Debut: 1-1 draw vs Sheffield Wednesday (as sub), November 23rd 1988
League Record: 4 games, all as sub
Sold to: Bristol Rovers (free transfer), July 1991
And into the realms of obscurity. David Wilson never started a game for United and he's the first player I've been unable to find a picture of in a United shirt. I doubt many fans even of the time would remember him now, but he went on to have a decent career in the game.
Like Tony Gill and Lee Martin, Wilson was a member of the team that made the final of the FA Youth Cup in 1986, only to be beaten by Manchester City. Playing as a midfielder, he was always going to struggle with the likes of Robson, Moses and Whiteside ahead of him and it wasn't until options were short that he got a chance.
All the same, he made an impact in the game against QPR as mentioned in the Tony Gill entry. With United 2-1 down in extra time, Wilson picked the ball up around the half way line, running past a couple of defenders before smashing the ball across the area to be slotted home by our next entrant.
It didn't lead to further glory, however, and the next season saw even more players brought in to leave him way down the pecking order. Loan spells at Lincoln and Charlton didn't lead to permanent moves and he moved on to Bristol Rovers in the summer of 1991.
After being released by Rovers having played only 11 games, Wilson moved about as far North as you can go to play football, signing for Finnish team RoPS, the start of what would be a long career in Scandinavia. His most consistent spell was at Swedish club Ljungskile, where he played over 100 league games and went back to manage them over two spells in the first decade this century - it's from this part of his career where I found the above picture. I even found one article that has him down as the tenth most influential Englishman in Swedish football. Fair play! It seems he's still living in that part of the world, scouting for Aston Villa.
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