England aces to honour Ray at Cup dinner
THREE England legends will pay tribute to the life of Huddersfield Town’s Ray Wilson at a special World Cup Launch dinner at the John Smith’s Stadium.
The club, in partnership with See It Now Sport, will welcome Sir Geoff Hurst, Peter Shilton OBE and Paul Merson to West Yorkshire on Thursday June 14, as part of their series of ‘An Evening With’ events.
Starting at 7pm, the evening will see the three guests preview England’s chances of glory and re-live some of the greatest moments in World Cup history.
And with the recent passing of former player Wilson, it has been decided to dedicate the event to the memory of the man who spent most of his career with Town and Everton.
Wilson died last week at the age of 83 after losing his long battle with Alzheimers, but will always be remembered fondly as part of the successful World Cup 1966 winning side under Sir Alf Ramsey.
Members of Ray’s family have been invited to the event with a programme featuring the great man specially designed as well as items signed by him to be auctioned for the Alzheimers Society.
Commercial Director Sean Jarvis will also be reading a tribute from the club alongside a visual tribute.
The event will be hosted by Pete Emmett with standard tickets available for £50 plus VAT (including a two-course meal with coffee or tea and a reception in the White Rose Suite Bar).
There is also a chance to purchase a VIP pass for £65 plus VAT which includes the above as well as a reception in the Ray Wilson Suite with live music and meet and greet photo opportunity with the former England players.
For more information and to purchase tickets visit the See It Now Sports website. ■■Former Town player Martin Cranie has been released by Middlesbrough FC – just four months after joining the Teessiders.
Few eyebrows were raised when the 31-year-old left the John Smith’s Stadium on a short-term deal during the January transfer window.
The versatile defender had made only three top-flight appearances in the Terriers’ inaugural Premier League campaign with his last being the 5-0 defeat at Arsenal back in November.
However, Cranie once again found his appearances few and far between in the North East as Boro pushed for an instant return to the top-flight.
Making a total of 13 appearances for Tony Pulis’ side, the majority came from the bench late into encounters with Cranie starting just once.
With this in mind, Middlesbrough have opted against extending the defender’s stay, with Spanish goalkeeper Tomas Mejias the only other senior professional released by the club. ■■Former Town Senior Professional Development Coach Steve Eyre will join Joey Barton’s backroom staff at Fleetwood Town.
Barton will take charge of the Cod Army on June 2 - one day after his FA ban for betting ends.
Eyre, 46, joined the Terriers in April 2012 and became jointcaretaker manager with Mark Lillis after Simon Grayson’s sacking in January 2013.
The coach also spent 21 years as a coach at Manchester City and was previously manager of Rochdale.