Ted Lasso angers Chelsea fans with insensitive club hero snub in latest episode

(Image credit: Apple)

Some Chelsea fans are furious with the latest episode of Ted Lasso after a banner tribute to club legend Ray Wilkins was edited to include the name of AFC Richmond's hard-talking assistant coach Roy Kent.

The Chelsea banner "They don't make them like Ray anymore" hangs permanently in the East Stand of Chelsea's Stamford Bridge. In the Apple TV Plus show's third season, Ray has been replaced with reference to Roy Kent, an ex-Chelsea player on the show.

The banner, created by fans for Ray Wilkins after his death and paid for by donations, is regularly seen during televised matches at Chelsea's stadium, Stamford Bridge.

Ray Wilkins died suddenly in 2018 at the age of 61, after a lustrous career that spanned 25 years playing for Chelsea, AC Milan, and more. He was later an assistant manager at the club during Chelsea's Premier League title-winning 2009-10 season. Wilkins made 179 appearances for Chelsea from 1973-1979.

Some Chelsea fans are furious

Flooding to Twitter, some Chelsea fans have expressed their disbelief and anger at the lack of respect in replacing the name on a memorial banner. The fans, posting on social media, are upset at the disrespect of one of their beloved heroes, even if the show's creators weren't aware of the banner's significance. iMore has reached out to Apple and Chelsea Football Club for comment.

TheBlueDodger, a Chelsea FC fan twitter account with over 100k followers, said, "Chelsea and the owners might not have been aware, and it could have all been Apple TV and the production crew. It would be disappointing if people at Chelsea saw the episode and didn't say, "That needs to be changed back immediately.""

"To some, it's not that deep, but for others, it will be, so let's not go down that road. Having an "I'm not offended, so no one else will be" attitude is, IMO, foolish. Who knows, Ray might have thought it was hilarious! He was naturally a funny guy! We will never know, and his family would have the best idea on that."

Don’t like Ted Lasso mocking up a banner in memory of a player that passed away.Show some respect. pic.twitter.com/SBbjvSfFSaMarch 22, 2023

Disappointing. https://t.co/TRGiGgfB7DMarch 22, 2023

In the latest episode of Ted Lasso, named "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea," AFC Richmond plays their first game back in the Premier League. In the show, which is Apple TV Plus' most popular original, Roy Kent, is an ex-Chelsea player known as a club legend.

Chelsea has also promoted the episode with a promo video from head coach Graham Potter alongside official promo photos of the AFC Richmond team facing off against Chelsea superstars Kai Havertz and Ruben Loftus-Cheek. It was easy to replace Ray with Roy, but Apple might have scored an own goal here.

John-Anthony Disotto is the How To Editor of iMore, ensuring you can get the most from your Apple products and helping fix things when your technology isn’t behaving itself. Living in Scotland, where he worked for Apple as a technician focused on iOS and iPhone repairs at the Genius Bar, John-Anthony has used the Apple ecosystem for over a decade and prides himself in his ability to complete his Apple Watch activity rings. John-Anthony has previously worked in editorial for collectable TCG websites and graduated from The University of Strathclyde where he won the Scottish Student Journalism Award for Website of the Year as Editor-in-Chief of his university paper. He is also an avid film geek, having previously written film reviews and received the Edinburgh International Film Festival Student Critics award in 2019. John-Anthony also loves to tinker with other non-Apple technology and enjoys playing around with game emulation and Linux on his Steam Deck.

In his spare time, John-Anthony can be found watching any sport under the sun from football to darts, taking the term “Lego house” far too literally as he runs out of space to display any more plastic bricks, or chilling on the couch with his French Bulldog, Kermit.