Palace kids must stick with us, warns Watson

At 22, Watson may seem a bit young to be giving out advice, but he is a veteran in the eyes of John Bostock and Co and he doesn't want them to share the same fate as his friend.

Watson and Routledge came through the club's successful academy together to become regulars in the first team but parted when the winger joined Tottenham in 2005.

Routledge was tipped as the next big thing - just as Palace kids Bostock, Sean Scannell, Lee Hills, Lewis Grabban and Victor Moses are now - but he has made only three starts for Spurs in the Premier League and is set to leave this month.

A number of Premier League clubs have been linked with the Palace youngsters but at least 17-year-olds Scannell and Hills have signed new deals to stay.

However, Bostock, who turned 16 on Tuesday, is still a target for Chelsea and has yet to sign his first professional contract.

But Watson is adamant that all the players are better off continuing their education at Palace. He said: "Palace are the best learning academy for them. The manager here is not afraid to play them and if they stay for the next few years they will progress quicker.

"You can't beat playing every week. You only have to look at what happened with Wayne. I saw the other day that he'd only played five games in two and a half years for Tottenham."

Since England missed out on qualification for Euro 2008, much has been made of clubs failing to produce young talent. But Palace's academy is one of the most successful in the country, having brought through a number of players into the first team over the past 10 years, from striker Clinton Morrison to Watson to the new generation such as Bostock.

Arsenal have been getting much praise for their system but Watson believes the work being done at Palace should be given more credit.

He said: "Arsenal get a lot of attention but they go out and buy the best youngsters from around Europe. Palace can't do that. The kids we produce are home grown.

"There has been a lot of talk about the state of English football and a lack of players coming through but clubs like Palace give room for optimism."

Watson serves as a great example to the new kids on the block, not only for being a member of the first team for five years but for having overcome criticism from his own fans.

When things were going wrong under Peter Taylor he was a target for abuse. But his upturn in form has helped Palace go on an impressive 14-game unbeaten run under new manager Neil Warnock and has won him the Evening Standard Player of the Month award for December.

He said: "I'm loving it out there. The fans did turn on me at one point but that happens in football. It did hurt but it made me grow up a bit faster."

Palace take on second-placed Bristol City at Selhurst Park on Saturday and Watson admits the club are feeling the kind of promotion fever they experienced under Iain Dowie four years ago.

He said: "The belief is similar to then but we are in a better position at this point in the season than we were back then."