York City’s former home-grown hero Ben Godfrey has made a “great” move to Everton reckons the club’s current manager Steve Watson.
The ex-Blues player is also happy to wait on any potential spending spree made possible by the non-league club’s huge financial windfall from the deal.
Godfrey has joined Everton from Norwich City for a fee believed to be in the region of £20million which could see his home city club York, who he left on his 18th birthday on January 15, 2016, pocket around £2million.
That’s a tidy sum for an outfit now plying their trade in the sixth tier of the English football pyramid alongside the likes of Southport and Chester but after already undergoing a major squad revamp, their boss isn’t planning on splashing the cash just yet.
Watson told the ECHO: “To be honest I think I’m pretty much done and at the moment I’d only be bringing a player in for the sake of it.
“We’ve got good competition for places and I’ve done most of my recruitment now.
“If that one special player crops up then it’s certainly a conversation I’d be a lot more comfortable having before this but I don’t expect to be bringing too much more now whether I could or not.”
However, Watson is delighted to see his club’s former player get his big move and believes it shows his current crop of youthful talents that there is still a route to the top.
He said: “From my fondness of Everton I know what a big club it is.
“There are not many clubs that he could have gone to that would have been a better move for him, it’s great for all parties.
“We’ve got two or three young lads who I think have got the potential to become a lot better and possibly make it at the highest level.
“This shows them that there is a pathway there and it’s achievable.
“We’ve all heard about Jamie Vardy’s story from non-league to the Premier League and Chris Smalling did it too so there’s proof right there that it can happen.”
Watson’s York City side were one of football’s hard-luck stories last term as the coronavirus pandemic denied them the chance of promotion.
The Minstermen were top of the table when the regular season ended early but did not go up automatically because the final placings were decided on a points-per-game basis which saw second place King’s Lynn Town who had two fewer points from two less games awarded the title instead, giving them an average of 2.00 as opposed to York’s 1.94.
Watson’s men were given a second bite of the cherry via the play-offs but lost in the semi-finals to Altrincham who would also ultimately go up.
Having taken the reins at Bootham Crescent in January 2019 after cutting his managerial teeth back in his native North East at Gateshead, the 46-year-old is determined to put things right this season though with a new-look squad.
After kicking off their campaign with a 1-0 win at Warrington-based Rylands in the FA Cup on Saturday, York City start their League schedule at home to Chorley tonight.
Watson said: “I’m here to try and get promoted whatever happens.
“The way it all ended up, it probably conspired against us more than anybody else.
“It was uncharted territory for everybody. I’m not going to sit here and belittle how serious the pandemic is but to come out with the points-per-game couldn’t have worked out worse for us.
“Funnily enough, King’s Lynn cancelled their last game and some of their players had shown symptoms so if they’d have played it and lost it that would have been the difference.
“You work hard and for that to happen felt like the proverbial kick in the pants.”
He added: “We’ve changed a lot of personnel and there are probably only three or four players left now that were in that squad as we’ve had about 15 new faces.
“The lads that have come in didn’t have to go through all of that so it’s a clean slate really.
“I’m happy with what I’ve brought in. In terms of what myself and my number two Micky (Cummins) wanted from the summer, we’ve achieved all of that and we’ve got the squad we wanted.
“It might not click from the start but hopefully we’re still good enough to enable the new lads to bed in and it’s a case of learning on the job a little bit.
They’re all coming from different levels of fitness too. Some of the lads coming into a shortened pre-season hadn’t kicked a ball since March.”
Despite spending the majority of his playing career in the Premier League, Watson insists that he’s not afraid of getting his hands dirty further down the ladder in a managerial role and believes he’s in the perfect place to work his way back up again.
He said: “Anybody that knows me realises that I don’t find it difficult at all.
“Do I want to manage in the Premier League? Of course I do, nobody would say any differently but people find different pathways.
“Not many people are fortunate enough to get handed a position in the Premier League or Championship as their first job and I understood that.
“I knew this was the route I’d have to go down so I it was a case of rolling my sleeves up and cracking on.
“York are a very attractive club and they’re a club that can really go places. I haven’t come here to stand still, I believe there is plenty of scope for progression here.
“We’ve got the facilities and the infrastructure to not just get promoted but to keep going and match what I want to do ambition-wise.”
TOMORROW: Watson compares Everton’s current team to his side that recorded the club’s highest Premier League finish and reveals his big Blues regret.
