Long after hanging up his boots, England World Cup legend Ray Wilson picked up his pens and pencils and started drawing with the same sense of adventure that had defined his football.
He had never shown any artistic inclination before an Alzheimer’s diagnosis in his 60s but one morning after breakfast, Wilson took a biro and set to work on a cornflakes box.
And that was that. He hardly stopped. His family stocked up on equipment and the hobby brought him great comfort as his health slowly deteriorated through his later years.
When I dropped in on him and his wife Pat at their home near Huddersfield in 2017 to write a feature for Daily Mail Sport, Ray was singing happily while he sketched and conversations about his football revolved around him.
As I left, they insisted that I took one with me. It contained, as most of them did, an intricate doodling of fantastical creatures, with fins, horns and scales, staring eyes, grinning faces and long noses.
It has been perched on a bookshelf in my study ever since, a treasured souvenir and a perk of a privileged occupation, created by one of only 11 men to win the World Cup for England.
Ray Wilson holds the trophy as he celebrates England’s World Cup final victory at Wembley
WIlson drawing at home when Daily Mail Sport visited him in 2017, a year before his death
One of Wilson’s drawings, which often contained intricate depictions of fantastical creatures
Wilson, who played left back in Sir Alf Ramsey’s famous team, died in 2018 at the age of 83. Pat died in August, leaving hundreds of her husband’s drawings which the family are planning to sell in the hope of raising funds and awareness for the Alzheimer’s Society.
‘There must be hundreds of them,’ says Linda Wilson, their daughter in law. ‘They held such a treasured place in Pat’s life she never threw one away, and when she went into a home, she asked us to do something with them.’
One bears Wilson’s true signature. Several others make playful reference to his football connections, including Huddersfield Town and Everton, the clubs where he spent most of his playing career.
Huddersfield, where he started his professional career and played for 12 years, cherish him as their most capped player. He was born in Derbyshire but settled in West Yorkshire and remained a presence at the club long after retirement.
He had never shown any artistic inclination before an Alzheimer’s diagnosis in his 60s
Wilson in action for England during the 2-0 win over France at Wembley in the 1966 World Cup
There is a corporate suite named in his honour at Huddersfield’s Accu Stadium and they have taken a selection of his drawings and framed them to display on the walls along with other memorabilia of his career.
Huddersfield raised over £30,000 for the Alzheimer’s Society in September in a sponsored walk in honour of Denis Law, another of the club’s most decorated players and a former Terriers teammate of Wilson’s, who died with Alzheimer’s in January.
England’s friendly against Wales on Thursday is dedicated to their partnership with the Alzheimer’s Society and mascots for the game at Wembley Stadium are people living with Alzheimer’s.
They include Adron O’Connor, an 81-year-old Bristol City supporter featuring in Daily Mail Sport last week, who stood on the terraces for the World Cup final in 1966 and saw Sir Alf Ramsey’s team, including Wilson, beat West Germany at Wembley.
To join Alzheimer’s Society and The FA and be part of the team working together to end the devastation of dementia, visit alzheimers.org.uk/joinourteam
