Chelsea and QPR legend Wilkins dies
Ray Wilkins has died. He was 61.
Wilkins was placed in an induced coma after being rushed to St George’s Hospital in Tooting following a heart attack last week.
He is regarded as one of Chelsea and QPR’s best-ever players.
His family issued a statement on Wednesday, announcing the news that he had passed away.
“It is with great sadness we announce that Raymond Colin Wilkins passed away this morning,” the statement read.
“We would like to thank St George’s staff for the amazing work they have done to care for our beloved Ray.
“We would also like to say thank you for the many goodwill messages we have received from Ray’s friends, colleagues, and members of the public.
“Ray leaves behind his loving wife, Jackie, daughter Jade, son Ross, and his beautiful grandchildren, Oliver, Frankie, Ava, Freddie, Jake and Archie.”
Wilkins served Chelsea as a player, coach and assistant manager and played for and managed QPR. He also worked at Fulham.
💙 Everyone at #QPR is devastated to learn of the passing of R’s legend Ray Wilkins.
Our thoughts are with Ray’s family and friends.#RIPRay pic.twitter.com/45PsWkaikM
— QPR FC (@QPRFC) April 4, 2018
Capped 84 times by England, the Hillingdon-born Wilkins was an apprentice at Chelsea and went on to make 179 appearances for the Blues before joining Manchester United in 1979.
Spells at AC Milan, Paris St-Germain and Glasgow Rangers followed before he returned to west London to join QPR in 1989.
He was outstanding for the R’s, playing a key role in their success in the early 1990s and the emergence of players such as Les Ferdinand and Andy Sinton.
Everybody associated with Chelsea Football Club is devastated to learn of the passing of our former player, captain and assistant coach, Ray Wilkins. Rest in peace, Ray, you will be dreadfully missed. pic.twitter.com/cSDhloOPDZ
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 4, 2018
After his spell as manager at Loftus Road, he was briefly manager at Fulham, where more recently he had a short spell as a coach.
He also coached England’s Under-21 side and at Watford, Millwall and Aston Villa, as well as having a spell in charge of the Jordanian national team.
At Chelsea, he was a key part of the backroom teams of Gianluca Vialli, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Carlo Ancelotti and in recent years he continued to regularly attend matches at Stamford Bridge.
His brothers Graham, Dean and Stephen were also professional footballers.
Dean was at QPR and Graham played for Chelsea and Brentford, while Stephen was a youth-team player at Chelsea before playing for Brentford and having spells in non-League football with Hayes and Ruislip Manor.
