Central defender Mattie Pollock is desperate to get a proper chance in the first team, but also knows his time at Watford may come to an end this summer.
The 21-year-old has just completed a highly-successful loan spell in the Scottish Premier League with Aberdeen, who finished third.
However, Pollock is realistic and grounded enough to know that he may not get the opportunity to add to the five appearances he has made for the Hornets since joining from Grimsby Town in May 2021.
“I love Watford Football Club and I have a burning ambition to play for them,” he said.
- Play-Off Final '99 part 1 - suits, go-karts and the Daily Sport
- Play-Off Final '99 part 2 - GT once again proving dreams do come true
- Two pre-season games announced
“But in the same breath I’m a competitive athlete who plays football, and I want to be playing games.
“I think I proved myself at Cheltenham and then I proved myself again at Aberdeen. When I’ve been playing games regularly, I’ve done well.
“I need to develop and go as far as I can, and to do that I need to be playing in games. Whether that’s at Watford or not, well that’s for the club to decide.
“I’m starting my pre-season earlier than everyone else because I want to make the sacrifices to be sure I’m as right and ready as I can be.
“I could easily have a nice comfortable summer, and come back for pre-season a bit unfit and overweight. But I’m not: I am going to make sure I’m in the right shape to push from day one.
“But football works in funny ways and maybe my time is up at Watford. That is a decision for the club and I’m sure we’ll find out fairly shortly.”
Pollock’s last game for Aberdeen was only on Sunday, and he’s grabbed a few days away this week before getting his own pre-pre-season started.
He’s not spoken to anyone at Watford, but in his mind he needs to be at a club where he is in contention for the first team.
“Nobody has said anything to me either way, and I’ll be ready to report back for pre-season,” said Pollock.
“But I want to play games, and if I’m not going to get the chance to play games at Watford then I won’t fall out with the club.
“I can’t afford to sit around and not be playing. Watford have ambitions and I have ambitions. If it won’t work out for me here then I’d rather go and learn more of my trade somewhere else where I can play games, than sit on the sidelines.
“When I was younger there were lads who were happy to go and play in the Under-23s. I chose to go and play in League Two because I wanted to play at the best level I could.
“I want to get as close to the top as I can. There will be Watford fans reading this thinking ‘how’s he going to do that after the Millwall game?’.
“But I’m not embarrassed to have that ambition. I’d love to stay and do it with Watford, but I can only develop if I’m playing games.
“I love Watford. I cannot think of anything better than to be playing in the first team at Watford. I cannot really tell you how much I love Watford without using swear words!
“But sometimes even though you love a place it isn’t the right time and you have to move on. You sometimes to need to put aside what you want to do, in order to do what you have to do.”
The reference to “that Millwall game” is a reminder of Pollock’s first and only Championship start for Watford, away at The Den in October.
The young defender made a mess of a headed clearance in the eighth minute, an error that led to the home side taking the lead through Tom Bradshaw.
Two more goals followed quickly and Watford were 3-0 down after 33 minutes. Many travelling fans headed home before half-time, and those who remained booed the Hornets off at the interval and again at the end.
Pollock was consumed that evening by one of a number of truly insipid Watford team performances, and he admits it left scars.
“I’ll be brutally honest: that was probably the worst day of my life in football so far,” he confessed.
“It couldn’t have gone any worse really. I’d dreamt of playing for Watford in the league.
“I made the mistake early on, and I think the fans judged me off that, which I think is a little bit unfair because I know I can – and I have – played a lot better than that.
“I didn’t play in the league again until I came on as sub at Middlesbrough three months later.
“It was hard, but I had to try and brush aside what happened at Millwall. I don’t think I slept properly for a week after that night, and even now before some games it comes into my mind and it reminds of the need to switch on from the start.
“I’ve learned a lot since then about how to cope with pressure and how to handle it.
“On that night, I think I was trying to prove myself a little bit too much. I probably tried too hard and that affected me in the wrong way.
“I’m a young lad who wants to play football and when you get the chance you just want to take it. In my mind I was thinking if I can play well in that game then I can start playing for Watford.
“The pressure I put on myself that night probably killed me. I wouldn’t say I froze but I made the mistake and then I had 10 minutes where I was really wobbly. I got through the game and I don’t think I struggled after that, but the damage was already done.
“Above all else, what annoyed me was I didn’t get to show the Watford fans what I’m really about. That’s what hurt me and it’s stayed in the back of my mind that the fans have judged on me that game. I don’t want that, and I have a real ambition to change their minds.
“I know I’m better than what I showed, and I know I let the fans down that night. But we all make mistakes and given the chance I’m ready to put things right.”
There is real regret but also passion in Pollock’s voice as he talks – his accent very strong north-eastern despite his online profile showing he was born in the Surrey town of Redhill.
“My Dad was playing for Crystal Palace when I was born, so that’s why the records show me being born in Surrey,” laughed Pollock.
“I think he pretty much straight away then moved back up to Middlesbrough so that’s where I was brought up. I actually haven’t even got the same accent as the rest of my family, I think it’s because I’ve moved around and played in Grimsby, then Cheltenham, and I’ve lived around London and spent the last few months in Scotland.”
Pollock senior is, of course, Jamie Pollock, the former Middlesbrough, Bolton and Man City midfielder. He made more than 150 appearances for Boro, which is where Mattie’s career began.
“I started off in the Middlesbrough Academy, but got released at a young age and went to Leeds United,” he said.
“I was at Leeds for a good few years, and my brother Ben [currently playing for Boston United] signed for them at the same time as me. I was released when I was in the Under-15s, and that was a set-back – but I always say that I don’t think I’d be where I am today if it wasn’t for that.”
Check Pollock’s Wikipedia profile and after leaving Leeds, he joined a team called Polton Allstars.
“It was my Dad’s Sunday team but they also played a lot of games against other Academies from around the country.
“I did worry I’d missed my chance. I was coming to the end of school and I didn’t have a club, and I was wondering what I was going to do.
“When you’re a kid you probably don’t think about things like that as much as you should do, but I had my Dad and then my brother was at Newcastle and doing well, so they kept me focussed.
“I never thought about giving up, but I didn’t think I’d go on from there and do what I’ve done. I thought I might just be a lower league player.
“I hadn’t got any other career lined up that’s for sure!”
Pollock kept pushing and knocking on doors, and eventually one was opened by a former Watford player as well known for his goalscoring exploits at Vicarage Road as he was for his customary wave of disapproval at any linesman who adjudged him offside.
“I had a trial at Sunderland and they said no. I had a trial at Sheffield United, and they were interested but didn’t want to give me a scholarship,” Pollock explained.
“But then Paul Wilkinson, who was at Grimsby at the time, rang my Dad and invited me down. That was my chance, and it’s quite funny it came from a player who did so well for Watford.
“I think I played against Grimsby in a friendly for Polton, and then we heard from Wilko and Neil Woods, who is the Academy Manager at Grimsby.
“I went down and started playing straight away for the Under-18s. Two of my best mates came with me, and all three of us had signed within a few weeks.
“The next season I started playing for the first team.”
Stepping into the rough and tumble of League Two football at just 17 could have been a challenge, especially physically.
“I’ve always been a big lad but the main thing is I’m an old-fashioned aggressive defender, and I was probably more suited to League Two back then,” he said.
“When I was younger, I hadn’t really brushed up on other areas of my game. I was just really aggressive, and I’m really competitive too. I want to win everything I do. It didn’t matter whether it was a game of football or fights in the garden with my Dad, I had to win.
“That competitive edge, and being a big lad, got me through the early days and got me started.”
After three years and 58 games for the Mariners, Pollock found himself attracting attention from higher up the leagues. And when he found out who was interested, there was only one name that he considered.
“It had been a tough season at Grimsby, but personally I’d done alright. Then I had a hernia and I was out of action. In the January I was aware four or five clubs were sniffing around, and my agent said Watford were one of them.
“I had a look at the table and Watford were flying in the Championship. From January onwards I remember trying to watch every Watford game, hoping they’d go up.
“I won’t lie, I didn’t even bother speaking to another club. Watford was the club for me.”
However, having headed south in the summer of 2021, Pollock quickly moved west to spend the season on loan at Cheltenham Town.
“Going straight out on loan wasn’t really the plan,” he recalled.
“It’s been a bit funny at Watford, as they are a massive club and I don’t think they’ve really seen me yet. When I came down I lost a lot of weight and I toned up, and I went through the biggest pre-season I’d ever had.
“I gave it a really good go, but obviously I wasn’t ready for the Premier League. I think I knew that deep down, but being a young daft lad I thought I might get a chance.
“Going out on loan was right for me though, and I went to Cheltenham and that went really well. That loan was 100% what I needed at that time.
“When I got there I’d just spent the previous season being relegated with Grimsby, and I was a bit concerned that might happen again. But I spoke to Michael Duff, who was manager then, and I was sure we’d be fine.
“He taught me a lot in my time there. He’s a great manager who only just lost the play-off final with Barnsley at the weekend.
“As a young player you just know what you know. He was the first manager who made me realise I only knew very little because he taught me loads I didn’t know before.
“He was what I needed, and more, at that point in my career. He taught me mentally, and he particularly taught me defending. A lot of what he showed me I took with me to Aberdeen this year, and there were lads at Aberdeen asking me to teach them.
“That was the biggest chapter in my career, the first six months at Cheltenham with Michael Duff learning how to defend properly.
“I played 39 times and the games were coming thick and fast. It was the most I’d ever played in one season and it showed me I could cope physically while keeping my football standards high.
“There were a lot of good young lads in the squad, and to win the Young Player of the Season award from the supporters was quite important to me. It gave me a good boost.”
For the second summer in succession Pollock spent pre-season at London Colney but didn’t feature in the first team when the season started.
“I had a real desire to play for Watford. There’s a reason why I didn’t speak to another club. I love Watford and I want to play for them.
“Obviously I was disappointed we’d got relegated but I was excited about getting the chance to play Championship football.
“I had a real goal to get into the team, but the club wanted to get back up and perhaps I didn’t get in because of my age. People look and see I’m 21, and I think maybe the coaches thought about that too much.
“I’m not a 21-year-old with no experience though, I’ve played 120-odd games now. So I came back in the summer wanting to play for the first team.
“I was kind of brushed aside though, and that was a little bit disappointing. Like I said, I’m very competitive and it was hard for me to keep positive in my head.”
Did having two different head coaches in the first half of the season hinder him at all?
“To be honest, I just felt like I was a little bit too far away from the manager’s decision to be able to do anything about it.
“Rob Edwards is a great bloke and a great manager, but I don’t think he really wanted to play me.
“I’ve no problem with that. It was his decision, and there’s nothing wrong with it. The team had come down from the Premier League, and they still had Premier League defenders.
“But then when Slaven Bilic came in I thought I had half a chance, but the same sort of thing happened and in the back of my mind I thought I might need another loan to show people what I’m all about.
“The lads who were playing had just come out of the Premier League, and I’d spent the season in League One.
“It wasn’t really down to the change in managers, I was just brushed to one side generally.”
The readily-forgettable night at Millwall, two appearances in the league from the bench, and outings in the sole Carabao and FA Cup ties were Pollock’s only first-team action between August and the end of January.
A couple of days after a 19-minute cameo as a sub at the Riverside, Pollock was heading even further north than Middlesbrough to spend the rest of the season on loan with Aberdeen.
“When I went to Aberdeen I had it in my head that I was having the worst year ever,” he recalled.
“The manager had just been sacked, they’d lost 6-0 and 5-0 in the league and been knocked out of the cup by a non-league side.
“I was wondering what exactly I’d got myself into to be honest.
“But as it turned out I’ve absolutely loved every minute at Aberdeen. It is an unbelievable club and I cannot speak highly enough of the people there.
“They gave me the chance I needed, and when you get the trust like they showed me then it’s hard not to do well.
“It went really well. I played 15 games, we kept eight clean sheets and finished third in the league.
“We beat Rangers 2-0 and that was mega. It was on Sky as well, plus I had all my family there. I think the last game a lot of my family had come to was the Millwall game: I think I might have put a few of them off coming to watch me!
“After such a crap first half of the year, to go and get a win like that where we didn’t just beat Rangers, we battered them, was what I needed.”
Mention of the Pollock family brings us back to Dad, Jamie – and I had to ask Mattie about his old man’s claim to one of the greatest own goals of all time.
In March 1998, while playing for Man City against QPR, Jamie controlled a lofted pass from the West London side’s former Watford full-back David Bardsley inside his own box, lobbed it over a Rangers striker with one deft touch, and then sent a header beyond his own advancing keeper Martyn Margetson and into the net. It’s worth a search on YouTube.
Is that a career highlight that gets brought up at family get-togethers?!
“Ha ha – no, it’s a bit like that Millwall game,” Pollock chuckled.
“Once we get inside his front door we don’t speak about it!
“My Dad is a massive influence on me. I don’t think he missed any Aberdeen game when I played there and whenever I’ve been away from home he’s been there with me.
“He knows his stuff, and he knows his football. Having him on my shoulder has been the biggest part of my career so far.
“When you have the highs it’s great to celebrate with your family. But when you have the lows, you need your family there to pick you up.
“That night at Millwall my Mum and Dad were there, and that was absolutely massive for me.
“I can’t thank my Mum and Dad enough. They have been huge for me, and their advice and help with decision making has been spot on from day one.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel