Alexander Francis Watson (born 5 April 1968) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who made more than 400 appearances in the Football League playing for

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

, AFC Bournemouth, Gillingham,

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

and

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

. He is the younger brother of the former Everton player

Dave Watson David Watson (born 20 November 1961) is an English football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a defender from 1980 to 2001. He played his entire career for Norwich City and Everton. With the Toffees he played in ...

, and like his brother, played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Life and career

Watson was born in

, and began his career as an apprentice with Liverpool F.C. He turned professional in 1985, and made his debut against

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

in March 1988. He made nine appearances in total for the club, of which four were in the league, and he was in the starting line-up for the 1988 Charity Shield. In August 1990 he joined

for a brief loan spell, and the following January he made a permanent move to AFC Bournemouth for a fee of £150,000. He spent almost five years there, making 182 appearances and scoring 6 league goals, moving to Gillingham on loan in September 1995 before joining

in November 1995 for a fee of £50,000. He quickly became a crowd favourite at Torquay, becoming club captain in 1997 and assistant manager in 1999 under

Wes Saunders Wesley Saunders (born 23 February 1963) is an English former professional football player and manager, who played as a central defender. He played for Newcastle United, Bradford City, Carlisle United and Torquay United in the Football League and ...

. In July 2001 he made the short journey to join

on a free transfer. In his first season there he was a first-team regular, but a change of management saw him play only three games in the 2002–03 season. He was released in the summer of 2003 and signed for

non-league Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...

club

Taunton Town Taunton Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Taunton, Somerset. They compete in the , the sixth tier of English football and play their home matches at Wordsworth Drive, which they moved into during the 1953 season. ...

. He played 20 games without scoring in the first part of the 2004–05 season, before joining Clevedon Town in November 2004, playing 23 times without scoring in the remainder of the season. He was an

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

youth international and is a FA qualified coach.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Alex 1968 births Living people Footballers from Liverpool English footballers England youth international footballers Association football defenders Liverpool F.C. players Derby County F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Gillingham F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Taunton Town F.C. players Clevedon Town F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players