Andrew Watson (footballer, born 1967)
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Andrew Watson | ||
| Date of birth | 1967 | ||
| Place of birth | Huddersfield, England | ||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Huddersfield Town | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1983-1986 | Huddersfield Town[1] | 0 | (0) |
| 1986-1988 | Exeter City[1] | 42 | (1) |
| 1988-1989 | Mossley | 26 | (0) |
| Emley | |||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:49, 4 July 2008 (UTC) | |||
Andrew "Andy" Watson (born 1967 in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire) was a professional football midfielder who played for Huddersfield Town, Exeter City, Mossley and Emley.
Football career
Huddersfield Town
Watson started his career with his hometown club Huddersfield Town in 1983 but didn't make any first team appearances at Leeds Road and left in 1986 to join Exeter City.
Exeter City
Watson was to remain at Exeter was two years and was to make 42 league appearances there. He scored his first and only professional goal down at Exeter as well. He then left in 1988 to join Mossley.
Mossley
While at Exeter, Watson did have two options, he could either remain in league football or go to a non-league club to become Player/Commercial Manager, accepting his lack of football talent, Watson chose the Player/Commercial Manager job at Mossley. He was to remain at Mossley until 1989 when he left Mossley to play for Emley and to become Sales Executive for the Yorkshire Post Newspaper Group. He had made 26 appearances.
Business career
After his experience of being Player/Commercial Manager at Mossley, Watson became Sales Executive for the Yorkshire Post Newspaper Group and remained there for two years, until 1991.
Headingley
At the age of 23 Watson's big break came when he became the Commercial Manager at Headingley Stadium which is the home of Leeds Rugby League Club, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and a Test Match venue as well. He would remain there until 1995 when he moved to Everton as Commercial Manager.
Everton and Burnley
Watson had been approached by Everton due to his experience, he remained there until 1999 when Burnley approached him to become the Chief Executive at Burnley. He had four successful years at Turf Moor with Burnley, with Stan Ternent at the helm. Burnley won the Second Division title in the 1999/2000 season.
Huddersfield Town
In 2003, Ken Davy had just taken over at debt-riddenh Huddersfield Town and asked Andrew to become Chief Executive, this of course gave Watson a chance to return to his hometown-club which he was released from 17 years earlier. In the first season, Huddersfield won promotion, via the play-offs, to the Second Division, which was renamed that season, League One. In 2006, Watson became Vice Chairman of the club and was a shareholder and a Director of the club. In 2008, Watson was instrumental in the appointment of Stan Ternent, who he was at Burnley with, and when Ternent was sacked in November 2008, Watson resigned. Chairman-Elect Dean Hoyle accepted it with great reluctance. In December 2009, Watson and Davy sold their shares to Dean Hoyle, making Hoyle the sole owner of Huddersfield Town Football Club.
References
- ^ a b "EXETER CITY : 1946/47 - 2002/03 & 2008/09". Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Database. Retrieved 2 March 2010.