John Eustace

It’s not often that an opposition player scoring gives me cause to giggle. I think I had a bit of a chuckle when Heidar scored against England once, and some of the own goals that Keith Dublin scored were incredibly comical. More recently though, Derby’s consolation goal in the last game of last season put a smile on my face. Not because of the quality of the move or the nature of the finish, no, it was the celebration that made me smile.

Many of you will remember that it was our very own John Eustace who scored Derby’s goal that day. It was a fairly meaningless goal, Watford had as good as won the game and both teams were safely ensconced in the middle of the Championship table. John Eustace was pleased to have scored though, and having netted at the Vicarage Road End he ran full pelt towards the Watford faithful in the Rookery, jumped up in the air, planted his feet and raised both arms in celebration. All with a huge, goofy, slightly maniacal grin on his face.

In these days of mind games and arguments, money and moaning, diving and dishonesty, I was delighted to see a bloke playing football, and managing having a bit of fun at the same time. Granted, it was only a small thing, but I noticed it, and I enjoyed it.

What has given me greater pleasure is that John Eustace has since returned to Watford, and has played a significant part in our season to date. He’s been effective, combative, and a consistently impressive performer in our pleasantly surprising season to date. What’s more though, he’s done it in his slightly barmy, unhinged, enjoyable way. Eustace charges round the pitch like a youngster playing his first game on a full pitch, and I’ll grant you some of his challenges can be a bit, ahem, exuberant. But there is never any malice intended when he and a bemused and shaken opponent invariably end up in a crumpled heap on the floor, and I’ll tell you why. Because John Eustace is having fun. He likes playing football. He is enjoying himself, and it shows.

Here is a man who gets very little credit from the fans, has been on the transfer list at his parent club and shunted out on loan, yet still obviously loves his job. The majority of us fans would give pretty much anything to be a professional footballer, and If I  ever did get that opportunity, I like to think I’d embrace each game, each opportunity like John Eustace does.

Sadly, there are fewer and fewer players with which fans can feel any sort of connection, but I can relate to John Eustace. He covers ground for the team, he tackles hard, he passes the ball whilst looking the other way, he shoots, he tries stuff. Most importantly of all though,  he smiles.

Keep smiling John, and we’ll keep smiling with you.

We won some, we lost some…

Blimey. So, as the season continues to rumble along, I’m please to say that it is doing so in quite an enjoyable fashion. Since I last populated these pages, I have to concede that Watford have continued to, well, concede, but despite maulings at the hands of Cardiff and West Bromwich Albion, we’re more than holding our own.

An away win against Middlesbrough, a last gasp point at Ipswich, the dismantling of Sheffield Wednesday and the latest goal-scoring return of Heidar against Preston are four excellent examples of why supporting Watford this season is proving to be jolly good fun.

The away win at the Riverside was as unexpected as it was welcome. I can’t have been the only one who kept an eye on proceedings in the North East with slight trepidation, following as it did the home horror show against Cardiff, but Malky’s young charges did us proud, and helped in no small part by heroics from Scott Loach and a determined performance from ex ‘Boro employee Danny Graham, we returned home with our first ever win at the Riverside.

Another tricky away trip followed on the Tuesday, when we faced Roy Keane’s increasingly desperate Ipswich Town. It looked as if we were going to provide Keane with his first win as boss until deep into stoppage time when, of all people, Nathan Ellington smashed home an equaliser. I don’t know about you, but felt this was a big moment for us. We had won unexpectedly at Middlesbrough and had now rescued a game that looked beyond us away from home. It’s moments like these when you realise you have a team that is battling. Working. Trying. As a football fan, I don’t think I can ask for more than that.

There is always a slight worry when you nick late goals that you may have somehow used up your quota of luck. Against Sheffield Wednesday on a memorable Friday (thanks Sky!) night, we needn’t have worried. Thanks to inspired performances by Henri Lansbury and Tom Cleverley, Watford played some of the best football seen at Vicarage Road for some time, and won the game at a canter, 4-1. For heavens sake, Lloyd Doyley almost scored.

Whilst Lansbury and Cleverley understandably grabbed the headlines, our own players also shone, with Mariappa getting on the scoresheet and recent recruits Don Cowie and Danny Graham working their socks off for the cause. This was a good, and highly entertaining all round performance, with the only blemish the dreadful defending for the Owls consolation just before half time.

Watford played some blinding football, zipping the ball around crisply and with purpose, and four goals is the least they deserved. Those of us in the ground and watching live on Sky Sports were richly entertained and it was a fantastic feeling to hear the plaudits that Watford, so often derided as long ball merchants, rightly received. A great performance, one to really savour.

After the Lord Mayors show. I think that’s the best way of describing what happened just a week later at the Hawthorns. Whilst I hope people weren’t letting themselves get too carried away after our fantastic Friday against Wednesday, this result soon put our current place in the grand scheme of things firmly into perspective. I wasn’t at the game, so can’t comment with any great authority, but by all accounts it wasn’t quite as bad as the scoreline suggests, but in my experience very few teams deserve much out of a game that they lose 0-5. We created chances which is encouraging to hear, and perhaps if Danny Graham had converted his chance at 0-2 the day would have panned out differently. He didn’t, and it didn’t.

Whilst we’re on the subject of Danny Graham, I voiced my concern after he missed that wealth of chances against Leicester. Strikers are a funny breed, and they more than any other type of player rely on confidence. His extraordinary barren spell at Carlisle last year came after he had started the season well, and it was with this in mind that I was slightly concerned to see him waste 3 or 4 gilt edged chances. He hasn’t of course scored since.

Bizarrely though, I’m less worried now than I was after that Leicester game. His work rate is phenomenal, and he is clearly enjoying his football. His closing down of goalkeepers and chasing of seemingly lost causes is a joy to behold and he has played a huge part in all that has been impressive about Watford this season. The goals will come again, I’m convinced of that.

So. After a heavy defeat it was going to be interesting to see how we bounced back at home to what I assumed would be a decent PNE side. Our team is full of youngsters and inexperience – a good reaction was important for our season, but did we have any right to expect it? Well, after the first 5 minutes or so, it didn’t look like we were going to get it. Both Watford and Preston seemed incapable of completing a pass, with the ball disappearing out of play and players falling flat on their backsides at an alarming rate. Not a good start to the match, and indeed for a while there I was transported back to the meaningless drudgery of our games in the mid 90’s…However Heidar was back in the starting XI and as we all know by now, things are never dull for long when he is involved. 12 minutes in and the puffin eater directed a trademark header into the back of the net, and hey presto, we were up and running.

If Heidar’s goal was a thing of welcome familiarity, the 2^nd was a thing of absolute beauty. Henri Lansbury and Tom Cleverley combined to devastating effect, Lansbury easing away from several hapless PNE defenders before sliding a ball through to his fellow loanee who slid the ball home with precision and breathtaking ease. It’s stating the obvious to say that these boys are a cut above the rest of the squad, but they are clearly enjoying being part of this team, and our permanent players are clearly benefiting from their presence. Chants of “Sign him up” as Cleverley left the field are clearly wildly and unreasonably optimistic, but we should definitely make the most of him and Lansbury whilst we have them. We’ll be seeing more of them, no doubt, but it is likely to be in the Champions League, not the Championship.

The game ended 2-0 and we had our bounceback. We had our proof that this team of ours isn’t going to collapse and give in at the slightest hiccup, even if that hiccup did come in the form of a 5-0 thumping. They picked themselves up, dusted themselves down and made sure that this time it was they that would dish out the beating.

Tim Lovejoy famously coined the phrase bouncebackability. As Watford fans we’ve had to have it in abundance. It’s nice to see the team now have it too.

Watford 0 Cardiff City 4 – 3/10/2009

“Uncle Mike, why don’t they just, ummm,  shoot?”

I took my 8 year old nephew to Watford on Saturday, and whilst I could answer most of his questions adequately enough, I must admit his query about shooting struck me as being quite pertinent.

Whilst it is fairly obvious that our record of 10 goals conceded in our last 3 home games is causing us increasing difficulties, our reluctance to shoot has been equally evident against Leicester, Coventry and most recently in this horror show against Cardiff.

The sole encouraging factor is that wer are creating space and opportunities in which we would expect our strikers to shoot. I guess that’s half the battle. Oh alright then, a quarter of the battle, but we definitely have been playing some decent football in the final third, play that deserves more output. More shots. And perhaps even, whisper it, more goals…

For those still in any doubt, we were well beaten by a strong and competent Cardiff  side, and not even the most hardened, partisan wearer of yellow tinted specs could argue otherwise.

Anyway, you’ve probably gathered that all this talk about attempts on goal  is merely a futile effort to avoid talking about what is going on at the other end of the pitch. We’re now shipping goals at an alarming and potentially fatal rate. Admittedly we have had a tough week, with bizarre injuries and illness taking their terrible toll on our already thin squad, but the fact that the aggregate score over the last 3 home games is now 5-10 in favour of the visitors doesn’t bode particularly well.

I have used these pages to share my enthusiasm and excitment about the young players coming through and playing their part this year, and I maintain that the future looks bright. However, the past couple of weeks have left us in no doubt that we will need to work hard and stick together to ensure we make it to that future with our Championship status intact.

I’m under no illusion as to our sole objective this year, and you shouldn’t be either. We need to stay up. Nothing more, most certainly nothing less. Failure to achieve this single goal would be catastrophic to what is clearly a rebuilding process both on and off the pitch.

We have a team containing some decent players, some good loanees and more than a sprinkling of academy/youth team graduates. We have a management team in place who care about the club, and at Board level we seem to be as stable now as we have been for quite some time. This is a football club, a football team, that we should be able to get behind. A team that we can love, support and identify with. It’s going to be a tough season – they always are, but supporting a club like Watford is a two way process. You get out what you put in. If you turn up at The Vic expecting free flowing football, win after win, and a constant influx of high profile players – you’re going to be disappointed. If you understand where we as a club are, and what our objectives should be, you’ll (more ofthen than not) enjoy it.

Obviously there will be poor days in the office, and Saturday was undoubtedly one such example. I think my My nephew summed it up pretty well with another little gem. “Uncle Mike, I do love Watford, but they haven’t been very good today have they? When can I come again?”

And Graham must score…

Sometimes you just know.

It should have become apparent that we’d be in for a tough night when young William Hoskins defied physics, gravity and every other logic defining law to spoon the ball miles over the Coventry City bar from barely a yard.

A slightly more impressive effort from the ex Rotherham man - a smart backheel from a corner – elicited more groans from the Rookery end (which reminds me, follow www.twitter.com/rookeryend for interesting WFC “tweets“) and when Danny Graham missed wonderful chances either side of half time, you just knew there wasn’t going to be a happy ending.

And of course there wasn’t. We ended up beaten 2-3 by a very average* C0ventry, despite creating enough clear cut chances to win 3 games.  Initially, the overriding emotion was  frustration. Having managed to battle back from a goal down (again), it was disappointing that we ended up with nothing, and as I blathered on at my long suffering brother, all I could see was three points dropped and a season rapidly turning into what we all feared it might.

By the time I’d got to the car however, I was in more reflective mood.

The Watford FC class of 2009/10 isn’t exactly bursting at the seams in terms of numbers or experience, and when the squad was depleted further by suspension, illness and random injury (has anyone other than our American hero ever cut their eye with a contact lens?!) we looked mighty thin on the ground.

The result was that we saw the future. Admittedly Mackay’s hand was forced, but Hodson, Bennett, Henderson and Oshodi all featured on Tuesday night, and have to my knowledge all come through the Watford youth ranks. So have more established, experienced names – Doyley, Mariappa, Richard Lee. We should be proud and excited by that.

Our club has gone through an exciting yet turbulent decade, with two near-fatal dalliances with wreckless spending.  Whilst we struggle to right the good ship Watford, the emergence of these youngsters prove that somewhere along the line, our club is operating as it should be. Perhaps better than it should be – how many other clubs can boast such a successful conversion rate of their academy players to the 1st team?

Alright, so Liam henderson should have scored at the end, and young Eddie Ashodi looked a bit tentative. Who cares. With a name like that he can do no wrong. These are our kids, our future. And they are a welcome sign that there will continue to be an our Watford.

*Nothing average about Clinton Morrison though. He has to be the most sulky footballer I have ever seen. If he chanelled half as much energy into his game as he does at hurling abuse at his team-mates, his name might appear on the scoresheet a bit more. What a clown. Entertaining to watch though.

Dunne Deal

So, the transfer window has closed. Tommy Smith has gone to Portsmouth for a well deserved crack at the top flight, Jobi McAnuff has followed Rodgers to Reading, whilst John-Joe O’Toole (rejoining a certain A.Boothroyd Esq at Colchester) and Mike Williamson have also left stage right.

The Tommy Smith episode, whilst highly publicised was the definitive illustration of how a modern footballer can conduct themself during negotiations. Mike Williamson threw a bit of a hissy fit and eventually got his South coast move too, but I can’t help feeling that we did some good business there. Financially at least.

O’Toole and McAnuff I am sure we can do without, but we do now have a thin looking squad, no surprise to most, and survival is clearly the primary goal this term. However, with with the finances the sales have generated we can (hopefully) look forward to the future on something approaching a sound financial footing.

So, all in all a relatively quiet end to the transfer window for Watford, and it was the goings on a couple of hundred miles away from Vicarage Road that awoke me from my deadline day slumber.

At Eastlands, the home of Manchester City, Richard Dunne was negotiating his move to Aston Villa. The media reported this as a done deal at several times throughout the day, but it soon became clear there was a delay. Nothing out of the ordinary I thought, he is probably doing his exit interview and working out how many days leave he is owed. Not so…

Testimonial is a word not often used in football these days. In fact, I’d be interested to hear who the last top flight professional footballer to have one was. Anyway, for those of you unaware, a testimonial is an event organised to raise money for a player who has been at the same club for 10 years. It’s only fair – you are a loyal servant for a decade, you deserve a bit of a thank you. Even if you do earn twice the average annual salary of the working population every week.

Anyway, non Manchester City fans can be forgiven for not knowing that Richard Dunne has been playing for Manchester City for nine years. That’s right, next year would have been his tenth, qualifying him for a  testimonial. Now it isn’t hard to see why a money spinning testimonial is attractive, Premiership players can expect to earn a reported million quid. Not a bad golden handshake. It sure beats a carriage clock.

So, you can see poor Richard’s dilemma. On one hand, one more year with City and he gets his testimonial and pocketful of lovely loot to say thanks for your loyalty. On the other hand he wants to join Aston Villa on a lucrative contract and trouser a pocketful of lovely loot to say thanks for joining us.

You can picture the scene. Richard Dunne sat alone in his front room, barely noticing Sky Sports News blaring out of his 100″ plasma as he mulls it over in his tortured mind – “Testimonial or new deal, testimonial or new deal…” His face is contorted in confusion until BINGO! – he has his lightbulb moment. “I know what I’ll do…” Richard smiles to himself. “I’ll demand the money from the testimonial that I would have next year, and then leave for Villa! Everyone’s a winner”

And that ladies and gentlemen was the delay. Richard Dunne was holding out for a payment of money he would have earned from his testimonial had he stayed at City for another year. Money he would have earned for his loyalty, for committing ten years to the club. Not nine. Ten. Now I’m all for making sure you get paid what you are due, but come on…

I have no idea whether or not City paid up, but the deal has now through, so I suspect a deal was done and hard up Dicky Dunne got his golden handshake whilst Villa got their man. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m off to hand in my resignation and ask for next years’ salary in advance.

A night in the life of football fan.

There is generally one thing you can be sure of on a busy night of sport. Contrasting emotions. Yesterday was no different.

Come with me if you will through an evening in the muddled mind of yours truly…

Time: 5:25 Emotion: Disappointment. The radio reports that England ladies have gone 2-1 down in their Euro 2009 curtain raiser. They are also down to 10 after a dodgy dive in the 1st half from the Italian striker. Who says the ladies aren’t as good as the men? They can con the refs with the best of them…England go on to l0se the game.

I think it is also worth noting the flippant way in which this game was covered. Tired cliche’s about the women’s game were lamely trotted out and the piece descended into pathetic laddish jokes. Having said that, I guess I get what I deserve if I listen to talkSPORT.

Time: 6:10pm Emotion: Excitement. I’m home, I see my 8 month old daughter for the first time since 7:30am and Watford are playing tonight. I know I am supposed to be all grown up and sensible, but nothing can replace the sense of anticipation that rumbles and grows in your belly ahead of your team kicking off. What will the team be? Who will score? What will happen? No-one ruddy knows and it’s brilliant! Even guessing the attendance is a cause for childlike excitement…

Time: 7:14 Emotion: Bewilderment. BBC 3 Counties Radio draw my attention to the fact that Watford have accepted a bid for Tommy Smith from Portsmouth. Just when this saga looked like reaching a conclusion, there is yet another twist, and for Tommy all roads lead to the South Coast and another tilt at the Premiership.

I have to confess, this news put a broad grin on my face. I have nothing against Reading fans, in fact I feel hugely sorry for them – this episode must have been annoying for them as it has been us, but I still have minor issues with their boss.

If I’m honest, the thought of the assembled local press watching on whilst Brendan Rodgers smile slowly slips from his face as he hears the news “Tommy Smith is having a medical at Portsmouth…” fills me with mischievous delight.

Time: 7:20 Emotion: Sadness.News filters through about “large scale unrest” ahead of the West Ham United V Millwall cup tie. Not entirely unexpected, but saddening nonetheless. I have a daughter that I want to take to football soon. We don’t need this.

Time 8:30 Emotion: Cautious Optimism. Half time at Elland Road and Watford are behind. 1-0. The commentary suggests we are playing well though, and for once, I am not completely resigned to defeat. You see, for all my excitment before a game, once it gets underway I am the most frightful pessimist. Those who have read Adrian Chiles book will know what I mean – I’m just like him. I think it was the great Graham Taylor who once summed up our plight so perfectly – “For a football fan, there is nothing so dangerous as hope…”

Time: 9:27 Emotion: Pure unadulterated delight. Watford youngster Marvin Sordell equalises for the mighty Hornets. Anyone watching at this time would have been treated to the sight of me dancing round the living room and kitchen in an excited style that can only be described as a cross between punk and breakdancing. One of these days I’ll put my back out. It will be worth it though.

The game goes to extra time and my long suffering girlfriend just about manages to conceal her annoyance that she now has to endure another 30 minutes of me prowling around like a cat on a hot tin roof.

Time: 10:00 Emotion: Disgust. Footage from the West Ham game starts to appear on the TV. Deeply unpleasant both inside and outside the ground. My mind starts to wander as to how the media will portray this. The obvious link will be to any harm done to our 2018 bid.

In many ways the media coverage of events like this are as unsavoury as the unrest itself, but we really can’t avoid the fact that what was unfolding was pretty ugly and totally inexcusable. Have these people no shame?

On the plus side, there seems to be some pretty clear footage, so tracking down many of the protagonists should be fairly straightforward.

Time: 10:10 Emotion: Despondancy. Leeds United grab a second goal in extra time, and there is no way back for Watford. Leeds 2 Watford 1, and we are out of the Carling Cup. A competition we were unliklely to win, but a loss is a loss, and every onse hurts. The excitment of earlier in the evening is a dim and distant memory.

So, my evening  started with disappointment and ended with despondancy. Looking at it that way, it may be hard to see why so many of us devote so many of our emotional and financial resources to following sport.  However, as we all know, if someone has to ask the question  ”why do you do it? What’s the attraction?” then they are unlikely to ever fully understand the answer.

Since we last spoke…

Whilst various managers and fans have been getting their knickers in a twist about dear old Tommy Smith, Watford have played two games of football. A truly welcome reminder as to what we are actually here for.

Saturday saw the home draw with Blackpool, and last night’s game away at Leeds was our first tentative glimpse into the post-Tommy era

Now, I’m ashamed to admit, I wasn’t at either game. I couldn’t go to the Blackpool game as I was at a wedding, (It was very nice actually, thanks for asking) and last night, well, last night was away at Leeds. On a Tuesday.

Therefore I’m not speaking from a position of much authority, but from what I have gathered form the various radio stations, interviews, web forums and blogs, things aren’t looking too bad. Not too bad at all. We sound like we are passing the ball reasonably well, creating chances and I’ll be blowed if we aren’t even scoring some.

Don Cowie is back from injury and Mike Williamson continues to inspire confidence. Of the summer signings, Danny Graham seems to have hit the ground running, although rather worryingly he hit the ground not running but in a crumpled heap at Elland Road last night, and didn’t re-emerge for the 2nd half. Hopefully just a precautionary move.

Lloyd Doyley doesn’t sound like he is playing as well as he did last season, and the same goes for young Ross Jenkins, who this year is playing with a sense of expectation for the first time. I’m sure they will both come good.

Obviously we are conceding goals, the game at Barnet representing our sole clean sheet this season. Letting two in at home to Blackpool  doesn’t indicate that we are going to be challenging at any stage this season. But we knew that. Following as it did the 2-4 romp at the City Ground, It does however seem to indicate that Watford games are going to be fun again. Entertaining. Enjoyable.

Fun, entertaining and enjoyable.  I reckon that will do for me.

Tommy Smith and other animals

I’m a bit older now. A bit calmer. I don’t swear quite as much at match officials, and my goal celebrations are slightly less enthusiastic than they once were. Even Neil Warnock doesn’t wind me up that much any more.

So, with my new found sense of calm, I have been quite proud of the sanguine way in which I have accepted Watford’s current financial plight. Despite the never ending tales of black holes in accounts and player departures, I have continually been able to find the positives and maintain some sort of optimistic excitment.

Even now, as the Tommy Smith saga looks to be drawing to a long overdue conclusion (1.8million toReading is the latest) I am hopeful that we’ll be able to plug the gap somehow.

It’s the thought of his unveileing at the Madjeski Stadium press conference that sees me regress into an angry young man. The thought of his smug face, grinning for the cameras as he puts his arm round our Tommy Smith.

I don’t blame Tommy, he’ll be on more cash, and I don’t blame the board as we need the money too. It’s just a shame it had to be Reading. It’s a shame it had to be him.After considering this saga though, it occurs to me that in this age of super rich footballers, distant, aloof and detached from both reality and us fans,  it isn’t actually that hard to keep the public on your side.

Take our friend Mr Rodgers. His comments before leaving for Reading were just hopeless. His talk of integrity blown wide apart by his tastelessly hasty departure up the M4. At best his words were ill advised, at worst they made him a bare faced liar. Watford fans, while not entriely surprised, rightly seethe.

Weeks later he opens his mouth again, to proclaim that “Tommy wants to join us”. Presumably it was only after this quote hit the press he realised he isn’t allowed to talk to contracted players without permission.

Two examples of opening mouth before engaging brain.

Now we all know that Smith has been the subject of transfer speculation for some time now. But what has Tommy done? Tried to engineer a move through the media? No. Discussed it in public? No. He has kept quiet, and it is for this reason that when he returns to Vicarage Road in a reading shirt he’ll get a standing ovation. Rodgers thought he was clever enough to open his mouth and conduct his business through the media. Something tells me he will be afforded an ever so slightly different reception.

Tommy will get the new me.  I am most definitely saving a bit of the old me for Brendan Rodgers.

I’m back. Again.

Hi everyone.

I know, I know. It’s been a while. A long while. Again. But this is it. A bright new dawn. My updates from this day forth will be regular, if not rational and sensible.

You have my word.

It’s bonkers, it’s fun, it’s Watford again.

Well, it may well be slightly fustrating, mildly amusing, at times entertaining and often quite annoying, but at least it is fun again.

After a year or so of dreadful football, discontent among supporters, financial worries and boardroom horror stories, it’s starting to feel like Watford again

On the pitch, I think Brendan Rodgers has done really well. He inherited a team that were low on confidence, a squad of ineffectual, disinterested players who were only going one way. Down.

He started poorly, seemingly unaware that the band of journeymen he was now in charge of were not the Chelsea superstars and starlets he had left behind at Stamford Bridge. He was asking too much too early and it showed – the home defeat to Sheffield United being a particularly ugly example.

However, the tide gradually began to turn and with the help some fantastic additions to the squad (Williamson, Cowie, Cork – and on last nights evidence, perhaps Cauna) we began to not only look like a competent side, but one that was playing vaguely attractive football too.

On top of the new players, Rodgers got some of our underperforming existing players to raise their game too – most notably Jobi McAnuff  (although the simple act of playing him on the right was always going to result in better

Actually quite good!

performances) and Tamas Priskin, who until recently  looked about as likely to score as Scott Loach, found the goal scoring touch that we all hoped was lurking there somewhere.

In a relatively short space of time, Rodgers had steadied the ship at the back, and had us scoring freely too. This saw a run of excellent form, which undoubtedly will have kept us up. Important, gutsy wins against the likes of Burnely, Swansea, Blackpool, Charlton, Forest and Doncaster came at just the right time – as with fellow strugglers picking up points on a regular basis too, losing just one or two of those fixtures would have seen us back in the mire.

There has been refreshing honesty from our new man too. Following wholesale changes and a subsequent defeat away at Plymouth, Brendan Rodgers admitted he had made a mistake. It doesn’t help the final result, but form a fans persepctive it was good to hear, especially after some of the smoke and mirrors of previous regimes.

It hasn’t all been plain sailing of course. We have conceded far too many late goals, including two 97th (Yes, that’s ninety-seventh) minute penalties in consecutive games, but isn’t that just so Watford? That’s the sort of thing we do, and it’s the sort of thing that can and should make football so unpredictable, so mindboggling, so frustrating, so fun!

Off the pitch it has been all change too. The much discussed Simpson and Ashton have departed, giving way to a new Chairman, a new Board and paving the way for the return of both Elton John and Graham Taylor.

 

I don’t know about you, but I just feel happier and safer with these guys back on board. They, like us, have Watford in their hearts, and whilst they are involved I have faith that any decisions made will be made in the long term interests of the club. I trust them.

Of course, the follies of the previous regime have left us in what remains a precarious financial state. Whilst we have managed to hang on to some of our more prized playing assets (Tommy Smith, McAnuff, Priskin, DeMerit etc) the steady trickle of departures over the course of the season illustrates pretty clearly that financially, all is far from well, and the summer will undoubtedly see some high profile departures.

But you see, that’s alright. If players have to be sold, they have to be sold, I, like you, would rather we kept our best players, but at least I now have faith that Watford is in safe, caring hands. We are all pulling in the same direction again. There is purpose, there is unity, there is enjoyment.

Both on the pitch and off it, Watford make mistakes, but I guess that is what makes Watford Watford. Calamtous defending and last minute goals. The creaking old East Stand. Graham and Elton. Lloyd Doyley. Watford are putting a smile on my face again. Long may it continue.