On October 16th 2001 Andy Wilkinson – who at the time was just 17 years old – made his Stoke debut in the Auto Windscreens against Blackpool, replacing Clive Clarke for the last 15 minutes.
It was two years later that he made his home debut – playing at centre half in a league cup first round game with Rochdale, making a mistake if I recall – but if he did, it must be one of the very last he ever made for us.
It was later that season, against West Brom that he made his full league debut and after that it was far from an easy ride, indeed it was a couple of years before he count himself as a regular member of the squad.
But Wilko never complained when he was shunted out on loan to Telford, to Partick Thistle or Blackpool – at least not to my knowledge, he just worked hard and impressed.
In fact, it was during that loan spell at Bloomfield Road that it became clear that he might have more of a future with us that we thought. The then Pool boss Simon Grayson tried to buy him but not only did Tony Pulis turn the bid down he gave the Stone born defender a new three-year contract. Given that we were moving on as a club that was interesting and signalled that Wilko was perhaps better than we thought.
If I am being totally honest, when we made the step up to the PremierLeague I didn’t think Wilko would be with us much longer. But in many ways, he has embodied the progression of the club as a whole. Whatever challenges he faced – the fact that the Manager signed a succession of right backs for example – he just got his head down, worked hard (or should that be ‘ard?) and got himself back into the side.
In the old days 10 years service would be marked with a testimonial, and although that is a throwback, a tradition that doesn’t happen anymore that in itself sums Wilko up. He IS a throwback, he is traditional. He’s a local lad who plays for his boyhood club, he loves what he’s doing and we love him.
So after 131 appearances in the red and white just one thing is missing. He has of course never scored for The Potters, his only goal coming in his loan spell in Scotland. He is getting closer, there was De Gea’s save against Man Utd the other week for example and he’s hit the bar a couple of times. Indeed the only thing that could have made the FA Cup semi any better is if Wilko hadn’t fluffed the chance in front of goal that ended up with Jon Walters scoring the fifth.
I will predict that he will notch one by the end of his career. Maybe….
He said today that he wants to be at The Brit forever. I feel I speak for everyone who has a little bit of romance in their red and white heart when I say I hope he does too.
Joining Andy Wilkinson on the bench that night at Blackpool was striker Lawrence Hall. I wonder if he feels just a tinge of jealousy? If so, he would be the only one that does. The rest of us – all Stoke supporters who have ever dreamed of pulling on the red and white shirt – feel that Andy Wilkinson represents us on that pitch.
He probably feels like that too.
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