It was a clause in Wilson’s contract that if anyone were to offer £500 000 then he would be allowed to speak to them, as was the case with Celtic. It was not widely known about other clauses. It would appear the only clause missing was Santa, though Wilson must have been a very good boy last year to receive over £100 000 for switching clubs, especially when the two clubs are both Scottish.
From Official Site:
”In answer to some criticism being levelled at the Club, we would like to stress that Mark Wilson would have been out of contract at the end of this season and therefore able to leave the Club under freedom of contract had a new contract not been entered into this season. It was a condition of his representatives that various clauses were included in any new contract, otherwise the existing contract would have stood and the Club would have lost out on a transfer fee.
“While we would have been delighted to retain the services of Mark Wilson, ultimately we had no control over the situation once an offer in accord with his new contract was received.
“We would also stress that the transfer would have taken place regardless of any managerial change at the Club.”
It is also believed that Celtic are Mark’s boyhood club, so the temptation of that, plus a £100k dangler, must have been hard to resist.