Tommy Watson’s goal at Wembley secured Sunderland’s promotion back to the Premier League after eight years
BBC Radio Newcastle's Sunderland AFC commentator Nick Barnes has praised Tommy Watson for the months of work that led up to his brilliant winner in the play-off final at Wembley.
Barnes was speaking at the first ever live episode of On The Whistle, filmed at The Bridge Hotel Vaults last week.
Watson spent a long spell on the sidelines during the second half of last season, during which time a move to Brighton & Hove Albion was announced. The 19-year-old initially struggled for form after returning from injury towards the end of the campaign, but made a spectacular impact as a substitute at Wembley. Watson's winner against Sheffield United secured Sunderland's promotion and a guaranteed financial boost of almost £200 million.
Barnes said the work the youngster had done to rebuild his strength and fitness in the latter stages of the season proved to be key and underlined is dedication to the club.
"Tommy and his family are absolutely massive Sunderland fans," Barnes said.
"The commitment to the football club from Tommy as a fan is beyond question, and his younger brother is still in the academy. His family have season tickets, etc. We don't know how much influence agents had in the move but when those contract talks were starting, he'll have been weighing up his chance of breaking into the starting XI regularly and the chance he had to go to the Premier League and what that means for his wages etc. By all accounts, he has been told he will get a chance to play at Brighton next season. So I can understand the decision from a professional footballer's point of view.
"I know that in the lead up to the play-offs, Tommy was putting in hours and hours of running and work off his own back to get fitter, stronger and to be ready for his chance. I think you could see by the end of the season that physically he was bigger and stronger. It paid off for him and what a moment for him as a Sunderland fan."
Phil added that Sunderland head coach Régis Le Bris deserved a lot of credit for the way he had managed the situation following the announcement of the transfer to Brighton.
"It was a brilliant finish," Le Bris said.
"Fair play to Tommy Watson and fair play to Régis Le Bris because I think if anything summed up what Sunderland got right in the final stages of the season, it was them acknowledging that they had a player there... Régis said to us quite early on after Tommy's move was announced and Romaine Mundle picked up that hamstring injury, he said that we might need this guy for ten minutes in the play-offs. What incredible foresight that was, though I'm not sure even he could have predicted how it would play out... After the Bristol City game where if we're honest Tommy didn't play very well and got a lot of stick, it would have been very easy to take him out of the team and say, 'it's not working'. The head coach was very clear instead in saying, 'he's been injured for a while and he's not fit yet, we need to give him time'. Everything in that period was geared towards the play-off final and what a finish, unbelievable."
You can watch extended highlights of the event in the video at the top of this article, or over on our YouTube page.
What Tommy Watson said after scoring the winner for Sunderland at Wembley
Speaking at Wembley after the play-off final, Watson said it was a ‘dream come true’.
“I'm glad I've ended my time here in a positive way,” he said.
“There have been some really tough moments but my girlfriend and my family have stuck around me and some of the lads, Luke in particular, have been really good. So many people, including my family, were saying it was gong to end this way and I couldn’t have pictured it any better than that. I’m a Sunderland player today and I should think I’ll be a legend at the club after that.
“"It was like an out-of-body experience," he added.
"Your top comes off, you're in the crowd, it's unbelievable. When I came on the coaching staff were saying to me, 'don't rush, there’s 25 minutes left, there’s time for you to get us back in the game'. But as soon as the first goal went in I knew we were going to win. I’ve been at the club since I was five or six years of age, I’ve been to these games at Wembley when we got beat, I’m a boyhood fan and this is a dream come true.
“It’s a dream really - hopefully my younger brothers will look at that and they will want to follow it. I want to say hats off to Luke [O'Nien]- he’s been unbelievable with me and so many other young players coming through. He’s a role model, personality-wise, and he deserves to be in the Premier League.
“I’ll see Sunderland in the Premier League next year as a legend, so that will be class.”
Continue Reading