Wilson was born in 1953 in
Hetton-le-Hole,
County Durham. He attended Murton County Primary School in
Murton, now called Ribbon Academy, which named one of its
houses in his honour. He played representative football for Durham Schools, and was
capped four times for
England schoolboys in the 1968–69 season. He began his club career as an apprentice with
Burnley, With Burnley's relegation from the
First Division already confirmed, Wilson made his first-team debut on 26 April 1971, aged 17 years 5 months, playing at
left back in a 1–0 win against
Chelsea in the
First Division. He kept his place for the last match of the season, and made ten
Second Division appearances in 1971–72, as one of four players tried at left back, but the arrival of
England international full back
Keith Newton meant Wilson played no part in Burnley's
1972–73 Second Division-winning campaign. Shortly after his 20th birthday, after 18 months of second-eleven football, Wilson went straight into the starting eleven, and after two games, John Vinicombe of the
Evening Argus was impressed: he "is looking something of a fire-eater. He has a rare zest for the game and relishes the close, physical contact that is synonymous with his position. He knows how to destroy and create, and does both in a manner befitting a five-year background at the academy of fine footballing arts." He kept his place for two-and-a-half seasons before being dislodged by
Chris Cattlin, but still made 17 appearances for the
1976–77 Third Division promotion squad, taking his totals to 146 appearances in all competitions. In the 1977 close season, Albion signed
Mark Lawrenson and
Gary Williams from Third Division club
Preston North End, and supplied Wilson and
Graham Cross in part exchange. Wilson played the first 23 matches of the 1977–78 season, all but one in the starting eleven, and he returned at the beginning of the 1978–79 season in the Second Division, to which Preston had been promoted in his absence. After eight league starts, he fell out of contention, and in the following season, he made twelve league starts, the last of which was on 21 December 1979. and a month into the 1980–81 season, signed for
Darlington. The club had had to apply for
re-election the previous season, and targeted Wilson to fill a vacancy at left back and to add experience to a small and very young squad. He made 90 appearances over three years with the financially struggling club, the third of which was interrupted by injury, before finishing his Football League career with Darlington's local rivals
Hartlepool United. It would be a further 18 years before another player
Neil Aspinmade the same move on a permanent basis. Wilson moved into
non-league football, first as a player with
Crook Town of the
Northern League and then as a manager, with
Seaham Red Star and
Whitby Town. He went on to act as
Sunderland's community officer, coached at Burnley and
Bury, and worked for the Football League monitoring clubs' youth systems. ==Career statistics==