Sunderland academy chief claims 'dangerous' talent is 'real example' to fellow Black Cats

Sunderland academy manager Robin Nicholls has suggested that Tommy Watson’s emergence as a first team player is a “real example” to the rest of the Black Cats’ hopeful youth talent.

The teenage winger has made a notable mark on the senior side in recent weeks following an injury to Romaine Mundle, and scored his first goals for Regis Le Bris’ side in a 2-1 win over Stoke City earlier this month. Since then, Watson has had to contend with the disappointment of an injury setback of his own, but Nicholls is still hugely impressed with both the player himself, and what his step up signifies for Sunderland’s academy system writ large.

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Speaking to the club’s in-house media team, he said: “It is fantastic. It’s a real example for the whole academy, what Tommy has done. Credit needs to go to himself and his family, and the coaching staff who have worked with him.

“There were some times last season where he was performing really, really well and we were trying to create those opportunities for him - and then they weren’t quite coming, so he had to be patient with it. I think he felt that. We had a few conversations with him about having to be patient and trying to work his way in, but it’s all worked out how, we feel, we planned it to in terms of pathway so that when he does get the opportunity, he’s ready to go take it.

“I think the last two or three games have illustrated that. He’s been able to go into the first team and not only compete, but he’s having a real impact. He looks dangerous and he’s been a really good performer at that level. It’s fantastic for Tommy.”

When asked how the club look to manage the expectations and impatience of their most precocious prospects, Nicholls added: “It’s all about honesty. We tried to be really honest with Tommy, and whatever player is in that situation - where we see them at the moment, where we think they could be in three months or six months’ time, where we’re going to try and create those opportunities for them.

“We try and have a pathway presentation where we look at when those opportunities might come, or [to say] this is what we think you need to do to get them. There’s a whole range of different experiences we put in there to try and help them deal with the waiting and the patience. It’s usually not until that final step comes where they get the realisation that, ‘Okay, maybe this was the right path for me the whole time’.

“I’m sure at times we get it wrong, where we could have put them in earlier or put them in later, but every player is an individual, and Tommy’s journey has been a real good example of that patience and really taking it when it comes.”