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Top 20 England players of all time - #13

Sports Mole's countdown of the top 20 English players of all time continues with number 13 - Billy Wright.

Billy Wright (105 caps, three goals)

Billy Wright will forever hold a unique place in football history as the first player to ever win 100 international caps, and he has a claim to being England's greatest ever captain too.

Bobby Moore is perhaps at the front of that queue, but Wright is the only player to have worn the Three Lions armband as many times as the World Cup winner, leading his country out on no fewer than 90 occasions.

Wright went on to make 105 England appearances at centre-back, 70 of which came in succession after he had unequivocally cemented his place as the leading defender in English - and many would say world - football.

Wright's England career was not without its low points, though, featuring in their humiliating defeats at the hands of Hungary in 1953 and 1954 when Ferenc Puskas and co proved without doubt that the Three Lions were no longer the dominant force in world football.

The defender spent his entire 20-year club career with Wolverhampton Wanderers, making 541 appearances for the club and leading them to three league titles as captain - including back-to-back triumphs in 1958 and 1959.

Wright also helped Wolves to the FA Cup in 1949 and, remarkably, missed just 31 matches throughout the entirety of the 1950s until his retirement in 1959.

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TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool1210112481631
2Manchester CityMan City127232217523
3Chelsea126422314922
4Arsenal126422112922
5Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton126422116522
6Tottenham HotspurSpurs1261527131419
7Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest125431513219
8Aston Villa125431919019
9Fulham125341717018
10Newcastle UnitedNewcastle125341313018
11Brentford125252222017
12Manchester UnitedMan Utd124441313016
13Bournemouth124351617-115
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham124351519-415
15Everton122551017-711
16Leicester CityLeicester122461523-810
17Wolverhampton WanderersWolves122372028-89
18Ipswich TownIpswich121651323-109
19Crystal Palace121561017-78
20Southampton121110924-154


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