He's a goalscoring hero in England but football fame evidently wasn't enough to land former Arsenal striker Ian Wright a role in the upcoming film Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The 51-year-old radio personality, who is second on the Gunners' top all-time goalscorers' list with 185 goals, revealed on his own show recently that he was rejected for the role of the iconic stormtrooper in Episode VII.

"I wanted to, but you have to be 5 foot 11 inches (1.8m) and I was too short", he said.

"Two of my friends got to do it instead."

Standing at 5 foot 9 inches (1.75m), Wright was just 5cm short of making the grade - and who's to say it could have been him, and not British actor John Boyega, appearing in the recently-released trailer instead?

Boyega's height, however, was listed as 1.75m on film website IMDB.com; perhaps Wright's lack of acting experience counted against him?