Saturday night’s all right for fountain
XISCO SAYS HE WILL JOIN FANS FOR POND PARTY IF HORNETS GO UP
DANCING in the pond at the top of Watford High Street is a tradition Hornets fans have observed for 50 years when their team is promoted.
The goldfish in the pond have not always enjoyed the company, but if Xisco Munoz comes up with his 11th win in 12 home games today, as superfan Sir Elton John himself once hollered: Saturday night’s all right for frightening the aquatic wildlife. Or something like that. Munoz, left, said laughing: “I wish our fans all the best – I hope to see them around the estanque [pond] and maybe they will get their feet wet.”
Restoring Watford to the Premier League would be a remarkable achievement for the former Valencia winger.
The 40-year-old was parachuted in as head coach at Christmas to put a smile back on the club’s face after relegation last July and predecessor Vladimir Ivic’s joyless remedies.
Munoz has transformed the mood of a sullen fanbase with 51 points from his 23 games and he will lead Watford into the top flight if they beat Millwall today.
Now the fans are getting their dancing shoes ready: let’s all have a Xisco, let’s all have a disco.
Munoz learnt to put his best foot forward from an early age in Mallorca, where family values underpinned his success as a footballer and his cheerful demeanour. He tells the story of his new boots sustaining a torn instep and, at 15, he did not ask for a replacement pair because he knew his father Francisco, a mechanic, could not afford them immediately.
Munoz played on, with his foot bleeding, for several days until relief arrived with the next payday.
“My father always gave me very good values, to make the best of everything,” he said.
“I would have played football in bare feet but my parents always worked so hard to give me the mentality of a champion.
“You need to have big dreams and the most important thing he did was to believe in me and my dreams when I was young. “Even now, in difficult moments I call him and he gives me very good ideas. He still helps me to believe.”
Munoz transferred his positivity to Watford, where a switch to 4-3-3, and playing 20 yards further up the pitch, served him well, along with his success as the Hornets’ minister of fun.
He said: “In football, the most important thing is to enjoy it – for supporters, players, coaches. If we don’t enjoy football, why do we play?
“At Watford I feel the ambition, the personality, the team spirit. They have given the maximum.”
If we don’t enjoy football, why do we play?