other overseas club. So the good news is, there is a good chance he stays at Real Madrid for a long, long time to come.
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Tom Vinall is a sports writer covering Real Madrid On SI. Previously, he had worked at FanSided as both a contributor and site expert, covering the likes of Spurs and Bayern Munich. He has also previously written for Transfer News Live. Tom was born and lives in Bristol, South West England, and loves to listen to music as well as learning Spanish.
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