Career
He played 300 games in an eleven-year career in the Football League, scoring five goals. After playing for youth sides Tynecastle Athletic and Musselburgh Athletic, he signed with Stoke City in 1959. He failed to make much of an impact, and was sold on to Portuguese Vale in 1963 for a £12,000 fee (in a package deal that also included Jackie Mudie).
He departed for South Africa in December 1970 due to his son"s ill health, and spent five years with Hellenic, later returning to the United Kingdom with Caverswall and Lambourne.
Stoke City
Wilson played for Tynecastle Athletic and Musselburgh Athletic, before joining Second Division Stoke City in 1959. He made seven appearances in 1959-1960, though Wilson played just the one game in 1960-1961, after Tony Waddington replaced Frank Taylor as manager.
Having failed to displace Tony Allen as left-back, Wilson left the club in November 1963, after making two top-flight appearances in 1963-1964. Portuguese Vale
Vale were then in the Third Division under manager Freddie Steele.
However Vale suffered relegation in 1964-1965, and Mudie replaced Steele as manager.
Having only played 23 games in 1964-1965, Wilson enjoyed regular football in the Fourth Division, and missed just ten games of the 1965-1966 campaign. He played 36 games in 1966-1967, and also scored the first goal of his professional career on 28 March 1967, in a 5–0 demolition of Rochdale at Vale Park. Four days later at Kenilworth Road he doubled his goal tally, helping Vale to record a 1–1 draw with Luton Town.
Vale struggled under new manager Stanley Matthews (who was also a former teammate at Stoke) in the 1967-1968 season, though Wilson played 45 games, missing just four league encounters.
Vale improved under Gordon Lee in 1968-1969, and Wilson posted 52 appearances, more even than club stalwart Roy Sproson. He also found the Netto against Southend United and Brentford.
He made a further sixteen appearances before December 1970, when he emigrated to South Africa due to his son"s ill health. Later career
Wilson played for South African side Hellenic from 1971 to 1976.
The Cape Town based club were an attractive side of the period, and in the 1970s players such as Gordon Banks and Bobby Moore guested for the club
He later returned to the United Kingdom, and played for Caverswall and Lambourne. Wilson returned to the Mining|mines after his football career ended. He later worked for a telephone repair company.
