Tony Watt, he of six clubs in four years, has given a quite deluded, and arrogant, interview tonight in which he’s talked down Scottish football and said he was right to go to England because “the style, the play, everything. Financially, England is better. It wouldn’t be worth your while coming back to Scotland when you could play in England …”
Here’s the trouble with this guy; he’s not playing in England at the moment, or anywhere else for that matter.
He’s a striker who’s hit double figures once in his career, on loan at Lierse.
To talk down the game in this country, when he was sent here on loan and made 17 appears and scored one goal – one solitary goal – is outrageous.
Scottish defenders may not be the best in the world, but they were good enough to keep him at bay in sixteen matches.
“I don’t see myself in Scottish football in the next five or ten years …” he said.
Hold that thought, Mr.
Because I’m willing to bet that within five Scottish football is exactly where he will be, when the English game is no longer willing to tolerate his prima donna behaviour, which is notorious down there already.
Ewan Murray, of The Guardian only a few months ago, shared with readers the reaction of people at Parkhead when Watt left in 2014; “One of Celtic’s experienced international players predicted Watt would be driving a bus within a decade,” he wrote.
We’ve seen nothing from him since that proves that hypothesis wrong.
Watt has always had this, this attitude problem.
Neil Lennon warned him of it as far back as 2013, when Lierse got so sick of his attitude they wanted to end his season long loan deal early.
Neil was having absolutely none of it.
““I’m not of a mind to bring him back,” he said. “We’ve loaned him for the year and I would like him to see that out. There’s an immaturity about Tony and the reason for putting him on loan was to see life at a different place. We wanted him to sample a different culture and a different type of football. If it’s not going well, he needs to knuckle down and make it work, the onus is on him.”
Time has not improved his general behaviour.
Mark McGhee delivered a scathing verdict on him last year, when he was called in to the Scotland squad to cover for injuries. “He’s one of these boys who is not fit enough,” McGhee admitted, making his inclusion in the national team setup look every bit as outrageous as it was. “He doesn’t train hard enough. I know that if you could get him to work hard in training, he would be a better player in the games … I remember speaking to Neil Lennon about him. There was a point where I thought ‘don’t let him near a football’. Set him certain targets and standards before he gets another kick of the ball.”
And it’s been like this ever since, with Paul Lambert, who was at Blackburn at the time, unable to make any difference to his mentality.
Charlton’s boss was looking forward to his return to the club, but not in the manner you might expect.
Instead, his enthusiasm was that of a serial killer who has managed to lure a fresh victim to an abattoir.
“’I’m going to make Tony sweat, make him cry,’ said Karl Robinson, when told Hearts had cut his loan deal short. “Tony has to apologise for certain things,” he said ominously. “I want to see whether he has the desire to play for me and this club.’
Not only does Watt’s attitude stink, but he’s also possessed of a painfully short memory.
With Hearts having tore his contract up, he’s suddenly pleased to be shot of this country and talks like a guy who only signed for them in the first place with gritted teeth. But it wasn’t like that when did; in fact, he spoke of wanting to spend two years in the SPL, and of how he missed his family.
“Sometimes it’s difficult being away from home since I was 18, 19 and maybe it’ s time for a year or two to come back, settle down and kick on,” he said at the time.
This gives his latest statement a familiar reek, that of those Sevco fans who are now pretending to be glad their club is no longer throwing money about like confetti.
Soon enough, though, Watt will be made to eat those words.
Because his contract at Charlton expires in six months and so far there are no takers for his services.
It’s pretty clear that they aren’t terribly impressed with him and won’t be offering an extension.
And when he’s out of contract we’ll see who offers him a deal.
For sure, he’ll be back in Scottish football far in advance of those ten years he’s talking about.
Whether it’s a top flight club or not is a different matter entirely.