tommye
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"We are no longer 'Dogs of War' but winners at Crufts,” said manager Joe Royle after watching his Everton side defeat Manchester United in the 1995 FA Cup final.
A poetic retort to highlight the often-understated flair that was within his ranks, perhaps because the pitbull-like determination was plain for all to see.
Of course, the industrious nature of Royle’s side was its greatest strength and Everton Giant Dave Watson, who captained the Blues to glory at the ‘old’ Wembley that glorious afternoon, believes the Dogs of War spirit continues to live on at the Club, with several members of that triumphant squad currently influencing players at various levels.
Duncan Ferguson is currently part of Ronald Koeman’s first-team coaching staff, while David Unsworth and John Ebbrell have led the Under-23s to the Premier League 2 title this season.
And Royle was appointed the Club’s professional development co-ordinator in 2014, working closely with Unsworth and carefully plotting the development of the Blues’ young players.
Watson, meanwhile, is now Newcastle United’s Under-18s manager, following spells as manager of Tranmere Rovers, as scout for Birmingham City and youth coach at Wigan Athletic.
“Without a doubt, Joe had a lasting impact on everyone he worked with,” explains the 55-year-old. “Of course, the Dogs of War label came from Big Joe and I can see how people from outside went with it. Looking at the team, we didn’t give anyone any time or space. We’d put lots of pressure on the opposition, try to win the ball back as quickly as we could and we’d press all over the pitch with a high defensive line. Teams used to hate it, they’d end up booting the ball long to get rid of it and we could deal with that and get back on the ball ourselves. Our priorities going out there were to get amongst them and if we lost possession, go and win it back as quickly as possible.
“The high-pressing game is something I like as a coach now as well. You have to have a bit of a mix, because sometimes if you do it against certain good teams they will be able to play through you, but it is something I prefer. I like my teams to get in the faces of their opponents, use their energy chasing and harrying the opposition. Fitness levels are massive in football now and if you can’t get about the pitch well enough, you won’t progress to the top level.
“I love my current role. I’ve been at Newcastle for five years now – it’s a great working environment and we have some talented young players who I’ve been able to work with. Coaching was always something I wanted to go into as I came towards the end of my playing career. When you’ve been in the game for as long as I had by the end of my playing days, you have a great love for it. I wanted to stay in it. I’m fortunate to be working with a great age group in the Under-18s because they are young men and I feel like I have plenty of experience to pass on to them that can help them.”
Astonishingly, Watson, who took over the captain’s armband from the Toffees’ most successful-ever skipper, Kevin Ratcliffe, in 1992, actually crossed paths with Royle as teammates.
Royle became Everton’s youngest-ever player in 1966 when he made his senior debut aged 16 years and 282 days, while Watson’s defining moment came when he lifted the FA Cup in 1995 but, despite the 29-year gap between those two events, they played together at Norwich City for two years in the early 1980s.
“I had the pleasure of playing with Big Joe,” recalls Watson, who enjoyed a 15-year stint with the Blues from 1986-2001. “He was a legend to me when he walked in at Norwich. He used to drive me home to Liverpool every weekend in his big Jaguar – and I was made up with that! I had a great relationship with Joe before our Everton days. When he came to Everton as manager in 1994, it was magnificent for me. There was also [coach] Willie Donachie, who I played with as well, coming in as coach. All three of us had a great relationship and that helped us hit the ground running when we eventually got together at Everton. It was a real pleasure to work for the big fella, and Willie was an excellent coach as well.”
A unanimous choice as Everton's Millennium Giant of the 1990s, Watson, who was also part of the title-winning squad of 1986/87, will be forever remembered as one the most consistent and dependable defenders in the Club’s history.
He also displayed his knack of scoring significant goals along the way, with particular highlights coming in an FA Cup quarter-final against Newcastle United, a Merseyside FA Cup derby decider at Goodison in 1991 and a 25-yard thunderbolt past then-England goalkeeper David Seaman at Highbury in 1995 – with his left foot!
Discussing former teammates and fellow Cup winners Unsworth and Ferguson – and their forays into coaching – he says: “It hasn’t surprised me to see Unsy going into coaching. He’s got a wealth of experience, he’s played at the top level for a good number of years and had success along the way. It is a shame when people like Dave don’t go into coaching because they have so much experience to pass on to the young kids. Dave is a good, strong character, too. You need that type of person around your football club.
“Duncan was a bit more of a surprise. I wasn’t sure what he would end up doing but he always had such a strong passion for the game and for Everton. Could I see him becoming a coach back in our playing days? Probably not, if I’m honest. But I also know how seriously he is taking it now and how much he loves it. I still talk to him a lot and his passion for coaching has grown and grown. He’s fully focused on what he’s doing.
“It’s a massive plus for the squad to have a character like Dunc in the dressing room. It’s a big thing. You have to have strong desire to win to be successful and when you’re talking about Unsy, talking about Dunc they absolutely have that. I know that from playing with them. Not only did we have those two, we had 10 or 12 others that were the same type of strong characters. If you can look around the dressing room and you know you’re going to get 100 per cent from everyone, you won’t go far wrong.”
Watson also pays tribute to current Everton manager Koeman, who has handed opportunities to young players such as Tom Davies, Mason Holgate, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Ademola Lookman throughout the campaign at what, Watson believes, have been the correct times.
“I love seeing young players getting their chance, it’s always great for everyone when they go on and take it with both hands,” he says. “Someone like Tom Davies is a great success story for the whole Club. The Academy have worked with him since a very young age and now he’s in the first team – that’s a great achievement. A lot of kids join clubs at the age of seven or eight and they have to go through lots of different phases in their development. To actually come out at the end of it with a player in the first team is magnificent for the Academy and credit to the manager for giving him that chance.”
Reflecting on recent times on a personal level, Watson admits his maiden visit back to the Club, for whom he made 528 appearances, felt peculiar.
“It’s not so strange anymore – it’s just something I always look forward to,” insists Watson, who grew up in Huyton. “Of course, I’ve got lots of very good friends down there and it’s always great to see them. The first time I went back perhaps felt a little strange but I’ve got over that now. It’s just an enjoyable experience.
“I bumped into [kit man] Jimmy Martin last time I was down. Apart from faces getting a bit older and heads getting a bit balder, they are the same good people as they always were! Nothing changes too much and that’s a good thing.”
http://www.evertonfc.com/news/2017/05/29/it-was-a-pleasure-working-with-him
"We are no longer 'Dogs of War' but winners at Crufts,” said manager Joe Royle after watching his Everton side defeat Manchester United in the 1995 FA Cup final.
A poetic retort to highlight the often-understated flair that was within his ranks, perhaps because the pitbull-like determination was plain for all to see.
Of course, the industrious nature of Royle’s side was its greatest strength and Everton Giant Dave Watson, who captained the Blues to glory at the ‘old’ Wembley that glorious afternoon, believes the Dogs of War spirit continues to live on at the Club, with several members of that triumphant squad currently influencing players at various levels.
Duncan Ferguson is currently part of Ronald Koeman’s first-team coaching staff, while David Unsworth and John Ebbrell have led the Under-23s to the Premier League 2 title this season.
And Royle was appointed the Club’s professional development co-ordinator in 2014, working closely with Unsworth and carefully plotting the development of the Blues’ young players.
Watson, meanwhile, is now Newcastle United’s Under-18s manager, following spells as manager of Tranmere Rovers, as scout for Birmingham City and youth coach at Wigan Athletic.
“Without a doubt, Joe had a lasting impact on everyone he worked with,” explains the 55-year-old. “Of course, the Dogs of War label came from Big Joe and I can see how people from outside went with it. Looking at the team, we didn’t give anyone any time or space. We’d put lots of pressure on the opposition, try to win the ball back as quickly as we could and we’d press all over the pitch with a high defensive line. Teams used to hate it, they’d end up booting the ball long to get rid of it and we could deal with that and get back on the ball ourselves. Our priorities going out there were to get amongst them and if we lost possession, go and win it back as quickly as possible.
“The high-pressing game is something I like as a coach now as well. You have to have a bit of a mix, because sometimes if you do it against certain good teams they will be able to play through you, but it is something I prefer. I like my teams to get in the faces of their opponents, use their energy chasing and harrying the opposition. Fitness levels are massive in football now and if you can’t get about the pitch well enough, you won’t progress to the top level.
“I love my current role. I’ve been at Newcastle for five years now – it’s a great working environment and we have some talented young players who I’ve been able to work with. Coaching was always something I wanted to go into as I came towards the end of my playing career. When you’ve been in the game for as long as I had by the end of my playing days, you have a great love for it. I wanted to stay in it. I’m fortunate to be working with a great age group in the Under-18s because they are young men and I feel like I have plenty of experience to pass on to them that can help them.”
Astonishingly, Watson, who took over the captain’s armband from the Toffees’ most successful-ever skipper, Kevin Ratcliffe, in 1992, actually crossed paths with Royle as teammates.
Royle became Everton’s youngest-ever player in 1966 when he made his senior debut aged 16 years and 282 days, while Watson’s defining moment came when he lifted the FA Cup in 1995 but, despite the 29-year gap between those two events, they played together at Norwich City for two years in the early 1980s.
“I had the pleasure of playing with Big Joe,” recalls Watson, who enjoyed a 15-year stint with the Blues from 1986-2001. “He was a legend to me when he walked in at Norwich. He used to drive me home to Liverpool every weekend in his big Jaguar – and I was made up with that! I had a great relationship with Joe before our Everton days. When he came to Everton as manager in 1994, it was magnificent for me. There was also [coach] Willie Donachie, who I played with as well, coming in as coach. All three of us had a great relationship and that helped us hit the ground running when we eventually got together at Everton. It was a real pleasure to work for the big fella, and Willie was an excellent coach as well.”
A unanimous choice as Everton's Millennium Giant of the 1990s, Watson, who was also part of the title-winning squad of 1986/87, will be forever remembered as one the most consistent and dependable defenders in the Club’s history.
He also displayed his knack of scoring significant goals along the way, with particular highlights coming in an FA Cup quarter-final against Newcastle United, a Merseyside FA Cup derby decider at Goodison in 1991 and a 25-yard thunderbolt past then-England goalkeeper David Seaman at Highbury in 1995 – with his left foot!
Discussing former teammates and fellow Cup winners Unsworth and Ferguson – and their forays into coaching – he says: “It hasn’t surprised me to see Unsy going into coaching. He’s got a wealth of experience, he’s played at the top level for a good number of years and had success along the way. It is a shame when people like Dave don’t go into coaching because they have so much experience to pass on to the young kids. Dave is a good, strong character, too. You need that type of person around your football club.
“Duncan was a bit more of a surprise. I wasn’t sure what he would end up doing but he always had such a strong passion for the game and for Everton. Could I see him becoming a coach back in our playing days? Probably not, if I’m honest. But I also know how seriously he is taking it now and how much he loves it. I still talk to him a lot and his passion for coaching has grown and grown. He’s fully focused on what he’s doing.
“It’s a massive plus for the squad to have a character like Dunc in the dressing room. It’s a big thing. You have to have strong desire to win to be successful and when you’re talking about Unsy, talking about Dunc they absolutely have that. I know that from playing with them. Not only did we have those two, we had 10 or 12 others that were the same type of strong characters. If you can look around the dressing room and you know you’re going to get 100 per cent from everyone, you won’t go far wrong.”
Watson also pays tribute to current Everton manager Koeman, who has handed opportunities to young players such as Tom Davies, Mason Holgate, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Ademola Lookman throughout the campaign at what, Watson believes, have been the correct times.
“I love seeing young players getting their chance, it’s always great for everyone when they go on and take it with both hands,” he says. “Someone like Tom Davies is a great success story for the whole Club. The Academy have worked with him since a very young age and now he’s in the first team – that’s a great achievement. A lot of kids join clubs at the age of seven or eight and they have to go through lots of different phases in their development. To actually come out at the end of it with a player in the first team is magnificent for the Academy and credit to the manager for giving him that chance.”
Reflecting on recent times on a personal level, Watson admits his maiden visit back to the Club, for whom he made 528 appearances, felt peculiar.
“It’s not so strange anymore – it’s just something I always look forward to,” insists Watson, who grew up in Huyton. “Of course, I’ve got lots of very good friends down there and it’s always great to see them. The first time I went back perhaps felt a little strange but I’ve got over that now. It’s just an enjoyable experience.
“I bumped into [kit man] Jimmy Martin last time I was down. Apart from faces getting a bit older and heads getting a bit balder, they are the same good people as they always were! Nothing changes too much and that’s a good thing.”
http://www.evertonfc.com/news/2017/05/29/it-was-a-pleasure-working-with-him
