Ray Wilkins
November 22, 2010: A 37 year old story came to an end on the 11th of this month when Chelsea’s assistant manager of the last 3 years, Ray Wilkins was abruptly dismissed by the club. The club issued an unsatisfactory statement during a reserve team match when Chief Executive Ron Gourlay announced that the club had decided to not renew Wilkins’ contract and that he would leave the club with ‘immediate effect’. Gourlay further announced that ‘On behalf of everyone at the club I would like to thank Ray for everything he has done for Chelsea Football Club. We all wish him well for the future.’ Chelsea supporters have been rightly outraged by such an act by the club especially because the dismissal was accorded without citing any reasons for the same.
Ray Wilkins had been associated with the Chelsea Football Club for the last 37 years playing one role or the other. He made his first team debut for Chelsea Football Club at a tender age of 17. At 18 years old, he was made the captain of his boyhood club, a captaincy that he retained for 4 years. He was sold to Manchester United in 1979. He was a regular at Old Trafford till 1984. He then played for Italian giants Milan, Paris St. Germain, Celtic and finally Queens Park Rangers (QPR). He was loaned to Crystal Palace but returned to QPR as a player-manager soon.
His managerial era began with Fulham FC in 1997. After that, he worked with Chelsea, Watford, Millwall for brief spells. He took up the position as assistant first team coach at Chelsea under Luiz Felipe Scolari in the September of 2008.
Since then, he has been instrumental in Chelsea’s success at both the Premier League and European levels.
Since his dismissal, Chelsea FC have lost two successive matches in the English Premier League, one at home against Sunderland and then against Birmingham City away. This is being attributed to his dismissal even though Ancelotti maintains that this is not the reason for the dip in form. There is uproar within the Chelsea community as there are no clear answers emanating from the club as to why the wildly popular assistant manager who was Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti’s right hand man and close friend was sacked.
Meanwhile, Michael Emenaldo, scout at the club, who is notably close to owner Roman Abramovich has been appointed assistant manager at the club.
Whatever may be the case, one thing is for sure, that all is not well at Chelsea Football Club and that the power games may be affecting the performance of the first team. Chelsea supporters deserve answers from those who hold high positions at the club, and fast!
Tags: Chelsea Football Club, English Premier League, EPL, Football, Ray Wilkins, Ron Gourlay
