John Gibson: It was with great sadness that I returned from my summer vacation to learn of the death of former Newcastle United goalkeeper Ray King in Bangkok.
John Gibson
Ray was one month shy of his 90th birthday and was a last link with a long gone age when footballers wore long shorts, Brylcreemed their hair, and performed with a ball so heavy it was like kicking a sack of iron.
His was somehow a time of innocence before obscene wages muddied thinking and the game. He played alongside Wor Jackie for the Magpies as the Second World War took him into khaki, but he was to make his name at Port Vale where a terrific defensive record saw him at the heart of what was nicknamed the Iron Curtain. Vale reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup in 53-54, when his prowess was rewarded with selection for an England B tour.
King played with and against Duncan Edwards, a man-boy of a footballer tragically cut down by the Munich Air disaster, and faced the likes of Tom Finney, Stanley Matthews, Tommy Lawton, Frank Swift, Nat Lofthouse et al.
During his army years when repeatedly on the move, Raymond reported to Carnforth railway station and chanced upon the shooting of a film which he watched for a while only to find it boring and walk away. It was Brief Encounter, the 1945 British classic starring Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson.
King recalled the story to Howard when they met up much later at Lord’s, and his new-found friend was in complete agreement!
Having interviewed Ray at his Amble home for my Face To Face series a good while back we became firm friends.
Ray would phone me at least once a week for a chat which would last forever and e-mailed me regularly from Bangkok where he went to live with his son Gary after his beloved wife Norma died five years ago.
To me Ray was a King. I shall not forget him.