| Bth | 1884 | Lochgelly | Scotland |
| P/H/W | Outside-left | 5ft 6in | 12st 5lb |
| Jnd | 23/11/07 | Everton/Distillery | £1,600 |
| Deb | 14/12/07 | Liverpool (a) | Div 1 |
| Dep | 09/15 | Raith Rovers | £250 |
| A/G | 218 | 33 |
| Season | App | Gls | Posn |
| 1907/08 | 18 | 06 | 11,10 |
| 1908/09 | 36 | 10 | 11,10 |
| 1909/10 | 37 | 05 | 11,10 |
| 1910/11 | 27 | 02 | 11,10 |
| 1911/12 | 33 | 02 | 11,10 |
| 1912/13 | 31 | 04 | 11,10 |
| 1913/14 | 28 | 04 | 11,10 |
| 1914/15 | 08 | 11,10 |
George Wilson had to be signed from two clubs at the same time and the combined fee set a new world transfer record. Playing at both outside and inside-left he played over 200 games in eight seasons on Tyneside.
Wilson played for a number of clubs before joining Hearts in May 1903. After three seasons in Edinburgh, during which he won his first caps for his country, he signed for Everton.
At the end of his first season in Lancashire "Smiler" was left out of the Everton Cup Final team because he would not promise to resign. In those days a player had to provide a reason for requesting a transfer if they were offered the maximum wage. So although he signed for Portsmouth the FA were not happy with his explanation and ordered him back to Everton. Rather than do this he signed for Distillery.
As a result the Irishmen had his signature, but Everton still held his registration in England. So when Newcastle wanted to sign him they had to negotiate with, and pay a fee to, both clubs. With Distillery receiving £600 and Everton a cool thousand it represented a new (world) record fee. The FA suspended him for 14 days for breaking Rule 30.
A strongly built and sturdy little man with an extraordinary knack of withstanding and evading charges. He could stand any amount of robust tackling and it was often said that he was the most difficult forward playing to knock off the ball.
George Wilson was a tricky forward who had a lot of clever football compressed into a small compass. A fine dodger and brilliant dribbler who stuck like glue to the ball and had a strong shot.
At inside left he was seen at his best, but was capped as an extreme winger, and as such played some clever games for the United.
Represented Scotland v. England (1906. 1907, and 1909), Wales (1904 and 1906) and Ireland (1905).
The portrait is a digital design which will assist in painting the player as part of the nufc collection ‘Men in Stripes’ and is copyright Piotr Jozefowicz.
Match photos are from original newspapers at the Newcastle Library Local Studies department.
For a more extensive biography of his full career see the Paul Joannou book "Newcastle United - The Ultimate Who's Who 1881-2014" and the accompanying supplement "The Ultimate Who's Who Supplement 1"