‘You’re a wizard, Harry!’ The wonder of Wilson, King of Corwen

Leon Barton

Head west on the A5, Thomas Telford’s famous road between London and Holyhead, and about 15 miles into Wales, at the foot of the Berwyn Mountains, you’ll find the settlement of Corwen; population 2,325 at the last census.

It’s probably about as small as a ’town’ can be before it’s classified as a village. In 1400, Owain Glyndwr proclaimed himself the Prince of Wales from his nearby manor of Glyndyfrdwy, an event which sparked the fourteen-year rebellion against English rule. Famously, he was never seen again after 1415 but since 2007 Glyndwr, on horseback, sword thrusting into the sky, has kept watch over the town, albeit in statue form. (This impressive statue replaced an unimpressive one that was often likened to a ‘gnome in wellies’)

Such tiny towns don’t tend to produce many footballers but I can think of three Wrexham-born, Corwen-raised players to represent Wales. Striker Andy Jones won six caps between 1987 and 1989. Defender Gareth Roberts fared a bit better with nine caps between 2000 and 2005, but in terms of a Corwen footballer actually establishing themselves at international level, it’s definitely a case of third time lucky.

‘Harry Wilson: Made in Corwen, born to play for Wales’ states the flag, which is perhaps more of a factual statement than at first might seem evident.

“When he was about 18 months old he used to chase a ball around on the carpet before he could walk” his Grandfather Peter Edwards told the BBC in 2013. Struck by his baby Grandson’s affinity for the game he decided to place a fifty pound bet on him playing for Wales one day. “I went into William Hill in Wrexham and asked them how I go about it. I had no idea how to do it… the manageress put me in touch with London”. Edwards was quoted odds of 2500/1.

The youngster continued to be obsessed by the game, signed for Liverpool as an 8 year old, and a few years after that, his grandfather attempted to place another bet: “Harry was about 12 then. But William Hill turned me down and said I already had a substantial bet with them. But they threw in England as a gesture of goodwill.” Wilson, like Gareth Bale, also qualified for England through an English-born grandparent.

This so-called ‘gesture of goodwill’ was actually significant in terms of Wilson making his debut as substitute against Belgium in 2013 at the age of 16 years and 207 days, taking Gareth Bale’s record to become Wales’ youngest ever player.

The backdrop was that the summer of 2013 saw Wales age-grade caps Jonathan Bond of Watford (now of Houston Dynamo) and Lloyd James of Liverpool (now of Charlton Athletic) both turn to England, much to the disappointment of Welsh fans and the FAW.

At the time, Welsh journalists were openly questioning the very existence of the Welsh national team as it had been 55 years at that point since Wales had appeared at a major tournament. Pundits such as Chris Waddle were stating with certainty that Gareth Bale would never play at a World Cup.

There was genuine paranoia over Wales losing their best players with a situation akin to international cricket being advocated by some (why can’t Gareth Bale play for England like Simon Jones did?). Manager Chris Coleman admitted there had been interest from England in Wilson.

For Craig Bellamy, making his final appearance, there was unease about the youngster being plucked from Liverpool’s youth team to represent his country in a competitive match. “I’m not too sure about (capping him). I think he’s a talent, I think he’s going to do well in the years, but I’d like to see him do well first (before being capped)… I don’t mean that in a bad way, but 16 is young, it’s young. I take an interest in him because he’s my boy’s age. He can’t play for anyone else now, but is that really the most important thing? I don’t know.”

For Wilson’s grandfather, working away from home most of the time, and only spending one weekend a fortnight with wife his Dorothy, there were no such qualms. With £125,000 netted following Harry’s appearance, Edwards immediately retired from his job as an electrical contractor; “I told my manager yesterday that if Harry played I wouldn’t be coming back… my wife is over the moon. I have come home now and will not be going back. Not bad for a daft bet.”

Of course, Euro 2016, and Gareth Bale’s off the scale level of pride in representing Cymru put all the nonsense about Welsh players opting to represent England to bed, but by the time that tournament came around, Wilson, at 19, was nowhere near to getting picked for his national team. He attended the games though, and there are some great photos of the bucket-hatted youngster with fellow Wales fans in France.

At the time, he’d just endured a short and unproductive spell on loan at Crewe Alexandra in League One; seven games, no goals. Clearly, there was still some developing to be done. He did sign a new long-term contract with Liverpool that summer and was made captain of their under 23 side. A first appearance for Liverpool came the following year in a 1-0 win away to Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup when Wilson replaced Philippe Coutinho in the 65th minute. That half an hour or so would turn out to be his only first team minutes for the Mersey giants.The ‘loan’ years were about to begin.

In 2017/18 at Hull City he scored seven goals in thirteen appearances at Championship level, which earned him yet another new contract at Liverpool. Then came a headline grabbing spell under Frank Lampard at Derby County which included a spectacular free kick goal in a League Cup win over Manchester United. Further loans to Bournemouth and Cardiff City followed.

Regular club action brought Wilson to the attention of new Wales manager Ryan Giggs, who picked him from the start for his first game against China. On the day he turned 21, four and a half years after his debut, the birthday boy won his second cap.

There’s an amusing moment just two minutes into that match when Wilson, playing alongside Bale, offers himself as an option, then, realising his teammate is making room to shoot on his left foot, attempts to get out of the way. Which he does, sprinting as quickly as possible away from Bale and the ball. It’s a bit of a mini metaphor. The key thing for new attacking players at the time was to make room for Wales’ greatest ever footballer to work his magic. Wilson then scored the fourth in a 6-0 rout, with the sixth, Bale’s hat-trick goal, taking him past Ian Rush to become the nation’s all time top male goalscorer.

From that point on, Wilson was in the Wales squad to stay but in the years between 2018 and 2022 his contributions were largely very good rather than great. He impressed in flashes but the lack of consistency was frustrating. There were some outstanding games, there were quiet games. His international career was solid, rather than spectacular, with Wilson’s most memorable moment in those years probably his sending off in the round of 16 defeat to Denmark at Euro 2020. It felt as if he was in the shadow of Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey, taking up similar positions to both, but unable to affect Wales games to the degree those two legendary figures still could.

2022, and finally leaving Liverpool after seventeen years, would appear to be the turning point.

Having contributed ten goals in 41 appearances on loan in Fulham’s 2021/22 Championship promotion season, the London club stumped up the cash sign the 25 year old on a permanent basis and a few months later, following Bale’s retirement after Wales’ early exit from the World Cup, Wilson emerged as Wales’ talisman.

Not that he and Bale didn’t enjoy some outstanding moments on the pitch together; Wilson’s Covid-era goal in Belgium in 2021 which opened the scoring is one of the greatest Wales team goals ever scored and would be a lot more revered if if had contributed to a Welsh win (it finished 3–1 to the hosts). Bale’s assist was one of several memorable ones he produced for Wales over the years.

But in terms of delivering on a consistent basis for his country, it’s since Bale’s retirement that Wilson has really stepped up. And that’s more than just literally in terms of free kick and penalty duty. Two superb goals sealed a first ever win against Croatia in October 2023, a moment which put qualification for Euro 2024 back in Wales’ hands but was later squandered with a disappointing draw in Armenia and the penalty shootout loss to Poland.

This would lead to a change of manager for the National Team and under Craig Bellamy – the man who questioned his capping as a 16 year old – Wilson appears to have found another level again. Nations League goals and assists against Iceland and Montenegro helped Wales top the group, earn promotion to group A and virtually guarantee a World Cup play off spot. The telling performances and key contributions continued into the World Cup qualifiers.

With the pressure on, and Wales needing a win to avoid being fourth seeds and having to go away from home to a top seed in the play off semi final, Wilson delivered probably the best performance of his career so far. Made captain for the first time due to the absences of Aaron Ramsey, Ben Davies and Ethan Ampadu, North Macedonia were taken apart, Wales scoring seven goals for the first time since 1978.

The stand-in skipper scored a hat-trick (two penalties and a phenomenal free kick) and if that wasn’t enough, his outstanding backheeled assist for Dan James lead to the goal of the game. And this was against a side who only needed a draw to finish above Wales in second place, were previously unbeaten in the group, had drawn twice with Belgium and had only conceded three goals in their seven qualifiers until that point.

With his three strikes against North Macedonia, Wilson went past such legendary figures as John Charles, Cliff Jones and Mark Hughes into the top ten Wales goal-scorers of all time. 12 of his 17 international goals have come in the past three years. If he keeps scoring goals at the rate he has for the past three years, in another three he’ll pass Ian Rush’s long-time Wales record of 28, and go into second place on the all time list. A guy with one appearance for Liverpool before being deemed not good enough, overtaking Liverpool’s greatest goalscorer, I can’t help noting the irony there.

With the emergence of another former Liverpool youngster in Cefn Mawr’s Neco Williams as one of Wales’ top players, the north east is being well-represented again in the national team, as was the case when I was a kid. Back then, Ian Rush (from Flint) and Manchester United’s Mark Hughes (from Ruabon) were Wales’ biggest stars. Which brings up another noteworthy point.

Maybe, as a fanbase, it’s time to get used to the idea that the top Welsh players won’t very often be playing for the top clubs in future? The sheer numbers of top footballers from all over the world playing in the Premier League mean that those who in the past might have played for Liverpool or Manchester United are now at Fulham and Nottingham Forest. But if the likes of Wilson and Williams keep delivering for Wales, then frankly, who cares? And besides, perhaps this scenario means those players belong to us more?

Gareth Bale’s special bond with Wales fans seems to have to forged by his early struggles at Tottenham. Even at Fulham, Wilson has only started around half of their games in the Premier League since joining in 2022 but when fit he’s a nailed-on starter for Wales, adored by Cymru fans. It’s a relationship which feels symbiotic. For all the talk that he’s replaced Bale as the team’s on-field talisman, he’s also in some ways a replacement for Chris Gunter; the supporter who gets to go out onto the pitch and play. In Wilson’s case, he’s literally playing for the people in the stands, as so many of his relations attend Wales games, coming down to Cardiff en-masse from the north east.

Spirit of 58 founder and bucket hat king Tim Williams is friends with the family, with Wilson’s uncle ‘Skinny’ a season ticket holder at Wrexham, sitting a few seats from him. A couple of years ago Williams asked Wilson’s Mam if Harry would visit the Spirit of 58 shop in Bala, which she duly sorted. During his appearance at Siop SO58, in which Harry was happy to sign merchandise and pose for photos, he talked eloquently about the importance of supporting local small businesses (Bala is less than 12 miles from Corwen). The fan-footballer, the player who can do spectacular things on the pitch while never forgetting where they come from, is perhaps the most revered type of footballer amongst a country’s fanbase.

Owain Glyndwr might be Wales’ greatest folk hero, but the joke amongst Wales fans that he’s just keeping the plinth in Corwen warm for Wilson is becoming less and less funny with every passing international window.

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