KEVIN Wilson knew the first time he saw Che Adams play that he was special.
The occasion was a trial match for Leicester City's academy and there was one well-built kid who just kept jumping out at him as he outpaced defenders and barged players off the ball. Leicester missed what was staring Wilson in the face.
“I think they saw him as a street footballer and while he was very raw he was pacy and powerful for his age,” says Wilson. “I think sometimes you have just got to look a bit further on the development side of it.”
Wilson was watching on that day in his capacity as head of seventh-tier Ilkeston FC's academy, but he was drawing on almost 40 years' experience in professional football as player and manager – a career that brought him more than 500 appearances for Derby County, Ipswich Town, Chelsea and Walsall – for his frame of reference.
He still possesses a paternal concern for the player whose long-term potential he was among the first to spot. He was also one of the first to send Adams a message early last week when news of his call-up to the Scotland national team started to break. He says he remains the same quiet, humble kid that first turned up at Ilkeston's New Manor Ground as a 16-year-old prospect hoping to launch a career in football.
“I sent him a text to say 'congratulations, it's nothing more than you deserve' and he just said he felt that it was the right time for him. I think it is a great opportunity.”
READ MORE: Che Adams reveals the moment he knew he wanted to play for Scotland
Right from the start, there was a stoicism about Adams that impressed Wilson.
“He's just a great kid. He used to live in Leicester and he used to have to get a train and a couple of buses to get to training every day but he was never late, he was always there. It shows commitment, doesn't it?
“That was one of our policies at Ilkeston: your attitude and application must be equal to your ability. He did everything that you would expect and now he is getting the rewards from it. He showed professionalism at a very young age and his development has just gone up year on year. He got stronger, he got quicker, he was able to raise his game to that level. He's got there through sheer determination and improved on his all-round game.”
As much as Adams' courteous nature and professional standards at an early age impressed Wilson, it was his high-octane displays on the pitch that wowed him most; he knew it was only a matter of time before his young striker would be attracting covetous glances from further up English football's pyramid but his departure for Sheffield United came about by happenstance.
He scored a mazy, wonder goal on his debut for Ilkeston against FC United and did not look back from there; it was no surprise when the perimeter of Ilkeston's New Manor Ground was soon lined with curious talent-spotters pencilling furiously his name into their notebooks. Kieran Wallace, another product of the Ilkeston academy who is now at Burton Albion, had attracted similar interest and it was in conversation about the left-back with Nigel Clough, the then manager at Bramall Lane, that Adams' name was first mentioned.
“The first club that made an offer for him was Crewe Alexandra,” says Wilson. “Barry Fry was very interested in him at Peterborough and came to watch but the game was called off by the time he got there; it was following a phone call about Kieran with Nigel that he [Che] ended up going to Sheffield United.”
“Sheffield United, Birmingham, now gone to Southampton in the Premier League. “He's acquitted himself very well at each level as he has gone on and the next step is international level which he will thrive in as well.
“We both had the same kind of pathway,” adds Wilson, who began his career at Banbury United before making the step up to professional football in 1979. “We both came from non-league, I played for a couple of clubs, like Che has and then got the opportunity when I was at Ipswich. It is a step up, the game is different, it is played differently and you are playing against some of the best players in the world.”
Wilson knows only too well what it means to declare for a country not of your birth. He speaks with something approaching a Midlands accent but he played his international football for Northern Ireland, by virtue of his mum's nationality. He walked into a dressing room full of heroes who were coming to the end of their Northern Ireland careers making his debut against Israel in 1987 in a European Championship qualifier.
In the end Wilson played 42 games and scored six goals for his adopted country but he is well aware that Adams' selection has raised eyebrows among some because of the protracted nature of the courtship and a perception that the 24-year-old has only opted for Scotland because of the chance to play at this summer's European Championships.
To the doubters, Wilson has a compelling answer as to what Adams – who, at time of writing, has struck three times in three Premier League games – will bring to Steve Clarke's forward line.
“Pace, power, and goals,” he says with some certainty while referencing Adams' delicious half-volley in the recent win over Sheffield United. “It's a great finish. I've seen that goal before. He's got a natural instinct. He can score the striker's goals or he can score the spectacular goal because he is very quick at reacting.
“Like every striker he will miss a few but he still keeps going in there. He is a strong runner, he's powerful and for the doubters, they will see the reason why [he's been included in the squad] when he gets the opportunity. Scotland haven't got a real out and out goalscorer who can score the goals like an Ally McCoist or a Kenny Dalglish. I am not saying he is one of those but in his own way he could become that sort of hero for them.”
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