RIP RAY

It was sad news to hear today of Raymond (Butch) Colin Wilkins' death and Talksport especially have done him proud with a day's worth of tributes from the multitude who have worked with Ray after he stopped playing and managing/coaching.

Without doubt he has been a friendly, thoughtful, charming and honest person throughout his life and his knowledge of football has been passed on to anyone who has come in contact with him. This includes the lads on the streets; Ray was in touch with the public.

he began his footballing career playing for the famous "Senrab" club at Wanstead Flats and if you don't know about Senrab then have a look at this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/3580385.stm

Ray was born in Hillingdon in September 1956, a birth date that gave him the chance to be ahead of his year. After Senrab he played for  Chelsea  (179 apps-30 goals) making his debut at 17 years old, against Norwich in 1973 till 1979. He went on to Manchester United 1979-84 (160-7), Milan, PSG, Rangers 1987-9, QPR 1989-94 (155-8), Crystal Palace, QPR again 1994-6, Wycombe Wanderers, Hibernian 1996-7, Millwall, Leyton Orient totalling 695 appearances and 49 goals. FA Cup winner with United in 1983 (remember his goal against Brighton during the 2-2 draw)
http://int.search.mywebsearch.com/search/video.jhtml?searchfor=Brighton+v+Manchester+United+FA+Cup+final+2-2&id=XNxdm019YYgb&n=77edc526&ptb=308DCB58-2A13-42C4-993A-77A59B6C34C6&ptnrS=XNxdm019YYgb&qs=&si=CJeTnrb1k7ECFZMctAodh14dkA&ss=sub&st=sb&tpr=sbt&ts=1522860239367
and Scottish League and Cup winner with Rangers in 1989.

He played for England 84 times with 3 goals! He did captain the side 10 times and went to the 1982 and '86 World Cups. On June 6th 1986 he became the 4th player to be sent off whilst playing for England in a dull 0-0 draw with Morocco in Monterey. He was the first player to be sent off in an England World Cup match, for throwing the ball at the ref! As a result he missed the next matches in the tournament in which England reached the quarter-finals losing to Argentina and Maradonna 1-2.

Next came management and mainly "assistant management" (he was probably too nice) with QPR, Fulham, Chelsea, Watford, Millwall, England U21s, Fulham again, Jordan and Aston Villa with Tim Sherwood.
Recently he has been a prominent member of SKY Sports Football presentations.
His dad was a footballer, so were his brothers. In 2014 he suffered with ulcerative colitis and had a cardiac arrest this week from which he never recovered. My sympathy goes to his wife Jackie and his children and grandchildren.