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Raymond Colin Wilkins, (born September 14 1956 in
Hillingdon, Middlesex), was an England|English
Football (soccer)|football player, and now a
highly respected coach.

==Early career==
The son of an Army footballer, defensive
midfielder Wilkins (nicknamed Butch from
childhood) made his name in the 1970s with boyhood
club Chelsea F.C.|Chelsea, whom he joined as an
apprentice, progressing to his first team debut
against Norwich City F.C.|Norwich City in October
1973. He made sporadic further appearances for the
rest of that season before establishing himself as
a fixture in the side the following year.

In 1975, a 19 year old Wilkins was handed the
captaincy of Chelsea, despite the presence of
elder and more experienced players in the squad.
However, he took to the role well, maintaining it
for four years. His brothers Graham and Stephen
also joined Chelsea around this time, though did
not achieve the same heights in the game as Ray.
==Golden era==
Wilkins was called up to play for England national
football team|England for the first time in 1976
by coach Don Revie and quickly made his debut
against Italy national football team|Italy during
a mini-tournament in the USA. He was to become a
permanent fixture in England squads for a decade
to come.

Maligned in some quarters for supposed "negative"
play (he was deemed more likely to pass a ball
sideways rather than forwards - earning him
semi-affectionate nicknames like Squareball
Wilkins and The Crab), Wilkins nevertheless became
one of his country's most sought-after players
and, in August 1979, Chelsea accepted an offer of
800,000 pounds from Manchester United
F.C.|Manchester United and Wilkins headed north.

His first season was uneventful, with domestic
honours continuing to elude him, but he achieved
one of his career highs after helping England
qualify for the 1980 European Football
Championship|1980 European Championships in Italy
- the first tournament England had reached for a
decade. 

During a group game against Belgium national
football team|Belgium, Wilkins scored a memorable
goal when he lobbed the whole Belgian defence and,
in one movement, latched on to the ball (thereby
breaching the Belgians obvious offside law
(football)|offside trap) and delivered a second
lob, this time over the head of the goalkeeper and
into the net to put England ahead. The Belgians
swiftly equalised though, and a disappointing
England failed to make progress from their group.

Wilkins remained a fixture for England through a
successful campaign to qualify for the Football
World Cup 1982|1982 World Cup in Spain, which
England exited at the second group stage.

In 1983, Wilkins scored in the FA Cup final for
Manchester United to put them 2-1 up against
Brighton and Hove Albion F.C.|Brighton and Hove
Albion. It was a goal of great quality and also
some rarity - it had taken Wilkins three years to
get his first United goal.

A Brighton attack broke down and the ball reached
United midfielder Arnold Muhren just inside his
own half. Wilkins made a run to the right to give
Muhren an outlet, and was forced to control the
Dutchman's pass on his chest after the slippery
Wembley Stadium|Wembley surface caused a bad
bounce.

Wilkins finally trapped the ball on the right hand
side of the area and instinctively (and, some
would say, typically) cut inside to look for a
square pass across the 18 yard box. No team-mate
had matched his run in time (even though Wilkins
was a player with a quick brain rather than quick
legs) so Wilkins instead curled a left-foot shot
of great accuracy into the top corner of the
Brighton net. He was so enthralled that he
sprinted to the back of the stadium to celebrate
with the United fans - something he immediately
regretted as it rendered him exhausted for the
rest of the game which ended 2-2 after extra-time.
He got his winners' medal after a 4-0 victory in
the replay.

Over the next season, Wilkins continued to play
for England under new coach Bobby Robson but they
failed to qualify for the 1984 European Football
Championship|1984 European Championships. The same
summer, United accepted an offer of 1.5 million
pounds from Italian giants AC Milan. Though
Wilkins and his family settled quickly in Italy,
it wasn't a successful era for Milan, and Wilkins
was allowed to leave in 1987 to join France|French
outfit Paris Saint-Germain|Paris St Germain.

However, Wilkins was still an England regular and
he was chosen for the squad which qualified for
the Football World Cup 1986|1986 World Cup in
Mexico. He played in the opening defeat against
Portugal national football team|Portugal but
didn't last the full 90 minutes in the next group
game against Morocco national football
team|Morocco after receiving a red card for the
first and only time in his career. In disagreeing
with a decision made by the referee, Wilkins threw
the ball towards the official - but hit him with
it. He was suspended for the next two games and
was not reinstated by the time the quarter final
against Argentina national football team|Argentina
came round, which England lost 2-1. Wilkins made
his 84th and final England appearance in November
1986. He had scored three international goals and
had been captain on ten occasions.

On leaving Paris after just four months, Wilkins
joined Rangers F.C. for 250,000 pounds and won two
Scottish_Premier_League|Scottish league titles and
one Scottish League Cup, as well as scoring 
memorable goal in an Old Firm derby against Celtic
F.C. which Rangers fans continue to talk about.

Next stop for Wilkins was Queens Park Rangers
F.C.|QPR after his family decided that a decade
away from London was long enough. Wilkins spent
four years with QPR before very briefly joining
Crystal Palace F.C.|Crystal Palace. He returned to
QPR as player-manager just months after he'd left.

Wilkins left QPR at the start of the 1996/1997|97
after the club was bought by media tycoon Chris
Wright following the relegation from the FA
Premier League. There followed spells at Wycombe
Wanderers, Hibernian F.C.|Hibernian, Millwall
F.C.|Millwall, and Leyton Orient before he finally
retired from playing.

==Fulham and beyond==
In 1997, Wilkins became the manager of Fulham
F.C.|Fulham, with former England teammate Kevin
Keegan as "Chief Operating Officer" under him. 
Wilkins managed to take the big-spending side to
the Football League Second Division|Second
Division play-offs, but was sacked by chairman
Mohamed Al-Fayed before the first game took place
after Fulham lost the last three games of the
regular season.  Kevin Keegan, who replaced
Wilkins, failed in his bid to guide the side
through he play-offs that season. The two, once
close England team-mates, have had frosty
relations since.

After leaving Fulham, Wilkins mainly worked as a
television pundit before joining Millwall as
assistant manager to Dennis Wise in October 2003.
He continues to work as a pundit, showing himself
to be polite and articulate as well as fiercely
knowledgeable.

Wilkins famously provided the voice of the
nonplussed pundit ("Super, Ralph") on the ads for
the soft drink Tango in the 1990s. The ads were
memorable for a large orange man slapping people
who were consuming the drink, as if to emphasise
the orange (fruit)|orange flavor. This was later
changed from slapping to kissing after complaints
from the public. The voice of the over-excited
commentator alongside Wilkins was provided by
comedian and mimic Hugh Dennis.

start box
succession box|
 before=Micky Adams|
 title=Fulham_Football_Club#Managers|Fulham F.C.
Manager|
 years=1997-1998|
 after=Kevin Keegan

end box