The royal market town of Cupar near Scotland’s east coast is notable for a few reasons.
It was the seat of justice in the county of Fife for centuries, the home of a historic grain and livestock market until the mid-1990s, and the birthplace of four-time Paralympics gold medalist Caroline Baird MBE.
It will now be known, too, for producing at least 10 per cent of the Premier League’s set-piece coaches.
Jack Wilson, who began his coaching career with Cupar-based football charity AM Soccer, has become Wolverhampton Wanderers’ first dedicated set-piece coach.
His friend and former mentor Austin MacPhee, who also hails from Fife and founded AM Soccer, holds the same role a few miles away at Aston Villa.
Wilson grew up in the seaside town of Anstruther, while MacPhee hails from 20 miles down the coast in Kirkcaldy, but it was their work in Cupar that propelled both towards the Premier League. Not bad for a Scottish town with a population of around 9,000 people.
For Wilson, the journey that took him from a coaching field in Scotland with teams of under-8s, under-9s and under-10s to the touchline at Molineux passed through assignments in the Scottish Premier League, in international football and, for the last four years, in the Premier League with both Brentford and Manchester City.
(Jack Thomas – WWFC/Wolves via Getty Images)
Many factors go into winning a Premier League title and last season, as Manchester City claimed a fourth successive crown, some of the finer details lay in the hands of Wilson.
The man who joined Wolves last week was not front and centre at the Etihad Stadium, but the young Scot was credited with an important role in ensuring some marginal gains.
“I’m not involved in anything about the set pieces because I’m not good or the other ones (coaches) are better,” said City manager Pep Guardiola after seeing Julian Alvarez score in a 3-1 win against Burnley in January — from a set piece devised by Wilson and assistant coach Carlos Vicens.
“We were preparing things and the corners sometimes, and every team does; it’s not just us or because we are different to the others.
“But we especially prepared this free kick and it worked. Of course, Kevin (De Bruyne) has to make the perfect pass and Julian (Alvarez) has to make the movement — the good finish from Julian — but, at the end, someone has to say, ‘OK we are going to do this’, and all credit to Carlos and Jack.”
The goal in question was scored when De Bruyne and Alvarez exploited a vulnerability in Burnley’s set-piece defending, spotted and detailed by Wilson and Vicens, and took ruthless advantage.
As De Bruyne prepares to take the free kick and signals as if he’s about to loft an aerial ball into the box, Alvarez can be seen eyeing the space between two Burnley defenders.
The Argentinian makes a darting run as De Bruyne slides the ball into the gap.
Alvarez meets De Bruyne’s clever pass and finishes, with City catching their opponents by surprise.
Wilson was also credited for his key role in another notable goal in City’s successful title defence last season as John Stones scored in a 1-1 draw at Liverpool in March, in what turned out to be a pivotal moment in the title race.
Nathan Ake’s effective block on Alexis Mac Allister, which prevented the Argentina international from cutting out De Bruyne’s corner at the near post, allowed Stones to dart away from marker Darwin Nunez to score.
As De Bruyne sets up to take the corner, Ake positions himself as a blocker between Mac Allister and the near post.
As the ball comes in, Ake prevents Mac Allister from cutting it out.
Stones then beat Nunez to the near post to turn the ball home.
Wilson’s coaching story began a long way from the bright lights of the Premier League.
He joined AM Soccer, who have since produced professional players including Stevenage’s Louis Appere and Archie Meekison of Bohemians, as a teenager, working with players in some of the youngest age groups, and was picked out immediately by MacPhee.
Before his 20th birthday, he had spent short spells as an opposition analyst for both Queen of the South and Dundee United and, in 2017, MacPhee offered him the chance to join Heart of Midlothian in the Scottish Premier League.
“Austin was an analyst at the time and he brought in Jack as an assistant or apprentice,” recalls Christophe Berra, the former Wolves defender and Scotland international, who captained Hearts when Wilson arrived.
“He was very quiet and you might not have thought he was that football-oriented, but as the weeks and months went on everybody got to know him better.
“He would create videos for Austin and help individuals with things that they needed or the manager needed, and he’s just worked his way up from there.
Wilson has worked closely with Aston Villa and Scotland set-piece coach Austin MacPhee (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
“You could see from the little pieces of video footage that he put together that it was really good quality, and he’s gone from strength to strength.
“He was always quite quiet, but a lot of people are like that. When you come out of your shell, you build relationships with people.
“I’ve always kept in touch with him. We don’t speak often, but every now and then I’ll drop him a message asking him some stats about set pieces and he will always get back to me.
“He didn’t go into Hearts initially on set pieces – he was a general analyst – but as that role has expanded he’s gone down that route. And now he’s at Wolves, so all credit to him.”
Alongside his work at Hearts, Wilson joined MacPhee during international breaks, working for the Irish FA and with Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland side.
In 2020 came the opportunity to work in the Premier League as Brentford’s assistant first-team performance analyst. It was in this role that his attention to detail and enthusiasm were really noticed.
Wilson became a fixture in the stands at first-team games, relaying information to assistant coach Kevin O’Connor who, in turn, was in radio contact with manager Thomas Frank and his coaches in the dugout.
He worked closely with fellow analysts Josh Kirk and Joe Newton as well as helping set-piece coach Bernardo Cueva turn Brentford into one of the league’s most effective dead-ball sides.
Having developed a specialist interest in set plays, Wilson moved to City in 2022 to work alongside Vicens as the Premier League champions’ performance analyst in charge of set pieces.
Wilson is now part of Gary O’Neil’s coaching staff (Jack Thomas – WWFC/Wolves via Getty Images)
He shared in City’s continued success. Wilson’s profile image on LinkedIn shows him holding the Champions League trophy that the club won in 2023 with a victory over Inter Milan.
Wilson, so thorough in his work, always held an ambition to revert from his analyst duties into a front-line coaching role while sticking with his specialism in set pieces and last week Wolves offered him the chance when they made him their first-ever specialist set-piece coach.
“He’s got some really interesting ideas around set plays and how things should be done,” said Wolves boss Gary O’Neil.
“Last year, as a coaching team, you work hard on set plays but you all have other roles and jobs you need to fulfil at the same time.
“Jack’s focus can be purely on set plays. His purpose is to make Wolves better at set plays and he can knuckle down and get into the details.”
(Header photo: Jack Thomas – WWFC/Wolves via Getty Images)
