Alex Watson (football official)

Alexander "Alex" Watson (* around 1860 in Birmingham ; † unknown) was an English football official and second Secretary-Manager of Birmingham City .

Watson was the son of a successful Birmingham businessman in whose company he also worked. Watson has supported the Birmingham City football club since it was founded in 1875. In 1908, he took over the post of Secretary-Manager (roughly equivalent to a sports director ) from Alfred Jones when Birmingham was relegated from the First Division to the Second Division . In this role he was mainly responsible for day-to-day administrative tasks and was part of the five-person club committee that decided on the team line-up. The daily training management, however, was the responsibility of a trainer or the management players.

After 11th place in the Second Division 1908/09, the 1909/10 season ended in the last place in the table. As a result, you were forced to stand for re-election for further league membership and received the most of all applicants with 30 votes, while the table penultimate Grimsby Town (12 votes) was replaced by Huddersfield Town (26 votes). The poor athletic performance was also noticeable in the decline in audience numbers, which fell from 15,473 (1907/08) and 10,607 (1908/09) to 8,921 viewers in the 1909/10 season. For the 1910/11 season, Watson was replaced by former player Bob McRoberts , who became the first manager in club history.

literature

• Tony Matthews: The Blues Who's Who . Britesport Publishing, Cradley Heath 2003, ISBN 1-904103-02-2 , pp. 222 .