| Paul Wilson |
 Paul Gerard Wilson was born on Thursday, 23rd November, 1950, in Bangalore, Karnataka. The 5' 9 forward signed for Bertie Auld's Thistle on Thursday, 12th July, 1979, having most recently been with Motherwell. Aged 28, he made his debut appearance on Thursday, 19th July, 1979, in a 6-0 win away to Scotia Olympics in the Gathering of the Clans Tournament. That day, Paul became a member of our scoring debutant's club. He scored the last of his 3 goals on Saturday, 21st July, 1979, netting a brace in a 4-0 win away to Metro Selects, also in the Gathering of the Clans Tournament. He played his last game for Thistle on Saturday, 8th March, 1980, in a 2-1 defeat at home to Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup, having appeared as a Jag on 19 occasions. His club-list included Drumchapel Amateurs, Maryhill, Celtic, Motherwell, Partick Thistle and Blantyre Celtic. Paul died on Monday, 18th September, 2017, in Glasgow, aged 66. |
 Paul Wilson was born in Bangalore, India, his Scottish father having been stationed there with the Royal Air Force. His mother was Indian of Dutch-Portuguese origin. The family moved to Scotland when Paul was one year old and he spent his primary childhood living in the Dennistoun district of Glasgow. At the age of 11, the family moved to Milngavie and Paul was educated at St Ninian’s High School in Kirkintilloch. Interestingly, there he played schools football in the same league as future Celtic and Scotland stars Kenny Dalglish and Danny McGrain. Those three would all play for Glasgow Schools and would go on to win the Scottish Schools Cup. Celtic manager Jock Stein signed Paul for the club in 1967 and immediately farmed him out to Maryhill, to gain experience in the junior leagues before returning to Celtic. Paul was part of a group of young players named the Quality Street Gang by the Scottish media, including such future stars as Dalglish, Macari, McGrain and Hay to name just a few. He was one of many in that group who gradually replaced Celtic's Lisbon Lions team which had won the 1967 European Cup Final. Paul's senior debut was in a European Cup 9–0 win at Celtic Park against KPV Kokkola in 1970 in which he scored twice. Wilson became a first team regular at Celtic in August 1973. He was soon recognised as a quick footballer, able to shoot with either foot. At Celtic, he was largely deployed by Jock Stein on the wing where he felt Wilson's pace would be useful. Wilson disliked playing wide, preferring to play more centrally. It's telling that his football career peaked in season 1974–75 after being moved to play as a striker when he scored 29 goals for Celtic, thereby winning the bragging rights over his friend and strike partner, Kenny Dalglish. It was remarkable stat that Paul found the net in four Hampden finals in different competitions in 1974-75 – Scottish Cup, League Cup, Glasgow Cup and Drybrough Cup. He got two in the 3-1 Scottish Cup final win over Airdrie. A certain sadness hung over that cup final though, as Paul's mother died in the week leading up to the big name. Just a few months before she passed, Paul's mother, Elaine Mary Henricus, was proud to see her son earn his one international cap for Scotland. On 5 February 1975, Willie Ormond sent him on as a 75th-minute substitute for Kenny Burns in a European Championship qualifier. It was a 1–1 draw against Spain in Valencia in which Joe Jordan had put the Scots ahead. Paul would later remark “I nearly scored but their keeper just got his hands to my effort. I was as sick as a dog. I was so proud to get my one cap.” A lot was made of the fact that this made him the only non-white player to represent the full Scotland team in the 20th century, and the first since Andrew Watson almost 100 years earlier. Paul was the first footballer with Asian origins to represent any of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland at senior level. Not so cool was the amount of racist abuse that Paul received in his football career, most notably during Old Firm games against bitter rivals Rangers. As the Celtic Wiki notes, Paul played for Celtic in a less enlightened and politically correct time than what we live in now. Back then, anything could go for a chant, and racist abuse was often the norm. As Paul stood out, he easily took the brunt from away supporters but never rose to them. When the opposition fans chanted derogatorily that “Paul Wilson is a darkie”, the Celtic supporters used to retort “I’d rather be a darkie than a Hun”. The Rangers fans used to refer to him as “Jungle Fresh” (relating to some commercial jingle at the time) or “Sabu”, comically ridiculous and offensive terms, but he had to unfairly endure these remarks. Jock Stein & Paul Wilson devised the best method was to tackle it on the pitch: Jock Stein: “Answer them by scoring.” Paul Wilson: “How about if I score two?” Paul collected a second championship winning medal with Celtic in 1976–77 when he had been a regular until Alfie Conn joined in March that season. He remained at Celtic Park until 1978 when he was out of favour under Billy McNeill's management. At Celtic he made over 220 appearances in all competitions, scoring over 60 goals including six in matches against Rangers. Paul moved on to Motherwell in September 1978 for a fee of £50,000. He didn’t stay long at Fir Park, although he made 21 league appearances and scored a single goal in several months there. Bertie Auld knew Paul from his earlier days at Celtic and, getting wind that Motherwell might be up for striking a deal, the Partick Thistle manager invited Paul into Firhill in June 1979 for talks. Paul was hesitant, not wishing to switch from full-time to part-time, but after a month-long saga, a deal was concluded on 12th July 1979, a £25,000 fee going to Motherwell. Paul had his passport out immediately, being involved with Partick Thistle's touring party bound for a pre-season tournament in Canada. On 19 July 1979, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Paul made a scoring debut for the Jags in a 6-0 win over Scotia Olympics and followed it up 2 days later with a brace in a 4-0 win over Metro Selects. Another victory versus the Canada National Students (2-0) secured the 4-team round-robin tournament for Thistle. It was an immediate return on the investment in footballing terms which augured well for the season ahead. However, despite scoring in his first two outings, Paul was unable to find the net in any of his next 17 games as a Jag, although an opening league win over the champions Aberdeen was followed up by another league win at home to Rangers, so there were some memorable moments along the way. Paul's final act in the red and yellow was to appear in the Scottish Cup quarter final tie at home to Aberdeen in March 1980 in which Thistle were somewhat unlucky to lose 2-1. By his own admission, Paul had lost his appetite for football at this stage. There were niggling injury problems for the 29-year-old that required cortisone injections – and the loss of his mother had affected him deeply. Paul was freed from his contract at Firhill in April 1980 - the reality is that it was £25K that Partick Thistle had to write-off. Paul was now pulling pints at the Derby Inn in Bellshill but, surprisingly, there was still a twist in the tale for him as a footballer. His old Celtic mate Jimmy Johnstone convinced him to make a comeback in the junior ranks, and so Paul joined Jimmy at Blantyre Celtic who also included former Rangers man Johnny Hamilton amongst their ranks at that time. Paul was soon back on the goals charts and, would you believe it, he soon earned another Scotland cap, albeit this time it was for the juniors. The game was played at Meadow Park, Irvine, on 4 October 1980, and 2,000 were there to see it; Scotland 0 Republic of Ireland 1. It wasn't the result he wanted, but it was a nice bit of history all the same. Uniquely among those players capped at both junior and senior level by Scotland, Paul is the only one to have won his senior cap first! The 31-year-old Paul did finally hang up his boots at the end of 1981-82 season. In later years he lived quietly in Milngavie while working in the motor trade. His final job, before retiring, was with a motor parts company. Paul died on 18 September 18, 2017, and was survived by his second wife Joy, sons Barry and Paul, and daughters Ceri and Katie. Paul is included in our feature piece, The Definitive Who's Who Of The Partick Thistle Internationalists → |
| (WS/GH/WIK) |
1 cap, 0 goals
d. Glasgow, 2017 (66)
magnifiable if deemed necessary by your browser
