Ray Wilkins passed away today. I don't mark the death of every footballer but Wilkins was a player from my early days of watching football who struck me for his gentleman-ness more than his football ability. My memory of him was that he was too nice to be a footballer.
He must have been a pretty good footballer because he played 84 matches for England. And he scored a memorable goal for Manchester United in the 1983 Fa Cup Final.
But my other memory was of him playing for an abysmal England team against Morocco in the 1986 World Cup. My Dad had let me stay up until midnight (or woke me up at midnight?) but my excitement at being able to be up late like my older brothers quickly turned to boredom. It was turgid. Terrible. And at one point Ray Wilkins got sent off. I couldn't remember what it was for so I had to look it up. It looks like he was guilty of lazily throwing the ball in the direction of the referee who took offence to Wilkins' petulance. On a day of sadness a bit of humour can be helpful. Today it is provided by Paul Mariner. The England number 9 went over to console Wilkins and who else is thinking: was Mariner so hot and bored at half-time that he forgot to put his shorts back on again?
RIP Ray.
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