When Ronald Koeman arrived in the summer of 2014 it was only a matter of time before we found out who he would implement into his coaching staff. We later learnt that it was to be his brother Erwin along with the employment of Sammy Lee. However, one man who was also recruited that doesn’t get as much credit as he should is Dave Watson, the goalkeeping coach. Watson was drafted in mainly to work with Saints keepers but over the last year we have seen him take a bigger role in amongst the coaching staff.
So, what exactly does Dave Watson do? This is a question many a Saints fan will ponder after seeing the 42-year-old casually take a substitution out onto the sidelines preparing them before coming on. It appears to be his work is a tad more than just a goalkeeping coach.
Watson spent his entire playing career at Barnsley where he endured 178 games between 1993 and 2001. Meanwhile accumulating a poor 5 caps for the U21 England team, never breaking in to the full national squad. He helped Barnsley to a runners up spot in the old Div 1 in the 1996/97 season to gain promotion to the Premier League and was first choice goalkeeper in their one season in the top flight.
In September ’98 Watson was playing for Barnsley in a match vs Norwich where he sustained a knee injury which would see the regular first teamer take 2 years out to try and seek a fix. Sadly, this was never the case and forced Watson into an early retirement in 2001 at the age of just 28.
It was here that he discovered a career in coaching and went on to work as goalkeeping coach with Northampton Town (twice) Oldham Athletic and Huddersfield Town. He also started to work with the England U19 team and Nottingham Forest before becoming goalkeeping coach of Birmingham City in January 2008.
Whilst at Birmingham City Watson gained a very good reputation for his work which included the enhancement of the likes of Joe Hart, Jack Butland and Ben Foster. It was here that his career in coaching took of as an invite to the Euro 2012 tournament with England was soon to be offered by Roy Hodgson, a chance the coach could not turn down. After the tournament had finished he left to become goalkeeping coach at Norwich City continuing a healthy relationship with then-manager Chris Hughton.
The story then brings us to today. When Ronald Koeman took over the Saints, Watson decided to further his career and work with Fraser Forster at St Marys where he is currently plying his trade now. He is still very much a part of the England set up and is set to jet off with the team to the Euro 2016 tournament next summer.
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