Mark Wilson has relived the time he was on the end of a verbal slaughtering from ex-Celtic manager Neil Lennon after assistant boss Johan Mjallby locked them both in an office at Lennoxtown.
Wilson began his career at Dundee United before moving to Celtic in January 2006 for a fee of £500k after the Hoops triggered his release clause.
Perhaps not the most talented of Celtic stars, Wilson played at right-back but was blighted by several injuries which meant he made just 98 league appearances for the club.
Wilson won five major trophies with Celtic which included three Scottish Premier League titles and a Scottish Cup and League Cup apiece.
After being made captain for his last match for the Hoops against St Johnstone in 2012, Wilson left for Bristol City before returning to United and then finishing his career at Dumbarton.
Wilson got ‘annihilated’ by ex-Celtic boss Lennon
Wilson is now a regular on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard and made an appearance recently to pore over Celtic’s tremendous 5-1 victory over Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League.
But after Johan Mjallby was brought up in a quiz question during the show, Wilson was reminded by host Gordan Duncan of a story he once told about the Swede locking the former full-back in Neil Lennon’s office at Lennoxtown.
Mjallby was manager Lennon’s assistant boss at the time with Wilson hardly getting a kick in the first-team.
And Wilson did something to rile up Lennon, who proceeded to call Wilson into his office and absolutely hammer him. Here’s how the story was told:
Duncan: “What was it again when you were in the office? Because he’s (Mjallby) a big guy!”
Wilson: “I was in an empty dressing room at Lennoxtown and Lenny’s shouted me in and Johan locked the door behind me and I thought, ‘what’s going on here?’. It was like out of Goodfellas! And he just stood there while Lenny just annihilated me!”
Duncan: “What for?”
Dalziel: “Did he lock the door so you couldn’t run out?”
Wilson: “I got told to do an event but he (Lennon) had put me so far out of the first-team and I said, ‘surely that’s a first-team player that should be going to the event?’ And then the lady running the event went and told Lenny and he ripped into me.”
Duncan: “What did you say, ‘oh sorry gaffer’?”
Wilson: “Nah, I argued my case but lost the argument and went to the event!”
Wilson on Lennon as his Celtic captain
Of course, before Neil Lennon became manager of Celtic on two occasions, he was the captain under Gordon Strachan’s stewardship.
And Wilson, in an interview with The Scotsman in 2019, recalled how ‘intimidating’ the Irishman’s presence was in and around the club when the full-back first joined Celtic.
Wilson said: “Neil was my captain and, for a 21-year-old, pretty intimidating.
“He used to swagger into training, not dressed particularly well, bit like a teenager in hoodie and baggy jeans, but he had a presence and at first I thought: ‘Best not to approach.’
“But the times he gave me a blast I didn’t mind. I didn’t want him treating me as some sort of charity case.”
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