Tony Watt: Motherwell striker on rediscovering his love for the game

Tony Watt says he needed a "career change" when signing at Motherwell

"I like flying under the radar, playing my PlayStation, playing my football, and seeing where it takes me."

The understated life that Motherwell forward Tony Watt now cherishes is not the one he was catapulted into little over eight years ago.

An 18-year-old substitute, he climbed off the bench at Celtic Park to score a winner against a Barcelona team among the best the world has ever seen. History was made and a career launched.

For all that Watt has experienced since both home and abroad, it has taken the Lanarkshire lad to return to his roots to rediscover himself and his love for football.

"I knew I needed a career change," said Watt, who had nine clubs after leaving Celtic in 2014 before arriving at Fir Park a year ago. "I knew my next move needed to be a long-term one. I came back here, Motherwell popped up and I thought 'brilliant'.

"You can have whatever you want in terms of money in your bank account at the end of the month, but happiness needs to be the main thing in your life. I felt coming home I'd get that."

Reinventing himself & coming home

Watt has suffered a nomadic existence. The Coatbridge lad's departure from Celtic on loan to Lierse would trigger discontentment, with his longest spell being two years at Charlton from 2015.

It was a trend picked up on by the man himself last month after enjoying an uncharacteristically tranquil transfer window.

"I wasn't really enjoying it as much abroad," explained Watt, who also played for Standard Liege and OH Leuven in Belgium, as well as CSKA Sofia.

"I enjoyed the life, but I wasn't really playing, getting a chance. I knew I wanted to come home. The life in these countries is probably better and it's been a good eye-opener.

"If you'd asked me at 16 would I have had the career that I have, I'd have bitten the hand off you. Now it's about stability, enjoying my football and getting the numbers on the table."

Under Stephen Robinson, Watt acknowledged that a change had to be made in order to find the continuity he so craved.

The former Scotland striker - who once got booked in Belgium for taking his top off during a goal celebration to show his manager he wasn't overweight - dug deep through sheer bloody-mindedness and determination to get himself into the condition of his life.

With 32 games already under his belt and four club player of the month awards on the spin, a bit of tough love from the now departed Motherwell boss has paid off.

"I loved my time under him, he reinvigorated my career," he said of Robinson. "I can say that easily. We would do runs, I'd beat my best ever time and he'd be on me: 'Why are you at the effing back!?'

"I liked that. I liked he knew what buttons to press, but when crunch time came I knew he had my back. That's why I was really upset when he left.

"But the new manager has been amazing. One manager doesn't have all the correct answers."

Messi's top, Warzone & Deccy the medic

Despite lockdown at home, Watt is in good company. Followers of the striker will now be accustomed to watching his internet gaming broadcasts on his own channel, where he and other well-kent faces of Scottish football face off in the arena of combat game Warzone.

It's a fact of life that being a footballer comes with a fair whack of spare time. Being in the middle of a pandemic won't do much to alleviate that, either.

But the articulate Watt sees his online skirmishes as more than just play time, even if Scotland centre-half Declan Gallagher doesn't quite make the grade.

"Big Deccy got called 'the medic' live on the stream," he says. "I love the patter. The camaraderie you get with it.

"It's something I've always enjoyed and it's something I'm trying to take a bit more seriously and trying to get into the internet-y, electronic world for after my career. When you are streaming it helps you talk, communicate better and learn a lot of things.

"I've been on the radio a few times, I play PlayStation, I feel you improve in terms of your elocution.

"Football is my focus but in the next 18 months I'll start doing my badges and make sure I have a real head start for the second part of my career."

Tony Watt steers the ball by Victor Valdes in a 2-1 win over Barcelona in 2012

If the football or e-sports doesn't work out, Watt has a treasure trove of memorabilia that would make an auction house blush.

An array of football tops can be spotted behind him during his Warzone sessions, his prized possession being Lionel Messi's signed, match-worn strip from the night he put four by Arsenal.

"I've got a few. Pirlo, Pedro [which was switched in the tunnel on that infamous night in 2012], I just got one signed by Tiago. Big Declan Gallagher is mates with Andy Robertson now and he sorted that out. Graeme Shinnie got me Rooney's signature on one of the tops I had. I've got a few big hitters.

"I really enjoy collecting memorabilia. I really think that's something I could go into after my career, too. Just not the ones I've collected already, I'd want to keep them."