A SALUTE TO COCKLES WILSON
With football action postponed for the foreseeable future, St Mirren are running a series of features around the best players to ever represent the Paisley side. With kind thanks to stmirren.com, we‘re today sharing this in-depth feature article about John‘Cockles’Wilson, who helped the Saints lift the Scottish Cup in 1959.
John ‘Cockles’ Wilson retired over 50 years ago but is still remembered fondly around St Mirren Park, and had a supporter’s club named in his honour.
Born in West Kilbride, in 1935, he gained the nickname ‘Cockles’ from his time scouring Ayrshire beaches for shellfish to help with the family business.
Originally a centre forward, he began playing with Ardeer Recreation in Stevenston and was brought to the attention of Saints in 1955.
Included in the Saints’ team as a trialist for a friendly match against Reading on March 21, 1955, under the assumed name of Alan Robertson, his match lasted just three minutes after he broke his collarbone.
However, he was offered a contract and signed on April 16, 1955, as a 19-year-old.
Over the next two years John spent a lot of time in Germany, completing his national service in the RAF, so playing opportunities were limited.
He made his top team debut against Queen of the South on August 11, 1956, in a League Cup match at Palmerston, but had to wait until February 1957 for his next start when he lined up at left back against Partick Thistle in the Scottish Cup.
His league debut came three days later against Queen of the South at Palmerston and he went on to play in the remaining ten matches of the season, establishing himself as the regular left back.
Having completed his national service, 1957/58 was the season that he became a regular in the team, cementing his reputation as a tough-tackling full back.
He played in 41 of 43 competitive matches and scored his first goals in the top team.
With a striker crisis affecting the club, manager Willie Reid played him at centre forward for a match against Hibs on February 22 1958. John netted once and led the line well in an amazing 5-5 draw.
He continued at centre forward for the remainder of the season scoring seven times in 12 games. Season 1958/59 opened with a League Cup tie against Airdrie on August 9 and John continued at centre forward, scoring his first senior hat-trick in a 4-3 win.
He continued to lead the forward line until the New Year, scoring nine times along the way.
By the time the Scottish Cup campaign got underway, he was back in his full back position and, after missing the first-round thrashing of Peebles Rovers, he played in the next three rounds as Saints made their way to the final.
On April 25 1959, John lined up at Hampden to play his part in bringing the cup back to Paisley following a 3-1 victory over Aberdeen.
Over the next three seasons, Cockles played solidly at left back, playing 126 matches.
The highlight of this period was another Scottish Cup final appearance, unfortunately, losing to Rangers in April 1962. The disappointment of this was countered by him being awarded the Saints player of the year award for the season.
Season 1962/63 saw him play in just 20 matches due to injury, but he was back to fitness, and goal scoring form, for the following season, as he scored six times in 34 matches.
He scored a further two goals from 41 matches during season 1964/65, bringing his total to 24 goals – not a bad record for a player who played mostly at full back.
Cockles played in four matches at the beginning of season 1965/66 but an injury against Morton at the end of August was to keep him out for the rest of the season.
He made a return at the start of the following season, but only managed two League Cup matches before dropping out of the team again.
He returned to the team for two matches in January 1967, but these were to be his last competitive games for the club. He made a substitute appearance in a friendly against Queen of the South on March 1, but never appeared in the first team again.
At the end of this season Saints were relegated to the Second Division and Cockles decided to retire.
Over his 11 years at Love Street he played a total of 320 competitive games and scored 24 times.
He will always be remembered as part of the 1959 cup-winning team.
Towards the end of 1984, it was announced that Cockles was suffering from Motor Neurone Disease and the club organised a benefit dinner for him.
Sadly, John died on February 24 1985. The dinner went ahead in his memory, at the Glynhill Hotel in Renfrew, on March 25, 1985.
It was attended by many of his former colleagues as well as fans and other big names from the world of football. A fitting tribute to one of Saints’ greatest players.
1957/58 was the season he became a regular in the team, cementing his reputation as a tough-tackling full back