Good to seem him in the England set up but I wonder how far his career would have gone if it wasn't for injury and if he'd have stayed at Oakwell
I don't think he'd have made it as an established Premier League goalkeeper - incredible shot stopper but too vulnerable on the high balls and crosses. What is he, about 5'11? If he was that bit taller and better with a high ball he could've been top top draw.
aye, but Joey Barton likes to think he's clever all the time. He's one of the very worst of the Pseudo-Intellects, they read a few Plato quotes and think they're Stephen Fry.
He played his last professional game when he was 24. I don't think we'd seen anywhere near the best of him. David Seamen, for example, didn't make his debut for England until he was 25, but that was just a one off in a friendly against Saudi Arabia. He'd only played 3 competitive games for England before he turned 30, 10 including friendlies, 3 of which he came on as a sub. When he retired he'd won 75 caps. 'keepers don't really hit their peak until they're 30, Watson still had 6 years to improve. That doesn't mean he would have become one of the best. We don't know. As BRF said, he was only 5'11 and as such may have always struggled to command his area. But he had improved considerably at collecting crosses or punching away during his time playing for us and I'm sure he was capable of getting much better. We'll never know, but I do know it was such a massive shame that one of the best we ever produced had to retire so young.
I didn't realise he was so young as he seemed to be around for years. Not the only good keeper we had that had to retire very early. Wasn't it Wardle that was slightly older but got crocked at Port Vale before Watson came on the scene?
I was at Port Vale when Robbie Earle (if it wasn't him it was Darren Beckford) went through him. Horrible sound. Steve Cooper went in goal and was brilliant. Don't think Wardle played again?
