Steven Craig Watson (born 1 April 1974) is an English

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game bega ...

and former professional

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

. He was formerly the manager of club Chester. As a player, he was a

right-back 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 ...

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He played in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

and Football League for Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Everton,

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

and

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

. He was capped once by the England national B team, having previously played twelve times and scored once for the under-21s. Watson moved into coaching after retiring from playing and was appointed as an academy coach at

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

under former teammate Lee Clark in 2010. He then followed Clark to

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

before a spell as assistant manager of

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was wound-up after a High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 ...

. He was given his first managerial role in 2017 when he joined Gateshead, before becoming

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

manager in 2019. He left the club in 2021 before joining Chester the same year.

Playing career

Newcastle United

Watson was born in

North Shields North Shields () is a town in the Borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. Since 1974, it has been in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wea ...

, Tyne and Wear. He began his career with Newcastle United, playing on a regular basis. At the time of his first-team debut, as a substitute in a 2–1 defeat to

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

on 10 November 1990, he was the youngest person ever to play for Newcastle, a record that still stands. Watson appeared 24 times that season, firstly under Jim Smith and then under

Ossie Ardiles Osvaldo César Ardiles (born 3 August 1952), often referred to in Britain as Ossie Ardiles, is an Argentine football manager, pundit and former midfielder who won the 1978 FIFA World Cup as part of the Argentina national team. He now runs ...

as Newcastle struggled in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. Watson featured prominently during the 1991–92 season as Kevin Keegan returned to Newcastle and relegation to the Third Division was avoided. During his seven years at the club, he wore a jersey with every shirt number 2–11 at least once, earning a reputation as a key all round capable footballer integral to ''The Entertainers'' style of play. He came on as a 77th-minute substitute at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

in the

1998 FA Cup Final The 1998 FA Cup Final was a football match between Arsenal and Newcastle United on 16 May 1998 at the old Wembley Stadium, London. It was the final match of the 1997–98 FA Cup, the 117th season of the world's oldest football knockout competi ...

, in which Newcastle were beaten 2–0 by Arsenal.

Aston Villa, Everton and West Bromwich Albion

Watson was transferred to Aston Villa for £4 million in October 1998. He scored once for Villa, in a 4–0 home win over

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

on 1 December 1999 in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

. He moved to Everton on 4 July 2000 on a five-year contract for a £2.5 million transfer fee. When boss

Walter Smith Walter Ferguson Smith (24 February 1948 – 26 October 2021) was a Scottish association football player, manager and director, primarily associated with his two spells as manager of Glasgow club Rangers. A defender, Smith's playing car ...

found his squad decimated by injury, Watson was used a striker alongside

Tomasz Radzinski Tomasz Radzinski (born 14 December 1973) is a former professional soccer player who played as a striker and winger. He featured for clubs including North York Rockets in Canada, Germinal Ekeren, Anderlecht (where he won the national champions ...

, a role he had started to play at the beginning of his career before transferring to the defence. His time with Everton was blighted with injury, although he did enjoy some time in the first team for the 2003–04 season, which included three goals against Leeds United on 28 September 2003. This made him the first Everton player to score a hat-trick in any competition since

Nick Barmby Nicholas Jon Barmby (born 11 February 1974) is an English football coach and former professional player. As a player, he played as a midfielder spending nearly his entire career in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur, Middlesbrough, Evert ...

in February 2000. Watson signed for

on 5 July 2005 on a three-year contract on a free transfer, after rejecting the offer of a new one-year contract with Everton. He made his debut as an 80th-minute substitute in a 0–0 draw away to Manchester City on 13 August. His only goal for the club came on 2 January 2006, with a shot that came after receiving the ball from Jonathan Greening in the 77th minute of a 2–1 home defeat to Aston Villa.

Sheffield Wednesday

Watson joined

on 9 February 2007 on loan until the end of the 2006–07 season, with opportunities at West Brom limited. He made his debut the following day, starting in a 1–1 draw away to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

. Before he joined them, Wednesday had lost five matches in a row. However, they won six, drew four and only lost once when Watson was in the team. He was re-called by West Brom on 26 April with two matches remaining as cover for the injured

Curtis Davies Curtis Eugene Davies (born 15 March 1985) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Derby County. Davies began his career at Luton Town, for whom he made his professional debut in 2003. Davies moved to Premie ...

and the suspended Neil Clement. Watson signed for Wednesday permanently on 10 July 2007 on a free transfer. His first goal for the club came on 6 November with an equaliser in the fifth minute of stoppage time as Wednesday drew 1–1 away to West Brom. Watson succeeded Lee Bullen as club captain for the 2008–09 season, taking charge of off-the-field matters, with Richard Wood retaining his role as team captain and being responsible for on-the-field affairs. Watson scored the winner in the

Steel City derby The Steel City Derby (also known as the Sheffield Derby) is a local derby that takes place between Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday, the two professional football league teams based in the city of Sheffield, England. It is widely consi ...

against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

on 19 October; his volleyed lob over Paddy Kenny in the 35th minute gave Wednesday a 1–0 win. Sheffield Wednesday decided to release Watson on 14 May 2009 due to long-term injury problems. He subsequently retired from playing.

Coaching and managerial career

Watson was appointed as the new Development Coach at

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club

on 13 November 2010, joining up with his former Newcastle teammate Lee Clark. Watson was appointed as a coach at

of the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

on 24 August 2012. He was dismissed along with Clark on 20 October 2014. He was appointed as the assistant manager at

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

club

on 4 July 2016. Watson was appointed as the manager of National League club Gateshead on 10 October 2017. He was appointed as the manager of

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Syst ...

club

on 10 January 2019, succeeding Sam Collins who was dismissed with the team 15th in the table. Watson was joined at the club by

Micky Cummins Michael Thomas Cummins (born 1 June 1978) is an Irish former professional footballer. As a player, he was a midfielder from 1996 to 2014. He started his career with Middlesbrough in 1996, where he stayed for four years. In 2000, he moved on to ...

, his assistant at Gateshead. He was awarded the National League North Manager of the Month award for October 2021 after three wins from four in the league. He left the club on 13 November. Watson was appointed manager of National League North club Chester on 23 December 2021, initially on a contract until the end of the 2021–22 season. On 28 April 2022, the club confirmed that Watson would leave his role as manager at the end of the season by mutual consent.

Career statistics

Managerial statistics

Honours

As a player

Newcastle United *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

runner-up: 1997–98

As a manager

Individual *

Manager of the Month: October 2021

References

Infobox statistics *England U21: *England B: Specific

External links

Profile
at the Chester F.C. website {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Steve 1974 births Living people Sportspeople from North Shields Footballers from Tyne and Wear English footballers England youth international footballers England under-21 international footballers England B international footballers Association football defenders Association football midfielders Newcastle United F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Everton F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players FA Cup Final players English football managers Gateshead F.C. managers York City F.C. managers Chester F.C. managers National League (English football) managers Association football coaches Huddersfield Town A.F.C. non-playing staff Birmingham City F.C. non-playing staff Macclesfield Town F.C. non-playing staff