The following article appeared in issue 4 of the 90’s fans newspaper, ‘The Ranger’ as part of the ‘Behind the Scenes’ series and features Clive Wilson’s wife, Lynn:
‘We get up on a match day around 8.30am. I always leave Clive to his own devices when he’s got a game – I don’t do anything for him.
Clive makes his own breakfast, which is just cereal. Then he has a light pre-match meal of chicken and beans around 12.15pm.
We leave our home in Wimbledon around 12.30pm. It takes about 45 minutes to reach QPR. Clive joins the other players in the dressing room and I go to the players’ lounge. I have quite a wait until kick-off, but it’s easier for us to travel in together.
I usually chat to a few of the other wives and girlfriends. There’s Ray Wilkins’ wife Jackie, Alan McDonald’s girlfriend Tonia, and Les Ferdinand’s girlfriend Angelia. The girls behind the bar are very friendly, too.
If the weather’s decent, I’ll watch the match from the stand. But if it’s really cold, I’ll watch it on the close circuit television in the lounge or wangle my way into one of the executive boxes! Nine times out of ten, I watch out in the stand because there’s more atmosphere.
When Clive has to take a penalty, I can’t look! I feel my legs wobble! I’m more nervous than he is. If he gets injured, I get a bit panicky and upset. But I’m ok when I see him getting up.
We meet again after the match. Clive usually takes longer than anyone else to get ready! We meet a lot of people in the players’ lounge.
I’m really pleased that Clive is a regular in the QPR first team and that he’s been playing so well.
Even though he’s 33 this year, it’s nice to know he can still do the business week-in, week-out.’
Clive made nearly 200 1st team appearances for the R’s and is considered one of our greatest ever full-backs. He moved on to Tottenham in the summer of 1995.
Steve Russell