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Raymond Colin Wilkins, (born September 14 1956), was an English football player, he was a defensive midfielder. During a distinguished career he earned 84 caps for England, making him the seventh most capped Englishman in history. He captained the side on 10 occasions.
Wilkins was born in Hillingdon, Middlesex, he joined Chelsea as a 17 year old apprentice. He made his debut on October 26 1973 as a substitute in Chelsea's 3-0 win over Norwich City, he made a further 6 appearances for the club in his first season. Wilkins would establish his place in the squad during the next season. Wilkins form and leadership skills were such that he became a first choice player, and was awarded the captaincy, at the age of just 19. Wilkins was also 19 when England manager Don Revie gave him his international debut, this game was on May 28 1976, a 3-2 victory against Italy.
After six years at Stamford Bridge, Wilkins was sold to Manchester United for a fee of around £800k in August 1979. Wilkins won his first honour whilst at Old Trafford: the 1983 FA Cup. United beat Brighton and Hove Albion 4-0 in a replay to lift the cup. The first game, which finished 2-2 after extra time, featured a rare goal by Wilkins, an especially memorable strike from 25 yards (22.9m).
A year after the cup success, United manager Ron Atkinson sold Wilkins to Italian Serie A outfit AC Milan for a fee of £1.5m. The three years that he spent at the San Siro were relatively barren ones for the Italian giants, the team failing to finish higher than fifth in the league, although they did reach the final of the Coppa Italia in 1985. During his final year at Milan, Wilkins was only a semi-regular in the side, and in the summer of 1987 he was allowed to join French side Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer. It was during this last year at Milan that Wilkins played his final game for England, on November 12 1986 against Yugoslavia. In the two years after his departure, Milan went on to win both the Serie A title and the European Cup.
Wilkins spent only four months in Paris, and played only 10 times, before he was sold to Rangers for a fee of £250k. The two years that he spent at Ibrox coincided with the team's rebirth under Graeme Souness. During this spell Wilkins helped the side to two league titles as well as the Scottish League Cup.
In November 1989, Rangers allowed Wilkins to leave the club due to family reasons, his family wishing to return to London. Wilkins signed with QPR and spent four and a half years with the side before being sold to Crystal Palace on a free transfer in the summer of 1994. He only made one appearance for Palace before returning to QPR as a player/manager in November of the same year. At the end of his first season as manager, the club's board of directors sold star striker Les Ferdinand to Newcastle United for £6m. This sale was a critical blow to the side, who were relegated a year later.
Wilkins left the club at the start of the 1996/97 after the club was bought by media tycoon Chris Wright following the relegation from the Premier League. After leaving QPR, Wilkins had spells at Wycombe Wanderers, Hibernian, Millwall, and Leyton Orient, in what would prove to be his final season as a player.
After his retirement in the summer of 1997, Wilkins became the manager of Fulham, with former England teammate Kevin Keegan as "Chief Operating Officer" under him. Wilkins managed to take the big-spending side to the Second Division play-offs, but was sacked by chairman Mohamed Al-Fayed before the first game took place after Fulham lost the last three games of the regular season. Kevin Keegan, who replaced Wilkins, failed in his bid to guide the side through he play-offs that season.
After leaving Fulham, Wilkins mainly worked as a television pundit before joining Millwall as assistant manager to Dennis Wise in October 2003.
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