David Watson (footballer, born 1946)

David Vernon Watson (born 5 October 1946) is an English former professional footballer who played for Notts County, Rotherham United, Sunderland, Manchester City, Werder Bremen, Southampton, Stoke City, Vancouver Whitecaps and Derby County as well at the England national team where he won 65 caps and was captain on three occasions.[1]

This article is about the 1970–80s defender. For the 1980–90s defender, see Dave Watson. For the 1990s goalkeeper, see David Watson (footballer, born 1973).

David Watson
Personal information
Full name David Vernon Watson[1]
Date of birth (1946-10-05) 5 October 1946[1]
Place of birth Stapleford, Nottinghamshire, England[1]
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Playing position(s) Central defender
Youth career
Stapleford O.B
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1966–1967 Notts County 25 (1)
1967–1970 Rotherham United 121 (19)
1970–1975 Sunderland 177 (27)
1975–1979 Manchester City 146 (4)
1979 Werder Bremen 2 (0)
1979–1982 Southampton 73 (7)
1982–1983 Stoke City 59 (5)
1983 Vancouver Whitecaps 26 (3)
1983–1984 Derby County 34 (1)
1984 Fort Lauderdale Sun
1984–1985 Notts County 25 (1)
1985–1986 Kettering Town 10 (3)
Total 698 (71)
National team
1974–1982 England 65 (4)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

His brother Peter was also a footballer.[2]

Playing career

Watson was born in Stapleford, Nottinghamshire, and started his career in 1966 as a striker with hometown club Notts County making 26 appearances in two seasons, before moving to Second Division Rotherham United in 1968. Watson was signed by Tommy Docherty in a player exchange deal which involved Keith Pring, going to Notts County and the Millers paying £1,000.[3] He was thrust into a relegation battle with Rotherham in 1967–68 which was unsuccessful which led to Docherty's departure. In came Jim McAnearney who installed him as club captain and continued to use him both in defence and up-front. After four seasons at Millmoor, making 141 appearances scoring 21 goals he caught the attention of Sunderland manager Alan Brown who paid £100,000 for his services in December 1970.[3]

At Roker Park, Watson began at centre forward, which many believed hindered their chances of gaining promotion.[3] It was not until Bob Stokoe took over in November 1972 that Watson began to play at centre back and it paid off with Sunderland reaching the 1973 FA Cup Final where they beat First Division Leeds United 1–0.[3] Watson was singled out for praise from Stokoe after the match for keeping Leeds's strike pairing of Allan Clarke and Mick Jones quiet. Following Sunderland's cup success the expectation was now for the club to gain promotion but they missed out by two points in both 1973–74 and 1974–75.[3]

In the summer of 1975, Watson joined First Division Manchester City for a fee of £175,000 in a deal which saw Jeff Clarke move the other way.[3] Watson spent four seasons at Maine Road which saw Man City miss out on the title in 1976–77 by one point. They did win the League Cup in 1976 beating Newcastle United 2–1.[3] He left Manchester City in the summer of 1979 for German Bundesliga side Werder Bremen. His time at Bremen was short as after making his debut in a 1–0 win over Bayer Uerdingen he was sent off in his second match against 1860 Munich for "pushing" Hermann Bitz and banned by the German FA for eight weeks.[3] He was fined by his club and refused to travel to an away match against FC Schalke 04 because of an injury before turning up to play for England.[3]

Unsurprisingly, he was back in England by October with Southampton paying £200,000. Watson played 31 games in 1979–80 and 44 games in 1980–81 as the Saints finished 8th and 6th respectively.[3] However, he was dropped by Lawrie McMenemy during the next season and he joined Stoke City in January 1982.[1] He played 24 times for Stoke in 1981–82 helping them to avoid relegation.[1] He then played 40 times in 1982–83 as Stoke finished in a mid-table position of 13th. Watson then spent the summer of 1983 with the Vancouver Whitecaps before ending his career with a season each at Derby County and his first club Notts County.[3]

International career

Watson's performances at Centre Half for Sunderland were noticed at the highest level and less than a year after the FA Cup win and despite playing in the Second Division he was given his debut for England in a friendly game against Portugal in Lisbon. Watson – quite advanced in years for a debutant at 27 – was one of six first-timers on show (among the others were Trevor Brooking) in what would prove to be 1966 World Cup-winning manager Alf Ramsey's last game in charge. Later in 1974, Watson won his second cap in a 2–0 defeat by Scotland at Hampden Park, Glasgow, coming on as a substitute for Norman Hunter. His first competitive game at international level was his seventh appearance in all as England defeated Czechoslovakia 3–0 at Wembley in a qualifier for the 1976 European Championships. Despite this scoreline, England would not ultimately qualify for the finals while the Czechoslovak team would go on to win it. He played every minute of England's fixtures that year, including World Cup qualifying victories over Luxembourg (twice) and Italy, though after the Italians had earlier defeated England in the campaign and had a better goals record against Luxembourg. England missed out on the finals for a second successive tournament. Watson did not miss another England game until 1980.[3]

During the same year, Watson's establishment as England's first choice central defender was galvanised by a 4–3 victory over Denmark in Copenhagen which set the seal on a qualification for the 1980 European Championships – England's first major tournament qualification for a decade. Watson continued his England career, earning his 50th cap against Argentina in a warm-up game prior to the European Championships in Italy. Watson duly played in all three of England's group games – against Belgium, Italy and Spain – but a draw, defeat and victory respectively was not enough for England to progress. His final appearance for England came against Iceland in June 1982 having gained 65 caps.[3] He was excluded from the squad for the 1982 FIFA World Cup, with manager Ron Greenwood selecting only three specialist central defenders, Phil Thompson, Terry Butcher and Steve Foster. Watson remains the most-capped England player never to play in a World Cup finals match.

Personal life

In February 2020, it was reported that Watson, aged 73, was suffering from a neurodegenerative disease with his wife suspecting that "head injuries and repeated heading of the ball" were the cause.[4]

Career statistics

Club

Source:[5]

Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other[A] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Notts County 1966–67 Fourth Division 4000000040
1967–68 Fourth Division 211001000220
Total 251001000261
Rotherham United 1967–68 Second Division 180400000220
1968–69 Third Division 448400000488
1969–70 Third Division 412305000492
1970–71 Third Division 1892320002212
Total 12119132700014121
Sunderland 1970–71 Second Division 174000000174
1971–72 Second Division 42134110414715
1972–73 Second Division 373941000474
1973–74 Second Division 413204040513
1974–75 Second Division 404201030464
Total 177271757011121233
Manchester City 1975–76 First Division 311107130422
1976–77 First Division 412401020482
1977–78 First Division 410206020512
1978–79 First Division 331204081472
Total 1464901811511886
Werder Bremen 1979–80 Bundesliga 2000000020
Southampton 1979–80 First Division 304100000314
1980–81 First Division 382402000442
1981–82 First Division 5100102081
Total 737503020837
Stoke City 1981–82 First Division 243000000243
1982–83 First Division 352302100403
Total 595302100646
Vancouver Whitecaps 1983 NASL 263–––263
Derby County 1983–84 Second Division 341502000411
Notts County 1984–85 Second Division 251101000271
Career total 6886853741228281079
A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Anglo-Italian Cup, Anglo-Scottish Cup, Texaco Cup, UEFA Cup and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

International

Source:[6]

National teamYearAppsGoals
England 197470
197570
1977110
197890
1979104
1980100
198150
198220
Total614
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References
  1. Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
  2. Nadya Ahmed (30 August 2013). "Death of former Forest centre-half Peter Watson". Nottingham Post. Archived from the original on 31 August 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  3. "Dave Watson". football-england.com. Archived from the original on 10 October 2012. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
  4. "Dave Watson: Ex-England skipper may have same disease as Jeff Astle had". BBC Sport. 14 February 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  5. David Watson at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
  6. Watson, David at National-Football-Teams.com
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