Wilson, Paul – The Celtic Wiki

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Full Name: Paul Wilson
Born: 23 November 1950
Died: 18 Sep 2017
Birthplace: Bangalore, India
Height: 5′ 9″
Signed: 19 December 1967
Left: 20 September 1978 (to Motherwell)
Position: Striker, winger
First game: Celtic 9-0 KPV Kokkloa, European Cup, 16 Sep 1970 (scored twice)
First (domestic) game: v Dundee home 5-2 league cup 23 September 1970
Last game :v Dundee United home 1-0 league cup 2 September 1978
First goal : Dundee home 5-2 league cup 23 September 1970
Last goal: Saint Mirren home 2-0 league cup 16 November 1977
Internationals: Scotland
International Caps: 1 cap v Spain 1-1 Valencia February 1975
International Goals: 0

Biog

Quick and elegant Paul Wilson was a fine player who spent more than a decade with Celtic.

He was born in India to a Irish/Scottish father and Dutch/Portugese mother (with African ethnic heritage) who were working there at the time, but he was brought up in Glasgow, his family having moved to Glasgow when he was a year old.

He signed for the Hoops in December 1967 as a 17-year-old from St Ninian’s High School and the left-sided midfielder was initially farmed out to Maryhill Juniors. He eventually made his Celtic debut got off to an incredible start in admittedly walkover of a match, with Celtic winning 9-0 v KPV Kookola on 16th September 1970 in the European Cup first round. He made his domestic debut a week later in when he came off the bench to score in a 5-0 League Cup victory at home to Dundee.

On his game he was a wonderful talent and his pace and ability to beat a man was a joy to watch and he was certainly deserving of the international recognition he received from Scotland in 1975. He was the only non-white player to be selected by the full Scotland international team during the 20th century.

Paul Wilson made sporadic appearances until August 1973 when he became a first team regular. He scored on the opening league game of the season at East End Park in a 3-2 win and managed to build on that platform. He had a magnificent game in the 1973 League Cup Semi final against Rangers. Celtic won 3-1 in atrocious conditions as Harry Hood scored a hat trick but Wilson was Celtic’s best attacker. In February 1974 he scored at Easter Road in a 4-2 win on the day that Celtic killed off Hibs’ league hopes in front of an incredible 48,000 crowd. A few weeks later, in March 1974 he scored a tremendous volley in Switzerland against Basle and although Celtic lost 3-2 they would win 6-5 in aggregate.

In 1974/75 Paul Wilson had his best season and finished top scorer with 23 goals, ahead of Dalglish and Deans. He created an unusual record in being the only Celtic player to score in four Hampden finals in one season:

August – Drybrough Cup Rangers 2-2,
October – League Cup Hibs 6-3,
May – Scottish Cup Airdrie 3-1,
May – Glasgow Cup Rangers 2-2.

He showed great courage in the Scottish Cup final v Airdrie in 1975 as his Mother had died in the lead up to the final. He scored two that day, and for many was the highlight of his time at Celtic, but possibly a touch bittersweet for him.

On January 4th 1975 he gave a tremendous performance at Ibrox in muddy conditions. Although Celtic lost 3-0, Rangers had scored two late goals to give a misleading scoreline, as Wilson had carved open the Rangers defence on several occasions only for the Celtic strikers, and Kenny Dalglish in particular who had a stinker, to waste his good work.

Without Jock Stein’s leadership Celtic struggled in 1975/76 but the big man was back in charge in the summer of 1976. On September 4th Paul led a magnificent Celtic fightback at Parkhead against Rangers. With Celtic 0-2 down Paul Wilson scored to bring Celts back into the game and with minutes left Parkhead exploded when he scored a magnificent solo effort. Paul Wilson was a regular as Celtic won the title, only to lose his place to Alfie Conn after he joined from Spurs in March. He could be notoriously inconsistent but was recalled for the Scottish Cup final on May 7th 1977 as Jock Stein knew he could be relied upon in the heat of a game v Rangers, and was a thorn in the flesh of the Rangers defence. Paul Wilson did not let him down as Celtic won 1-0 with Paul Wilson giving an impressive showing.

He was impressive in Celtic’s successful tour of the Far East in the summer of 1977 although this was a false dawn as Celtic slumped to a catastrophic 5th place in the Premier league in the following campaign. Paul was no longer a regular now and when Billy McNeill took over as manager in 1978 Paul Wilson was required to move on as Billy McNeill built a side with younger players.

Paul Wilson could on occasion try to over-complicate matters and consistency was a problem and because of this tendency to blow hot or cold he was never the first team fixture his undoubted talent warranted. Possibly showed a likely lack of confidence in himself. Jock Stein believed in him and pushed his career but it just always was below the level he could have reached.

Despite this there is no denying Paul Wilson’s significant contribution to the many Celtic triumphs of the early 1970s. Paul Wilson left Celtic for Motherwell in September 1978 after 214 appearances and a respectable 52 goals in the Hoops.

The other important aspect to recall about Paul Wilson was that he played for Celtic in a less enlightened and political correct time than what we live in now. Back then, anything could go for a chant, and racist abuse was often the norm. As he 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‘ or ‘Sabu‘, comically ridiculous & offensive terms, but he had to unfairly endure these remarks. Jock Stein & Paul Wilson devised the best method to tackle it on the pitch:

Jock Stein: “Answer them by scoring.”
Paul Wilson: “How about if I score two?“

He had a lot to challenge, but he was a favoured Celtic son and the support backed him to the hilt. To have made his mark under such circumstances, at a time when minorities really were a minority in numbers, is quite humbling. A lot to be proud of.

Post-Celtic
On 4th November 1978 Paul Wilson returned to Celtic Park in Motherwell colours. Murdo MacLeod made his Celtic debut that day and before the start of the game Paul ran over to shake Murdo’s hand to wish him all the best in his future Celtic career. It was a magnificent gesture from a real Celt. Incidentally Motherwell won 2-1 with Paul Wilson giving a fine display.

He moved onto Partick Thistle, and retired from senior level football in 1980.

He remains a fondly remembered talent for those who saw him in the Hoops.

He passed away in September 2017.

Quotes

1) Jock Stein: “Answer them by scoring.”
Paul Wilson: “How about if I score two?”
Jock Stein & Paul Wilson on how to handle any racism from the opposition players/supporters at matches, and on various occasions Paul Wilson did score that double.

2) ‘Race’, Sport and British Society noted, Wilson’s Scotland outing was a full three years before Viv Anderson became the first black player to play for England:
“Anderson’s selection was heralded as a significant step forward for black representation in football; Wilson’s selection for Scotland was ignored,” wrote the authors.

Playing Career

APPEARANCES (goals)	LEAGUE	SCOTTISH CUP	LEAGUE CUP	EUROPE	TOTAL
1967-78	131	15	48	20	214
Goals:	29	4	13	6	52

Honours with Celtic

Scottish League

1970-71, 1971-72, 1972-73, 1973-74, 1976-77,
1978-79
(he played in at least one league match in each of these seasons)

Scottish Cup

1972, 1974, 1975, 1977

Scottish League Cup

1974-75
Runners Up Medal 1973-74, 1975-76, 1976-77, 1977-78 (as a sub)

Glasgow Cup

1974-75 (shared win)

Drybrough Cup

1974-75

Internationals

Paul made 1 appearance for Scotland versus Spain in the 1974-75 European Nations Cup.

Forums

Passing (Sep 2017) http://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/topic/11040909/1/?x=50

Pictures

Player Pictures

His career in his own words

Early Celtic Memories
I was brought up in Dennistoun, just around the corner from Parkhead, and my father used to take me along the road to see Celtic play when I was a boy.
It was during the time of the Kelly Babes. That was a young, young team and I can still remember the club chairman, Sir Robert Kelly, getting a real barracking off the fans at one game because they were struggling so badly.

Schools Football
When I was about 11, my family moved to Milngavie and I attended St Ninian’s High School in Kirkintilloch. I played school football in the same league as Danny McGrain and Kenny Dalglish.
Danny played for Kingsridge in Drumchapel and I think Kenny played for Milton. Before long, we were going along to Celtic to train on Tuesdays and Thursdays and got to know each other.
We went on to play together in the Glasgow Schools team. Tommy Craig was in that side, too, and we played smashing stuff, going on to win the Scottish Schools Cup.

Signing For Celtic
I left school around 17, in 1966, and went full-time at Parkhead. I went into such a good group of young lads. As well as myself, there were Kenny and Danny, George Connelly, David Hay, John Gorman and Lou Macari.
The club won the European Cup and it was a real struggle for the young boys to break into that team. But our reserve team regularly used to give the top team a right old doing in practice games. The Lisbon Lions were great with us, different class. I can remember nutmegging big Tommy Gemmell twice in training one day. All the older players killed themselves laughing. Celtic was a real family club.

First Game
My first game for Celtic came in a European Cup tie at Parkhead against KPV Kokkola in 1970. We won 9-0. I came on when we were six ahead and scored two goals.
Gradually, the Quality Street Kids, as we were known, started to get more involved in the first team. Danny and Kenny both broke into the team before I did.
But big Jock always used to say to me: ”Bide your time. You’ll get in.” He was right

Celtic Versus Rangers
I LOVED playing against Rangers. I thought those were smashing games. John Greig was approaching the end of his career at that time and I used to regularly get the better of him. But Sandy Jardine and I had some epic battles. He was a classy player.
When I first joined Celtic I could do a wee Jimmy. By that I mean beat four or five guys at a time. But I was discouraged from doing that in competitive games by the coaches. Looking back, I would say I was fast and could cross and shoot with both feet.
I actually felt those games against Rangers were the only time Celtic were ever seriously tested. They just flew by – the whistle went for kick-off and before you knew it you were back in the dressing room. Celtic should have been playing opposition of that quality every week.

Racism
My mother was Dutch/ Portuguese and my father was Irish/Scottish – I am a real mongrel. After the Second World War, my dad got a job working over in India and that is where he met mum. I was born over there and lived there until I was one. At that time in Glasgow, there were relatively few people like me. I took the sun well.
I suppose I did get quite a hard time because of my colour when I was a player. But it used to upset my mother more than me.
For some reason, I always scored in those matches. But I never once, not once, gestured to the crowd or retaliated. I felt I had made my point on the pitch. I think big Jock respected me for refusing to rise to the abuse. Racism is a terrible part of the game. There are far more coloured players at both Rangers and Celtic now and it still goes on. I suppose you are always going to get one or two halfwits in big crowds.

Teammates
KENNY Dalglish always made himself available for the ball on the park. And you instinctively knew if you got the ball to him and made a move then he would receive it, shield it and get it back to you. Because I had grown up with him, I was not as much in awe of him as many others could be.

Big Jock stuck me out on the wing because he felt my pace could be useful there. But I absolutely hated it. You missed out on so much of the play. It was only when Kenny left the club to join Liverpool in 1977 that I was played through the middle and improved as a player.

Still, in his final season there, Kenny and I scored a lot of goals between us

The Team
Just take a look at the crowds we used to get! Whenever that Celtic team went out on the park we used to think: ”How many are we going to win by?” It was never: ”This is going to be tough!” Or: ”It’s cold out there.” It was such a good team. Winning titles and trophies just seemed normal.

Scotland Cap
I was lucky enough to win one cap for my country. I came on for the last 15 minutes of a European Champ-ionship qualifier against Spain in 1975. The game was tied 1-1 and we needed three points to make it through to the finals. I nearly scored but their keeper just got his hands to my effort. I was as sick as a dog.
But that was one hell of a Scotland team I played in. We had McGrain, Jardine, Dalglish, Joe Jordan, Billy Bremner, Charlie Cooke, Martin Buchan and Gordon McQueen to name a few.
I was so proud to get my one cap. I achieved everything I wanted to in the game.

Cup Final 1975
MY mother passed away the week before the Scottish Cup Final in 1975. I skipped training for a couple of days and then attended her funeral. Big Jock and a few of the players came along and I was very touched they made the effort for me.
But I still went back in to training on the Friday. I said to Jock: ”I would like to play tomorrow.” I had played well that season and felt I could contribute. Often, it is the best thing to keep yourself occupied after a bereavement like that. Anyway, I was duly selected and managed to score two goals in a 3-1 victory over Airdrie.
I joined the lads to have a celebration drink that night for just five minutes and then made my excuses and left them to it.

It was after that game that Billy McNeill decided to call it a day and hung his boots up. There were a few guys waiting to step into his shoes and Roddy McDonald took over from him in defence.

The week after that final, I scored two goals against Rangers at Hampden in, I think I am right in saying, the final of the Glasgow Cup.

Leaving Celtic
The season before he [Billy McNeill] became manager, I was sent off and suspended towards the end of the campaign. The following pre-season I was left out of all the pre-season training.
It emerged that Billy had a chance to sign the promising winger, Davie Provan, from Kilmarnock.
Billy called me into his office one day and told me the situation: ”Somebody is interested in signing you. We want to sell you. If you don’t go I’ll make things very hard for you.” I thought to myself: ”Well, you couldn’t make them any bloody harder!”

Roger Hynd, the-then manager of Motherwell, was keen on buying me and so I agreed to go, but I was disappointed. I would have liked to stay at Celtic for another couple of years.

Retirement
When I was about 29 or 30 my body, after a lifetime of full-time training, told me to give it up and I retired. I was all set to quit football and get my own pub.
I started working at a bar in Bellshill. One day Jimmy Johnstone came in with a representative of Blantyre Celtic. He had started playing for them and persuaded me to go and join them. I played Junior until I was 31.

Paul Wilson : the forgotten pioneer

Scotland on Sunday
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/sport/Paul-Wilson–the-forgotten.6850199.jp?articlepage=3
Published Date: 09 October 2011
By ANDREW SMITH

WHEN Scotland face Spain on Tuesday night, it should stir memories for more than Paul Wilson of the February 1975 night in Valencia that brought the then Celtic striker his one and only cap.

The fact it doesn’t says a little about this nation’s ability to celebrate multiculturalism. Wilson’s appearance came as a substitute 75 minutes into an encounter Willie Ormond’s side drew 1-1.

The creditable result is sometimes, if not often, recalled. But what has never entered the public consciousness is the momentous nature of Wilson replacing Kenny Burns.

Wilson was born in India to a Dutch-Portuguese mother and a Scottish father. He was, therefore, the only non-white player to be granted senior representation for Scotland in the 20th century.

Even now, he is the only man whose background can be considered genuinely Asian to have been capped by any of the four senior British international sides. Moreover, as the academic tome

‘Race’, Sport and British Society notes, Wilson’s Scotland outing was a full three years before Viv Anderson became the first black player to play for England: “Anderson’s selection was heralded as a significant step forward for black representation in football; Wilson’s selection for Scotland was ignored,” write the authors.

In fairness, it wasn’t just outsiders doing the ignoring. Wilson himself, an unassuming but engaging storyteller, has never thought of himself as a flagbearer for ethnic diversity. Equally, the 60-year-old, who lives in Milngavie with his second wife and two daughters and now works for a car parts firm, hasn’t much told the tale of a career that required him to stand up to endemic racism that was accepted all too readily. Born in Bangalore, where his RAF-stationed father met his mother, he came to Glasgow as a one-year-old, and never asked his mother, who died in 1975, about her roots. “I know the reason I was called Paul was because there had been a church recently built near to where we lived and I was to be the first name on the christening register,” he says.

I remember going for trials with Glasgow and it would be all that ‘whit are you daein’ here?’ I got terrible abuse from Rangers supporters – but no other fans – whether we were playing them at Parkhead, Ibrox or Hampden. But Big Jock [Stein] had a soft spot for me because I did the right thing and kept an even temperament, which was how he brought us young players up. Answer them by scoring, he would say. ‘How about if I score two?’ I’d say. And I did.”

The significance of his first derby brace was that it ensured Celtic shared the 1975 Glasgow Cup with Rangers and meant Wilson became the only Celtic player to score in four Hampden finals in a single season, following strikes in the Scottish Cup, League Cup and Drybrough Cup finales. His feat was accompanied by racist chanting from both supports. The Rangers fans twisted the jingle of a peanut advert that went “Golden Wonder, they’re jungle fresh” to “Paul Wilson, he’s jungle fresh”. There were other songs, which his own fans responded too in a fairly base manner. Wilson recalls: “There would be chants of ‘Wilson’s a darkie’ and then it would come back ‘Oh, I’d rather be a darkie than a hun’. But I loved playing in that atmosphere and just laughed it off.”

Wilson, though he speaks freely on the subject, clearly does not want to be defined by the colour of his skin, but rather on the company he kept. He was a member of the Quality Street gang at Celtic Park, a band of wonderfully talented contemporaries who were fully expected to outstrip the Lisbon Lions. Getting the 57 bus along to the park with Kenny Dalglish and Danny McGrain, the trio would feature in a reserve side boasting such luminaries as George Connelly, Davie Hay, Lou Macari and John Gorman. “If we had stayed together we would have won the European Cup, but it didn’t happen with Lou, John and Davie all leaving pretty early,” he says. “Big Jock used to have us play for a £1 against the Lions and we whipped their backsides every time.”

In all, Wilson played 212 games and scored 52 goals for Celtic. “I always thought it was more,” he says. Described as an elegant player, Stein, whom he “loved to bits”, would give him a “bollocking” if he tried to dribble à la Jimmy Johnstone from his hated position on the left-wing. “Only Jimmy was allowed to hold the ball up, beat a man, then turn back and beat him again,” he says. “I was ordered to hit the byline and whip the ball over.”

Until, that is, he was partnered up front with Dalglish in 1974-75. He outscored his more illustrious partner, bagging 29 goals in all competitions.

“Kenny and I got on great. In fact, I made him,” he says with a chuckle. “We had played from schooldays and knew each other’s runs and where we would be. I wish I’d played up front before that.”

When he was selected for Scotland it was in the presence of such greats as Charlie Cooke and Billy Bremner, and he fondly remembers the captain.

“I smoked like a lum then and I remember Billy plying me with fags and us having a right good blether,” he says.

Later than year Wilson would reach another career high but he doesn’t remember it as others might. His mother died in the week leading up to the 1975 Scottish Cup final and, despite scoring with two headers in a 3-1 win over Airdrie and winning a penalty that Pat McCluskey insisted on taking, something changed then. He didn’t leave Celtic till just after Stein did in 1978. New manager Billy McNeill blocked a move to Newcastle which had been set up by Stein so the club could instead bank a £50,000 transfer fee from Motherwell. He spent a season there, and retired at 29 after a further campaign with Partick Thistle, before he was tempted to play again by a lucrative offer from Blantyre Celtic set up by old mucker Jimmy Johnstone. But he was never quite the same player after 1975. A niggling injury that required cortisone injections didn’t help but it was the loss of his mother that caused his enthusiasm to wane.

“I just wasn’t as involved as I should have been,” he says. “She was ill for a long time and Jock tried to help. I’ll never forget how good he was to me then. In fact, he had an instinct for any troubles and said to me ‘wee man, what’s bothering you?’ When I told him he said ‘you take some of the boys up to Harkins restaurant and get them a meal’. He knew I had three younger brothers to look out for with mum in hospital, and two young sons then. He made that a regular thing and I used to take Kenny. It turned out to be where he met future wife Marina, who was a waitress. My mum was in hospital seven times, she was riddled with cancer, and she said to me ‘seven for heaven’. No, no, I said, but she was right because the seventh time she didn’t come out. It put me off after that. I had lost my father three years before and I just got fed up, and stuck in a rut at Celtic.”

Wilson’s mother asked that her ashes be scattered in Bangalore. Instead, he put them in his father’s grave at Hillfoot cemetery. “I just thought that was right for them to be together,” he says. “I have never gone back to India and now I don’t think I ever will.”

08 October 2011 9:56 PM
Source: Scotland On Sunday

Interview: Paul Wilson on Stein, Celtic and racial abuse in the 1970s

Celtic player and one time cap for Scotland Paul Wilson, 1977 Celtic player and one time cap for Scotland Paul Wilson, 1977 By ANDREW SMITHPublished: 12:24
Monday 10 October 2011

http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/celtic/interview-paul-wilson-on-stein-celtic-and-racial-abuse-in-the-1970s-1-1901659

Indian-born Paul Wilson was the only non-white player capped by Scotland in the 20th century. Yet his appearance against Spain barely registered

WHEN Scotland face Spain on Tuesday night, it should stir memories for more than Paul Wilson of the February 1975 night in Valencia that brought the then Celtic striker his one and only cap. The fact it doesn’t says a little about this nation’s ability to celebrate multiculturalism. Wilson’s appearance came as a substitute 75 minutes into an encounter Willie Ormond’s side drew 1-1. The creditable result is sometimes, if not often, recalled. But what has never entered the public consciousness is the momentous nature of Wilson replacing Kenny Burns.

Wilson was born in India to a Dutch-Portuguese mother and a Scottish father. He was, therefore, the only non-white player to be granted senior representation for Scotland in the 20th century. Even now, he is the only man whose background can be considered genuinely Asian to have been capped by any of the four senior British international sides. Moreover, as the academic tome ‘Race’, Sport and British Society notes, Wilson’s Scotland outing was a full three years before Viv Anderson became the first black player to play for England: “Anderson’s selection was heralded as a significant step forward for black representation in football; Wilson’s selection for Scotland was ignored,” write the authors.

Wilson says he is Scottish and that his skin tone only marks him out as different when he has taken the sun. But he wasn’t sufficiently undifferent to be seen as another face in the crowd. Never was that truer than in Old Firm games, where he regularly excelled. Abuse, only sometimes, obliquely, reported, rained on him from the Rangers fans. But he had prepared for that all his life. “I got it right bad but was strong and able to never react, retaliate or gesture because I had grown up with all this racism. I got so much stick at school and beyond. I remember going for trials with Glasgow and it would be all that ‘whit are you daein’ here?’ I got terrible abuse from Rangers supporters – but no other fans – whether we were playing them at Parkhead, Ibrox or Hampden. But Big Jock [Stein] had a soft spot for me because I did the right thing and kept an even temperament, which was how he brought us young players up. Answer them by scoring, he would say. ‘How about if I score two?’ I’d say. And I did.”

Until, that is, he was partnered up front with Dalglish in 1974-75. He outscored his more illustrious partner, bagging 29 goals in all competitions.

When he was selected for Scotland it was in the presence of such greats as Charlie Cooke and Billy Bremner, and he fondly remembers the captain. “I smoked like a lum then and I remember Billy plying me with fags and us having a right good blether,” he says.

Death of former Celt, Paul Wilson

By: Newsroom Staff on 18 Sep, 2017 14:57

EVERYONE at Celtic is saddened to hear of the death of former player, Paul Wilson, who passed away earlier today at the age of 66.

Paul spent 11 years with the Hoops, joining the club in 1967 and coming through the ranks as one of the famed Quality Street Gang, alongside the likes of Kenny Dalglish, Danny McGrain, Davie Hay, Lou Macari and George Connelly.

He made his debut in a League Cup quarter-final tie against Dundee on September 23, 1970, coming on as a substitute for John Hughes and scoring in the 5-1 victory. Over the next eight years, he went on to make a total of 217 appearances for Celtic, scoring 55 goals.

He won two league titles, playing his part in the club’s nine-in-row triumph in 1974 and the 1977 Double-winning success, the League Cup in the 1974/75 season, scoring one of Celtic’s goals in the 6-3 victory over Hibernian, and two Scottish Cups during his time with the Hoops.

He scored two goals in the 3-1 Scottish Cup final victory over Airdrie at Hampden, just days after his Mum sadly passed away. He also gained one international cap for Scotland.

After leaving Celtic in 1978, he played for Motherwell and Partick Thistle before playing junior football with Blantyre Celtic.

Speaking to the official Celtic match programme back in 2014 to mark the anniversary of him signing for the Hoops, Paul said of his proudest moment as a Celt: “Just pulling on the jersey, as I have always been a Celtic supporter, so to get your first chance and to win trophies in the Hoops was fantastic. It all accumulates. It’s hard to say one individual thing. If I look back on my time at the club, everything was a proud moment for me.”

The thoughts and prayers of everyone at Celtic are with Paul’s family and friends at this very sad time.

A TRIBUTE TO PAUL WILSON by St Anthony

http://celticunderground.net/a-tribute-to-paul-wilson/
Sep 2017

The news today of Paul Wilson’s passing came as a tremendous shock and causes great sorrow for all of us who saw him play.

Paul was one of Celtic’s legendary Quality Street Gang alongside such luminaries as Danny McGrain, Kenny Dalglish and David Hay.

Having spoken with one of the QSG recently I asked him if he thought back then that Dalglish would develop into the player he would become in later years. His reply was that he believed that Paul Wilson was actually the best prospect of them all in that formative, early period of the late 1960’s.

Paul made his Celtic debut in 1970, however it wasn’t until the 1973/74 season that he really made his mark by helping Celtic to the domestic league and cup double and to reach the 1974 European Cup semi finals against Atletico Madrid.

In 1974/75 he created a marvellous record when he scored in four Hampden cup finals in the same season.

The finals were:
1974 Drybrough Cup Rangers 2-2 (4-2 penalties) – 1 goal
1974 League Cup Hibs 6-3 – 1 goal
1975 Scottish Cup Airdrie 3-1 – 2 goals
1975 Glasgow Cup Rangers 2-2 – 2 goals

These terrific performances earned Paul his only Scottish cap in 1975 when he played in Valencia during a respectable 1-1 draw with Spain.

Probably the highlight of his Celtic career came in May 1975 when he scored twice in the Scottish Cup final against Airdrie.

Paul showed great courage in playing that day, the final coming only days after his mother had sadly passed away.

Paul is fondly remembered by Celtic fans of that era as a great player. Blessed with pace and possessing a shot in either foot, Paul was instrumental in Celtic’s trophy successes in the mid to late 1970’s.

Sadly, Paul often suffered from an element of racism from the terraces and the 1970’s were far from the inclusive environment we live in today.

No one in the media even cared to mention it back then never mind condemn it.

Happily, Paul was able to overcome the bile from certain quarters and he was one of a select band of players who managed to reserve his best form for games against Rangers which made him tremendously popular in the eyes of the supporters.

On a personal level Paul was the first Celtic player I ever met in 1974 and I still remember how impressive he looked in his smart, expensive three piece suit in front of the eight year old me and I hold that memory dear.

By 1980 Paul had left Celtic and after spells with Motherwell and Partick Thistle he joined the ranks of junior football.

That August I watched Paul, Jimmy Johnstone and ex Ranger, Johnny Hamilton, play at St Anthony’s juniors for Blantyre Celtic.

The highlight of the game was Paul’s goal from 35 yards and it was imminently clear he should still have been playing senior football at that time.

Paul Wilson has left Celtic fans a whole plethora of happy memories.

The thoughts and prayers of every Celtic fan are with the Wilson family at this difficult time.

May eternal light shine upon him.

Paul Wilson – the former Celtic winger who became the only non-white to be capped by Scotland in the 20th century

Matthew Lindsay @MattLindsayHT

Chief Football Writer
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/15543233.Paul_Wilson___the_former_Celtic_winger_

who_became_the_only_non_white_to_be_capped_by_Scotland_in_the_20th_century/

PAUL Wilson, the former Celtic forward who was the only non-white player to be capped by Scotland in the 20th century, has passed away at the age of 66.

Wilson, whose mother was Dutch/Portuguese and whose father was Irish/Scottish, was born in Bangalore in India in 1950.

He moved to Glasgow when he was one, was brought up in Dennistoun and then Milngavie and attended St. Ninian’s High School in Kirkintilloch.

He joined Celtic in 1967 and became one of the group of players known as the Quality Street Gang. Kenny Dalglish, Danny McGrain, George Connelly, Davie Hay and Lou Macari were among his contemporaries.

He became a first team regular in the 1973/74 season – when he helped the Glasgow club win their ninth consecutive league title.

The following campaign Wilson became the only Celtic player ever to score in four Hampden finals.

He netted in the Drybrough Cup final against Rangers, the League Cup win over Hibs, the Scottish Cup triumph against Airdrie and the Glasgow Cup game with Rangers.

Wilson was subjected to racist abuse from the stands during his playing career with Celtic.

“At that time in Glasgow, there were relatively few people like me,” he once said. “I suppose I did get quite a hard time. But it used to upset my mother more than me.

“But I never once, not once, gestured to the crowd or retaliated. I just laughed it off. I felt I had made my point on the pitch. I think big Jock (Stein) respected me for refusing to rise to the abuse.”

Wilson became the first non-white player to represent Scotland in the 20th century and the first Asian footballer to have played for England, Northern Ireland Scotland or Wales at senior level when he came on as a substitute in a European qualifier against Spain in Valencia in 1975.

“The game was tied 1-1 and we needed three points to make it through to the finals,” he later recalled. “I nearly scored, but their keeper just got his hands to my effort. I was as sick as a dog.

“But that was one hell of a Scotland team I played in. We had Danny McGrain, Sandy Jardine, Kenny Dalglish, Joe Jordan, Billy Bremner, Charlie Cooke, Martin Buchan and Gordon McQueen to name a few.

“I was so proud to get my one cap. I achieved everything I wanted to in the game.”

Wilson scored 55 goals for Celtic in 217 games and won two league titles, one League Cup and two Scottish Cups.

He left Parkhead after 11 years in 1978 and enjoyed spells at Motherwell and Partick Thistle as well as at junior side Blantyre Celtic before retiring.

PAUL WILSON – FROM BANGALORE TO BARROWFIELD

http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/paul-wilson-from-bangalore-to-barrowfield/
By CQN Magazine on 20th September 2017 LIONS & LEGENDS

The Quality Street Gang were mentored by the greatest football team Scotland has ever produced. The result was a group of audacious young prospects who even threatened for a spell to emulate their trailblazing predecessors. The Lisbon Lions cultivated their underlings on the Barrowfield training ground, and passed on their torch with the firm belief that their successors could continue their own legendary forays into the latter stages of European football’s most prestigious tournament for years to come.

As it happened, Celtic may have gone on to win nine successive league titles between 1966 and 1974, but they never did reclaim the honour of 1967 by bringing the European Cup back to Scottish shores again. If only the Quality Street Kids – as they had been christened by the Scottish press – had all hit their peak together, then there is little doubt that Jock Stein’s side would have lifted that glorious prize more than once.

“We got the best of them,” asserted Sean Fallon when I spoke to him in 2010 about Celtic’s seemingly never-ending ’60s and ’70s conveyor belt of talent. “The Quality Street Kids? Jeez, they were some boys. They were a magnificent reserve team who won everything they played in.”

“Jock Stein was well aware that there were great boys coming through, and that they were up to the standard of the guys who were already in the first-team. There were players in that reserve side, who were capable of walking into the first-team. Some of the Lisbon Lions were getting older, but we had to hold the youngsters back a little bit. The crop of young players we had at Celtic Park at that time was unbelievable.”

Sean Fallon certainly had a penchant for discovering young talent. He worked tirelessly with the club’s scouting network in identifying and signing a procession of prodigious Scottish players, who would thereafter be indoctrinated into the Celtic way under the tutelage of Jock Stein.

Yet, despite their undoubted wealth of talent, only half-a-dozen of the fabled Quality Street Kids really made the grade at Celtic Park. The domestic and international successes of Kenny Dalglish, Danny McGrain, Lou Macari and Davie Hay have all been voluminously documented. And football fans of a certain vintage still rhapsodise about the great George Connelly, who walked away from the game at a lamentably young age.

Another player, who can undoubtedly take his place amongst the Quality Street elite, is Paul Wilson, who this week passed away at the age of 66.

“I came from Drumchapel,” explained Paul when I spoke to him during the writing of The Quality Street Gang in 2010. “Quite a few of the players who went on to become known as The Quality Street Kids at Celtic used to play against each other as schoolboys.

“There were a few English clubs showing an interest in me early on, and West Brom wanted me to go down there. However, my father was a big influence on me at that time and he wanted me play for Celtic, and that’s where I went.

“We trained on a Tuesday and Thursday night up at Celtic Park. There were quite a few guys who were involved in coaching us – people like John Higgins and Alec Boden – but Sean Fallon was the main figure who looked after us, and he was excellent for all the young players at that time. Sean was more involved with the youngsters, and Big Jock was most definitely in charge of the first-team.

“I do recall that Jim Holton was training with us for a few months. Celtic didn’t take him on and he eventually went down south to enjoy a very successful career, most notably with Manchester United. That example just shows you that if you were lucky enough to be kept on at Parkhead during that time then you were doing alright.

“I was never a big lad when I was younger and Jock farmed Danny McGrain and I out to play with Maryhill. He used to do that to toughen the young players up. The guys we were up against were monsters, and there was no doubt that junior football was a tough experience for us all.

Paul Wilson

“The group of youngsters who were all coming through at Celtic Park at that time were a smashing team. Jock Stein had it well sussed out. We were set up exactly like the first-team, and if one player dropped out we had someone who could step right in to do exactly the same job. The only trouble was that we were too good to be playing reserve football, and we needed more first-team practice.

“Jock Stein was different class with us. There were so many talented players coming through that some of them had to go elsewhere in order to play first-team football. To be fair to the boss, if another side came in for one of the youngsters who didn‘t look like making the breakthrough, he would help them as much as he could.

“Jimmy Johnstone, Bertie Auld, Bobby Lennox… They were out of this world. Apart from being great players, they were also great with the young boys, and when we broke into the first-team they treated us like part of the family.

“When I look back, I realise that The Quality Street Gang were a big part of what Jock Stein was planning, and it was such a shame that our team broke up before we hit our peak. If we had been held together then I honestly believe that we would have carried on and done as well as the European Cup-winning team. That was one of the biggest disappointments in my life – that we didn’t get the opportunity to take that team further.”

With his flowing dark locks and stylish sideburns complimenting his complexion, there was no doubt that Paul Wilson looked every inch the Celtic poster boy in the quintessentially ‘70s Celtic kit, with its floppy collar presiding over those resplendent, untarnished green-and-white hoops. The fact that his skin tone (inherited from his Dutch/Portuguese mother) made him the target of despicable racial abuse from Scottish terraces is to the eternal shame of our national game.

Paul Wilson’s somewhat unorthodox journey – from Bangalore to Barrowfield – was rockier than that trodden by many of his contemporaries, and even his finest moment only arrived after he had endured the personal tragedy of losing his beloved mother just days before the 1975 Scottish Cup final.

In what would be regarded as Wilson’s vintage campaign, Celtic surrendered the league title for the first time in a decade. The club did progress to four Hampden cup finals in 1974/75, however, and Paul Wilson netted in all of them, as he scored six times to cement his name into the record books.

Paul Wilson could be considered as something of an unsung hero of the wider Quality Street Gang, but his Celtic career spanned more than ten years, during which time he participated in six league-winning campaigns, won one League Cup, two Scottish Cups and a full Scottish international cap.

Perhaps it was because Paul lost his father at a young age that Jock Stein thought it necessary to take him under his wing. There is no doubt that the often-unforgiving task-master turned a blind eye to some of his young winger’s antics (on occasion, Wilson enjoyed a fly smoke up the back of the team bus). Stein also arranged for Wilson to attend the Beechwood Restaurant for his dinner after training to save his mother the cost of feeding another mouth in the fatherless household.

Popular with his team-mates (Kenny Dalglish named his son after him) Paul Wilson – unlike several of his peers – was never moved out of Celtic Park by Jock Stein. He eventually left the club when new boss Billy McNeill made it clear that he wasn’t part of his plans after taking over in 1978.

Wilson thereafter had spells at Motherwell and Partick Thistle but by then his troublesome ankle wasn’t up to the rigours of full-time football, and he retired before attaining the age of 30. He started pulling pints at the Derby Inn in Bellshill, and after a year out of the game, Jimmy Johnstone convinced him to return to the junior ranks, this time with Blantyre Celtic.

During one otherwise forgettable match on the black ash of Craighead Park, Wilson got a wave from a familiar figure in the sparse crowd. During the rough-and-tumble of a nondescript junior match, he realised that his old boss, Jock Stein, still had a soft spot for him, as the then Scotland manager gazed on intently from the terracing.

Written by Paul Dykes, author of The Quality Street Gang.

Obituary: Paul Wilson, Celtic star and only non-white player to win a Scotland cap in the 20th century

Matt Vallance http://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-paul-wilson-
celtic-star-and-only-non-white-player–
to-win-a-scotland-cap-in-the-20th-century-1-4570766

Former Celtic player Paul Wilson has died at the age of 66 Former Celtic player Paul Wilson has died at the age of 66 Published: 07:00 Updated: 09:29
Thursday 28 September 2017

Paul Wilson, former Celtic and Scotland footballer. Born: 23 November, 1950 in Bangalore, India. Died: 18 September, 2017, in Glasgow, aged 66.

PAUL Wilson, who has died suddenly, aged 66, was unique among the 727 players who won full Scotland caps during the 20th century. He was the solitary non-white amongst that number and the first non-white to be capped by Scotland since Andrew Wilson in 1881.

When he had his literal 15 minutes of international fame, as a 75th minute substitute against Spain in a European Championship qualifier in Valencia, on 5 February, 1975, he beat, by a full three years, Viv Anderson’s better-documented feat in being the first black player capped by England. It would be 29 years after Wilson’s solitary cap before Scotland next capped a non-white player – Nigel Quashie.

Wilson’s background was certainly exotic. He was born in India, where his Scots/Irish father, an RAF serviceman, met his Indian mother, who was from a Dutch/Portugese background, so Wilson was eligible to play for countries other than Scotland.

The Wilsons arrived in Glasgow when Paul was one, and he was brought up in Dennistoun. The Wilsons then moved to Milngavie, and he attended St Ninian’s High School in Kirkintilloch.

He was still attending school when he was signed by Celtic in December 1967. Jock Stein immediately farmed him out to Maryhill Juniors and it would be 1970 before he made his first-team bow; coming off the bench to score in a 5-1 Scottish League Cup quarter-final second leg win over Dundee at Celtic Park.

He was a member of the legendary Quality Street Gang, the young Celtic reserve side which also included fellow future Scotland caps Danny McGrain, Davie Hay, George Connelly, Kenny Dalglish and Lou Macari and which, in £1 per head side bet games, would regularly beat the Lisbon Lions first team.

However, it wasn’t until 1973 that he forced his way into the first team with any degree of regularity.

He earned his stripes and, in season 1974-75, as well as winning that solitary Scotland cap, he created a record when he scored in four different Hampden cup finals.

In August, he netted in the Drybrough Cup Final against Rangers; in October, he was on target again in the League Cup final against Hibs, then, in May, he scored in the Scottish Cup final against Airdrie and the Glasgow Cup final against Rangers. He led the Celtic scorers that season, with 29 goals, ahead of Dalglish and ‘Dixie’ Deans.

However, the season ended sadly for him, when his mother succumbed to cancer, passing away in the week leading up to the Scottish Cup Final, in which he scored twice. He admitted that the fun went out of football thereafter.

He enjoyed a good relationship with Stein, who made full use of the fact that Wilson kept his very best form for the Old Firm clashes with Rangers, where the racist invective he had to endure seemed to spur him on.

That said, derogatory references to his colour were not restricted to Rangers’ fans.

Wilson always maintained he didn’t think too deeply about the abuse, which was commonplace in the 1970s, and his colour or background was never an issue with Celtic.

Indeed, one former team mate confessed this week: “I thought Paul was one of these guys who took a great tan, until the day I had to pick him up from his parents’ house and this very obviously Indian lady answered the door and Paul introduced her as his mother.”

He said, in a 2014 interview with The Scotsman’s Andrew Smith, that Stein encouraged him not to rise to the baiting, but to “answer them by scoring against their side”, something Wilson proved to be adept at.

When Stein left, he had a less easy relationship with former team-mate Billy McNeill and, in September 1978, after 217 games and 55 goals, he left Celtic Park for Motherwell in a £50,000 transfer.

With Celtic he played in six League-winning sides, won four Scottish Cups, one League Cup, the Drybrough Cup and the Glasgow Cup during his 11-year career at the club.

He played two years at Motherwell, before running down his senior career with Partick Thistle. He was still only 29 when he retired.

Wilson was married twice, firstly to Liz, with whom he had sons Barrie and Paul, then, after that marriage broke down, he married Joy, who survives him with daughters Ceri and Katie.

After football, he entered the licensed trade, but three years later, Jimmy Johnstone persuaded him out of retirement to play alongside him for junior side Blantyre Celtic.

He showed he still had it by adding a junior Scotland cap to his senior one – uniquely among those players capped at both junior and senior level by Scotland, Wilson is the only one to have won his senior cap first.

His final job, before retiring, was with a motor parts company.