Ipswich: Chelsea legend saved the Ray for little Lewis

Chelsea fan Lewis Smy.

HE is widely regarded as football’s “Mr Nice Guy” but former England captain Ray Wilkins is today a fully fledged hero in one Ipswich household.

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Ray Wilkins

The Sky Sports pundit came to the aid of an 11-year-old boy and his dad who had turned up to Chelsea’s famous Stamford Bridge stadium for the game against Swansea – only to find their tickets were invalid.

A tearful Lewis Smy, who goes to Ipswich Academy, caught the eye of Mr Wilkins as he spoke with fans outside the stadium and helped turn the lad’s day from a nightmare into a wonderful dream come true.

Lewis and his father Doug, 52, who live in Landseer Road, had gone to the game after buying two tickets through an advert. Only when they got to the turnstile did they find out from stewards that the tickets had been reported stolen and were not valid for entry.

Mr Smy said: “I went up to this guy’s house and paid him the money and we went to London and at about 2.15pm on Saturday we went to the turnstile and we had to put the tickets through a scanner. They came up ‘invalid’.

“We got taken off to the ticket office and when we got there we were told the tickets had been stolen in the post and the original owner had had replacements sent out.

“My son was pretty distraught. The Chelsea stewards were fantastic and it just happened that there was a crowd of people and Ray Wilkins was having his photo taken with people and signing autographs.

“The steward managed to get through the crowd and spoke to Ray Wilkins, who put his arm around Lewis, not knowing what was happening.”

Mr Smy said the former Manchester United, AC Milan and QPR star then found out from the steward what had led to Lewis’s tears.

He said: “He took my son up to the ticket office to see if he could get some information from them. He said ‘what have I got to do to get this boy into the game?’.

“The staff told him the game was a total sell-out and the only spaces left were in the executive boxes – the posh area of the ground.

“Mr Wilkins said ‘how much is that going to cost?’ and they told him it would be £100 each.

“He said ‘this boy has got to see this football match’ and put his hand in his pocket and pulled out some notes and paid £200 to let us in.”

The delighted duo enjoyed the Blues’ 4-1 win alongside the likes of tennis legend Boris Becker and Frank Lampard Senior – father of the England and Chelsea stalwart.

Mr Smy added: “We tried to stay behind and thank Ray personally because even I was overwhelmed.”

Lewis said it had been a fantastic day in the end – thanks to Mr Wilkins.

“At first I was just going to have a picture with him. Then he saw me upset and said ‘what’s the matter? and gave us some money to get some tickets.

“I said he had made my day and was my hero.”

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