Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins (right) played with Josh McEachran (left) at Brentford (Image: John Scott Blackwell)
Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins (right) played with Josh McEachran (left) at Brentford (Image: John Scott Blackwell)
OLLIE Watkins made a surprise visit at an Oxford school as he backed a new education academy set up by Josh McEachran.
The two players were in the same Brentford team between 2017 and 2019, and formed a lasting friendship which exists to this day.
At a launch event for the Josh McEachran Education Academy, the midfielder brought out Watkins as a special guest at Wychwood School.
Only six players have scored more Premier League goals this season than Aston Villa striker Watkins, who grabbed the late winner when England beat the Netherlands in the semi-finals of Euro 2024 last summer.
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He enjoyed a kickabout and Q&A session, and lent his support to the new academy, which will provide a football education programme for 16-19-year-olds and allow students to gain the equivalent of three A levels and earn up to 168 UCAS points.
The programme will start in September and operate from Wychwood in Banbury Road.
Watkins told this newspaper: “When I joined Brentford, Josh welcome me with open arms and took me under his wing a little bit.
“Our friendship has spiralled on from there. We’re very close. Our families meet up and we’ve got a good relationship, and it’s nice to see he’s doing this to help out.
“He’s giving a lot of young kids an opportunity to go on to the next thing in their career if they’re not going to make it in football.
“I think what he’s doing is really good, and that’s why I’ve come down here to support him.
“Education is massive, and the fact they’re tying both in together is amazing. I did a BTEC course when I was at college myself, and it gives you something else to fall back on. It’s nice to have that on the side.”
Wychwood headteacher Jane Evans added: “It goes right back into the roots of the school. We set out as a school 127 years ago to meet the needs of pupils in Oxford that aren’t being met by other schools and other groups.
“This is a really brilliant opportunity for people who are passionate about sport to still carry on their education post-16, and go with the right tools whether they want to go into medicine or being a professional footballer, or any work associated with that.
“One of the things we say is we’re really authentic, and I think to be authentic in education is quite hard at the moment.
“We want to very much have pupils who are really down to earth and are prepared for life, and this is what Josh wants. It was a natural alignment of all our values.”