Ray Wilkins, Chelsea's Mr Nice Guy, hides the hurt
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'I'm very saddened by it,' Ray Wilkins says of his recent exit. 'My whole family is. We've been Chelsea-ites for years and years. But I'm realistic enough that football doesn't surprise me any more.' Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian
In his smartly tailored pin-stripe suit, Ray Wilkins looked very much at home back in front of the cameras in the Sky Sports studio today, discussing the prospects of three of his former clubs in the last 16 of the Champions League. Not quite as much at home, however, as he looked until six weeks ago, occupying the dugout at Stamford Bridge, wearing a tracksuit in the colours of the club he joined when he was 10 years old.
Then one Thursday, of course, he was called in from the training ground and told that his time as assistant to Carlo Ancelotti was over, for reasons that remain unexplained even to him. It was the start not just of a dip in form for Chelsea, many of whose players were as mystified as their manager by the decision, but of a run of bizarre dismissals of English coaches who appeared to be doing a good job for their clubs.
"These things happen in football," he says. "Mr [Roman] Abramovich wanted to make a change, so he made a change. And when you've spent as much money as he has, then you're entitled to do so. On the others, I thought Chris [Hughton] was doing a wonderful job at Newcastle. It's coming up to January, so whether Mike Ashley thought he wanted to give the money to someone else to spend is up for debate. But I thought Chris was doing really well. He had the dressing room, they were pumped up and playing really well for him, so I was very, very surprised. With Sam [Allardyce], it's new owners. They come in, see the guy that they want to bring in, and almost dismiss the job that he's done already – and it has been a fantastic job that Sam's done at Blackburn, on limited resources. It was a strange one."
Is this a dangerously volatile time for the top tier of English football? "Yes, I think so. People do get jittery, and to stay in the Premier League is paramount now, the money being what it is. So they do panic. There are too many knee-jerk reactions."
With 11 clubs as a player and five as a coach or manager in the 37 years since he made his debut as a Chelsea prodigy, Wilkins has seen most things in football, from the heights with Manchester United, Milan and England to the more modest environments of Wycombe Wanderers and Leyton Orient, for whom he played a handful of games in the last days of his playing career. Nothing that has happened to him has put a dent in his unfailingly polite, phlegmatic and tactful manner. But the end of his time at Chelsea was the most surprising departure from Stamford Bridge since Brian Mears allowed Eddie McCreadie to walk out over the matter of a club car, leaving behind a side, captained by the 18-year-old Wilkins, who had just won promotion to the old First Division.
"I'm very saddened by it," he says of his own recent exit. "My whole family is. We've been Chelsea-ites for years and years. But I'm realistic enough that football doesn't surprise me any more. So we'll just have to get on, and if the next challenge comes round the corner, we'll just have to see what it is."
Meanwhile, he is watching matches and commenting on them from the perspective of the assistant manager of the team who won one Premier League title and two FA Cups in the past two seasons. And Chelsea's draw today, against FC Copenhagen, pleased him as much as if he had been still helping Ancelotti take the training sessions at Stoke d'Abernon. Of the four English contenders, he is convinced that the west London club are the best placed to go all the way.
"They've got power, pace and a burning desire to succeed in Europe," he says. "They're geared to go the whole way, specially with the draw they've just had. I feel with Manchester United at the moment they look as though they might concede goals, and I haven't see that for a long time. They seem to be quite open in the way they're playing. They're undefeated in the Premier League, but when I've seen them they've looked as if they could ship a goal, whereas Chelsea are rock-solid, especially when everybody's fit – and Alex will be back at that point. So they'll have [Branislav] Ivanovic, Alex, John Terry, Ashley Cole and [Petr] Cech in goal, and if there's a finer back five playing, I haven't seen it.
"It's paramount in Europe, keeping that clean sheet. I love watching Tottenham play this year, and Arsenal, too, but they look as if they can concede a goal. Out of the four, it's only Chelsea I can see keeping a clean sheet if they really have to."
Spurs' destiny, he believes, depends on the outcome of the first leg at San Siro. "If Milan win the game without conceding a goal, it will be tough for Tottenham at White Hart Lane because Milan will set themselves up defensively and they'll be rock-solid. And with the likes of Robinho, Pato and [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic, there's always the possibility that they can nick one as well. So I think Tottenham have to score an away goal."
The tie pitting Arsenal against Barcelona reminds him of two seasons ago, when the Catalan side went through to the final at the expense of Chelsea, at the time when he was assisting Guus Hiddink. "It's the toughest draw for anybody to have got. I saw them against Real Madrid recently and they took it to a different level. Arsène [Wenger] won't do what [José] Mourinho did last year because he loves to see his team play football.
"When Inter had the guy sent off in the Camp Nou, it suited José down to the ground – 'Now we'll go back to the edge of the 18-yard box and you try and break us down.' It seems to be the only way to beat them. When they lose the ball, it's as if they say: 'Let's get it back within six touches.' They did that against us in the semi-final, and it was so difficult to play against. They just fly at you."
Two of the Premier League's European Cup contenders will meet at Old Trafford on Sunday, in the clash between United, with whom he had just been named the supporters' player of the year when Milan lured him away in 1984, and the club of his heart.
"It's come at a great time," he says. "We'll be in for a feast. It's a good game for Chelsea to have at the moment, coming off their performance at Tottenham last weekend, and they'll be buoyed by the prospect of Frank [Lampard] coming back. When you've got a guy whose scored 20 goals a season from midfield for the past six or seven years, it's a massive loss. Everybody has injury problems, but with Frank out they've lost goals from the middle of the field. When he's back to match tempo, he'll be a real threat again. They've had a lot of players unfit, and there have been some playing with injury. They've had a little bit of a bad period but the signs on Sunday were that they're coming through it.
"The last six or seven years haven't been too successful for Man United at Stamford Bridge, but they always seemed to nullify each other away from home. Chelsea had the ability to take the ball off Man United at Old Trafford, and vice versa. But I've got a little feeling that Chelsea might nick this one on Sunday."
Looking back, his three years in Milan evoke a special fondness. "That was a different time. Different challenge, totally different culture. We had our daughter there, so we carry a little bit of Milan around with us. And only 30 matches a year, home for Christmas and Easter. They're warm people, the Italians, and they don't forget."
The next challenge, however, is always the important one. "Hopefully it's not too far away. I want to get in there. I'm a football person. When I ended up playing for Orient and Wycombe, I was still waking up every morning so grateful that I was a footballer. I don't think there's a better life. I've been blessed. So you expect to get kicked in the proverbials every now and then."