Dave Watson

Watson played for the Liverpool reserves before joining Norwich City for £50,000 on 29 November 1980. He made his league debut in the local derby against Ipswich Town on Boxing Day that year. He played 18 league games in the 1980–81 First Division campaign and scored three goals, but was unable to prevent the Canaries from sliding into the Second Division.

Over the next five years, Watson was rarely absent from the Norwich side and helped them win promotion from the Second Division in the 1981–82 season. He eventually made 256 appearances for Norwich, and as club captain lifted the League Cup in 1985. They went down to the Second Division that year, but won promotion the following year as champions.

Watson moved on to play for Everton for £900,000 on 22 August 1986 after six years at Norwich.[1] He remained at Goodison Park for 15 years, his first game for them coming on 23 August 1986 when they won 2–0 at home to Nottingham Forest on the opening day of the league season. He helped them win the league title in their first season, and also helped them reach the FA Cup final in 1989, where they lost 3–2 to local rivals Liverpool in extra time.[1]

Watson was an integral part of the Everton side throughout the 1990s, and following the departure of goalkeeper Neville Southall in 1998 he became the club's oldest and longest serving player. However, the 1990s were a generally unsuccessful decade for Everton after the glories of the 1980s. They did finish sixth in 1990 after topping the table earlier in 1990–91, but then endured four seasons of mid table finishes, and avoided relegation in 1994 on the last day of the season. Watson got his hands on some silverware for one final time in 1995 when he captained Everton to a surprise 1–0 win over Manchester United in the FA Cup final – by now he was one of the last players remaining from Everton's last major trophy win (the league title) eight years earlier. He was man of the match for that game.[2]

Watson captained Everton to sixth place in 1996, but the following season they were struggling again and manager Joe Royle resigned in March 1997, with Watson taking over as manager for the final few weeks of the season and overseeing Everton's Premier League survival as they finished 15th. Howard Kendall then took over as manager for the third time, though his return to Goodison Park lasted just one season before he was replaced by Walter Smith.

Even at the age of 37, Watson was a regular in the Everton side as captain, playing 22 times in the 1998–99 season though by 1999–2000 it was obvious that he was nearing the end of his playing career as he played just seven times all season, before calling time on 15 years at Everton and becoming manager of Tranmere Rovers on 4 May 2001.[3] His final game for Everton was a 2–2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur on 15 January 2000.[4]