Watford FC

Over the last year I’ve been writing about something I’ve enjoyed in my week from a TV show to a holiday abroad. What’s been remiss of me is I haven’t once mentioned the thing that's brought me so much joy: Watford FC.

My first Watford game was as a six year-old boy; I believe we were playing Notts County and won 4-0. (This memory isn’t true. I think it is but chances are it isn't. The only thing I can remember with any degree of accuracy from my childhood was sitting down on a bean bag in Miss Packham’s class reading Old Bear. In researching this blog, I’ve since looked online at what the plot entails and it seems to evoke the story of Toy Story 3. Old Bear was written in the 1980’s, whereas Toy Story 3 only came out a few years ago, begging the question are Pixar creative geniuses, vanguards of emotionally literate storytelling or plot-line plunderers, sending emissaries to schools to swipe material from book racks? All I know is I don't trust that cute dancing desk lamp.) Anyway, whatever the scoreline, whomever we played, I enjoyed it enough to want to go back. And back is where I’ve continued heading for the past 25 years.

It hasn’t always been easy being a Watford fan. Given we operate under a sport branded ‘the beautiful game,’ we have a history of playing ugly. Until Gianfranco Zola became our manager, Watford were synonymous for going direct.  In years past it was chiropractors- not betting shops- that lined the high street, attending to the ailing necks of supporters. The ball was played long from defence to attack with the express intention of a tall, lumbering centre forward getting a flick on for a shorter, nippier forward to bundle home into the net. The midfield position was largely symbolic until Watford’s new owners brought in a more continental style of play in 2012.

Since the Pozzo family’s takeover of Watford in June 2012, Watford FC’s fortunes have changed dramatically. There is always suspicion and unnerve whenever foreign millionaires come to town. Supporters anticipate the arrival with a combination of anticipation and fear. For every Roman Abramovich, there is a Vincent Tan. (Vincent Tan is the Cardiff City chairman and a man who makes Kim Jong-Un look like a Union Shop Steward. On taking over at Cardiff City, he changed the clubs badge, nickname and colours. Essentially, the club became Trigger’s broom: it alleged to be the old one despite being clear it was not.) Watford’s owners, on the other hand, came with a good footballing pedigree: owning Italian side Udinese and Spanish team Granada, they took both teams into the top flight. It wasn't long before they did the same in England.

Through triangulating the three teams they own, Watford have benefitted from acquiring bright talents from Italy and Spain. Previously, Almen Abdi and Idion Ighalo were languishing at Udinese and Granada respectively, but since being seconded to Watford they’ve enjoyed a new lease of life. In the same way employees at Home Counties accountancy firms look to relocate to the companies New York offices, I hope- given Watford’s meteoric rise- footballers at Pozzo Inc are similarly excited about moving to us. “I mean I like overlooking the royal palaces from the Nasrid dynasty, but I’ve seen the redevelopments at the top of Watford town centre and I just think it’s a town that’s really going places. I mean an outside ice rink – it’s like The Rink at the Rockerfeller.’

Players actually leave Granada to come to Watford.

Last year Watford achieved promotion to the Premier League for the third time. On previous occasions we finished bottom in our first season and returned straight back down to the Championship. At the start of the season it seemed likely we would be in for the same. By the end of August we hadn’t won a game and only scored two goals – it seemed that erudite new manager Quique Sanchez Flores didn't have the wherewithal to turn philosophy into victory. But then summer passed and September came, and with it the winds of change. Suddenly, our group of disparate nationalities clicked into a unified body called Watford. We were scoring more readily whilst maintaining our assuredness at the back. Former manager Slavsa Jokanovic did a great job in getting Watford to the Premier League but responsibility for our defence must have been subcontracted to the Environmental Agency such was the propensity of its collapse. Under Flores there is now a meanness to the back line, one that rarely looks like shipping goals. This strong foundation has given the team a surer footing in which to build and climb the league.

Quique Sanchez Flores

Along with the defence, Watford have one the strongest strike partnerships in the league. Troy Deeney, a brummie by birth, has been adopted by Watford fans as one of their own. Sentenced for affray in 2012, the striker nearly lost everything. Out of loss came profit though with Deeney benefitting from life inside. In jail he learnt that the luxury he acquired was ill-deserved: he was an average player at a team that had seen better days. On a personal level, he noticed he had surrounded himself with hanger-ons, people happy to enjoy his wealth but unwilling to share in its consequences. Since his release, he has become an ambassador for team and town, having an exemplary disciplinary record and leading the club as captain. He has now earned his GCSE’s in English, Science and Maths – qualifications he missed out on in school. If he continues his form, there is a real chance he will one day represent England. It is this transformation in character that means, despite scoring fewer times than strike partner Ighalo, he is the terrace hero.

Troy Deeney

Yesterday I went to Vicarage Road and reflected on the club's ongoing professionalisation. The brickwork to the stadium has been sheen-shined into something more becoming of a Premier League outfit. Inside the concourse, impressive black and white pictures form a potted history of Watford under Graham Taylor and Sir Elton John. Opposite my seat, I see the culmination of the new Sir Elton John Stand, an area that lay desolate for a decade. The stadia has been updated with the club’s folk tradition preserved. What more could you want for a club then owners who give you a future to dream in and a past to remember? With Watford 9th in the league and through to the quarter finals of the Cup, the club are on the up. 

Unlike my first game, I have a feeling these are the days I won't forget.

Elton at the FA Cup final 1984