Some things were just meant to be. The seaside holiday town of Paignton may not be the most fertile of recruitment grounds for Bristol City but without the local caravan parks, Kane Wilson may not have become a Robin.
It was trips to Devon in his childhood - treading a very familiar path from Birmingham down the M5 - that helped me fall in love with the West Country, a part of the country he’s called home for the last five years.
Lasting memories of the “characters” he encountered at holiday parks and the warmth and friendliness of locals delivered memories for a lifetime for the young right wing-back that have helped make the transition to the area that little bit easier in adulthood.
Wilson was a deeply talented but raw 17-year-old when then-West Brom manager Tony Pulis pulled him aside and said he wouldn’t be able to make the breakthrough at The Hawthorns without building up significant first-team experience elsewhere, especially when the Baggies were a Premier League club at the time.
And so he returned to the West Country, moving to Exeter City in his mid-teens, a “scary experience” as he describes it, but those 22 appearances he made in League Two during the 2017/18 season, coupled with the bravery to have moved away set his career on the right path.
He’s had to bide his time, with temporary moves to Walsall and Tranmere Rovers of varying degrees of success, before the Baggies door was shut and he elected to head west once more, to Forest Green Rovers where he went on to make his name as one of the finest right-back prospects in the EFL.
Now completing his “hat-trick” of West Country clubs with Bristol City offering him a three-year contract, Wilson admits the size of the club, the facilities and the presence of Pearson were significant factors in his decision-making, but with interest elsewhere in the division, what proved the real deal-breaker for the Robins was that familiarity and love of the area.
“There were options, there were a few people interested, off the back of me being a free agent and having a good season with Forest Green but it was the way Bristol City were so forward, they made me feel so welcome,” Wilson said. “The gaffer, when I came to look around, he seemed like a really great guy.
“The West Country has been my home from home, leaving (Birmingham) when I was 17 to go to Exeter. The people are lovely, it’s a friendly environment and I just fell in love with it, really. My home still is Birmingham, that is where my family are, that is where I would call home. But I just kind of slipped in with the people. I know they love their cider and I’ve just kind of bought into that culture.
“As a kid, you used to find me in Paignton, places like that. They were my favourite holidays growing up, with all the characters you’d get. Maybe that’s why I like it (so much). I just love it down here, it’s such a lovely environment and it’s so bang on.”
After such a dominant campaign for Forest Green, both collectively with the League Two title and individually, as Wilson won the league’s Player of the Year award, the natural step up on his revised career path was the Championship.
Easy going, mild-mannered, polite and friendly, Wilson is good company but beyond his welcoming mannerisms, honesty of words with a touch of naivety, devoid of ego, is a clear drive and desire to improve, both as a player in the moment and in terms of his career overall.
He’s well aware Championship football will be a different challenge to what he became accustomed to in the fourth tier but, namechecking Matty James, Andy King and Chris Martin as senior players who have offered guidance already in the short time he’s been at the club, he’s more than confident he can make an impression.
“The Championship was where I wanted to go to try and test myself,” Wilson added. “Bristol City was a team that really showed they believed in me that they wanted me to come.
“It’ll be tough. There’ll be a difference but it’s something I’ll adapt to. All the lads here, the experience people like Jamo, Kingy, Chrissy - everyone has said, ‘this is what you can do, this is what we know you can do, now go out there and do it.’ They’re all helping me, everyone putting their arm around me and getting me up to speed with it.
“I’ve been on benches and been around Premier League and Championship matchdays but, from what I can gather, it’s going to be a step up in tempo. My final ball needs to be on the point and mistakes might get punished a bit more.
“But that’s all things the gaffer and the lads are going to help me with and I’m such a massive learner; I know I’m going to make mistakes but they won’t be the end of me, I look forward to them because I know I’m going to learn from them.
“I want to go as high as I can - for my family and for myself. It’s something that I dream of. I’ve got three years here at Bristol City and hopefully we can do that as a club.”
Wilson’s excitement being at City - he does seem genuinely delighted to just come to work at the Robins High Performance Centre each day, let alone the prospect of matchdays at Ashton Gate - is mirrored by the anticipation throughout the fanbase, first in wanting him to sign and now the prospect of seeing him on the field, bombing down the right flank.
City somehow got through last season predominantly playing in a wing-back system, despite not having a recognised player in that position on the right-flank. Plug in a talent such as Wilson, and it could have an major impact on the whole dynamic of the team.
Through the weeks of build-up before Wilson was unveiled on the Ashton Gate roof - shouting “what?” with boy-like nervous enthusiasm, as City tweeted a clip from Castaway with Tom Hanks searching and screaming for his volleyball companion, Wilson - the 22-year-old admits he was well aware of the excitement and hype around the concept of seeing him one day in a City shirt.
Something he wants to pay back over the course of the season.
“My phone was blowing up! I really appreciate it, I can’t put into words how grateful me and my family are for just the excitement and wanting me to play for their team,” he said. “Hopefully I can show that when I play that I really want to put my heart on my sleeve and try and entertain and live up to the expectation.”
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