Homeless former soldier’s incredible story of how Ray Wilkins helped him escape life on the streets
AN unnamed army veteran rang talkSPORT to tell of Ray Wilkins' incredible act of kindness when he was homeless and living on the streets.
Former England, Chelsea and Manchester United legend Wilkins died this week aged 61.
And the former soldier told presenter Jim White just what Wilkins meant to him, having asked after his welfare as he sat on a piece of cardboard outside London's Brompton station.
The caller said: "I recognised him straight away. We sat on my bit of cardboard together and he took time to sit and talk.
"I was a gambler at the time - I still am, but I'm recovering - and I told him about that. We talked about my time in the army.
"He took a phone call while we were talking but said 'I'm busy at the moment I will call you back'.
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He gave me £20 told me to get myself a hot meal and then we went across the road for coffee together.
"When the bill came, I said to him: 'Let me buy this. I want to feel like a man' and he said that he totally understood that.
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"I used the money he gave me and got shelter that night and I met a guy who helped ex-soldiers."
Choking with emotion, the soldier added: "I am not gambling now, I have a place and have met a beautiful woman who I am about to marry.
"I put it down to Ray Wilkins. I just wanted to thank him for talking to a man he never even knew, who was nothing to him really - a stranger.
"He was a hero, a real hero, to me and millions around the world."
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The soldier added that those remembered the former star were "saying thank you to his family for giving us Ray Wilkins."
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Wilkins - nicknamed 'Butch' - died in hospital days after a cardiac arrest.
He also played for Rangers and AC Milan, besides winning 84 England caps with ten of them as captain.
Wilkins went on to become a manager and football pundit, but told in later life how he had battled health issues including ulcerative colitis and alcohol addiction.