Ray Wilkins RIP

[Putney Blade]

Nowt to do with Cardiff or Barnsley, sad to hear Butch Wilkins died.

Decent footballer and bloke.

RIP Butch

 

[INTAKE BLADE]

RIP Butch
Always seemed a gentleman, and a nice bloke.

 

[chipsncake]

Sad to hear that. A smashing fella. R.I.P. Butch.

 

[Kenilworth]

I'd love to find a clip of Ray during the World Cup where he "politely" asked the ballboy for the ball back!!

As raul seems to recall - it could have been during Mexico '86
England were shite but you knew how much it meant to Wilkins.

Very gifted footballer and a proper gent.

 

[wizadry]

I never really saw him as a footballer but if he was as good as his punditry was then he must’ve been a very good an honest player.

RIP, Ray.

 

[BangorBlade]

Sad news thoughts with his family
Was outstanding for RFC
RIP Ray

 

[GrayBlade]

R.I.P. to Ray and God bless his family. A lovely guy and a classy footballer.

Absolutely no age. It does make me wonder about excerise and if it’s the be all and end all to longevity when so many athletes have heart problems so soon after retiring from their sport. You’d think keeping really fit into your 30’s or 40’s would store up some sort of long term cardio protection, but in many cases it seems once the regular fitness regimes stop they’re as vulnerable as the rest of us.

 

[Boxer Blade]

Skillful player, got called the crab for constantly passing sideways had thighs like lamb chops, always came across as a decent fellah, liked a drink like his playing mate robson, what was he 61? shame RIP

 

[GodricBlade]

What sad news this is.
As a now 50 year old, my teenage football years were spent watching & admiring Butch Wilkins for both club(s) and country.
Seemed like a top bloke & very well respected throughout football.
RIP Butch.

 

[Stretch]

Awful news.

RIP and condolences to his loved ones.

A truly sad day for the game

 

[Grappler]

RIP, that is way too young

 

[DaveBassettsgoneonholiday]

I'd love to find a clip of Ray during the World Cup where he "politely" asked the ballboy for the ball back!!

As raul seems to recall - it could have been during Mexico '86
England were shite but you knew how much it meant to Wilkins.

Very gifted footballer and a proper gent.

RIP Ray.
I'll remember him for his goal in the '83 Cup Final that he curled round the keeper and for pretty solid contributions when playing for England.
The ball boy "incident".... was it a pre tournament warm up match against a South American side, seem to remember coming in from the pub & it was on late at night ?

 

[Sheffsteel]

Sad to hear about Wilkins, seemed so humble, respectful and genuinely nice with his calm voice and well considered opinions on football.

He was the Paul Coutts (but obviously better) or Michael Carrick of his day, loads of short passing, never gave the ball away.
In his later years many fans knickname him “the crab” because so many of his passes were sideways, just retaining possession.

In the 80’s some fans actually preferred the physical up and at em Wimbledon long ball types, someone dynamic but with limited ability like a Carlton Palmer. So Ray was probably under valued because he played a more continental “retain possession at any cost” style.
Which explains why he was highly thought of and did well playing in Italy at AC Milan and at PSG in France.

He was probably ahead of his time and would have been better suited to today’s football where retaining possession is now given more importance and value.

 

[KoppedOff]

I can vaguely remember him as a player/coach at QPR, but I think my generation (born 84) know him better as a coach/assistant, mainly with Chelsea. Seem to remember him being heavily involved with them in the late 90’s, winning the FA Cup, Cup Winners Cup etc and building the platform before Abramovich brought the money.

One of those faces that you just always expected to be involved, either coaching or in a telly studio. RIP Wilkins.

 

[originaltrueblade]

This is way too young. RIP Ray “Butch” Wilkins. There are a lot of talented players having a game in heaven right now

 

[sitwell]

Skillful player, got called the crab for constantly passing sideways had thighs like lamb chops, always came across as a decent fellah, liked a drink like his playing mate robson, what was he 61? shame RIP

As Ive said before I saw him recently at a sports dinner where he was the speaker ,didn't do a speech as such but a question and answer session. He was a complete gent and stayed much longer than he had to for photos ,autographs and just to generally chat about football. He hated the 'crab' business ,he was made to play that way by certain managers because that's how they wanted to but would much rather be more attacking as any side he coached would be. Ironically almost all international sides play that way now with a player of his ilk. RIP to a genuine nice guy.

 

[Dnblade]

Always came across as a decent bloke..or decent chap as he would say.
He got criticised for being a bit sideways,but played in Italy when it was a top league,not many English players could have made it there at that time.
Sad news...RIP.

 

[BridBladesman]

RIP Mr Wilkins...why does it seem that the nice and decent guys pass away early

 

[benn5712]

Very sad news, and thoughts are with his family. RIP

 

[Yellarbellyblade]

Sad news and no age

 

[Lane Ender]

Did everything well in the game player,coach,manager true gentleman

RIP Ray

 

[IdLiketoRogerMoore]

I'm a bit too young to remember as a player but thought he was a fantastic pundit. Used to love him on Football Italia when that got big in the 90's.

Loved his relaxed tone. Could have listened to him read the phone book!

 

[blade too long]

shows you all that keeping fit lark is no guarentee of good health

Seemed like a gentleman , very sad

 

[Rob86]

Terrible news, it’s upset me has this. Never saw him play but his punditry and general deameanour in interviews was fantastic.

RIP Ray lad

 

[IdLiketoRogerMoore]

....and let's not forget his finest work:

The commentary on the original Tango advert!!

 

[Danny_Blade]

I'm too young to remember him as a player, but really liked listening to him talk about the PL in the mornings on SSN and he was on about this time last week and now he's gone can't believe it.

Came across as a genuinely decent bloke.

R.I.P. Ray.

 

[LenTednTony]

Will be sorely missed both as a font of knowledge about football and as a genuinely good guy. R.I.P. Butch Wilkins.

 

[OrlandoexiledBlade]

Very sad. Remember those way too tight shorts he wore in the cup final vs Brighton !

in many ways Lunny reminds me of him, plenty of passes side to side without being rash with it .

Great servant to our national team.

 

[SwissBlade]

RIP butch.

No idea why but I imagine he still trained every day with an 80’s fitness regime of star jumps, egg whites and steaks

 

[Hartley Hare]

Sad news indeed.

HH