Will it be Wilkins?
Monday, 29th Oct 2007 09:10

Surely Ray Wilkins will be the odds on favourite to succeed Gus Poyet now Leeds are in the hunt for an Assistant Manager?

"Its a shame about Ray!" as the Lemonheads song goes, but it appears that Leeds fans will have to put some uncomfortable past connections aside if Ray Wilkins is named as Dennis Wises' number two.

With "loyal, in for the long haul" Gus off to White Hart Lane because their new coach speaks even worse Engleeesh than Manuel from Fawlty Towers, would it really be any surprise if Ray Wilkins mobile wasn't buzzing away right now with Dennis on the other end?

Ray was Den's number two at Millwall. He is currently sitting at home twiddling his thumbs since being discarded by the England U21's coaching staff earlier this year.

He also coached at Watford and Chelsea under Gianluca Vialli. Leeds fans will recall him as a manager in his own right, I seem to remember going to Loftus Road in November 1994 (I think! it was one of those boozy Away days courtesy of the Springbok Pub and their brilliant Punk jukebox - masses of Leeds fans pogo-ing to the Pistols! those were the days!) when Ray succeeded Gerry Francis as QPR boss and turned us over 3-2 in his first game in charge.

Ironically, Francis had just been poached by a certain club in north London called Tottenham - nothing changes really!

As a player, Wilkins had the unfortunate tag of "the Crab" because his critics argued that he could only pass the ball sideways, however it was the great Don Revie who gave him his first of 84 England Caps in 1976.

As a player, Wilkins played for (appearances/goals in brackets) Chelsea (179/30), Man U (160/7), Ac Milan (73/2), PSG (13/0), Rangers (70/2), QPR (155/8), Crystal Palace (1/0), QPR (21/0), Wycombe (1/0), Hibernian (16/0), Millwall (3/0) and Orient (3/0).

As well as boss of QPR, he also managed Fulham.

But, in Dennis We Trust! If Butch is the man Dennis wants, he will be welcomed into the Leeds United family with open-arms! Lets face it, he does have some dodgy early connections (but Chelsea and Man U were pretty s**t in those days!) and he's just about been everywhere else!