wilson's off and running for new season

Michael McGowan
ONE player looking forward to the new season is Mark Wilson. Because while the defender picked up a second consecutive championship medal for Celtic, he was still forced to endure a frustrating series of injuries throughout the campaign.

Wilson made 12 league appearances but was unable to build on the promising start he had made to his Celtic career since joining from Dundee United in January 2006.

Now, as Gordon Strachan’s squad begin their pre-season preparations in Switzerland, Wilson is ready and willing to play his part.

“I have spent the summer running because I want to get back to my best,” he explained. “No-one looks forward to pre-season but I’d rather be among the boys again than training with the physio. It’s nice not to feel left out.”

Celtic have two games lined up in Switzerland – against FC Basel on Thursday, July 5 and Young Boys of Berne on Saturday, July 7 – and while the games will be welcomed by the Celtic players, Wilson knows from his experiences last summer, that their true benefit is in helping the players’ fitness rather than being looked upon as a marker for the season ahead.

“The season I arrived, we won the league and CIS Cup, went into pre-season in Poland and America, lost the games we played in and everybody was on our backs,” said Wilson.

“For me, as a newcomer, it felt like ‘welcome to Celtic’. We won the title only weeks earlier but still got so much stick.

“Just like this season, the slate is wiped clean very quickly and any achievements are quickly consigned to the past.”

And, just like last summer, a number of new faces have joined Celtic for their pre-season preparations, with Scott Brown, Scott McDonald, Chris Killen and Massimo Donati meeting their new team-mates for the first time this week.

For Wilson, the arrival of Donati from AC Milan is one signing that he believes could excite the Celtic support in the way one of his fellow countryman did when he joined the club in the mid-1990s.

“I used to watch Celtic every week when Paolo Di Canio was there and he was a real hero of mine and every single Celtic fan,” Wilson admitted.

“I used to love watching him because he could do everything with a football. He was a fantastic talent and if Massimo can be half as good then we are in for a real treat.

“He looks like a great signing. To play for AC Milan suggests he has some amount of quality and having played around 100 games in Serie A, you have to assume he is a top-class player.

“He is 26, at the peak of his powers, and it shows what calibre of player Celtic can attract.”