“And for Lee (Clark) and Robbie (Elliott) and John (Watson) and Steve Howey to all make their debuts around that time, and have five or six lads playing for Newcastle all under the age of 20 – it’s quite an achievement."
It’s 30 years to the day since Watson made his Newcastle United debut. It came at Molineux, in a 2-1 defeat to Wolves notable for little other than the 16-year-old’s clamber off the bench and into the record books. Watson was 16 years and 233 days old at the time – the youngest player to ever represent the Magpies.
In 1990, life moved swiftly for North Shields-born Watson. “Come my birthday in April, I wasn’t actually attached to Newcastle – I’d been let go,” explains the 46-year-old, now manager of National League North side York City. “I almost missed the final cut, if you like. The rest of my mates that I grew up with and played with – Thommo, Lee, Robbie Elliott, Tommy Heron, John Watson – they’d all been given their apprenticeships, and I hadn’t.”
It wasn’t until that June, after a few months of uncertainty, that he was belatedly offered terms. Peter Kirkley, who headed up the Magpies’ youth recruitment system, called him over as he played with friends on the AstroTurf at Wallsend Sports Centre. “30 years ago, I thought I’d blew my chance with Newcastle – probably all down to my own fault as well. At that age, I don’t think I was as focused as the other guys were,” he says. “I was too heavily involved in every other sport. I represented the area at athletics back then, whereas all the other lads were totally focused on football. Basketball, cricket – I was doing absolutely everything. Really, (being let go at 15) was probably the kick up the proverbial that I needed. When I did sign, I was focused, and luckily it happened very quickly.
“People mature at different stages, the penny drops for people at different stages. It happened really quickly. I started the apprenticeship in July and made my debut in November. You couldn’t really have written it.”
Just a few months on from leaving Burnside College, Watson – whose youthful talents were honed at Wallsend Boys Club – was pulled away from a mandatory study session to train with Jim Smith’s first team, a group including the experience and guile of Micky Quinn, Liam O’Brien, John Anderson, Gavin Peacock and Mark McGhee. “We all used to go to college on a Thursday and I remember being pulled away from college to train with the team. I think it was a lot easier to do that back then!” he laughs. “I remember missing out on college to train with them on the Thursday and then being told I was going to travel on the Friday.
“I had been doing well for the reserves as it was back then – it wasn’t the under-23s, it was an actual reserve league – and I just thought it was a bit of a pat on the back for doing well, to get to travel with the first team and get some experience. Then I was named on the bench, and I didn’t really have time to think about it.”
Did he know, as he warmed up at Molineux, how close he was to making a piece of Newcastle United history? “Not really. Back then, there was very limited media – you didn’t have Twitter, or anything that would bring your attention to it unless someone told you. I’m not even sure I knew until after I’d done it, to be honest with you.
“Because I’d been nowhere near the first team until the Thursday, I only had two days to get used to it. I’m not even sure there were mobiles back then. I was blissfully unaware of it.”
Watson, an “off-the-cuff” type of player not prone to nerves at that stage of his life, emerged from the bench in place of O’Brien to make history on 10th November 1990. The record still stands today.
“Jim gave me my debut, and I’ll forever be thankful for it. I thought he was great. I speak to Lee a lot, and when Jim passed away recently we were both very, very sad about that. he gave us both our debuts. He was great. He was hard, and (first team coach) Bobby Saxton was hard, but it disciplined us. We learnt respect through that, and unfortunately, I think that would be put down as something else nowadays. They were all very tough but fair people. It was a really good grounding for us.
“I probably didn’t take stock at all until maybe the second season. Even in the summer, it was all a bit surreal. I started training again, and then the second season is a little bit more difficult – you do take stock, and there is a little bit of expectation even though you’re quite young. What helped was the fact that there were a lot of lads of a similar age – Lee was already in the first team, one of my best mates, so having him in and around helped a lot.
“The second season was with Ossie (Ardiles), and he brought a lot of young lads into the fold then so I was playing around the lads I’d come through the system with since I was ten. There was at least half a dozen lads who I’d come through with in and around the first team, and that was a help.”
Watson, pictured here in 1991, made 263 appearances during a distinguished spell at St. James' Park
Watson’s versatility helped him as he made his way in the professional ranks, with time ironing out some of the inconsistencies of his game. “I ended up signing as a striker, making my debut as a right winger, moved back to right back and then, as the rest of my Newcastle career will tell you, pretty much everywhere. I started at least one or two games in every position, and I was sub keeper a lot of the time as well, so I covered pretty much everywhere.
“I would do things that, if I was managing me back then, I would throw me out the team for as well! Losing concentration, being reliable – but that came the older I got.”
He looks back now at the summer following promotion to the Premier League in 1993 as “pivotal”, after a season in which he featured only fleetingly. Watson, along with Clark, Thompson and Elliott and some of the Newcastle Falcons, trained with Steve Black on Tynemouth beach, and returned for pre-season in fine shape.
It was a turning point for the teenager, and he didn’t look back. He was a player who needed pushing, who needed a challenge, and over the next five years he responded to those he faced. Players were brought in, managers came and went but Watson – the only man to feature in Kevin Keegan’s first and last games in charge of United – endured. A total of 263 outings and 14 goals later, he departed, an Entertainer, for Aston Villa in 1998.
And three decades on, his record seems unlikely to be beaten in the near future. Watson – who made tentative enquiries about a loan for one of the current crop of young Magpies before his breakthrough – takes pride in seeing some home-grown youngsters, like the Longstaff brothers, follow the same path he took.
“I’m delighted as anybody to see Sean and Matty come through – absolutely thrilled. I know their dad very well through Alan Thompson, and I’ve met the lads a few times before they made their debuts," he says.
“Funnily enough, and it’s going to sound crazy now talking about this, but before Matty hit the first team when I was at Gateshead I was asking the question of whether coming out on loan and playing some games might be something he’s willing to do. And then three or four months later he was scoring at St. James’ against Manchester United, so I didn’t think there was much chance of that happening!
“I’m thrilled, I'm delighted for them both. It must be fantastic for the two lads, the two brothers, who also look like they’re just best mates as well, to be wearing that shirt. It’s fantastic for them, and I’m delighted.”
