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Former England International Ray Wilkins Has Died Aged 61

Former England International Ray Wilkins Has Died Aged 61

The 61-year-old was taken to St George's Hospital in London last week and was placed in an induced coma

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Former England international player Ray Wilkins has died following a suspected cardiac arrest.

The 61-year-old was taken to St George's Hospital in London last week and was placed in an induced coma.

A statement from his family says: "It is with great sadness we announce that Raymond Colin Wilkins passed away this morning. 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.

PA

"Ray leaves behind his loving wife, Jackie, daughter Jade, son Ross, and his beautiful grandchildren, Oliver, Frankie, Ava, Freddie, Jake and Archie.

"We are asking for privacy at this very difficult time."

Wilkins made 179 appearances for Chelsea, 172 for Queens Park Rangers and 160 for Manchester United. The decorated athlete also played for Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, the Rangers, Crystal Palace, Millwall, the Hibs and Leyton Orient.

He was also the manager or assistant manager for QPR, Fulham, Chelsea, Watford, Millwall, England U21, Jordan and Aston Villa.

Some of those teams have also released messages of support in the wake of his death.

His past teammates have also touched on what it was like to play with Wilkins.

Following QPR's 4-1 Championship win over Norwich on Monday, manager Ian Holloway reflected on what it was like to work with Wilkins to Talksport, saying: "[He was] the best I've ever had. He made me believe in myself, made me believe I was good enough to be there sometimes.

"You've got someone like him who's played 80-odd times for England and he's telling you you're good enough. He was immense for me."

Ray's Talksport mate Alan Brazil recently revealed that he underwent a double bypass a few months ago.

Brazil said: "Afterwards he said he felt a lot better. But then he had few little complications like bad chest infections. He was never 100 percent.

"But there was never a time when I thought anything like this would happen to him. Ray is such a lovely guy and you could never meet anyone nicer in football."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: SPORT, UK News, News, Football, Manchester United, England