Ray Wilson
Fast-paced left back whose skill in defence played a crucial role in England’s 1966 World Cup victory
RAY WILSON, who has died aged 83, was the left back in the England team that won the World Cup in 1966. Slight of build, but muscular and blessed with great pace, Wilson was, in the opinion of many observers, the most complete left-side full back ever to play for a British team. His judgment and positional sense were outstanding, his distribution (passing out of defence) accomplished, and although at 31 he was the oldest member of Alf Ramsey’s side, by 1966 he had also established a reputation for durability.
It was a reputation that lasted only as long as the first morning of squad training for the tournament, when Wilson put his back out carrying another player. For four days he lay immobilised in bed, being spoon-fed by his room-mate, Bobby Charlton.
Having proved himself fit to Ramsey’s satisfaction, he put in solid performances in the early rounds, patrolling the left zone behind Charlton assigned to him by the manager and providing the incisive pass which allowed Martin Peters to fashion the winner for Geoff Hurst in the quarter-final against Argentina.
Within 13 minutes of the start of the final, however, Wilson’s celebrated consistency had taken an even more serious knock. As a speculative cross from Held came over from the left, Wilson – most uncharacteristically – rose to meet it too early, and his headed touch while descending deposited the ball at the feet of Haller at the far post. The West German made no mistake, and gave his team the lead.
But Wilson, though a competitive and at times mouthy player, also possessed great reservoirs of calm and refused to allow the error to unsettle him or the rest of the defence. He quickly mastered himself and played impeccably from then on, contributing in no small measure to England’s eventual 4-2 victory.
In the celebrations afterwards it was Wilson (with Hurst) who carried Bobby Moore on his shoulder, and in the famous photograph of the moment he can be seen straining under the effort; he subsequently complained that Hurst had not carried his fair share of the burden.
For Wilson it had been a summer of success, as a few weeks earlier with Everton he had won the FA Cup, the only other honour he would gain in the game. Later he would regret that these triumphs had come late in his career but, modest to a fault, he attributed his success in the World Cup to England’s strength as a team, and to the vision of their manager. “Everything with Alf Ramsey was simple,” he reflected. “It was a simple game, played in a simple way.”
Certainly Ramsey gave his players belief in themselves. Yet the contribution of Wilson, and the others in the back line, to England’s triumph should also be given its due place. Easy as it is to remember the goals of Hurst, Hunt and Charlton, it is often overlooked that until the final itself the defence was only breached once, in the semi-final, and that by a penalty.
Of mining stock, Ramon Wilson was born in the pit village of Shirebrook, Derbyshire, on December 17 1934. His forename was his mother’s tribute to the Mexican-born film star of the time Ramon Novarro, now perhaps best remembered for having had the lead in the 1925 version of Ben-hur, and subsequently for being murdered by two male prostitutes in 1968.
Young Ray’s early life was rather less exotic. Having learnt to play football in the back lanes of the village, after leaving school he took a job working night shifts on the railways before, at 17, signing forms with Huddersfield Town. He was regarded initially as a prospect at forward, but having failed to make his mark there the manager, Bill Shankly, decided to make use of his speed at the back.
His apprenticeship was interrupted by two years’ National Service with the Royal Corps of Signals, some of it in Egypt, but after he returned home in 1955 Wilson began to challenge for a place in the first team. By 1957 was a regular in the side. Three years later he won his first England cap, against Scotland at Hampden.
It was a period when teams (and spectators) still prized high-class wing play, and in 1961 Wilson found himself marking the finest winger of them all, Stanley Matthews, in his first game back with Stoke after leaving Blackpool. “I was bloody relieved to get off the pitch,” Wilson recalled later. “He could play a bit, could that lad.” Matthews was then 46.
Despite this chastening experience, the following year Wilson was included in the England party that travelled to Chile for the World Cup. Conditions there came as something of a shock to many of the players. Early in the competition, Wilson and Jimmy Armfield decided to relax with a game of golf but found their caddie to be an emaciated boy of 10. By the last few holes Wilson was carrying the clubs; Armfield was carrying the caddie.
In the quarter-finals, England found themselves facing Brazil, with Wilson up against Garrincha, who in the absence of the injured Pelé was the best player in the tournament. “I felt as though I was going to mark a sorcerer,” Wilson remembered. He was not alone, however, in being given a masterclass by Garrincha during the match, with the two goals scored by the Brazilian proving decisive in his side’s 3-1 victory.
In July 1964, after 266 games for Huddersfield, Wilson moved to Everton. In his first game for them he injured a hip and had to miss half the season, but thereafter his play appeared to reach new heights of consistency; he even developed a penchant for athletic overhead clearances.
His skilful use of the ball proved well-suited to Everton’s passing game, and in 1966 Wilson and the team gained due reward for their attractive play when they won the FA Cup, coming back from a two-goal deficit in the second half to beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-2.
Playing behind Colin Harvey and Howard Kendall, Wilson continued to give exemplary service to the club until 1968, when a knee injury robbed him of much of his pace. The next year, aged 33, he was transferred to Oldham, and after a season with them was sold on to Bradford. After just two games in the Fourth Division, Wilson decided to retire. He had made 409 league appearances and scored six goals, all of them for Huddersfield. He had also won 63 England caps, the last of them in 1968 against the USSR in the European Championship.
Having briefly been caretaker manager of Bradford – an experience which convinced him that he had no wish to be a coach – in 1971 Wilson turned his back on football. As a player he had found himself unable to live on his relatively meagre wages and had taken to helping out his father-in-law, an undertaker. He now joined the business, based near Halifax, later saying that his ability to keep his emotions under control on the pitch made him well-fitted for his new employment.
Occasionally he was recognised at the graveside by mourners, but while he did not begrudge them the opportunity to talk about something else, he otherwise largely shunned publicity, being uncomfortable with what he termed “the idolatry” that attended the 1966 team.
He was not one to live in the past, and on Saturday afternoons walked the Yorkshire moors with his dogs instead of watching football. He retired to his smallholding in 1995, and in 2002 sold his World Cup winner’s medal at auction for £80,000 to provide for his pension.
An autobiography, My Life in Soccer, written with James Mossop, was published in 1969.
In 2000 Ray Wilson was – belatedly – appointed MBE.
His wife Pat survives him with their two sons.
Ray Wilson, born December 17 1934, died May 15 2018