BEING IN THE HOT SEAT IS ELEMENTARY FOR WATSON
WATSON cut a confident figure as he walked into a busy press conference to mark his appointment as new Gateshead manager. Maybe that shouldn’t be a surprise. After all, this is a man who once performed a somersault before taking a throw-in during a Tees-Tyne derby between Middlesborough and Watson’s Newcastle United.He was 17 at the time. The confident demeanour was matched by his first words as Gateshead boss. “I am here to be successful; I am here to take this club into the Football League” proclaimed the former Aston Villa and Everton star. Some may call it brash, others arrogant, but Watson is expecting to back up those words during his time as Gateshead manager. “That’s me just being honest,” he said. “Some managers come in and try and buy themselves some time. It’s negative isn’t it? When you come in as a new manager, you have to be as positive as possible. “And it’s not me spinning a yarn, it’s me believing, from what I have seen, that we can mount a challenge. I don’t understand how others expect me to be.” Watson has already witnessed what his new squad has to offer this season. The former England U21 defender was in the away dugout at the International Stadium as goals from Fraser Kerr, Jordan Burrow and Jordan Preston gave Gateshead a 3-0 win against Macclesfield Town. That win left Watson to believe that they can challenge this season. “They were strong, powerful and clinical on that day. We came away from here scratching our heads, saying it was never a three-goal defeat. “The chances that came were clinically taken, mistakes were pounced upon. That was against a very strong Macclesfield Town side and that day proved to me that here, at home, we can be a force for anybody” Watson returns to his native Tyneside for the first time since he left Newcastle to join Aston Villa in 1998. He made over 200 appearances for the Magpies and was a key part of Kevin Keegan’s squad that challenged at the top end of the Premier League in the midNineties. And Watson believes that he uses the “inspirational” Keegan as an example of how to get the best out of his players and how to attract increased attendances to the International Stadium. “I will certainly take things from all of my former managers. There are things I have picked up along the way, which I do think work. “You have to pick up things, Keegan is the obvious choice when it comes to how to be inspirational. He made you go out on to the pitch feeling a million dollars and he made you believe you just weren’t going to lose the game. “We have to entertain, to get out on the pitch and play good football, to get positive results. Then before you know it, there are more on the gate, but it all comes from results” To quote his former manager, the Heed Army would “love it” if Watson was to become the success that his positivity makes you believe is possible.