WITH three SPL championship medals in his possession from just two-and-a-half seasons with Celtic, it seems perverse to suggest Mark Wilson's career with the club he supported as a boy has so far been less than fulfilling.
Yet as grateful as the full-back is for those precious pieces of silverware he has collected since his transfer from Dundee United, he feels he has not truly earned any of them because of the persistent injuries which have restricted his appearance
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Wilson is looking ahead to the new SPL campaign, which will see Celtic unfurl their latest championship flag before facing St Mirren at Parkhead on Sunday, with optimism he will finally be able to reflect with satisfaction on a consistent contribution to a title triumph.
"I've been fortunate enough to get the medals from every season I've been here," said the 24-year-old, "but you want to play between at least 20 and 30 games in a championship to feel you have earned them. I haven't done that yet."
Celtic were already comfortably ahead in the title race when Wilson joined them in January 2006 and went on to make 15 league appearances in the remainder of the campaign. His increasing vulnerability to injury, however, has seen him make just 12 and 11 SPL appearances respectively in his first two full seasons with the club. "When I joined at first, thing went well and I was looking forward to establishing myself and showing the Celtic fans what kind of player I was," added Wilson, speaking at the launch of Setanta Sports opening weekend of live SPL coverage for 2008-09.
"The manager was pretty happy with me at that stage, but ever since then it's been frustrating because of the injuries. I've managed to get the medals, and was lucky enough to come back and play at Tannadice on the last day of last season when we won the title on a fantastic night, but I want to play more often.
"It's during the period around Christmas, when things are hardest and the team really has to dig in for results, that you really earn your medal and I haven't been part of that yet."
Wilson has had no fewer than nine operations on his knees, his first at the age of 17 when he was with United and four of them since he joined Celtic. He freely admits that his cartilages are now beyond any further repair and he does not anticipate a lengthy playing career.
"It is a problem and it is now fixed as much as it can be," he said. "I can still play, all of the surgeons say that, but it's a case of trying to manage it and tailor training to suit me. It just seems that I have got very fragile cartilages.
"I can't see me playing until I'm 40, that's for sure, and I can't really see me playing into my late 30s. But I've been feeling strong in pre-season this year, the manager has been great with the training programme I have. If I feel there is a problem, he is quite happy for me to sit it out.
"My initial target this season is just to get past September without injury. In the last two years, I've got to that first Champions League game and then it's been time for another operation."
Wilson was referring to the broken foot he suffered against Manchester United at Old Trafford in Celtic's opening group game in 2007 and then last year's 2-0 defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine at the same stage of the tournament which prompted him to voluntarily drop out of the team.
"I went to see the manager after that game and told him I didn't feel I was doing either myself or the team justice," revealed Wilson. "I felt it would be better if I went and got the knee sorted again. I'm pretty honest and realistic."
Wilson was one of those rested on Wednesday night when Celtic played Manchester City in their final pre-season friendly, but is uncertain whether that is an indicator he will be in the starting line-up against St Mirren.
"The manager is a hard guy to read," he smiled. "I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but not getting my hopes up. There is a lot of competition for the full-back positions now. Paul Caddis has looked different class at right-back during the pre-season games and it is difficult to get in ahead of Andreas Hinkel and him. I'm happy to play at left-back if asked, but Lee Naylor has been there for most of the last two seasons. I just need to be ready to take my chance if it comes."
The full article contains 811 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
