Ian Wright has opened up about his touching reunion with his former schoolteacher in a clip that went viral years ago. 

He was moved to tears when he was reunited by surprise with his old teacher in a 2005 documentary. 

The clip of them meeting, in which Wright removes his hat and cuddles his old mentor, has since become one of sport's most heartwarming memories. 

Now Wright has revealed the details behind their encounter and the one sentence which still gets to him. 

'He was the one that changed my life when I was, like seven. Everybody talks about that,' Wright said on , brought to you by Sky Bet. 

Ian Wright has opened up on his emotional reunion with former schoolteacher Mr Pigden 

'I was doing a television programme called "With a Little Help From My Friends".

'Me and David Rocastle (former Arsenal team-mate) were building an adventure playground just around Highbury for the disadvantaged kids. 

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Ian Wright breaks down in tears as he brands former teacher Mr Pigden the 'greatest man in the world' - and says unveiling his plaque at his primary school was the best thing he's ever done

'I was doing that with all my mates from when we grew up on my estate, so I had to go back to my old estate, get all my old mates, and everyone chipped in to build this adventure playground, which was really good because you didn't see them for years. It was great.

'They wanted me to do a segment where I go back to the club (Arsenal) and I'm sitting, looking around Highbury, because obviously everything went pretty well. We did well there. 

'I'd been looking for this teacher for four, five years, went back to my primary school, nobody could trace where he was. 

'So I actually thought my old teacher Mr Pigden had died. 

'When I was sitting there, he came from behind. The one bit in it that always gets me is: "I'm so proud of what you've done with yourself."' 

The pair met at London’s Turnham Juniors, in Brockley’s Honor Oak Estate, when Ian was a naughty eight-year-old who had been sent out of the ­classroom to stand in the corridor.

Sydney Pigden passed away in December 2017 at the age of 95.

Wright dedicated his 2016 autobiography 'A Life in Football' to his former teacher.

He looked stunned when Mr Pigden greeted him in one of the stands at Highbury, Arsenal's former stadium, as his mentor said: 'Hello Ian, long time no see.'

Wright removes his hat and reached out for a handshake, saying in disbelief: 'Mr Pigden. You're alive... I can't believe it. Someone said you were dead.' 

'As you see, I'm very much [alive], and I'm so glad you've done so well with yourself.'

At this point Wright is covering his face with his cap and sobbing, speechless. 'I can't believe it,' he starts to repeat, before cuddling his old classmaster.

On BBC's Desert Island Discs in 2020, Wright broke down as he recalled memories of him. 

'I know he loved me,' said Ian. 'I don't know why he chose me. I'm glad that he did. Once he come in, everything was so much better.

'I used to collect the registers from the teachers,' Ian recalled. 'Then they made me milk monitor. I really liked that. It was really good. I just felt important.'

'Then what he'd do, he'd put me back into the classroom, and then my writing got better. He wouldn't let me play football if he'd heard I'd been naughty in class. He just gave me a sense of feeling like I had some use.

'I couldn't find him. I'd been doing a television show and there was a bit in it where I had to go back to the ground.'

'We were sitting there in a reflective moment and he just came over my right shoulder.'

'The first thing I remember doing is I ripped the hat off the top off my head. Then I said to him, "'Oh my gosh. I thought you'd died." He said, "I'm very much alive Ian."'

Ian continued: 'He said how proud he is of me. Then I hugged him and because he was three or four steps up, I felt like I was seven again.'

'He was one of the youngest pilots in World War II. He was one of the pilots chosen to do the flyover at Buckingham Palace.'

'I remember him saying he was more proud of the fact I played for England than him flying over Buckingham Palace. I love that man. Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry for people listening, I've just cried into this bumbling, crying guy.

'When he said that, he changed my life just by recognising, I don't know what it was when I was standing outside that classroom, that I needed more - and he gave it to me.'

Ian Wright was speaking on , brought to you by Sky Bet.