Ray Wilkins, who has died aged 61 after a cardiac arrest, was one of England’s most capped footballers, appearing 84 times for his country between 1976 and 1986 and playing in two World Cups.
A graceful central midfielder who captained the side on 10 occasions, he made his biggest domestic impacts at Chelsea and Manchester United, winning the FA Cup with the latter in 1983 before spending three years at Milan, where he became part of a mid-1980s trend for Italian clubs to recruit players from English clubs. He was then signed in Scotland by Rangers, winning a league title there during a successful two-year spell before seeing out his career in the top flight of English football with Queens Park Rangers. He swiftly moved into management, initially in full charge at QPR and Fulham and later as an assistant at various clubs, including Chelsea and Watford.
Although he may not have been the most exciting midfielder to have played for his country, Wilkins’ 84 England caps – only 13 players have collected more – are a powerful indication of his skill and reliability. He rarely played a bad game under his three national managers – Don Revie, Ron Greenwood and Bobby Robson – who could rely upon him for neat, composed performances even under the greatest of pressure.
If England fans periodically complained of a lack of ambition in his passing (he was known as “the crab” for his sideways inclinations), he could just as often be incisive. And though he was never a prolific goalscoring midfielder, when he did put one in the net it was usually an effort of top quality. His goal against Belgium in the 1980 European Championship – when he lobbed the ball over an outrushing defence, skipped through to collect it and then also lobbed the keeper – was one of the finest ever scored by an England player.
Wilkins was born in Hillingdon, west London, to George, a footballer at four clubs – including Brentford and Nottingham Forest – and his wife, Wyn. One of six children, Ray, who was known as Butch from an early age, had three brothers – Graham, Stephen and Dean – who all played professional football. He made his own debut for First Division Chelsea as a 17-year-old in 1973, and the following year was made the club’s youngest ever captain at 18. By 1976 he was playing for England, and during a period at Stamford Bridge when the team was twice relegated from the top flight, he nevertheless became a star player.
After six years and 179 league games he was signed by the former Chelsea manager Dave Sexton to Manchester United in 1979, forming a formidable midfield combination with his England colleague Bryan Robson. Under Sexton’s successor, Ron Atkinson, Wilkins won an FA Cup winners’ medal in 1983, scoring with a long-range curler in the 72nd minute to give United a 2-1 lead in the final against Brighton. The match ended 2-2 and United won the replay 4-0.
His stock now at its highest, Wilkins was signed by Milan for a British record £1.5m at the end of the following season, joining other England players such as Trevor Francis and Luther Blissett in the Italian game. Although he acquitted himself well over three seasons at the San Siro, it proved to be an unusually lean time at Milan, and no honours were accrued from his 105 appearances for the club.
Having been a fixture in the England side more or less since his debut, Wilkins had played in the 1982 World Cup finals in Spain, appearing in all five matches as England went out at the second-group stage. While playing at Milan four years later he was an integral part of the squad at the 1986 World Cup finals in Mexico, where England were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Diego Maradona’s “hand of God” goal.
By that point, however, Wilkins was languishing on the sidelines, having been sent off in a group game against Morocco for throwing the ball at the referee. It was an uncharacteristic action from a man who rarely courted trouble on or off the field – indeed it was the first and only sending-off of his career. He was banned for the next two games and failed to regain his place in the side for the Argentina match. He played only twice more for England, his last cap in a European Championship qualifier against Yugoslavia in November 1986.
Wilkins left Milan in 1987, spending four months with Paris St Germain before moving to Rangers, whose collection of English players included Terry Butcher, Chris Woods and Gary Stevens. Wilkins was a popular figure at Ibrox, helping the club to win the Scottish League and League Cup double in 1988-89. But after two years he was on his way down south to QPR.
From 1989 to 1996 he played almost as many league games at Loftus Road – more than 150 – as he had either at Chelsea or Manchester United, and from late 1994, after having been made an MBE, he was player-manager at the club, guiding them to eighth place in the Premier League in their 1994-95 season. But the following campaign QPR were relegated and he was sacked.
Wilkins continued as a player until he was 40, with brief spells at Wycombe Wanderers, Hibernian, Millwall and Leyton Orient before retiring at the end of the 1996–97 season to become manager of Second Division Fulham. He took them to the play-offs in his first season but the Fulham chairman, Mohamed Al Fayed, sacked him before the first of the play-off games, and so he moved to Chelsea as assistant manager to Gianluca Vialli.
After two years there he was an assistant at Watford (with Vialli), Millwall (Dennis Wise) and England Under-21s (Peter Taylor), before returning to Chelsea in 2008 as assistant to Luiz Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink and then Carlo Ancelotti, under whom Chelsea won the League and FA Cup double.
Although Ancelotti declared that “without Ray we wouldn’t have won a thing”, in 2010 Wilkins was sacked by the club unexpectedly, a move that hit him hard. He found refuge in broadcasting work as an articulate, precise and softly spoken analyst at Sky and talkSPORT, before becoming Fulham’s assistant manager (2013-14), national manager of Jordan (2014-15) and finally assistant at Aston Villa for a brief spell in 2015.
In 2016 he received a four-year ban for a third drink-driving offence, and spent some time being treated for depression and a drink problem. Widely regarded as one of football’s “nice men”, he explained that his sackings at various clubs had exacted a personal toll. “Footballers who think they are something special are making a terrible mistake,” he said. “I always told my kids I’m nobody but their dad. But I just don’t cope well with rejection.”
He is survived by his wife, Jackie (nee Bygraves), whom he married in 1978, their children, Ross and Jade, and grandchildren, Oliver, Frankie, Ava, Freddie, Jake and Archie.
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