The Quiet Man

Paul Wilson was never a player to seek out the limelight, but his contribution for Celtic was a valuable one, and he was involved in some famous Celtic successes in the 1970s

- Phil Gordon

IT is always good to be ahead of the trend, spotting the young footballer who will one day become a big name. That wasn’t easy to do back in 1970. No Twitter then, never mind YouTube to see goal clips or pick up gossip. You either had to be there at the game, or catch highlights on television late at night.

That was the world in which Paul Wilson entered the collective Celtic memory. On September 16, 1970, just four months after Celtic had lost the European Cup final to Feyenoord, Jock Stein introduced Wilson in the second-half of the European Cup first-round tie with Kokkola of Finland.

The 19-year-old came off the bench and scored twice and the 41,000 crowd showed their appreciation. The next day my father, Jimmy, told me all about it before I headed off to primary school.

My Dad didn’t really need to tell me about Paul Wilson. If you came from Milngavie, you knew all about the local boy who was in Celtic’s reserves. If you went to St Joseph’s Primary, you definitely did. Paul’s mother worked in the school canteen, and getting served by a Celtic player’s Mum undoubtedly was a bigger lunchtime appeal than the food!

It was because of Mrs Wilson that Paul played a small part in my life. Paul presented our cub team (210th St Joseph’s) with medals when we won the local league in 1971. It was on the same night as the European Cup final between Ajax and Panathinaikos, and after the medals had been distributed we all sat down to watch game on the school television.

A year later, Jock Stein said after Celtic’s 1972 European Cup semi-final defeat to Inter Milan, that ‘I don’t believe in living in the past,’ speaking about how it was now time for the Celtic youngsters, and name-checked Paul Wilson. Celtic’s legendary manager had huge faith in Paul, and the fact that he was on the payroll for 11 years, tells you everything.