520 Tom Wilson

Biography

Rugged Scottish left half Tom Wilson joined Hull City in in November 1967 in return for a £18,000 fee. Cliff Britton’s Tigers were building a squad equipped to launch a promotion drive and reach the First Division for the first time, and Wilson’s slipped straight into the City strengthened defence for the remainder of the 1967/68 season. However a poor start to the season meant that City finished in the bottom half of the table. Wilson missed the opening three fixtures of the 1968/69 season then settled into the first team as City avoided defeat in all 10 games that Tom started. After missing four games in October Wilson again returned and scored his only goal for the club in a November 1968 3-0 win over Bury. However City’s form weakened considerably during the winter months and another mid-table finish beckoned. Wilson was replaced in the defence by young centre half Geoff Barker in late March 1969 and Wilson didn’t return until a run of five starts in December 1969, shortly after Cliff Britton’s move to an advisory role. Tom stayed on the Tigers’ books until the end of the 1970/71 season but was not used by new manager Terry Neill.

Thomas Wilson was born in Rosewell, a rural town south of Edinburgh, and played football for St David’s School in Dalkeith and the Midlothian county team. He played his junior football for Rosewell-based Whitehill Welfare and Edina Hearts before moving to Falkirk in August 1957. In January 1958 he was loaned to Linlithgow Rose to get first team experience, which bore fruit as by the end of the 1960/61 season Tom was established in the Falkirk first team. In July 1961 he headed south to join Fourth Division Millwall, a £750 fee securing his signature, and after making his debut in November 1961 he attracted the attention of First Division Arsenal and assisted the Lions as they lifted the League title in May 1962 and gained promotion to the Third Division. After the Lions were relegated to the Fourth Division in 1964 and promoted back to the Third Division in 1965, Wilson was a fixture in the Millwall side that won a second successive promotion to the Second Division in 1965/66 season, going up alongside the Tigers. By the end of the 1966/67 he had made over 200 starts for the Lions and scored 15 League goals.

In July 1971 Tom joined Goole Town and made over 350 League and Cup appearances over eight years while retraining as a lawyer. He had a short spell at North Ferriby United in 1979 before hanging up his boots and focussing fully on his legal career, but returned to football in 1984 when he joined Brian Horton’s coaching staff. Over the next nine years Wilson fulfilled a number of coaching roles and was three times City’s caretaker managers in the late 1980s. After two years as company secretary, Wilson returned to the legal profession in 1993 and settled in South Cave.

Details

Nationality: Scotland
Date/Place of Birth: 29 November 1940, Rosewell
Hull City First Game: 11 November 1967, Norwich City H (Division Two), 26 years, 347 days old
Hull City Final Game: 21 February 1970, Preston North End A (Division Two), 29 years, 84 days old

Clubs

Whitehill Welfare, Edina Hearts, Falkirk (1957-1961), Linlithgow Rose (1958, loan), Millwall (1961-1967), Hull City (1967-1971), Goole Town (1971-1979), North Ferriby United (1979)

Hull City Record

Career: 66 apps, 1 goals

Tom Wilson
SeasonLGE
App
LGE
Gls
FAC
App
FAC
Gls
FLC
App
FLC
Gls
EUR
App
EUR
Gls
OTH
App
OTH
Gls
1967/6827 (0)03 (0)0------
1968/6928 (0)11 (0)01 (0)0----
1969/705 (0)01 (0)0------
1970/71----------

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