Ray Wilson (English footballer)

Ramon "Ray" Wilson (born 17 December 1934 in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, England ) is a former English footballer. The left defender was a member of the England team, the 1966 in their own country won the World Cup.

Career

After finishing school, Wilson trained as a railroad worker and was discovered by a talent Count the club Huddersfield Town during an amateur game. In Huddersfield Wilson coached from now on during the day and worked into the late hours on the tracks before he was called up for military service.

His talent as a powerful and agile left-back with attacking prowess was quickly recognized by Huddersfield coach Bill Shankly and after two years in the Army Wilson made ​​his debut in a game against Manchester United. After two more years, he established himself as a regular player on his preferred position.

Wilson's first international match took place in April 1960, when England played against Scotland 1:1. During the subsequent twelve months he was also nominated there to a regular player and the FA in the squad for the 1962 World Cup in Chile. There, Wilson played in all three group matches and the quarter-final against Brazil, when England was eliminated from the tournament.

He could his place even after the World Cup under new coach Alf Ramsey, who is now the sole right (and thus no longer the FA ) had on the national vocations defend. Other players at this position, such as Gerry Byrne from Liverpool FC, also received their ways and came to international matches, but Wilson should still remained Ramsey's first choice, even though he only played for a relatively small club.

This changed in 1964, when Wilson Huddersfield left to join Everton. At that time he already had 30 international appearances, which is a record for a player in the service of Huddersfield Town until the present day. In his first game, Wilson suffered a muscle tear, which put him for most of the remaining season for both Everton and for England out of action.

As host of the 1966 World Cup England did not take part in qualifying matches so that Ramsey experimented with several links defenders while putting together his squad. As the tournament approached, Wilson won with Everton at Wembley in the FA Cup.

In the final, Everton faced the outsider Sheffield Wednesday. The game itself started badly for Wilson when he abfälschte a direct shot from Sheffield player Jim McCalliog after just four minutes into his own goal, although McCalliog should take the hit for later. Sheffield Wednesday made ​​it 2-0 before then Everton could bend the game still 3-2.

During the year, Wilson graduated six more games at Wembley and was in all matches of the 1966 World Cup present when the crew of Ramsey in the group with Uruguay, Mexico and France reached the next round and after an aggressive run quarter-final against Argentina, as well as a semi-final victory against Portugal reached the final. The semi-final was there Wilsons 50th cap.

The final against Germany should then represent an important chapter in English football. Wilson's weak defensive header allowed the German striker Helmut Haller early lead, but after a few twists and turns in the game and especially after the historic three-goal by Geoff Hurst England went on to win 4-2. Wilson was in his age 32 the oldest member of the team and the World Champion title presented the culmination of a successful season represents only Roger Hunt, who could also win a club titles with Liverpool, was also in this year, both in the club and in the national team successfully.

Ramsey put Wilson in the subsequent games for the European Championships in 1968, when England then failed in the semi-finals and became the third degree. Wilson's 63rd and last international match was the match for third place against the Soviet Union. 1966 was still Wilson's Year of titles profits, as presented in 1968 a year of just missing out on trophies dar. Besides the missed European Championship he lost to Everton earlier in the FA Cup final against West Bromwich Albion.

A knee injury that Wilson suffered in the summer of 1968, and the aspiring young full-back Terry Cooper of Leeds United then ensured for the end of the National team career Wilson. Cooper should afterwards, like Wilson before, bring a good performance in 1966, although England then was eliminated from the tournament in the quarterfinals. At the same time, as Wilson's end was sealed in the national team, his zenith was also exceeded in Everton. He might call himself healthy after recovering from injury report again, but no longer possessed the speed of earlier days and was transferred to Oldham Athletic in 1969 and therefore missed Everton's title in the First Division in 1970. A year later, he retired from football.

Certainly Wilson is the world champion from 1966 with the lowest level of awareness. Shortly after his athletic career he built in Huddersfield on a successful funeral home. In 2000 he was awarded together with four other national comrades of 1966 ( Hunt, George Cohen, Nobby Stiles and Alan Ball) for his services to English football with the Order of the British Empire as a MBE. The ceremony went ahead doing a media campaign, the surprise was expressing that the contributions of these players had not yet been recognized as one of the greatest successes in English football. The other six players on the team were, like Ramsey, already honored before.

Wilson retired from the funeral business in 1997, and now lives retired in Halifax.

Achievements

  • World Champion: 1966
  • FA Cup Winners: 1966
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