Andy Cade-Watts

I caught up with Andy Cade-Watts (you may know him as Andy Jeffs-Watts) to talk all things Hashtag United, balancing football with home life and, of course, the name change…

Hey Andy, so let’s start with the basics… what’s your full name and where do you come from?

My name is Andy Cade-Watts, I’m 35 and from London. The name may throw some people a bit… long story short – I married my wife in 2014 and we both kept our original surnames, agreeing we would merge them when our first child came along. Our daughter Poppy was born in 2017, so we did just that! I dropped ‘Jeffs’ and we joined my wife’s surname with the second part of my double-barrelled surname to create ‘Cade-Watts’.

As I started playing for Hashtag with Jeffs-Watts, I decided to keep that name for the team only, but as we’ve joined a ‘proper’ league this year, we’ve had to register my official name, so everything is now Cade-Watts… I’ve just got to get around to changing my Twitter and Instagram accounts!

So, how did you get into football and make the decision to be the last line of defence?

I’ve always played! My older brother played and my dad was heavily involved in my youth team growing up – he was actually my manager for many years and is still involved at the club now. I played outfield to start with and then the team I was playing for split in two, with the only goalkeeper moving into the other squad. My dad took over my team and seeing that I enjoyed playing in goal asked if I fancied it… the rest is history I guess!

Where did you originally start out and whose team sheets have you been on?

My first team was Bilbrook Junior FC, a youth team based near Wolverhampton (where I grew up). We were really successful and I played all the way from the U8s up to the U17s. Whilst at Bilbrook I had a couple of trials at professional clubs such as Aston Villa and Stoke, but ultimately didn’t made the grade. After Bilbrook I played for a couple of semi-professional U18 teams and then took a gap year out to go travelling before I started University of Northampton, where I played for the 1st XI team.

Following university, I hung up the gloves and ran around playing outfield; reinventing myself firstly as a Teddy Sheringham type of forward, then as a goal scoring Frank Lampard midfielder, before going on to being a ball playing centre back! I was okay, playing mostly at the lower end of the semi-professional football tables in Step 6 and 7. Within this time I also started coaching more and more and even spent a year at the New York Red Bulls coaching various youth teams.

How did playing for Hashtag United come about?

In my third and final year at university, a young left winger, Seb, joined the football team. Seb is the brother of Spencer, the guy who created Hashtag United. Hashtag started with Dan Pheysey playing in goal, but Dan had to relocate to LA for work, rendering them goalie-less. As this time, I hadn’t played in goal for eight years or so and had actually injured my ankle so was planning on playing a lot less football and a lot more golf, but that didn’t happen…

I had never heard of Hashtag and had no idea what the possibilities were or where the club might go, but Seb gave me the talk, sold the idea and the thought of still being involved in football, where I could play every few weeks close to where I live, really fitted in with where I was at that stage in my life, so I said yes! I had absolutely no idea where the journey would take me and the kinds of opportunities that that one conversation would lead to…

So, what does your training regime consist of?

I’m training more now than I have for years! I actually enjoy training more than I enjoy games… I think I’m probably a bit odd in this respect! We train every Tuesday with Hashtag if there’s no game and then Saturday is match day. I also try and squeeze in a couple of gym sessions and then an extra goalkeeping session in the week.

That’s a lot of training! How do you manage your work-family-football-life balance?

It’s actually really difficult. I have a full-time job, a young family and Hashtag commitments to balance. Unfortunately, sometimes somethings have to give and I have to juggle things occasionally. I’m in a really fortunate position with Hashtag in that Jacko, our other goalkeeper, has a larger, younger family, so is in the same boat. At the moment, the game time is shared between us so we’re able to spend more time with our families – without that arrangement, I think I’d really struggle.

Okay, time for the fun questions… who do you support?!

Wolves! I’m really happy to see them in the Premier League this year and think after the investment the team has had they will do well – it’ll be nice to watch them on Match of the Day for a change! I don’t get the opportunity to see them live much which is a shame, as when I was able to go I only got to see the average Championship football!

Who are your favourite players?

I love watching Messi. In my lifetime I don’t think there has been anyone better – he’s so fluid, graceful and intelligent. Ronaldinho comes a close second though… he could do things with a football that I could only dream of doing! Goalkeeping wise I’m a massive fan of Jordan Pickford and I’m really interested to see how Allison gets on at Liverpool this year too.

And did you have an idol growing up at all?

I had a season ticket for Wolves with my Dad in the Billy Wright stand for years, so I watched a lot of Mike Stowell growing up! He was a great keeper for Wolves and seriously underrated – I can’t recall him ever making a single mistake. I actually got to meet him at the FA Goalkeeping conference too, he’s a really nice guy! I also liked watching Iker Casillas – like me, he’s not the tallest, so it was good to see you didn’t have to be 6ft 5” to make it as a world class goalkeeper.

De Gea or Petr Čech?

Right now, it’s got to be De Gea. His agility and shot stopping can be breath-taking. However, you have to admire Petr Čech’s longevity – it can’t be forgotten how good he was at Chelsea.

When it comes to your own footballing moments, what is your favourite?

I’ve been extremely fortunate to have had some amazing experiences with Hashtag; we’ve been on tour to America and Spain, played at a number of stadiums, travelled all over the UK and even played on top of a shopping centre in Serbia! However, the Wembley Cup last year takes some beating – a player of my ability has no right playing at Wembley in front of 35,000 people! I think the occasion got to me a bit actually and it wasn’t until I was sitting on the bench talking to Robbie Savage in the second half (after I’d fouled Emile Heskey for a penalty, which was the first time VAR was used in England) that I managed to take it all in. Absolutely surreal. I’ve framed my shirt and have it hanging up in my house… hopefully I’ll make the squad for this year too!

And last, but by no means least… if you were a piece of football equipment, what would you be and why?

A mannequin so I don’t have to move… well, or a rebounder so you can bounce ideas off me!