Ray ‘Butch’ Wilkins
Midfielder who won 84 caps for England and whose tactical skills were appreciated by leading clubs
RAY “BUTCH” WILKINS, who has died aged 61, was in the 1970s and 1980s a highly accomplished midfielder for England and a host of leading clubs including Chelsea, Manchester United and AC Milan. Arguably, Wilkins was – to coin a phrase – an Italian player with the character of an English one. Blessed with tactical intelligence and an assurance unusual in British footballers, and making a virtue of retaining possession, he was sometimes under-appreciated by those on the terraces, though never by team-mates.
His habit of playing the ball square, often the safe option, led him to be mocked as “the Crab” at Old Trafford, where he played from 1979 until 1984. Yet there he was conforming to his role of anchoring the side, and earlier in his career he had shown that he could be a visionary passer of the ball, if not a ball-winner nor prolific goalscorer.
Wilkins had come to prominence in 1975 when, aged 18, he had been made captain of a Chelsea side newly relegated from Division One. Although conspicuously bald by his mid-thirties, he was then regarded as something of a dreamboat, albeit one who stood only 5ft 8in; other players called him “Butch”, in part on account of his liking for flamboyant clothes.
Yet he had the grit to drive the team to promotion in 1977, though they went back down again in 1979, at which point he was sold to United. There, under Dave Sexton, he stood out in a dour side and helped it to finish second in 1980. Playing for Sexton’s replacement Ron Atkinson, he demonstrated his ability in the 1983 FA Cup Final when curling in a memorable shot from outside the box against Brighton. (Brighton were eventually beaten in a replay.) The year after, the side reached the semi-final of the Cup Winners Cup, before Wilkins departed to Milan for £1.5 million.
He won 84 caps for England over a decade that saw a sluggish renaissance of the national fortunes. Making his debut against Italy in 1976 under Don Revie, he became an automatic choice under Ron Greenwood. At the 1980 European Championships, Wilkins showed both high skill and awareness when scoring against Belgium after lobbing the ball to himself over the onrushing defence.
He played in the 1982 World Cup and began to deputise as captain for Bryan Robson. Four years later in Mexico, he took the armband when Robson dislocated his shoulder against Morocco, only to be sent off for losing his temper and throwing the ball towards the referee. Wilkins accordingly missed the “hand of God” quarter-final against Argentina.
His self-consciously measured tones – used to good effect in the “Orange Man” Tango advertisements of the 1990s – appeared to mirror his interior calm. So, it came as a surprise when Wilkins revealed in 2016 that the price of his career, especially in recent decades as a coach, had been grave physical and mental illness. He revealed that he had struggled with depression three times in his life, the first occasion being when under pressure as a young captain of Chelsea, resorting to Valium.
For the last 30 years, he had also suffered from debilitating ulcerative colitis, for which he had been admitted to hospital and prescribed steroids that bloated his face.
It had also necessitated embarrassing rushes for the lavatory, piling more stress on him, until eventually he became an alcoholic. “I don’t think it’s uncommon that men struggle with these problems,” he acknowledged. “We’re just not very good at admitting it.”
One of six children, Raymond Colin Wilkins was born in Hillingdon, then in Middlesex, on September 14 1956. His father George had played professional football, mainly for Brentford, and all three of Ray’s brothers would make careers in the game.
He grew up in Hayes and at 10 began to train with Chelsea. On Saturday nights, he would trek across London to play the next morning on Wanstead Flats for Senrab, the noted Sunday League side, which he credited with honing his technique.
Wilkins moved to Milan at the same time as his England team-mate Mark Hateley, but the club was not then the dominant force it would become. In 1985, Milan reached the final of the Coppa Italia, but lost to Sampdoria.
Wilkins went next to Paris Saintgermain, in 1987, but left after a dozen games together with manager Gérard Houllier. He joined Glasgow Rangers, endearing himself to the spectators by scoring with a piledriver in the Old Firm match. The club would win the league and the Scottish cup in 1989. Wilkins shed tears at the end of his last appearance for them.
Although already in his mid-thirties, he then spent five years with QPR. Recently appointed MBE, in 1994 he agreed to start in management as player-coach of Crystal Palace, but broke his foot in the only game he played for them. He subsequently returned to Loftus Road in the same capacity, replacing Gerry Francis.
The team finished in eighth place in the Premier League in his first season in charge, but the striker Les Ferdinand was then sold; the club was relegated the following season and after being sacked Wilkins attempted to return to playing at the age of 40.
He had short stints with a series of clubs, including Hibernian, before hanging up his boots in 1997 while at Leyton Orient, having played more than 900 matches as a professional.
He next became manager of Fulham, then in the second flight, whom he steered to the play-off finals in 1998. Much to his anger, he was sacked by the owner Mohamed Fayed and replaced for the play-offs by Kevin Keegan, the club’s chief operating officer.
A return to Stamford Bridge beckoned, and he was appointed assistant manager to Gianluca Vialli, whom he accompanied to Watford in 2000, although both ventures ended in dismissal for the pair. After a stint with Dennis Wise at Milwall, he became Peter Taylor’s coach to the England Under-21s in 2004.
He was not retained when Stuart Pearce took over and went back to Chelsea in 2008 as assistant to Phil Scolari. He was briefly caretaker when the Brazilian departed.
Wilkins’s knowledge of Italian and of the club’s traditions proved of much help to the new manager Carlo Ancelotti, and Chelsea went on to win the first Double in their history in 2010. Ancelotti wrote that without Wilkins they “would have won nothing” that season, which made his leaving at the end of it unexpected.
The cause, never explained, may have been a frank exchange of views with Roman Abramovich following the club’s exit from Europe at the hands of Inter Milan – managed by José Mourinho. Wilkins struggled to deal with the absence of football in his life and was convicted of drink-driving in 2012.
The following year he found a berth at Fulham, as assistant to René Meulensteen. Yet a touchline confrontation with Brendan Rogers raised doubts about his state of mind and he left after a month when Meulensteen did. He then had short spells as manager of Jordan and at Aston Villa in 2015, working thereafter as a pundit for Sky Sports.
Wilkins was convicted of drink-driving again in 2016 and given a four-year ban. He then began to seek help and to speak more openly about his problems.
He had a bypass operation last year but suffered a heart attack on March 30 and was subsequently placed in an induced coma.
Ray Wilkins is survived by his wife Jackie and by their children Ross and Jade.
Ray Wilkins, born September 14 1956, died April 4 2018