| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 10 November 1973 | ||
| Place of birth | Barnsley, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| – | Barnsley | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1992–2001 | Barnsley | 178 | (0) |
| National team | |||
| 1993–1995 | England U21 | 5 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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David Watson (born 10 November 1973) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Barnsley and the England under-21 team. He now works as goalkeeping coach for Birmingham City.
Watson was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. He began his football career in the youth system of his home-town club and went on to make more than 200 appearances for their first team in all competitions, including 178 in league matches. He helped the club to runners-up spot in Division One 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. He suffered a knee injury in a game against Norwich City in September 1998; he spent more than two years in an abortive attempt to regain fitness but played no more first-team football and retired in 2001 at the age of 28.[1]
While at Barnsley Watson represented England in the 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship,[2] where they finished in third place and won the FIFA fair play award.[3] He also won five caps for England at under-21 level.[4]
He went on to work as goalkeeping coach with Northampton Town, Oldham Athletic,[1] Huddersfield Town,[5] Northampton Town again, the England under-19 team[6] and Nottingham Forest[7] before replacing Nigel Spink as goalkeeping coach of Birmingham City in January 2008.[8] While in this position, Watson built a reputation as an excellent coach, praised for enhancing the careers of England goalkeepers Joe Hart, Ben Foster and under-19 keeper Jack Butland.[9]