Best & Worst: Watford
Jonny Brick, Paul Tucker and Gary Tucker from the Ronny & Ramage podcast collectively muse on the Hornets
XI
BEST: Tony Coton, Nigel Gibbs, John Mcclelland, Jay Demerit, Paul Robinson, Ashley Young, Almen Abdi, Etienne Capoue, John Barnes (below), Luther Blissett (right), Troy Deeney.
WORST: Perry Digweed, Patrick Blondeau, Gabriel Tamas, Ramon Vega, Paul Mayo, Gary Fisken, Jamie Hand, Roger Willis, Nordin Amrabat, Jamie
Moralee, Kerry Dixon.
PLAYER
B: We just can’t separate our first two England internationals, Barnes and Blissett. W: Gary Plumley had a shocker in the 1987 FA Cup semi-final. Graham Taylor wanted to spare the blushes of a teenage David James and didn’t play him, even though he was next in line. Eddie Plumley was the club secretary, whose son owned a wine bar and had often played in goal. Spurs won easily.
HAIRCUT
B: Filippo Galli, the Italian Stallion.
W: Gavin Mahon, if being bald counts as a haircut.
SEASON
B: 1983-84. After finishing 2nd in the First Division, we all went on a European tour in the UEFA Cup. It was the pinnacle of the first Graham Taylor era (1977-87). W: 2011-12. Sean Dyche helped us to finish 11th when we had about £11 in the bank.
GOAL
B: The Troy Deeney goal in the play-off semi-final against Leicester in 2013. Marco Cassetti cleared it precisely, Ikechi Anya controlled it brilliantly, Fernando Forestieri crossed it majestically, Jonny Hogg headed it back across goal, Matej Vydra heard the shout to leave it and Deeney had the cojones to finish powerfully. He ended up in the stands; then we ended up losing the final…
W: Atdhe Nuhiu’s goal to deny us the Championship title in 2014-15
– a last-minute kick in the teeth that sums up Watford.
MOMENT
B: The final whistle going in last season’s FA Cup semi-final win over Wolves (right). It sent us to a pummelling by Manchester City in the final, but the Wolves game was the real final, settled by a cool finish by Gerard Deulofeu. W: Letting Graham Taylor go to Aston
Villa in 1987, which led to a decade of decline. Once John Barnes went to Liverpool, it was inevitable that GT would be next to go.
NON-FOOTBALL MOMENT
B: The promotion parade through the town in 1999, to celebrate our return to the top tier after a decade away. It just tops the one that marked the defeat in the 1984 FA Cup final.
W: Shaking collection buckets to buy back the Vic in 2004 after the ITV Digital debacle. We’ve come an awful long way since then.
OPPONENT
B: Fulham (though see ‘Worst Away Game’, later on).
W: Bournemouth, rivals since they took the title off us in 2015. Their game consists of sneaky tricks, and people consider them even pluckier underdogs than us.
CULT HERO
B: Troy Deeney – captain, leader, club legend, now in his 10th season. W: Lee Cook, a winger who wasn’t worth the whiskey.
AWAY GAME
B: Aside from our UEFA Cup run in 1983, it’s obviously a 4-0 win at Luton back in 1997.
W: Fulham away on Boxing Day 2000, when we lost 5-0. Barry Hayles scored a hat-trick for them; our team was managed by a flummoxed Graham Taylor
MANAGER
B: Graham Taylor. There’s a statue and a stand for a gaffer who set the standard that the Pozzo family are now trying to uphold. He made sure the club were the pillar of the community and played some exciting football. Managing Watford was anything but an impossible job, and he made fans dream big.
W: Dave Bassett. No statue or stand, because he was completely the wrong appointment. Honourable mentions go to Walter Mazzarri, who fell out with Deeney at the end of a turgid 2016-17 season, and Marco Silva, who was good for 12 games, admittedly.
SIGNING
B: Troy Deeney, funded in part by Elton John. From humble beginnings at the club, when he was shunted out onto the wing, to overcoming personal tragedy and scoring bundles of goals, he will end up a Stan Collymore-esque radio shock jock. You’ll have to listen. W: Nathan Ellington once came on in long sleeves at Newcastle when his team-mates were all in short sleeves. At a time when we had five ha’pennies, he cost over £3m and was the epitome of the pre-pozzo era.
MASCOT INCIDENT
B: Harry the Hornet diving at the feet of Wilfried Zaha.
W: Harry’s 1998 wedding to Harriet The Hornet.
Do you run a club-specific podcast or fanzine? If you’d like your team to be featured here soon, email your choices to us at fourfourtwo@futurenet.com