Everybody at Tooting & Mitcham were saddened to hear of the recent passing of our former Youth, Reserve and First Team Caretaker Manager Ray Thorn. The Club would like to offer their heartfelt condolences to Ray’s Family and Friends.
Ray was a very popular figure in his time at Tooting & Mitcham United during the 1980s. He was Reserve and Youth Team Manager for several seasons in that era producing some very competitive teams for both. When the Club parted company with First Team Manager Dave Donaldson in March 1987, Ray was made Caretaker Manager and his main task was to avoid relegation which he did and he stated he wanted to improve discipline within the team.
His first match at the helm was a tough looking away fixture at Farnborough Town. The Terrors however achieved a very creditable 2-2 draw. A funny incident on the team coach on the way back from that game was when Ray had asked everyone if they had all their belongings with them and a short way into the journey home Ray noticed he had left some of his items back at Farnborough so the coach made a quick detour back to the ground to collect them. Ray steadied the ship at Sandy Lane, but would be replaced in the hot seat by Barry Nevill.
In his time at the Club Ray had also been Entertainments Manager. During the close season he would move onto pastures knew and was appointed Manager of our rivals Dulwich Hamlet. By coincidence one of his first games in charge of them was on the August Bank Holiday Monday 1987 when they paid a visit to Sandy Lane. In a keenly contested game the Terrors edged it by a goal to nil scored by our record signing Dave Flint. Ray would only stay in the job at Champion Hill for a brief period of time and was replaced soon into his tenure by former Tooting player and manager Billy Edwards.
Ray used to be a bus driver and could often be seen driving through Tooting and Mitcham in his vehicle. Ray would affectionately call people by the name “bruv”.
He would eventually move to a nice part of the country Worthing, by the Sussex Coast. On a personal note I got to know Ray quite well as I used to help out at the Reserve team matches at Sandy Lane. His son Andy was a talented footballer and an excellent defender, he saw service with Newcastle United, Crystal Palace, Wimbledon, Hearts and Tranmere Rovers. He had to retire at the age of 31 due to a knee injury. Andy made 345 appearances in his career with 9 goals.
Returning to Ray he was simply one of the best and it was a pleasure knowing him.
Funeral Details and a Family Tribute site to Ray can be found here – https://raymondthorn.muchloved.com/
Ian Bullock – Club Historian