Dave Watson

David Watson (born 20 November 1961) is an English football manager and former professional player.

As a player, he was a centre-back from 1980 to 2001. He played his entire career for Norwich City and Everton. He played in the Premier League for Everton and was part of their victorious FA Cup winning team of 1995. He made 12 appearances for the England national team.

In 1997, Watson had a spell in caretaker charge of Everton although he would not retire for another four years, in which he moved into coaching and was appointed first team manager at Tranmere Rovers for the 2001–2002 season. He later spent time coaching in Wigan Athletic's youth academy before taking up a similar role with Newcastle United.

Club career Norwich City 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 League Cup in 1985. They were demoted to the Second Division that year, but won promotion the following year as champions.

Everton Watson moved on to play for Everton for £900,000 on 22 August 1986 after six years at Norwich. 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.

Watson captained Everton to sixth place in 1995–96, but the following season the club struggled 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 he played just seven times all season, before calling time on 15 years at Everton and becoming manager of Tranmere Rovers on 4 May 2001. His final game for Everton was a 2–2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur on 15 January 2000.

International career Watson was capped 12 times at senior level for England. His first cap came on 10 June 1984 in a 2–0 friendly win over Brazil. By the time of his transfer from Norwich to Everton two years later, he had been capped six times for England. He won a further six England caps, bringing his tally to 12 by the time he made his final England appearance on 18 June 1988 in England's 3–1 European Championship defeat by the Soviet Union in 1988.

Coaching and management career Watson was appointed Everton 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 dismissed 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 7 November 2011.

On 28 January 2015, Watson was brought into John Carver's backroom team at Newcastle United for the remaining 16 games of the 2014–15 season.

Honours Norwich City Football League Cup: 1984–85 Football League Second Division: 1985–86

Everton Football League First Division: 1986–87 FA Cup: 1994–95; runner-up: 1988–89 FA Charity Shield: 1987, 1995

Individual Norwich City Player of the Year: 1983 FA Cup final Man of the Match: 1995 Norwich City Hall of Fame Inductee

Managerial statistics Team From To Record G W D L Win % Everton 1 April 1997 31 May 1997 Tranmere Rovers 4 May 2001 1 August 2002 Career Total