Respected on and off pitch

WITH the passing of Ray Wilson, Huddersfield and the football club which bears its name has lost a true legend.

Ray was the most unassuming man and, when you saw him walking around Slaithwaite or making his way to a Town match, you would never have guessed he was involved in this country’s greatest footballing moment.

He was never one to court the spotlight, but he was always generous with his time when asked for comments or autographs and he always enjoyed a laugh about the old times.

As a player, Ray – who died aged 83 and who had suffered Alzheimer’s since 2004 – was special.

A classy left back who surpassed all others in an England No3 shirt and played in two World Cups.

He was similarly respected and loved in all other aspects of his life, too, although the link to 1966 and those teammates from Wembley could never be broken.

Even until very recently, the Wilson postbox was never empty, with fans sending pieces of memorabilia, programmes, tickets and pictures for Ray to sign.

His wife Pat always made sure they were sorted, and posted them back, much to the delight of many football fans around the country and around the world

I asked him many years ago if he would sign the picture (for myself) of him and Geoff Hurst holding aloft skipper Bobby Moore with the Jules Rimet Trophy.

He winked and said: “They don’t really like us doing individual stuff, but seeing as it’s you that’s fine.”

It’s been treasured in my collection ever since.

I wasn’t lucky enough to see any of his near 300 Town appearances, those he made for Everton or for England, but I was at Elland Road in July 1985, when the World Cup winning side reunited to play their West German counterparts to raise money for the Bradford City disaster appeal.

Ray, 50 at the time, had a plastic kneecap and lasted only three minutes before gratefully accepting the offer of a substitution.

Like the rest of his colleagues, he received a standing ovation, and I can still picture him kitted up in the changing room afterwards, exchanging jokes with his mates and, as ever, smiling and getting involved with all the banter.

A few years later, when I rang him for a comment following the death of Bobby Moore, the respect he had for those teammates and for the captain became crystal clear.

“He was a great player,” said Ray of Moore.

“And do you know something, if the Earth played Mars at football, Bobby would be captain of the Earth team, no doubt whatsoever.”

Ray – who never moved away from this area with Pat and sons Russell and Neil – was held in the same high regard.

And his passing will be mourned not only by football fans everywhere, but by those who knew him as a much-respected figure in our own community. Ray Wilson with his wife of 60 years Pat in 2016. Ray had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s some years earlier and found creating these sketches was therapeutic