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Davie Wilson, winger with an eye for goal who graced the great Rangers side of the 1950s and 1960s – obituary
He was part of what many fans regard as the Ibrox side’s greatest forward lineByTelegraph Obituaries29 June 2022 • 1:18pm
Davie Wilson, the footballer, who has died aged 85, was a potent force in the Rangers side that dominated the Scottish game in the late 1950s and into the mid-1960s; he was a rampaging, free-scoring presence on the left wing during an eight-year spell in which the Glasgwegians won the Scottish League title four times, the Scottish Cup five times and the Scottish League Cup twice, as well as reaching the first European Cup-Winners’ Cup final.
David Wilson was born at Newton, a Lanarkshire mining village, on January 10 1937, and was a Rangers fan from early on. Aged 12 he had a tour round Ibrox, and met the former Scotland outside-left Alan Morton, who asked him: “How’s your left foot?”
Young Davie told him he did not use it that much. “He instructed me to wear a sandshoe [a light canvas shoe] on my right foot, to encourage me to use the left more.” The lad took his advice, and in a school game not long after scored 10 goals.
Wilson scored 159 goals in 382 games for Rangers CREDIT: SNS Group
Rejected as too small by Cambuslang Rangers, he was taken on by Baillieston Juniors. He was soon spotted by Rangers scouts, and was signed up in 1956. The following January he made his first-team debut, and in 1958-59 he made enough appearances to qualify for a League Championship medal.
But he did not nail down a regular starting berth until 1959-60, when he started banging in goals with increasing regularity. He scored 22 in all competitions that season as Rangers won the Scottish Cup and reached the semi-finals of the European Cup.
The following season, he was ever-present in Rangers’ 56 matches, scoring more than 20 goals as they secured the League title and the League Cup, though they lost the two-legged Cup-Winners’ Cup final to Fiorentina.
The Ibrox men were in their pomp, and Wilson was part of what many regard as their greatest forward line, alongside Ralph Brand, Jimmy Millar and Willie Henderson, supported by the sublimely gifted left-half Jim Baxter.
The Scottish Cup and League Cup were won again in the 1961-62 season, while Wilson became the first and only Rangers player since Jimmy Smith in the 1930s to score six goals in a game, in a 7-1 demolition of Falkirk.
The following season he scored more than 30 times as Rangers secured the League and Cup double, and though he missed a large slice of the 1963-64 season with a broken ankle, he did bag another League medal.
By 1967 he was no longer first choice on the wing, while across the city Jock Stein’s great Celtic team was getting into its stride. In August he departed for Dundee United, having won 11 trophies and scored 159 goals in 382 games.
He spent four productive seasons at Tannadice before moving to Dumbarton, where he was instrumental in their promotion to the top flight.
His senior international career had begun in 1960, and he was in the squad that won the 1962 and 1963 Home Championship with perfect records. He scored 10 times in 22 games for his country, and took part in three victories over England (but also in the infamous 9-3 defeat in 1961, in which he scored twice).
Retiring from playing in 1973, he coached and managed Dumbarton, taking them into the top flight: he also turned out for the reserves at the age of 55 when they were a man down. He had a spell managing Queen of the South and was briefly assistant at Hamilton Academical, where his stint included a famous giantkilling Scottish Cup victory over Rangers at his old stamping ground, Ibrox; he was also assistant at Kilmarnock for a season.
In retirement he remained involved with Rangers and was a popular after-dinner speaker. In his spare time he raced pigeons. In 2021 his family said that Wilson would no longer attend Rangers matches as he was suffering from dementia.
Davie Wilson married Avril; they had a daughter and son.
Davie Wilson, born January 10 1937, died June 14 2022
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