Ramon Wilson (17 December 1934 – 15 May 2018) was an English professional footballer who played as a left-back. He was a member of the England national team that won the 1966 World Cup.
Club career
Huddersfield Town
Wilson became an apprentice railwayman upon leaving school, but was spotted by a scout playing amateur football at Huddersfield Town. He began a combination of working on the tracks by night and training with Huddersfield by day, before being called up for national service.
Quickly singled out as a strong and nippy left back, with good overlapping skills, by the then-Huddersfield Town manager Bill Shankly, Wilson signed professional forms with the club in 1952 after his two-year army posting, Two years later, Wilson was Huddersfield's established, first-choice left back. As well as the full England side, he was selected for various representative teams such the Football League and an 'FA XI'.
Everton
In 1964, Wilson joined Everton,
International career
In April 1960, Wilson won his first cap for England in a 1–1 draw with Scotland. His early headed clearance fell to striker Helmut Haller, who gave the Germans the lead as a result, but after a hat-trick from Geoff Hurst, England ran out 4-2 winners.
Ramsey continued to select Wilson as England progressed through the qualification process for UEFA Euro 1968, ultimately going out in the semi-finals and finishing third overall. Wilson's 63rd and final England cap came in the third-place play-off against the USSR. At the time of his final cap, he held the record for the highest number of appearances for an outfield player without having scored a goal, a record since broken by Gary Neville and Ashley Cole.
A serious knee injury suffered in the summer of 1968, coupled with the emergence of young Leeds United full-back Terry Cooper (who would be as impressive in the 1970 World Cup as Wilson was in 1966, despite England's elimination in the last eight), ended Wilson's England career.
After retirement from football
Wilson after his playing days ended built an undertaker's business in Huddersfield. along with World Cup-winning teammates Martin Peters in 2013 and Nobby Stiles in 2012. It is feared that the disease was brought on by their heading of the heavier footballs used in their playing days.
On 30 July 2016, fifty years to the day since England lifted the World Cup, Wilson's former club Huddersfield Town released its new second-change kit for the 2016–17 season in his honour. It was released with the tag line "Legends Are Rarely Made", and featured a red shirt, in homage to the 1966 World Cup winning kit, and had Wilson's signature in white, just beneath the collar on the back, and below the white badge on the front. Ray's two sons and his wife released a statement alongside the release:
On 15 May 2018, Wilson died in a care home in Huddersfield from Alzheimer's disease after suffering from the condition for 14 years.
Career statistics
Club
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
!rowspan="2"|Club
!rowspan="2"|Season
!colspan="3"|League
!colspan="2"|FA Cup
!colspan="2"|League Cup
!colspan="2"|Europe
!colspan="2"|Total
|-
!Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan="10"|Huddersfield Town
|1955–56
|First Division
||6||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||26||0
|-
|1956–57
|Second Division
||13||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||36||0
|-
|1957–58
|Second Division
||31||1||2||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||51||0
|-
|1958–59
|Second Division
||42||2||1||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||48||0
|-
|1959–60
|Second Division
||41||1||3||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||46||0
|-
|1960–61
|Second Division
||32||0||4||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||45||0
|-
|1961–62
|Second Division
||39||0||2||0||1||0||colspan="2"|—||53||0
|-
|1962–63
|Second Division
||33||1||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||37||0
|-
|1963–64
|Second Division
||29||1||1||0||3||0||colspan="2"|—||40||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!266!!6!!13!!0!!4!!0!!0!!0!!283!!6
|-
|rowspan="6"|Everton
|1964–65
|First Division
||17||0||4||0||0||0||2||0||23||0
|-
|1965–66
|First Division
||35||0||8||0||0||0||4||0||47||0
|-
|1966–67
|First Division
||30||0||6||0||0||0||4||0||40||0
|-
|1967–68
|First Division
||28||0||6||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||34||0
|-
|1968–69
|First Division
||4/2||0||2||0||0/1||0||colspan="2"|—||6/3||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!114/2!!0!!26!!0!!0/1!!0!!10!!0!!150/3!!0
|-
|Oldham Athletic
|1969–70
|Fourth Division
||25||0||3||0||1||0||colspan="2"|—||29||0
|-
|Bradford City
|1970–71
|Fourth Division
||2||0||1||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||3||0
|-
!colspan="3"|Career total
!407/2!!6!!43!!0!!5/1!!0!!10!!0!!465/3!!6
|}
International
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by national team and year
England
- FIFA World Cup: 1966
References
External links
- My Yorkshire – Ray Wilson talks about the 1966 victory
- BBC radio interview with Ray Wilson, 1999