MARK Wilson lived the dream - every schoolboy Celtic supporter's dream.
For six wonderful years, Wilson lapped up life in Paradise when he moved from Dundee United to Gordon Strachan's Celtic for a reported £500,000 fee on January 16 2006.
He won a full set of domestic medals with his boyhood heroes. Five in all - three Scottish top-flight titles (2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08), one Scottish Cup (2011) and one League Cup (2009). He still beams with enormous pride at that - and rightly so.
Wilson said: "Playing for Celtic was the best time of my life. I loved it. I was a Celtic supporter growing up and to get the opportunity to be involved in the club at any level was something that was beyond my wildest dreams.
"When you get the chance not just to play for a youth team or a reserve team but to play for the first team it is quite special. I never treated that lightly or ever took it for granted.
"I also played in a successful Celtic side and not everybody can say that. A lot better players than me have played for the club during harder times and have walked away with nothing, no medals to show for it.
"I played under an outstanding manager and alongside outstanding players who were top professionals. I came away with medals and some wonderful memories to show for it.
"To have won the full set of domestic medals is something I am rightfully proud of. It is also a decent achievement just to play in a highly successful Celtic team."
Wilson says that, in Gordon Strachan, Celtic had an exceptional manager at the helm of the club. Under his guidance, they won three titles in a row and qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League twice.
That was a magnificent achievement when you consider the club had embarked on a period of relative downsizing after the big-spending years of the Martin O'Neill era.
To put things into perspective: reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League was a feat that eluded even O'Neill and his much-lauded Celtic teams.
Was Strachan misunderstood then? Maybe. However, Wilson believes that it was Strachan's refreshing honesty that made him unpopular among a small section of the Ceitc supporters and some media circles.
"Gordon Strachan was a phenomenal coach and a very likeable guy," said Wilson. "If you did the work that he wanted and you knuckled down then he treated you the way you deserved to be treated.
"He only came across as unlikeable to the media and some of the fans because he would say things that were refreshingly honest and they were not used to hearing. They were used to people pandering to the supporters or being apologists for everything. Gordon certainly wasn't that.
"He quite rightly spoke the truth and, as players, we liked that. There were no grey areas with him. If Gordon was unhappy with you he would just tell you why and that would be it. You had very little to argue back with as he was always right.
"But if you did well for him he would treat you right and that's what I loved about him. The job that Gordon did for Celtic was absolutely incredible. Back-to-back qualifications for the last 16 of the Champions League is an unbelievable achievement when you think about it. The supporters are just beginning to realise that now in hindsight."
The then 21-year-old full-back walked into a Celtic dressing room full of characters. Big characters.
And they don't come much bigger than Roy Keane and Neil Lennon.
Wilson could not believe that he was rubbing shoulders with the former Manchester United and Republic of Ireland midfielder, the one-time best central midfielder in world football.
"Signing for Celtic and walking into a dressing room and seeing Roy Keane as one of my team-mates was totally surreal," Wilson said. "I had played against Neil Lennon as a player for years so I knew what a formidable character he was. I knew what Lenny was like and he had an aura about him that was special.
"But Roy was my football hero growing up watching him play for Manchester United in the Champions League. He controlled the English Premier League for years and he was the best central midfielder in world football at one point and there he is inches away from me as a Celtic team-mate of mine.
"It was strange to stand in front of him every day at training and be up close to a total professional like him. It certainly made me better as a player and tougher as a character.
"On the training pitch, he was exceptionally tough to deal with simply because he had such high standards. His standards were ridiculously high with everything.
"The ball would come to him and he would lay it off to the side or make a forward pass and it looked simple but it wasn't simple as he was just a consummate professional that made it look that way. When you couldn't match that Roy was on your case.
"But I wouldn't change that for anything. The months I played with Roy at Celtic were my formative ones at the club and what an education it was.
"Any nerves I had about joining I had to quickly get over as Roy would be on my case in training - which he was on a regular basis.
"In the dressing room, he was a quiet and funny guy. Not a lot of people know this about Roy but he loved talking to the younger guys and giving them his time. He was a really nice guy off the pitch but as soon as we stepped onto it he was a different animal, a changed guy. You could see exactly why he reached the top level in his career.
"Roy lost the rag at me a few times - he would give me the silent stare, which is scary. That's how calculated he was."
Wilson made his debut in a 3-3 draw against Dundee United at Celtic Park in January 2006. Celtic had blown a 3-1 lead in the process and he watched on in awe as his boyhood idol Keane grabbed centre stage in the post-match briefing and video analysis session on Monday at training.
"Roy was ready to come on [in the Dundee United game] but he had left his strip in the dressing room and he had gone to get it," Wilson recalls. "We were 3-1 up but Dundee United equalised and he did not come on as we needed a winner.
"On Monday we had the video analysis session. I always remember as it was my first video analysis with Celtic and I wondered what was going to be said.
"Gordon asked Neil to speak and instead Roy piped up right away and said that he couldn't believe none of the players had their team-mates by the throat in the dressing room right after the game.
"He said at Manchester United they would have been fighting with each other and players would have been grabbing each other by the throat asking how they'd lost a 3-1 lead. He was saying it all in an animated fashion and it was amazing because even Gordon took stock of that.
"He was hosting the meeting but Roy took over for that five minutes and it was something to see in action when he was in full flight. He commanded total respect. He demanded high standards.
"There were times at training where he would just randomly scream my name because I did something wrong. That thick Irish accent was quite terrifying but there is no doubt it made me a better player.
"I knew that anybody I played with in the future would not come remotely close to being like Roy Keane in terms of being a player, an icon, or the standards that he demanded.
"When I see him as a pundit now that is exactly what he was like as a player. You either deal with it or you go under.
"I think Gordon liked that I was hard working and that he saw me dealing with the likes of Lenny, Alan Thompson, Stiliyan Petrov and big John Hartson as well as Roy. I proved I could handle it and Gordon liked that I took all that on board."
Wilson also revealed that Keane strolled through his one and only outing against Rangers at Ibrox when a Maciej Zurawski goal for Celtic separated the sides in February 2006. Even senior players in the Celtic dressing room were astonished at the Irishman's work ethic.
Wilson said: "Everybody wondered how he would deal with this atmosphere. It was almost as if he didn't break a sweat the whole game.
"Both he and Lenny occupied the middle of the pitch and I was in awe of the two of them. I remember thinking it was by far the biggest game I had ever played in my career yet Roy took it all in his stride.
"It showed the levels that he had reached and how good he was. He was 34 years of age when he played against Rangers - and he totally bossed it.
"What a guy to be around. People talk about Lenny having an aura, Roy Keane was a step above that. You had guys like Lenny, Petrov and Thompson who were all heroes in the Celtic team and when Roy Keane walked in the door even they were taken aback and thought 'wow'.
"Everybody was just gobsmacked at Roy's standards that he not only produced in training but he replicated it in matches."
Wilson insists that playing in the Champions League against the likes of Spartak Moscow, Manchester United, AC Milan and Barcelona were the highlights of his Celtic career.
He said: "It was the pinnacle for me. Getting to that level and playing in the group stages and progressing to the last 16 twice in a row is as good as any of those medals. That stacks up against any of the current crop or Brendan Rodgers sides.
"We achieved something that even teams before us who were spending millions on players didn't manage to do.
"It is quite strange and odd when you look at the history and you put it into context. At that time I thought it was normal for Celtic. We were aware that it was a good achievement and there was a school of thought that we would do it all again soon enough.
"It doesn't quite work out like that. I was lucky I was at Celtic at that time - and what an experience it was playing at Old Trafford against the likes of Ronaldo, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and Ryan Giggs.
"Then you look at AC Milan and, although I never played, I was in the squad that lost 1-0 in the last-16 tie in the San Siro when Kaka scored that wonder goal. He was the world player of the year back then and it was no surprise that AC Milan went on to win the whole competition that season.
"A year later we played Barcelona in the last 16 and we were up against some of the greatest bunch of players ever assembled - Xavi, Iniesta, Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto'o, Lionel Messi, Ronaldinho, Carles Puyol to name but a few. That was incredible and to have that on my football CV is just magical.
"The gap in terms of players' abilities and finances were just as big back then but somehow we managed to find a way of competing for much to the team and Gordon's credit. His teams always found a way of competing.
"We had our own sprinkling of magic with players like Shunsuke Nakamura - who could have played for anybody. It was just lucky that he played for us. He would bend free-kicks into the top corner right, left and centre and that was our way of competing as Manchester United found out to their cost.
"It is great getting to that level but the enjoyment quickly evaporates if you get pumped.
"Although when AC Milan came to Celtic Park in 2007 in the last 16 we drew the first leg 0-0 - and we got slaughtered in the papers for that. I remember thinking to myself 'Celtic have just drawn 0-0 with AC Milan in the last 16 of the Champions League... I was playing for Dundee United the season before, what do people expect?'
"It was incredible how Gordon got the best out of those players and how we adapted to the pressures of playing those ties.
"A few seasons before Celtic had Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton and Paul Lambert and they were at the top of their game and heralded as heroes - and rightly so. We were a downgrade on them but we managed to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League which was a feat that great side never achieved."
Wilson played under three Celtic managers in his six years at the club: Strachan, Tony Mowbray and Neil Lennon.
The Mowbray experiment turned out to be a short-lived one which culminated in the axe being swung after nine months following a 4-0 defeat to St Mirren in Paisley in March 2010.
Wilson said: "Tony was a great guy. He just came to the club at the wrong time. He had a philosophy and everybody expected it to be great and lovely but it just didn't work.
"Tony was maybe under-prepared for the way the opposition would play against us. I get managers 'saying this is my philosophy and we will blow teams away' but there still has to be a level of respect for the opposition and it was a poor season.
"Players have to take responsibility even though managers pay the ultimate price. I was in and out of the side under Tony and it took a bit of time for him to get to know me. There was nothing personal with the two of us at the start.
"The dressing room was disjointed and there were certain cliques developing - it was far removed from the previous regime. It was a difficult time but we all have to take our fair share of the blame for that.
"It all came to a head that night against St Mirren. It is never nice for a manager to lose his job and I was firmly a part of that.
"But when Lennon took over the club it was transformed again. The players quickly realised what it meant to play for Celtic and to give their all in every game to win. That is what was missing at that time.
"Under Tony in the nine months that had gone before there was a bit of an easier mentality and I didn't like that."
Lennon famously said that he would bring back the thunder to Celtic as he embarked upon the managerial challenge in season 2010-11. He made considerable changes to the team for the campaign.
He sold Aiden McGeady for a then Scottish record of £9.5million along with captain Stephen McManus and fan favourite Artur Boruc.
Lennon signed talented, young, cheap, relatively-unknown players from smaller leagues around the world. Players such as Gary Hooper, Beram Kayal and Emilio Izaguirre arrived alongside experienced campaigners Charlie Mulgrew, Joe Ledley and Daniel Majstorovic on free transfers.
The new manager also brought in goalkeeper Fraser Forster on loan from Newcastle United, who became first-choice goalkeeper and helped set a new SPL record for most clean sheets.
"Lennon made so many changes to the Celtic first team and that gets overlooked," said Wilson. "His signings were excellent. They got what it meant to play for the club and they all embraced Celtic, the fans and the culture."
The feel-good factor was back at the club but, ultimately, a 3-2 loss away to Inverness Caley Thistle with three games of the season remaining saw Celtic blow the title and allowed Rangers to pip them to the crown.
"It was my most enjoyable season but it had the worst possible ending," he said. "It was a great team to play in and I have never been so convinced that we were going to win the league than that season - but it was not to be and Inverness was the straw that broke the camel's back.
"It is one of those games that I will never forget. It was a horrible night and we blew it big style."
Although on the plus side, Wilson would score the only three goals of his Celtic career during the campaign. His most memorable strike came in a 1-0 defeat of Rangers in the Scottish Cup fifth-round replay later dubbed the 'Shame Game'.
Wilson believed that he would go down in folklore and Celtic legend but events off the park rather overshadowed his heroics on it.
Lennon and Ally McCoist had their infamous spat on the touchline as Rangers had three players sent off - Steven Whittaker, Madjid Bougherra and El-Hadji Diouf - in an ill-tempered affair.
"During that season I scored my three Celtic goals and they all came within six games," Wilson recalls. "I scored against Aberdeen, Dundee United and then the winner in the Scottish Cup fifth-round replay when I slammed the ball into the ground and it bounced over Allan McGregor and we won 1-0.
"I hit the original shot like a bullet and it smashed off Sasa Papac and then I hit the volley into the deck and it ended up in the net. It was a shit way for it to go in but I didn't care if it came off my arse - they all count.
"It was Neil Lennon who gave me the licence to roam and go forward and attack the ball at set-pieces. He gave me the confidence I needed as before I don't think managers trusted me to do anything in the forward areas.
"Neil told me to play that way and I was up at the back post when Emilio Izaguirre crossed the ball. I was possibly too reserved before Lenny took the shackles off and allowed me to become a marauding full-back.
"I felt that I was going to be the hero after netting the winner in a Celtic v Rangers match but Lenny and Ally had other ideas and I was bumped off all the back pages!
"You were lucky if the papers even had a photo of my goal or celebrations or anything. It was all about the rammy with Neil and Ally. I was many pages back in the sports headlines - and I have a laugh and joke about it now.
"I was never one to crave the limelight anyway. It was a career ambition of mine and growing up down the park I was surrounded by Rangers-supporting mates when they were going through the glory nine-in-a-row years and I was one of the few Celtic fans among them.
"Believe me I had pictured that moment in my head a zillion times. I didn't know how to celebrate the winning goal, to be honest, and I had thoughts of jumping into the crowd and not coming back out. It was a moment that every Celtic fan would give anything for and I was lucky to do it."
Strangely, afterwards, the Celtic team were serenaded by singer-songwriter Paolo Nutini who barnstormed the dressing room and sang a version of We Are Celtic Supporters (Over and Over).
"The dressing room was mayhem and mental after it. I did some media in the tunnel straight away and Paolo Nutini was at the game as a spectator and he treated the players to a song. It was magic - just a phenomenal night.
"Nobody knew what had happened and what was said between Neil and Ally but we all saw the footage. I have still never found out what was actually said between Neil and Ally to this day."
Wilson made 138 appearances for Celtic. He brought the curtain down on his career in May 2012 in a 1-0 home league win over St Johnstone, where he was made captain. He signed for Bristol City in the summer.
Wilson said: "Lenny gave me the armband that day and it was a nice touch. We all knew my contract would not be renewed in the summer but I got a cracking ovation from the supporters. It was really emotional for me."
Six blissfully happy years of Wilson's life were spent at Celtic. He has the domestic medals to show for it. He scored an unforgettable winner against Rangers. He competed in the Champions League against formidable opposition in the shape of Manchester United, Barcelona and AC Milan.
How does he sum up playing for Celtic?
Wilson said: "I always go back to playing in the Champions League for Celtic.
"Every title win and trophy success is amazing but to know that you have stood there with the elite of European and world football representing Celtic and putting up a decent fight against them is probably my proudest moment.
"When you get to that elite level and you hear that music and you look at the calibre of player you are facing and who is lining up in your team it really is a 'wow' moment. You understand why you play for Celtic.
"You say to yourself 'this is why I am playing for Celtic, to play in games like this'. Not only that but to actually compete and make the fans proud as that level is what they crave.
"I knew what it meant to represent Celtic football club as I had watched and supported the team from the terraces. I've always said that I was a player who did my best for the team. As long as I was one of those players who supporters said tried his very best every single time he was on the pitch then I am happy with that. You can't do any more than try your best."
Mark Wilson's best for Celtic was always good enough.
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