Alex Watson (soccer player)

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Alex Watson
Personnel
Surname Alexander Francis Watson
birthday 5th April 1968
place of birth Liverpool ,  England
size 185 cm
position Central defender
Juniors
Years station
Liverpool FC
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1985-1991 Liverpool FC 4 (0)
1990-1991 →  Derby County  (loan) 5 (0)
1991-1995 Bournemouth AFC 151 (5)
1995 →  Gillingham FC  (loan) 10 (1)
1995-2001 Torquay United 202 (8)
2001-2003 Exeter City 46 (1)
Taunton Town
Clevedon Town
1 Only league games are given.

Alexander Francis "Alex" Watson (born April 5, 1968 in Liverpool ) is a former English football player . The central defender spent more than five of his first professional years at Liverpool , but was never able to prevail against the high-profile competition in his position. From the 1990s he finally continued his career in the lower professional leagues and was particularly active for a long time for AFC Bournemouth and Torquay United .

Athletic career

Like his more than six years older brother Dave , who would later be under contract with local rivals Everton for many years, Alex Watson's career began in the youth department of Liverpool FC . Another parallel between the two brothers was the position in central defense, but unlike Dave Watson, who made it to the English national team in the mid-1980s , Alex Watson's professional career did not really take off. After his transition from the former youth national player to the adult division in May 1985, the long wait for the rare opportunities began and by the beginning of the 1990s he had just played four league games. Another lonely "highlight" was his appearance on August 20, 1988 in the Charity Shield game against FC Wimbledon , which he won 2-1 with the "Reds" and gave him the only trophy in his professional career. Otherwise, the high-performance squad in Liverpool did not allow any further probation opportunities and so he moved after a loan period between August 1990 and January 1991 with first division competitor Derby County - there he was only allowed five league appearances - directly afterwards to the third division at AFC Bournemouth .

In the nearly five years for the "cherries" Watson finally came to the desired permanent match practice in the professional area and completed 151 league games. It was not until the 1994/95 season that he finally lost his regular place to the up-and-coming Rob Murray and after a brief loan period from September 1995 at the fourth division Gillingham FC , he moved a good two months later to Torquay United, who were also active in the fourth division

In Torquay he was immediately a fixture with 29 league appearances, but experienced a sporting low point with the last place at the end of the 1995/96 season - although he was spared a descent from the lowest full professional league. In the following season 1996/97 Watson was promoted to team captain, did not miss a single game and was then named internally by the club as "Player of the Year". Together with his center-back partner Jon Gittens , he was then in the 1997/98 season the defensive backbone of a team that surprisingly reached the play-off games for promotion to the third division, but then lost 1-0 to Colchester United in the final . In the meantime, in addition to his active career, he also exercised Kotrainer functions in the club and was incapacitated for a long time from September 1998 after he had torn a cruciate ligament against Scunthorpe United . The negative effects of his failure on the team's performance quickly became apparent and the “almost climber” of the previous year was only in 20th place at the end of the season. In view of his advanced football age, he surprised in the 1999/2000 season with the fact that he apparently followed suit without any problems his recovery was able to tie in with old performances, and with the ninth place in the final table, the results of Torquay United consolidated again. Only in his senior year in Torquay Watson showed more deficits in the speed area and in February 2001 he lost his regular place after a defeat against Halifax Town . Only in the remaining minutes on the last game day against FC Barnet did he return briefly; however, it was to be his last appearance for the club.

In late July 2001, Watson hired local rivals and fourth division rivals Exeter City . There he formed the defense center with Chris Curran and helped the club to become more stable in its 43 league appearances. But only three more championship games followed before his sporting prospects deteriorated massively after a coach change. After relegation as penultimate in the table, Watson then put his professional career to an end and ended his active career from July 2003 at Taunton Town in the Southern League Division One West and later at Clevedon Town .

Title / Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1995-96 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1995, ISBN 0-09-180854-5 , pp. 226 .
  2. ↑ a b Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1996-97 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1996, ISBN 1-85291-571-4 , pp. 255 .
  3. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1997-98 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1997, ISBN 1-85291-581-1 , pp. 281 .
  4. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1998-99 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1998, ISBN 1-85291-588-9 , pp. 319 f .
  5. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1999-2000 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1999, ISBN 1-85291-607-9 , pp. 312 .
  6. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2000-2001 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2000, ISBN 1-85291-626-5 , pp. 333 .
  7. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2001-2002 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2001, ISBN 0-946531-34-X , pp. 93 .
  8. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2002/2003 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2002, ISBN 1-85291-648-6 , pp. 430 .
  9. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2003/2004 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2003, ISBN 1-85291-651-6 , pp. 444 .
  10. ↑ "TAUNTON SIGN EXPERIENCED DUO" ( Memento from September 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Watson, Alex
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Watson, Alexander Francis (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH 5th April 1968
PLACE OF BIRTH Liverpool , England