- Dave Watson
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This article is about the 1980–90s defender. For the 1970–80s defender, see David Watson (footballer born 1946). For the 1990s goalkeeper, see David Watson (footballer born 1973).For other people of the same name, see David Watson (disambiguation).
Dave Watson Personal information Full name David Watson Date of birth 20 November 1961 Place of birth Liverpool, England Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) Playing position Defender (retired) Youth career 1978–1980 Liverpool Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1980–1986 Norwich City 212 (11) 1986–2001 Everton 419 (23) – Total 631 (34 ) National team 1984–1988 England 12 (0) Teams managed 1997 Everton 2001–2002 Tranmere Rovers 2008– Wigan Athletic (youth) * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).David "Dave" Watson (born 20 November 1961 in Liverpool, Merseyside) is an English former professional footballer who made 12 appearances for the English national team. He is now the youth team coach at Newcastle United.
Contents
Playing career
Watson played for the Liverpool reserves before joining Norwich City for £50,000 on 29 November 1980. He made his league debut in the local derby against Ipswich Town on Boxing Day that year. He played 18 league games in the 1980-81 First Division campaign and scored three goals, but was unable to prevent the Canaries from sliding into the Second Division.
Over the next five years, Watson was rarely absent from the Norwich side and helped them win promotion from the Second Division in the 1981-82 season.
He eventually made 256 appearances for Norwich, and as club captain lifted the Milk Cup in 1985. They went down to the Second Division that year, but won promotion the following year as champions.
He made his first 6 appearances for England whilst at Carrow Road, making his debut in a 2–0 victory against Brazil at the Maracana Stadium in June 1984, before moving on to play for Everton for £900,000 on 22 August 1986 after six years at Norwich. [2]
He remained at Goodison Park for 15 years, his first game for them coming on 23 August 1986 when they won 2-0 at home to Nottingham Forest on the opening day of the league season. He helped them win the league title in their first season, and also helped them reach the FA Cup final in 1989, where they lost 3-2 to local rivals Liverpool in extra time. [3]
Watson was an integral part of the Everton side throughout the 1990s, and following the departure of goalkeeper Neville Southall in 1998 he became the club's oldest and longest serving player. However, the 1990s were a generally unsuccessful decade for Everton after the glories of the 1980s. They did finish sixth in 1990 after topping the table earlier in 1990-91, but then endured four seasons of mid table finishes and one close shave again relegation (in 1994). Watson got his hands on some silverware for one final time in 1995 when he captained Everton to a surprise 1-0 win over Manchester United in the FA Cup final - by now he was one of the last players remaining from Everton's last major trophy win (the league title) eight years earlier. He was man of the match for that game.[1]
Watson captained Everton to sixth place in 1996, but the following season they were struggling again and manager Joe Royle resigned in March 1997, with Watson taking over as manager for the final few weeks of the season and overseeing Everton's Premier League survival as they finished 15th. Howard Kendall then took over as manager for the third time, though his return to Goodison Park lasted just one season before he was replaced by Walter Smith.
Even at the age of 37, Watson was a regular in the Everton side as captain, playing 22 times in the 1998-99 season though by 1999-2000 it was obvious that he was nearing the end of his playing career as he played just six times all season. He made one final appearance the following season at the age of 39 before calling time on 15 years at Everton and becoming manager of Tranmere Rovers on 4 May 2001. [4] [5]
Management and Post-Career
Watson was appointed manager in March 1997 for the remainder of the 1996/97 season following the resignation of Joe Royle, but reverted to his playing duties in June 1997 when Howard Kendall was appointed manager for the third and final time. Watson's first-team opportunities gradually faded, but he made one appearance for Everton during the 2000–01 season, before finally announcing his retirement as a player at the age of 39, and moving into management with Tranmere Rovers. His key objective at Tranmere was to regain their Division One status which had just been lost, but he failed to achieve that goal and was sacked after just one season at the helm. He later became a scout for Birmingham City before joining Wigan Athletic as their Youth Team coach on 23 April 2008.
In 2002, Watson was voted into the Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame.
Watson was appointed as Under 18 Coach at Newcastle United on 7th November 2011.
Sporting titles and awards
Individual
Club
- Norwich City
- Milk Cup Winner: 1985
- Second Division Champion: 1986
- Everton
- First Division Champion: 1987
- FA Cup Winner: 1995
Managerial statistics
Team From To Record G W D L Win % Everton 1 April 1997 31 May 1997 7 1 3 3 14.29 Tranmere Rovers 4 May 2001 1 August 2002 55 22 15 18 40.00 Career Total 62 23 18 21 37.10References
External links
Awards and achievements Preceded by
Greg DownsNorwich City Player of the Season
1982/83Succeeded by
Chris Woods1985–86 Football League Second Division PFA Team of the Year GK: Chris Woods · DF: Paul Parker · DF: Steve Bruce · DF: Dave Watson · DF: Mark Reid · MF: Danny Wilson · MF: Ian Snodin · MF: Mark Aizlewood · FW: Kevin Drinkell · FW: Vince Hilaire · FW: Keith BertschinEngland squad – UEFA Euro 1988 Everton F.C. – managers Barclay (1888–89) · Molyneux (1889–1901) · Cuff (1901–18) · Sawyer (1918–19) · McIntosh (secretary) (1919–35) · Kelly (secretary) (1936–48) · Britton (1948–56) · Buchan (1956–58) · Carey (1958–61) · Catterick (1961–73) · Eggleston (1973) · Bingham (1973–77) · Burtenshaw (1977) · Lee (1977–81) · Kendall (1981–87) · Harvey (1987–90) · Gabriel (1990) · Kendall (1990–93) · Gabriel (1993–94) · Walker (1994) · Royle (1994–97) · Watson (1997) · Kendall (1997–98) · Smith (1998–2002) · Moyes (2002–)
Tranmere Rovers F.C. – managers Cooke (1912–35) · Carr (1935–36) · Knowles (1936–39) · Moreton (1939–42) · Ridding (1942–46) · T. Jones (1946) · Blackburn (1946–55) · Kelly (1955–56) · Blackburn (1956–57) · Farrell (1957–60) · Galbraith (1961) · Russell (1961–69) · Wright (1969–72) · Yeats (1972–75) · King (1975–80) · Hamilton (1980–85) · Worthington (1985–87) · Moore (1987) · King (1987–96) · Aldridge (1996–2001) · Mathias & Sheedy (2001c) · Watson (2001–02) · Mathias (2002–03) · McMahon (2003c) · Little (2003–06) · Moore (2006–09) · Barnes (2009) · Parry (2009–)
Categories:- 1961 births
- Living people
- English footballers
- Association football defenders
- Liverpool F.C. players
- Norwich City F.C. players
- Everton F.C. players
- The Football League players
- Premier League players
- UEFA Euro 1988 players
- England international footballers
- English football managers
- Everton F.C. managers
- Tranmere Rovers F.C. managers
- Premier League managers
- UEFA Pro Licence holders
- Sportspeople from Liverpool
- Norwich City F.C. captains
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