“I try not to get personally involved because I just want to concentrate on giving 110 per cent for City to make sure we get that fourth place in the Premier League,” he told The Sun.

“But it does hurt. It is disappointing. And I repeat, it’s nothing to do with money or me being greedy.

“One thing that I definitely don’t want to do is get into how much other players earn at this football club.

“Obviously, I know there are players here who earn more than twice what I do. But that’s not the issue for me.

His side of the story is that he’s happy to sign a five-year deal, but the club put the talks on ice after Mancini was brought in.

“They [City] called him in and he wanted to sign his deal, sign for the rest of his career so he can be settled and get ready to go [to the World Cup]. But there’s these people like Marwood and Cook mugging him off, treating him like a youth-team player and not someone who wants to be there because of what he thinks Manchester City can do.”

Versus:

When I heard Jonathan repeat the figure of £55k, I nearly swerved off the road. “He is taking the piss, Jonathan!” I yelled down the phone. I was so incensed. I was trembling with anger. I couldn’t believe what I’d heard. I suppose it all started to fall apart for me from then on. I’d trusted Mr Dein to push the deal through.

SWP still has two years to run on his current deal.  He’ll be 30 at that point and no doubt losing a bit of pace.  If I was City, I’d spare myself the aggravation of dealing the Wright-Philips family and just see the current deal out.

One thing you can say about Ian Wright though – despite his fame and fortune, he’s never lost sight of the value of money.  He’s a clip of him going to war with a London traffic warden over a £100 parking ticket.

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