An appropriate day to look at Kevin Wilson’s transfer from Banbury United to Derby County in December 1979 as today is Kevin’s 60th birthday! Everyone at Banbury United sends their best wishes to Kevin and we hope it will not be too long before we once again see him down at the Banbury Plant Hire Community Stadium.

Few would argue the claim that Kevin Wilson is Banbury United’s finest football product. He joined the club from local side Ruscote Sports in 1977, playing in the Banbury United Youth side in season 1977/78. He initially made the Banbury United first team squad early the following season when at the age of 17 he was named as a substitute in a home FA Cup Preliminary Round game against Thame United on 2nd September 1978. He would make his Southern League debut wearing the No. 11 shirt at home to Bedworth United on Saturday 21st October 1978 and then score his first goal for the club three days later in a Berks & Bucks Floodlit League game at home to Amersham Town. From this point on Kevin quickly established himself in the first team, where he played up front alongside Steve Slaughter, making 45 appearances that season and scoring 13 goals.

At the start of the following season Kevin played with Mark Boyland and at times alongside Oxford United legend Hugh Curran, making a total of 16 appearances and scoring 6 goals prior to earning in December 1979 a £20,000 move (which is still a Banbury United club record for a transfer fee received) to Derby County.

Kevin’s last game for Banbury United was on Saturday 8th December 1979 when he permanently endeared himself to the United faithful as he scored one of the three goals in a 3-0 win over local rivals Witney Town in a Southern League Division One game played at the Spencer Stadium.

There follows a team photo for season 1979/80, Kevin is third from the left on the front row. The full list of players is as follows:

Back Row (Left to Right); Andy Glass, Richard Ell, John Hawkes, Aidan Kearns, Steve Slaughter, Alan Hyatt, Richard Jarvis, Mark Boyland, Steve Knox, Harry Smillie (Trainer).

Front Row (Left to Right): David Woodland, Terry Falkner, Kevin Wilson, Phil Lines, Derek Evans, Dave Matthews, Martin Allen.

Underneath are some press cuttings regarding the transfer.

Kevin would make his Football League debut for Derby County in a First Division game on 8th April 1980 when coming on as a substitute in a 3-0 defeat away to Liverpool in front of 40,932 spectators. He would go on to make 122 Football League appearances for the Rams and score 30 goals prior to moving to Ipswich Town in January 1985.

As well as Derby County and Ipswich Town, Kevin’s playing career would go on to include spells at Chelsea (where he scored 42 goals in 152 league appearances), Notts County, Bradford City, Walsall and Northampton Town with him amassing 602 Football League appearances and scoring 149 league goals.

Kevin would also have an international career with Northern Ireland, making his debut for them against Israel in February 1987 and going on to earn 42 International caps scoring 6 goals.

Kevin gained experience in a player/coach role at Walsall and Northampton Town before getting the manager’s job at Northampton in October 1999, replacing Ian Atkins, and he immediately earned the Cobblers promotion to the Second Division at the end of that season (1999/2000). Season 2000/01 started well but Northampton finished the season in disappointing form eventually finishing in 18th place. Following a poor start to season 2001/02, Kevin left the club in September 2001.

Management spells at Bedford Town and Aylesbury United followed before he joined Kettering Town for the first time in December 2003. He would leave the Poppies at the beginning of November 2005 soon after Paul Gascoigne was appointed manager refusing to take up a Director of Football role. However, when the short-lived Gascoigne fiasco was over, he agreed the following month to return to the manager’s job at Kettering. This return did not work out well though and after a poor run of results he left the club in February 2006, moving on to Hucknall Town and then Corby Town.

Kevin then worked as Head Coach at the independent and private football academy based at Rushden & Diamonds’ Nene Park complex before being appointed manager of Conference North side Ilkeston Town in May 2009. He was still manager of Ilkeston Town when they were wound up over an unpaid tax bill in September 2010.

Kevin was then appointed manager of the newly formed Ilkeston Football Club in December 2010 and lead them to promotion to the Northern Premier League Premier Division for season 2012/13. Ilkeston made the Premier Division play-offs in 2014/15 but were beaten in the final by Curzon Ashton. By this time the club had already announced that Kevin would be leaving the manager’s post at the end of that season. Kevin then managed Nuneaton Town from May 2015 to November 2016.

Currently a director at the Sportz Connexions football agency, Kevin has maintained links with Banbury United and the photo below shows him pictured at a pre-Covid Sportsman’s evening event at the club with a number of other former United players. Left to Right: Kevin Wilson, Wally Hastie, Les Robinson, Phil Lines and Ronnie Johnson.