David Wilson (born 22 February 1974) is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager who is currently head coach for Lions Gibraltar in the Gibraltar Football League. From April 2013 to March 2015, he served as an assistant manager of the national team under head coach Allen Bula and held the position when the

Gibraltar Football Association The Gibraltar Football Association or also Gibraltar FA (GFA) is the governing body for Gibraltarian football and futsal. It was formed as the ''Gibraltar Civilian Football Association'' in 1895, changing to its current name in later years. It is ...

(GFA) was admitted to

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

in May 2013. He has also managed Bruno's Magpies and Manchester 62.

Early life

Wilson was born in Redlands hospital on the west end of Glasgow, Scotland and his family moved to Pennyburn area of Kilwinning in 1985.

Career

Playing career

During his short playing career, Wilson played for Pennyburn Boys Club, Ardeer Thistle, and Kilwinning Rangers, for which he was considered a "star" during the 1990s under head coach Jim McSherry. He was also on the books of

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

from 1988 to 1992 as an S form Schoolboy before becoming one of the club's first ever apprentice professional footballers under manager Jim Fleeting in 1990. Wilson decided to walk away from playing at only 19 years of age because he thought that he would never make it at the top level. At this time, Wilson joined the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. During his time serving with the Royal Navy Wilson maintained a good level of football representing Worthing Town 1994–95, Bashley FC 1996–97, Newport isle of wight from 1998 to 2002, before returning to Bashley FC for his final year of football south of the border in 2002–03 playing in the Hampshire cup final against Aldershot Town FC. between 2003 and 2005 Wilson represented three Scottish non league clubs,

Troon Troon (Scottish Gaelic: ''An Truthail'') is a town and sea port in South Ayrshire, situated on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland, about north of Ayr and northwest of Glasgow Prestwick Airport. Troon has a port with ferry and freight serv ...

, Saltcoats Vic FC and finally Auchinleck Talbot before deciding to retire from playing. In 2019 he re-registered as a player, aged 44, amid an injury crisis at Bruno's Magpies, playing 65 minutes at centre-back in a 5-2 Gibraltar Division 2 Cup win over Leo.

Managerial career

In 2008, Wilson's Navy career took him to

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

to serve as an Exercise Rehabilitation Officer. He also played in matches organized by the Royal Navy Football Association. At this time, he also offered his services to local football clubs to help with fitness. After becoming acquainted with Allen Bula, head coach of the

Gibraltar national football team The Gibraltar national football team represents Gibraltar in men's international football competitions, and is controlled by the Gibraltar Football Association. Gibraltar applied for full Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) membersh ...

, Wilson was asked to offer his services to the national team in April 2013. After initially thinking that he would only be assessing players and helping with rehabilitation, he soon discovered Bula wanted him to become his "right hand man" and was named an assistant. Wilson was then on the bench as Gibraltar made their international debut in November 2013, a scoreless draw against

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. Wilson described it as a special occasion when Gibraltar was drawn into the same qualifying group as his native

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

for

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from September 2014 to November 2015 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams joining the automatically qualified host team France in the UEFA Euro 2 ...

, Gibraltar's first appearance in an official UEFA tournament. After Bula was dismissed as head coach of the Gibraltar national team on 2 March 2015, Wilson was named interim head coach beginning with the team's 29 March 2015

fixture against his native

Hampden Park Hampden Park ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden'') is a association football, football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football ...

. Wilson currently holds his Uefa 'A' Coaching licence having completed both his Uefa A and B coaching badges in his native Scotland.

Achievements

Bruno's Magpies *

Gibraltar Second Division The Gibraltar Second Division was the second tier of association football, football in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, run by the Gibraltar Football Association (GFA). The league was founded in 1909 after the expansion of the Gibra ...

: 2018–19 * Gibraltar Division 2 Cup: 2018–19 Manchester 62 *GFA Challenge Trophy: 2021–22

Managerial statistics

Includes accredited UEFA fixture(s) only:

References

External links

Profile at Soccerway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, David Gibraltar national football team managers Scottish men's footballers Scottish football managers Scottish expatriate football managers Kilmarnock F.C. players Troon F.C. players F.C. Bruno's Magpies players Living people 1974 births Men's association football defenders Footballers from Kilwinning Scottish Junior Football Association players Ardeer Thistle F.C. players Bashley F.C. players Newport (IOW) F.C. players Auchinleck Talbot F.C. players Expatriate football managers in Gibraltar Gibraltar National League managers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Gibraltar