The story told by the picture is yet to fully unfold yet it still serves as a reminder of how fickle the game can be.
Lined up in front of a phalanx of photographers outside a Glasgow hotel in April 2024, the nominees for PFA Scotland’s young player of the year award all apparently have the world at their feet.
Within a year, Lennon Miller will have left Motherwell for Udinese for a record fee of £4.5million.
By the following January, Lyall Cameron will sign a pre-contract agreement to join Rangers in the summer.
Already feeling the impact of an untimely injury, Ross McCausland will struggle to match early expectations at Ibrox. He’ll fade from view prior to joining Cypriot side Aris Limassol on loan ahead of a permanent move.
By common consent, the fourth figure in the shot can go as far in the game as he pleases.
David Watson, far left is nominated for young player of the year in 2024 alongside, from left, Lyall Cameron, Ross McCausland and Lennon Miller
Kilmarnock’s David Watson is arguably the most dynamic young talent in Scottish football
Coming off a breakthrough season with Kilmarnock, David Watson subsequently pips his peers to the coveted prize. And within a week, it has company on his mantelpiece in Ayrshire in the form of the equivalent SFWA award.
Quite why the biggest clubs in the land aren’t knocking on his door throughout the summer is a source of mystery.
His five goals in 45 appearances that term included a gem of a half-volley on the turn against Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
There was also a late header at Celtic Park, a beauty of a strike against St Johnstone and a mazy run from his own half and finish against St Mirren.
His displays around then prompted former Rugby Park skipper David Mackinnon to compare Watson to Lewis Ferguson, who he knew well from his time at Hamilton Accies.
‘He has a football brain that’s ahead of his years,’ he stated. ‘Not a lot of young players have that.’
It might be said that Watson now has more in common with the current Bologna and Scotland midfielder than ability and mentality.
Anyone with half an eye for a player could see that Ferguson was destined for the very top from the moment he made his Accies debut.
Watson takes control of the ball in a match for Scotland Under 21s against Gibraltar
Kilmarnock youngster Watson, right, tussles for possession with Rangers’ Mikey Moore
But as Celtic and Rangers hesitated, Aberdeen moved in. And despite lighting up Pittodrie over several seasons, Glasgow’s big two seemed disinclined to acknowledge the talent that was in their midst.
Some 19 months on from posing for that picture, it’s indeed curious that Watson is still the only one of the four candidates yet to move on to bigger things.
Given he doesn’t turn 21 until February, he’s hardly likely to have been panic-stricken at this turn of events but, nonetheless, he would have been entitled to feel just a little miffed.
In the eyes of his fellow professionals and the nation’s football writers, he was the best young player in Scotland. But, so far, that’s about as far as the recognition has gone.
Derek McInnes would have been pleasantly surprised by this during his time at Rugby Park.
His estimation of Watson was such a year back that he seemed almost resigned to losing him.
‘When you look at a lot of younger players I’ve worked with who have gone into first teams and been mainstays like Scott McKenna and Lewis Ferguson, then they all had a certain quality – a brilliant work ethic and determination but also a physicality that could deal with the demands of the Premiership,’ he said at the time.
‘David has that, he’s become stronger and more confident. He’s always known what he’s good at and what he needs to improve on. Sometimes knowing your limitations and what you need to improve is a big part of it.’
While Watson maybe didn’t quite hit the same heights in what proved to be McInnes’ last season in Ayrshire prior to joining Hearts, the suggestion that he fell out of contention simply isn’t true.
David Watson turns in another superb performance for the Rugby Park side, this time against Dundee United
He still played 2540 minutes last term, down from 2968 minutes in 2023-24, yet still featured 42 times and again scored five goals.
With the side down from fourth place to ninth in the Premiership, he was hardly alone in seeing his performance level drop a point or two.
With Killie exceeding expectations initially under Stuart Kettlewell this season, Watson looked to be back to his very best.
A powerhouse display in the victory at Tannadice in late September underscored the point.
‘He’s what epitomises your football club, your players and what you are trying to build,’ the manager said after the 2-0 win on Tayside.
‘That double tackle he goes into at the end … I hope people celebrate that. Fair play to the referee, they can get caught up in that when they see something like that, when they see somebody going to ground.
‘That epitomised his performance. The momentum that gathers for your team and the supporters, it just gives everybody a lift.’
It must have been especially pleasing for the visiting fans to see such a committed performance delivered by one of their own.
Born in Prestwick, Watson first came under Kilmarnock’s wing at the age of 10.
Football has been a constant in his life. Both of his parents played at a good level.
The brilliant young Watson, second from right, is congratulated by team-mates after scoring against St Mirren
His mother Claire was a leading light in the women’s game, winning a mini-World Cup tournament as an under-13 player with Prestwick Girls on her way to being capped by Scotland.
His father John played for various sides in the Ayrshire Juniors before both established the Caledonian club in their home town where the young Watson would hone his skills.
‘My mum was my first coach alongside my dad,’ the player once revealed. ‘It was them who started up my boys’ club, so they’ve been a massive influence.
‘They were my coaches for the first five or six years before I came to Killie. My mum took the school football team as well, so she was always a part of my upbringing in football.
‘We went and watched a lot of games too as she loves it as much as I do. She always encouraged me to kick a ball about in the back garden – except maybe when I was putting it into the neighbour’s garden.’
They might just have forgiven him by now. Nearly three years after making his Premiership debut at Ibrox, Watson is preparing to walk out on the other side of Glasgow on Sunday as a wanted man ahead of his contract expiring next summer.
Celtic have finally seen enough to put him on their list of January targets and they are unlikely to be the only would-be suitor. Good things do apparently come to those who wait.
In time, a special talent like Watson will always find their level. Elementary, you might say.
