Mark Wilson (Scottish Footballer)

Mark Wilson (born 5 June 1984) is a Scottish football player and coach.

Wilson, who played as a right back, started his career at Dundee United. He broke into their first team in the 2002–03 season, and made over 100 league appearances for United before He moved to Celtic in January 2006 for a fee of £500,000. Wilson suffered significant injury problems while with Celtic, which limited his appearances, and he was released at the end of his contract in 2012. He then signed for English Championship club Bristol City before rejoining his first club on a short-term contract in 2013. He left Dundee United in January 2015, signing for Dumbarton the following month.

Wilson represented Scotland at all youth levels and captained the under-21 team. He played once for the Scotland national football team, in 2011.

He retired from playing football in 2015. Wilson was the head coach of Scottish League One club Airdrieonians during most of the 2016–17 season. He was appointed Brechin City manager in September 2019, but was sacked from this position in October 2020.

Early life

Mark Wilson was born in Glasgow on 5 June 1984. He attended St Ambrose High School in Coatbridge.

Club career

Dundee United

Wilson started his career with Dundee United. He joined as a youth player, turned professional in 2000 and made his senior début in January 2002. Signing a new two-year contract just months later, he began the next season as a regular. Wilson scored his first goal in December 2002, a header opening the scoring in a 1–1 home league draw against Hibernian. Five days later, Wilson was announced as the SPL Young Player of the Month for November, saying it was a "great honour to be given this award". Before the end of that season, Wilson signed a new three-year contract, committing himself to the club until the end of the 2005–06 season.

In November 2004, Wilson was wrongly sent off in the derby match against Dundee, being mistakenly penalised for handball when television evidence showed he headed the ball. However, SFA rules dictated that, despite the error, an appeal could not proceed, as such appeals can only proceed on the basis of violent conduct or mistaken identity. The decision not to overturn the dismissal – the first of Wilson's career – drew criticism from journalists, being dubbed a "huge mistake".

Days later, it emerged that Premier League side Everton had approached Dundee United about signing Wilson, although no offer materialised.

Wilson's international exploits were attracting further attention and after being confirmed in April 2005 as one of the nominees for the SPFA Young Player of the Year award, Manchester City were confirmed as planning a move to sign the defender, just one of "several Premier League club" showing an interest. Despite the renewed interest from England, Wilson confirmed he would like to "stay...for the foreseeable future", and signed a new two-year contract in August 2005, extending his stay until the summer of 2008.

Celtic

In early January 2006, it emerged that Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Glenn Hoddle had shown interest in Wilson during the summer and Heart of Midlothian had made an "active enquiry", with Celtic and Leeds United also showing an interest in the player who had a £500,000 release clause inserted in his new contract. By the middle of the month, Celtic were rumoured to be close to completing the signing of Wilson and on 16 January, Wilson signed for the club his family had "supported all their life". Signing for £500,000, Wilson received 25% of the fee under the terms of his contract. He made his debut two weeks later, against Dundee United, playing at right-back in the 3–3 home draw. Wilson suffered a number of injuries in his first full season at Celtic: a broken foot, knee injury and subsequent knee operation. He was also cup-tied for Celtic's victory in the 2006 Scottish League Cup Final.

Wilson became more of a regular in the Celtic side under the management of Neil Lennon. On 1 February 2011, he scored his first goal for Celtic in a 3–0 victory against Aberdeen at Pittodrie Stadium. He got his second goal just 12 days later when he put Celtic 2–0 ahead against his former club Dundee United at Tannadice. On 2 March 2011 during the Scottish Cup