Chelsea have announced they are not renewing the contract of assistant manager Ray Wilkins and that he is to leave the club with immediate effect.
Wilkins’ third spell with Chelsea – the club where he started his playing career – began in 2008 when he was appointed as Luiz Felipe Scolari’s assistant.
He stayed when Guus Hiddink came in and remained when Carlo Ancelotti was named manager ahead of the 2009-2010 season.
Chelsea’s chief executive Ron Gourlay said: “I would like to thank Ray for everything he has done for Chelsea.”
He added: “We all wish him well for the future.”
No reason has been given for the decision not to renew the contract of Wilkins, who managed QPR and Fulham in the mid-1990s.
Following Chelsea’s Double success last season, Ancelotti hailed Wilkins in his autobiography, The Beautiful Games of an Ordinary Genius.
“Ray is one of those select few, always present, noble in spirit, a real blue-blood, Chelsea flows in his veins… without him we wouldn’t have won a thing,” he wrote.
