Ray Wallace was a combative and quick right-back, unlike his older brother Danny Wallace and his twin Rod Wallace who were both pacey wingers.

Although he was regarded as less naturally gifted than his brothers he was still good enough to play four times for the England U21s, perhaps because he was initially the keener of the twins, although his enthusiasm rubbed off on his brother when Rodney saw how successful Danny was becoming.

The twins were taken on as professionals at Saints in April 1988 but it was not until later that year in October that Ray got his first start at home against Sheffield Wednesday, in a history-making match in which the three Wallace brothers took the field together. He might have made more appearances for Saints but, as a result of suspension, he lost his place to Jason Dodd who went on to be a fixture at right back for more than a decade. When Howard Wilkinson signed Rod for Leeds in 1991, Ray went too as part of the deal with his valuation put at £100,000.

When he later moved to Stoke he came into himself, playing 211 times for the Potters in all competitions, despite a slow start in 1994-95 when he was loaned out. Then in 1995-96 he was switched from right back to a central midfield role and went on to help Stoke to the play-off final – which they lost – and Ray was voted Stoke’s Player-of-the-Year jointly with goalkeeper Mark Prudhoe. After football he worked in a Fitness First gym moving on to being employed by a Manchester Health Club, but by 2017 he was working at Manchester Airport.