Olly Watkins

[oomarkwright]

Article on the BBC about him.

 

His form led to interest from Brentford - with Smith having moved to the Bees - and Derby.

We were offered a lot of money for him in January (2017)," said Tisdale. "The Derby model was the opposite of what Ollie needed, a lot of process, passing and possession. I could have seen Ollie grinding to a halt.

"They didn't undervalue him, it was the kind of money we'd have accepted, but we turned it down."

Watkins' character meant he could handle the situation and refocus on Exeter's promotion dream. A conversation between him, his mum and Tisdale helped him accept it as he put his trust in his manager.

"Your average player could not cope with that, you have just turned down a life-changing scenario," added Tisdale.

Hours later Watkins came off the bench to score in a win over Wycombe, having pleaded with Tisdale to play after the manager told him he would not feature given Derby's interest.

He scored 16 goals in 2016-17 as Exeter lost in the play-off final to Blackpool.

A move was inevitable, Smith tempted Watkins to Brentford in the summer of 2017 for £1.8m where he quickly adapted to different levels.

Watkins responded by improving his nutrition, taking meals home from the Bees' chef, and now at Villa he has a home gym, developing an elite mindset which has made him one of the top strikers in the Premier League.

Ice baths in the early hours after European games, where he makes calls to family and friends, have become second nature.

As a result he missed just one game in the Premier League this season'.

Didnt know they wouldn't let him move because of 'philosophy'. 

Edited June 6 by oomarkwright
*

[BaaLocks]

42 minutes ago, oomarkwright said:

Article on the BBC about him.

Didnt know they wouldn't let him move because of 'philosophy'. 

By my maths that was SMac-2, which means we hid the philosophy very well. Very well indeed.

Also interesting that if this was the timeline then Nugent was likely the plan B.

[Sparkle]

3 hours ago, BaaLocks said:

By my maths that was SMac-2, which means we hid the philosophy very well. Very well indeed.

Also interesting that if this was the timeline then Nugent was likely the plan B.

I can’t imagine Nugent was plan A at that point in time 

[rynny]

Iirc the plan was to loan Watkins back to Exeter for the rest of the season.

[Crewton]

Tisdale's explanation doesn't make much sense, does it?

From our end, it was said that the deal collapsed because Brentford suddenly put the price up to £3m, thinking that we'd just pay it.

It just seems odd that Tisdale thought that McLaren's way of playing wouldn't work for Watkins.

[AndyinLiverpool]

9 minutes ago, Crewton said:

Tisdale's explanation doesn't make much sense, does it?

From our end, it was said that the deal collapsed because Brentford suddenly put the price up to £3m, thinking that we'd just pay it.

It just seems odd that Tisdale thought that McLaren's way of playing wouldn't work for Watkins.

From what it says in the rest of the article about nutrition and so on, it was probably not the way of playing that was off putting.

[RadioactiveWaste]

To me reads like some revisionist history going on to justify games being played by clubs, managers and agents at the time. Probably not a flat out lie but trying to paint something that was a very minor factor as "the reason" - I'd be sure the biggest factor would've been ££££ in some way shape or form, even if not the headline number but how the numbers break down etc. but I'm cynical....

[Crewton]

5 minutes ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

To me reads like some revisionist history going on to justify games being played by clubs, managers and agents at the time. Probably not a flat out lie but trying to paint something that was a very minor factor as "the reason" - I'd be sure the biggest factor would've been ££££ in some way shape or form, even if not the headline number but how the numbers break down etc. but I'm cynical....

Yep. This was Watkins own explanation, as quoted by the DET after he made his England debut in 2022:-

Quote

Speaking after his brace had helped the Bees to a 3-0 Championship win over the Rams at Griffin Park in August 2019, Watkins told DerbyshireLive he almost ended up at Pride Park during the 2017 January transfer window, when Steve McClaren was in his second spell as manager. Asked how close he came to joining the club, he said: "Yeah, really close - in the January transfer window.

"Steve McClaren wanted to sign me, and I wanted to go there at the time. Then it kind of fell through - so it could have been a lot different!

"I could have been a Derby player but I stayed at Exeter and things worked out for the better here at Brentford. It was just down to money, I think.

"Exeter wanted a little bit more money at the time, and a loan back, because we were doing well and ended up getting to the (League Two) play-off final that year. It didn't work out, unfortunately, but I'm glad I came to Brentford."

It was £1.2 m more IIRC. It might have proven to be good value, but for once, Derby walked away from blackmail.

[cannable]

3 hours ago, Crewton said:

Yep. This was Watkins own explanation, as quoted by the DET after he made his England debut in 2022:-

It was £1.2 m more IIRC. It might have proven to be good value, but for once, Derby walked away from blackmail.

The one time we shouldn’t have😂

[Crewton]

5 minutes ago, cannable said:

The one time we shouldn’t have😂

Hindsight is wonderful. What if, as Tisdale inferred, our style of play didn't suit Watkins, and he ended up like Marriott? We can't assume his progression would have been the same as it was at Brentford.

[littleover ram]

Probably why he looks poor for England, doesn’t suit the style of play

[DarkFruitsRam7]

On 07/06/2024 at 06:02, Crewton said:

Hindsight is wonderful. What if, as Tisdale inferred, our style of play didn't suit Watkins, and he ended up like Marriott? We can't assume his progression would have been the same as it was at Brentford.

It's possible. But the fact that he's made it to the level he has suggests he had far more determination and ambition than Marriott.

Edited June 8 by DarkFruitsRam7

[Crewton]

1 hour ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

It's possible. But the fact that he's made it to the level he has suggests he had far more determination and ambition than Marriott.

On 07/06/2024 at 08:03, AndyinLiverpool said:

From what it says in the rest of the article about nutrition and so on, it was probably not the way of playing that was off putting.

Sure, I meant as an example of a player who came to Derby with a good reputation but didn't make it here.

[Day]

Watkins the type of player Chelsea would go spend £100m based on last season, play 15 games without a goal then sent out to Turkey on loan to never be seen again.