George Wilkins (footballer)
Encyclopedia
Ernest George Wilkins was a professional footballer
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 and had 4 footballing sons, including the England International Ray Wilkins
Ray Wilkins
Raymond Colin Wilkins MBE , often known as "Butch" Wilkins, is an English former footballer and at present a television pundit...

.

George Wilkins was born in Hackney
Metropolitan Borough of Hackney
The Metropolitan Borough of Hackney was a Metropolitan borough of the County of London from 1900 to 1965. Its area became part of the London Borough of Hackney.-Formation and boundaries:...

, East London. While working as a lorry boy, Wilkins played football for Hayes
Hayes F.C.
Hayes F.C. was an English football club based in Hayes, in Greater London. The club started out as Botwell Mission in 1909 taking its present name in 1929. The team nickname, The Missioners was a salute to the history of the team. The club played in the Conference South for their last few seasons...

. In 1938 he signed as a professional for Brentford
Brentford F.C.
Brentford Football Club are a professional English football club based in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow. They are currently playing in Football League One....

. After making his First Division debut in January 1939 he played three League games before the Second World War. He continued to play for Brentford during the war, including at Wembley in the 1942 London Cup Final, when Brentford beat Portsmouth. He served in the Royal Kent Regiment. When the war ended, he continued with Brentford but was sold in February 1947 for a fee of £7,000 to Bradford Park Avenue
Bradford Park Avenue A.F.C.
Bradford Association Football Club, previously also known as Bradford and since its reformation in the 1970s now referred to as Bradford Park Avenue, is a football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England...

. In the following December he was sold to Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest F.C.
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...

 for £7,500. He moved to Leeds
Leeds United A.F.C.
Leeds United Association Football Club are an English professional association football club based in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, who play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system...

 in September 1949 but only played 3 games for them. In a career interrupted by the war, he played 83 league games and scored 19 goals for the 4 professional clubs.

In December 1949 he returned to Hayes as a coach. He was coach 3 times at Hayes until sacked in January 1961, when the players complained of his over-rigorous training methods.

Three of his sons, Graham
Graham Wilkins
Graham George Wilkins is an English former professional footballer who played in the Football League as a full back for Chelsea, Brentford and Southend United....

, Ray
Ray Wilkins
Raymond Colin Wilkins MBE , often known as "Butch" Wilkins, is an English former footballer and at present a television pundit...

 and Dean Wilkins
Dean Wilkins
Dean Mark Wilkins is an English former footballer and the ex manager of English football team Brighton & Hove Albion. Wilkins was temporarily in charge of Southampton, after the sacking of Alan Pardew, but was succeeded by Nigel Adkins after only 3 games.-Club career:Born in Hillingdon, Wilkins...

, played professional football, with Ray playing 84 times for England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...

. Another son, Stephen, was signed by Chelsea
Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...

 and Brentford, but did not make any first-team appearances for either team and he went on to play for a number of non-league
Non-league football
Non-League football is football in England played at a level below that of the Premier League and The Football League. The term non-League was commonly used well before 1992 when the top football clubs in England all belonged to The Football League; all clubs who were not a part of The Football...

 teams, including Dagenham
Dagenham F.C.
Dagenham F.C. was an English football club based in Dagenham. Established in 1949, the club played at Victoria Road from 1955 until its merger with Redbridge Forest in 1992 to form Dagenham & Redbridge.-History:...

 and Hayes
Hayes F.C.
Hayes F.C. was an English football club based in Hayes, in Greater London. The club started out as Botwell Mission in 1909 taking its present name in 1929. The team nickname, The Missioners was a salute to the history of the team. The club played in the Conference South for their last few seasons...

.

He died in Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...

, Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

, in January 1999. He was 79 years old.

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