If this is happy: 2010 should be a good New Year for Watford Fans

What is happiness for a football fan? I argue that the elements are largely in place for followers of the Vicarage Road club.

Only two weeks ago I was at work telling people Watford had gone into administration, having left home before the deadline for a deal was due but fearing it would not happen. Despite a home defeat to Derby straight afterwards, I have since been reflecting on the factors in the equation of what makes a football fan happy with their lot.

First of all, there is the relative league postion of the club. The key word here is “relative” because it relates to two things, the first of which is the expectations of the fan. As with all the elements in the equation, this is subjective.I grew up watching the Horns on their rise from the old Division 4 to second in the old Division 1 and UEFA Cup football and an FA Cup final. For a while after that, my expectations were of top-flight football but thoughts of that era have long since passed. Nostalgia is dangerous, after all.

With the financial meltdown the club have suffered since their season as the Premiership´s basement boys – and more specifically the fact that we sold most of best players this summer and many of us feared we would be relegation fodder – expectations were low and therefore even a mid-table position exceeds them. Recent draws at home to high-flying Nottingham Forest and away at Bristol City´s Ashton Gate are results many of us would have taken beforehand and solidify our safety for the season.

The second part of happiness with the relative position of the club is a fan´s eye on the competition. This could be described as a sort of schadenfreude factor. For Watford fans, this would primarily mean laughing at our bitterest local rivals: Luton Town, whose descent to non-league status after a 30-point deduction last season most of us would recognise as unfair (but would still take some satisfaction from). I personally wish them a speedy return.

Queens Park Rangers would be our second local rivals and although the billionaire club are generally on the up, our recent 3-1 defeat of them at the Vic and the fall-out from that game (with their now ex-manager Jim Magilton involved in a post-match “incident” with midfielder Akos Buzasky) was a source of glee.

There is also a large slice of schadenfreude in seeing Brendan Rodgers fail at Reading (and recently receive the sack) after we felt betrayed by his decision to move away from the Vic after six months. Similarly, seeing our ex-defender Mike Williamson fail to make an impact – or even start a match – at Portsmouth after his petulant behaviour and transfer demand brings a wry smile to Hornets fans´ faces.

Another (perhaps less important) element of happiness goes beyond results and their effect on league position to style of play. When Watford were higher in the league but playing hoofball under former manager Aidy Boothroyd, there was booing amongst some of those attending the Vic.

I was wrong to doubt the credentials of manager Malky Mackay when he was named successor to Rodgers. He has ensured the team play some attractive football and has made shrewd signings (including loanees) which have seen the Horns outplay some far bigger teams. Whilst the January transfer window will likely see his team further depleted, Malky should be able to keep the young team on the rails (as he has after heavy defeats this season) and on track for a mid-table finish.

It is happiness regarding future prospects that leaves Watford fans with an element of uncertainty. Although billionaire shareholder Michael Ashcroft paid off the (approximately five-million-pound) loan that was being called in and therefore threatening the club with administration, he seems reluctant to invest the money that would make our future more certain.

The final element involved in the happiness of a football fan might involve a cup run. This looks unlikely for Watford this season with their impending FA Cup Third round tie at Stamford Bridge, but defeat at Chelsea will be more lucrative than one elsewhere and gives the fans a good day out. Expectations will not be high and can therefore not be disappointed.

So I have identified five elements in an equation that I feel contribute to a fan´s happiness and believe Watford fans can feel happy in relation to them. Have I missed any factors? What else is involved in a fan´s happiness? Can you be happy with your team in relation to these factors?

Global Football Justice

It is time for global football justice and the revolution must start in England.

It was only in 1997-8 that “the big four” took the top positions for the first time. The second occasion was 2003-4, the third in 2005-6 and since then they have shuffled the Champions League positions between them in each of the following three years. There was a “bored by the big four” Philosophy Football T-shirt a couple of years ago but if it is only in the last four years that the Premiership places have been absolutely sewn-up, the relatively recent addition of European Champions League dominance has added an extra level of tedium.

Any initial tinge of patriotic pride in seeing Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United playing in the latter stages of the European tournament should be extinguished by the thought of their Russian and American owners or their lack of English or even British players. These days there is rarely an underdog to support: Portsmouth in last year`s FA Cup, Aston Villa for a while in the league this season (also US owned).

The only level of failure that these teams now know is not reaching the semi-finals or finals of the FA Cup and Champions League. Finishing fourth in the Sky Barclays Setanta premiership is still rewarded with ridiculous cash once the preliminary joke rounds of the European tournament are played out. How boring for the rest of us, but how uninteresting it really must be for the fans of these teams too.

At my club, Watford`s level, a 2-0 win at Doncaster is a triumph against the possibility of relegation while a 1-0 defeat at home to promotion-chasing Birmingham is accepted as not unexpected. Resignation and surprise still exist for fans of most of the G88 (the minor gods in the pantheon that is the football league) and without them a fan`s life is incomplete. Schadenfreude exists too, for us below the biggest, and perhaps for the local fans of the top teams too. It is the “plastics” who will not know that joy of a bitter local rival suffering.

The economic effects stretch to the cost of attempting to play with the big boys. Leeds descent into administration is well documented and Charlton are just the latest of several teams whose inability to “bounce back” has seen them slip into the third tier after the obligatory cost-cutting exercises. The ripples go beyond the lower leagues. Elsewhere in the world, attendances fall when matches clash with a “big” televised Premiership game.

Something must be done. The arguments are there: a player draft, a cap on wages, a minimum number of home-grown players or club ownership being put in the hands of the fans. Alternatively, the majority of the G88 could get together to demand a restructuring that brings (most of) the Premiership back under Football League jurisdiction (if the Big 4 want to float off into a European Super-League, let them). It won`t happen yet. The big four dominate English football like the G8 dominate world economic policy. The seeds of rebellion exist though. Viva Football Justice.

Living the dream

Waiting out fifteen and a half hours in a small town for a long bus journey, we had time to see if our computer could be sorted (no), buy a mobile, a hat and a top to replace the WFC hoodie I left on a bus a week ago, dawdle over dinner, do twelve laps of the centre, walk up a hill and down again and sit down in the same park twice. This is the second time I´ve been on the internet, and if this place weren´t closing in an hour, I´d be here for four.
As we cut up boiled eggs for rolls in the park with nowhere else to go at about one o´clock, Jun commented that we were "living the dream". We laughed about that. Having hitchhiked into Argentina yesterday, we can´t really complain about how things are going but I missed out on the chance to white-water raft one of the world´s best rivers (Futaleufu) because I chose a "family company" and we were unable to climb a volcano in Pucon because of the weather.
Still, mustn´t grumble. We´ve seen sealions in Valdivia, penguins in Ancud and scenery to sit down and contemplate throughout the Andes regions. My Spanish is beginning to improve at last and Jun is learning too. We trekked to the top of an Andean peak (a small one) two days ago and head into deepest Patagonia when our bus leaves this depot at two in the morning.
In Watford, Joss was unable to go to the Chelsea FA Cup match (I guess his dad hadn´t sussed that he needed to buy tickets before a certain point). Tamas Priskin put us ahead in the second half, but Nicolas Anelka got a hattrick for them. A home league game was postponed and we still sit third bottom and in real relegation trouble. Did I mention I lost my WFC hoodie?

Almost there

Watford v Chelsea

Saturday 31^st March

Only the sports pages of The Guardian prevented me from heading over to Watford more than two hours before I needed to be there: I hadn’t been aware the kick-off was at 5.15. Still, I had to be there earlier than I would if Joss’ bike hadn’t been stolen a couple of weeks ago. Sarah and Ethan were around, but Kerry was in bed when I got there. Joss and I left just after half four and he chatted about his friends at school, his maths teacher, the films he watched in lieu of ‘drama’ and ‘discovery’ lessons and described a Spanish test he’d done well in that seemed to be made up exclusively of the only vocabulary and expressions he knew. It reminded me of when he said he’d had a test on capitals in September 2005 after we’d been learning some.

We were there early enough to enjoy a bit of pre-match atmosphere (a “bit” is all there is) and within three minutes of the game starting, Darius Henderson had left an elbow in the air that John Terry’s face moved to fill and we had a break that the Watford players used to continue their warm-up. Watford had early pressure that led to a couple of corners and Steve Kabba, working hard up front, had a fantastic overhead kick tipped over by Peter Cech. We certainly looked the more likely to score for the first half-hour, with Chelsea’s attacks relatively lacking in vim until Didier Drogba somehow picked up a pass behind our defenders just outside the six yard box and was still judged onside. His turn and stab at goal was blocked by Ben Foster with his left foot and the relief in the Rookery was tangible.

I’m not sure if it was just today but the Rous stand seems to have become increasingly vociferous and involved and I think that the variety of chants from the Rookery has increased over the season, but particularly since the turn of the year and the fun at Fulham. Curly was on good form next to us today, performing a Cossack-style dance he was desperate for Andriy Shevchenko to see but that had to suffice with laughs from the fans around him. We taunted Frank Lampard with his absence from England’s team for the midweek Andorra victory and chanted “Roman’s rent-boys” to the rest of the team and “Sacked in the summer” to the manager.

There were a couple more good saves from Foster before the break but standing in line for a pizza pod and a hot dog, we were inclined to feel that this was one of Watford’s best team performances of the season and to dream of three points (yet still be delighted with one). “Jose is a girl’s name” Mourinho made all of his substitutions within fifteen minutes of the restart but Watford still had the best chances of the game: Kabba rushed wide a shot from six yards and Damien Francis, who worked hard all game had a good shot stopped on the right before another Kabba drive was cleared off the line by Cech, who was matching Foster. We could and should have put one of those three in and won a famous victory. Instead, in the second minute of four added on, Shevchenko crossed for the substitute Salomon Kalou to rise and nod in.

The Chelsea fans who hadn’t made a noise most of the game were understandably overjoyed to have stolen it at the death to stay six points behind ManU™ and with West Ham and Charlton both winning again, the gap between us and everyone else just keeps widening. I resigned myself to relegation a few games ago, so that’s not the worry but it’s hard not to have taken anything from this and end Chelsea’s title ambitions at the same time. On the walk back Joss asked who I thought man of the match had been and I said Francis, but it had been a good team performance: at Stamford Bridge there’d been a gulf between the two sides that wasn’t evident today.

Having dropped off Joss, I had to rush off to get down to New Malden in Surrey for Kahori, Maya and Mina’s leaving party. We saw them on Wednesday but on Monday they head for a new life in Japan and this might be the last we see them for a few years. New beginnings: I think I am due one too.