Julian Watts (born 17 March 1971) is an English football manager and former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. He played as a defender most notably in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for both

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

and

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. He also played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

, Lincoln City and

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

. However his final two clubs saw him pick up more club appearances for any other team he played for with a five year spell at

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

followed by a spell in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

for Northern Spirit, He has since moved into management and has managed

Hallam Hallam may refer to: Places * Hallam, Victoria, Australia ** Hallam railway station UK * Hallamshire, an area in South Yorkshire, England, UK ** Royal Hallamshire Hospital ** Sheffield Hallam (UK Parliament constituency) ** Sheffield Hallam Univer ...

, Shirebrook Town and later Rainworth Miners Welfare.

Playing career

Watts started out with

as an apprentice, but after only two years in the first team he moved on to

. He left Sheffield Wednesday in March 1996, after only 18 league appearances, to play for

. At Leicester he played as they won the 1996 First Division play-off final. He also contributed to their run in the

1996–97 Football League Cup The 1996–97 Football League Cup (known as the Coca-Cola Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 37th Football League Cup, a knockout competition for England's top 92 football clubs. The tournament was won by Leicester City, who beat Middlesbrough ...

, being on the pitch as they beat

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

in the semi-final, but was left out of the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

squad itself. Whilst at Leicester he scored once; his goal coming in a 3–1 defeat to Chelsea. Watts wore the colours of five more teams before he arrived at

on loan in 1999.

Luton Luton () is a town and borough in Bedfordshire, England. The borough had a population of 225,262 at the 2021 census. Luton is on the River Lea, about north-west of London. The town's foundation dates to the sixth century as a Saxon settleme ...

clearly suited Watts, as he became a first team regular, and made 67 league appearances in two seasons. At the end of 2000–01, he decided to join Australian club Northern Spirit, where he played until 2004, when the club folded. Now retired from the game, he returned to England to set up a business in

Worksop Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located south of Doncaster, south-east of Sheffield and north of Nottingham. Located close to Nottinghamshire's borders with South Yorkshire and Derbys ...

. In September 2010 he was appointed assistant manager of Maltby Main and in January 2011 manager of

Managerial career

On 3 May 2016 Watts, now manager of Nottinghamshire side Rainworth Miners Welfare, was obliged to play once again for a fixture on the final day of the season against Pickering Town; his club were struggling to get a team together due to injuries, work commitments and a youth team cup final. Watts played 54 minutes before replacing himself with substitute Cameron Mitchell. Rainworth lost 4–2.

References

External links

*
Julian Watts
at Aussie Footballers
Lincoln City F.C. Official Archive Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watts, Julian 1971 births Living people Footballers from Sheffield English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Rotherham United F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players North West Sydney Spirit FC players Rainworth Miners Welfare F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players English football managers Hallam F.C. managers Shirebrook Town F.C. managers Rainworth Miners Welfare F.C. managers