Michael Watt

Name: Michael Watt

DOB: 27/11/70

POB: Aberdeen

Position: Goalkeeper

 Clubs: Aberdeen, Norwich, Kilmarnock

 We could suggest this was a promising career that didn’t
flourish because of external circumstances. Players can sometimes have the right
talent and temperament to succeed but they just didn’t have that little bit of
luck. It may have helped them break into the team at just the right time,
emerge from the youth league to a club with beatable competition or play in
games where one break of the ball is the different between them being the hero
or the goat of the piece. This could be the career of Michael Watt. Or we could
suggest he was just shite.

The local boy was the star keeper in the Dons youth ranks
and the support were hopeful he’d be able to inherit the gloves from Gothenburg
hero Jim Leighton when the legendary figure’s career drew to a close.
Unfortunately Leighton followed old boss Alex Ferguson down the road to Old
Trafford in 1988. At 18, Watt was far too young to make the step up
immediately, he could have been ready given another two or three years to learn
under the Scotland custodian, but instead he was to learn from the new
incumbent: Theo Snelders.

Aberdeen
replaced one goalkeeping legend with another. Snelders would win the SPFA
player of the year – the last goalkeeper to win the award – and be untouchable
between the sticks for six years. All the while Watt sat on the bench and
waited for his time to come.

Unfortunately he was given the chance to impress in such a
pressurised sink or swin atmosphere. The run-in to the 1990/91 season saw Aberdeen top of the table
and looking capable of taking their first Premier Division title in six years.
Unfortunately they would have to do it without the services of their dependable
Dutchman since Snelders was injured in a home match with fellow title
challengers Rangers.

The youngster stepped in and performed admirably but
everybody will remember what occurred on the final day of the campaign. Aberdeen, ahead of
Rangers on goal difference, went to Ibrox needing only a draw to be crowned
league champions. Early in the match Mark Hateley went careering into Watt as
the young keeper reached up to claim a deep cross. Ever since supporters have
debated how much of an impact this had on the rest of the game. There is
certainly nothing he could have done to stop Hateley’s opener – a looping
header that fell into the corner of the net – but the jolt to his comfort zone
may have lingered in the back the mind as he spilled a routine save into Hateley’s
path that ensured the title was staying in Glasgow.

Finally the, now 24-year old, patient stopper got his chance
in the first team after Snelders was dropped in the second half of Aberdeen’s
disastrous 94/95 season. Watt played his part in goal as Aberdeen pulled off something of a miraculous
escape to avoid relegation. The decision had been made by new boss Roy Aitken
and justifying the trust granted him by his manager made Watt the favourite for
the number one jersey the following campaign.

The 95/96 season was certainly a lot happier for everyone
around Pittodrie. The club finished 3rd place in the Premier Division table and
they managed to claim their first piece of silverware in six years by beating Dundee in the League Cup Final. This was to be Watt’s
first and only trophy won as a professional footballer. For it should have been
a happy campaign for the Aberdeen No.1 but a late season blip left a sour taste
in the mouth. The team had been in line for a cup double but a couple of
blunders from the keeper in the Scottish Cup Semi-Final with Hearts saw their Edinburgh opponents
advance in a 2-1 loss.

The goalkeeping jersey was no longer assured, despite the
sale of Theo Snelders to Rangers, with the arrival of former Scotland
international Nicky Walker. Aitken was clearly not satisfied with the strength
at the position and felt he needed to shake things up. It wasn’t the right
choice. Watt was the number one choice again after Walker proved that his early career form was
well behind him. Although this wasn’t to be as productive a season for the Reds
as they finished sixth.

The summer of 1997 was the beginning of the end. Youngster
Derek Stilie was already being pencilled in for future heir before the club
went out and brought home Jim Leighton. The veteran was immediately installed
as number one and it soon became clear that even an injury to the Aberdeen legend would not
necessarily mean a chance between the posts for Watt. He was released at the
season’s end.

Work was easy enough to find if he was willing to remain a
back-up keeper and a one-year contract as emergency cover was signed with Norwich City. Once the season was up it was time
for him to return north of the border, but again it would only be on a back-up
basis at Kilmarnock. Drop down the divisions
or remain in the now type-cast role of career reserve, this now appeared his
only options if his career was to continue. He went down different path, opting
out of football by retiring at the age of 29.

Where is he now? Michael Watt is now a financial advisor
living in Glasgow.
Funnily enough his former reserve, Derek Stillie, also retired early from
football and is now a qualified lawyer. Clearly, what the graduating
goalkeepers from the Aberdeen
academy may have lacked in top class ability was counterbalanced that with an
sharp mind.

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