– Jeg spikret Wilkins’ sko til gulvet

Av Andy Mitten

Not everybody was impressed when former Chelsea manager Dave Sexton signed Chelsea’s Ray Wilkins for a Manchester United club record fee of £825,000 in August 1979.

“When Ray first came to the club I thought, “Nah,” said defender Gordon McQueen. “I wasn’t so sure about him as a player but he grew on me. He used to come to us, take the ball and start playing. He always accepted responsibility, even when things were not going well. He never scored or made the killer pass because he played so deep. The season he left to go to AC Milan (in 1984), he was fantastic, probably the best player at the club.”

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Wilkins, Chelsea’s youngest ever captain, certainly made an impact off the field when he arrived.

“Ray out dressed us all,” said Lou Macari. “He had a handkerchief in his jacket pocket and shoes from Carnaby Street. The Chelsea players always thought that they were the best dressed boys.”

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Macari didn’t seek to emulate Wilkins’ dress sense, but was determined to make a joke at his expense.

“I nailed his expensive shoes to the dressing room floor,” he explained.

“I got the nails and the hammer from the groundsman a few minutes before the end of training. Ray came back in and had a shower. All the other players knew what was going on and none of them wanted to miss it. I wanted him to stand in his shoes and then be stuck to the floor, but he went to get a shoe and it didn’t move. He had to take it in good humour and he did.”

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University educated goalkeeper Gary Bailey, who rarely socialised with his team mates, was closer to Wilkins than any other player. “I enjoyed Ray Wilkins,” said Bailey, “he was a lovely person.”

Frank Stapleton agreed.

“Ray Wilkins is still a big pal of mine,” he said when I spoke to him for my United in the 80s book. 

“We got really friendly when I first moved to Manchester. He was a London lad but he loved playing for Manchester United. The criticism that he got from (manager) Ron Atkinson was a bit naughty. He called him the crab because he played the ball sideways – which was rubbish.

“Ray was a great player; he got 84 caps for England which shows what a quality player he was. The year that he left United he was player of the year and he was absolutely fantastic, but he couldn’t turn down the offer to go to Milan.

“He could play with both feet.. He wasn’t the quickest, but he could play a first time ball or he could keep the ball. He was a fantastic captain who encouraged everyone and kept the team on a high level.”

Asked about selling Wilkins and selling him to AC Milan, Atkinson said:

“I rated Ray highly – despite the popular theories that have been put about. Originally Robson was Milan’s target. No deal. The next name they mentioned was Wilko. Less of a problem for me, obviously, because United had a fair number of central midfield players. Ray, in a system where he was our sweeper and cleaner, had just played his best ever season for the club and was headline material. I told Milan we couldn’t allow him to leave for less than £1.5 million. Cheeky, considering that Arsenal had offered £400,000 for him that season, but worth a try.”

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“The negotiation was fixed for a Saturday night meet at the Midland hotel in Manchester. “I told the chairman I was prepared to be a bit bolshie and show them a lorry-driver’s aggression if they stalled. Repeatedly, I kept hearing the £750,000 figure. It transpired that the middle man had sounded out various managers in England about their valuation of Wilkins. I blew my top. Later they upped it to a million and, by this stage, Martin Edwards seemed ready to grab the money and run. He was really straining at the leash but I persuaded him to sit tight. Ten days later they came up with the million and a half and everything went sweetly.”

“With Ray, we had an offer of £1.4 million,” explained chairman Martin Edwards when I asked him why he’d made the sale. “Ron felt that was acceptable and with that money we bought (Wilkins’ replacement) Gordon Strachan and Jesper Olsen.”

Not everyone was a fan of the departing midfielder.

“Ray Wilkins can’t run, he can’t tackle and he can’t head the ball; the only time he goes forward is to toss the coin,” said former boss Tommy Docherty of a man good enough to captain England.

Others disagree.

“Ray Wilkins was a very good player,” said Dutch player Arnold Muhren when making his first impressions after arriving at Old Trafford.

“Maybe only Robson was a world class player, one of the best around. He was captain and perfect example for the rest of the team, but Ray was a very good player, as was Remi Moses. We had one problem – Liverpool were just a little bit better. They had world class footballers in many positions.”

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Wilkins also helped younger players.

“Ray was the biggest influence when I arrived at United and I learned a lot from him,” said young midfielder Clayton Blackmore.

“Ray knew his former club Chelsea wanted me and said I’d made the right decision joining United rather than Chelsea.

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“He was such a nice bloke which surprised me because he was a Cockney! He was the only first team member who would come into all the dressing rooms and say good morning to the reserve or the youth lads. Mickey Thomas would have a laugh with everyone, but he couldn’t stay in one place for more than a minute – he’s still that way now.”

Wilkins was considered sensible by the other players, so there was some surprise when he overstayed a curfew during a mid-season break in Torquay.

“We lost an away game at Southampton on the Saturday and stayed down in Torquay after for a break,” explained defender John Gidman.

“We were playing a practice game against Torquay United on the Monday and a curfew was put on us to be in by ten the night before the game. Me, Robbo, Ray Wilkins and Kevin Moran stayed out past twelve and got clocked. There was a cold atmosphere in training the next morning. We had a very long 5-a-side game, which was unusual, then Atko called a meeting with the lads who had come back late. He said: ‘Come to my suite later because I want a chat.’ We went to see him. A bottle of Moet was in a cooler on the mantelpiece. We were all laughing, although Ray Wilkins was a bit subdued. Ron told Ray to open the champagne. We had a game that night, albeit a practice one. Ron poured us all a glass and said, ‘Here’s to tonight.’ Then he changed. He said, ‘When I say ten o’clock I mean ten o’clock. Don’t take the piss out of me again.’

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Wilkins, who was known by his childhood nickname of  ‘Butch’ and spent five seasons at United, was the best player in his final season, when he started 56 matches. He played 194 times for United in four seasons, scoring 10 goals including one against Brighton in the 1983 FA Cup final, when he paraded with the cup with his socks rolled down.

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Wilkins spent three years in Milan and had spells at eight further clubs in a 24-year playing career, though it was at Queens Park Rangers that he most impressed as a player and manager in the 90s.

He also managed at Fulham and was twice assistant manager at Chelsea, latterly to Carlo Ancelotti. Wilkins was a familiar, serious, face on British television as a football pundit and he was working as a coach at Fulham until February 2014, the year he was surprisingly appointed as the boss of Jordan. He took his former United teammate Frank Stapleton as assistant and later worked in the football media in England.

Wilkins died on Wednesday in a London hospital, aged 61, following a heart attack last week. There have already been many warm tributes for a popular football man.