I took my son to the Vic for the first time. I don't want to overstate it. It's a moment I have been anticipating at least since I asked my wife to have my baby, always hoping for a boy. However, "dream come true" is perhaps a bit too much like hyperbole. I felt proud and excited to take my little Watford Boy to the ground I'd been to probably a couple of hundred times with my dad (though not one stand remains from the first matches I went to) and then taken my nephew to sixty or seventy times.
This was my first visit - and I was in the Rookery again - since The 1881 were formed, a group which I heard about from Luke's friend David. They had placed flags around the stand, which were waved ahead of kick-off by those closest (I have to admit I didn't realise at the time that they did not belong to particular people and we didn't wave one. Next time we will.) It looked great but the chanting/singing seemed little better than I remember. The swearing was pretty much the same, though. I'm not complaining - just wondering how long till my 5-year-old picks some of it up.
Despite the exhortations of my Watford Boy (which made me prouder), Bournemouth went ahead and stayed there till after half time when our talisman and captain scored. I threw the little man into the air several times to ensure he remembered the moment. After Bournemouth had gone ahead again, I was fearing a second defeat in two matches for the little man, who'd seen the Crystal Palace semi last year, and was admittedly more rapt then (Wembley Stadium does have something on Vicarage Road, after all). Luckily, substitute Isaac Success rose high to head in a second equaliser. My little man went up and down again and loved it. It was end to end stuff and there were four goals. A good first home match. Since our opponents hit the woodwork three times, a draw was ultimately
also a good result. Hopefully we can do better in the next match he sees, against Hull.
We've had a better start to the season than last year and sit in fifth behind Burnley, QPR, Leicester and Forest, only the latter of whom we've played (1-1 at the Vic). We lost at Blackpool and Blackburn and put six past Bournemouth and five past Barnsley, contributing to us being top scorers in the league. Meanwhile, Palace, who tamed us in a boring play-off final in May, are second bottom and sure to come back down. Automatic promotion is a long way away and not going to be any easier this year than last.
It's still early, obviously, and not until Nov 9th will many of the top sides have played any one (or two) of the others, by which time - admittedly - there may be a different look to the top six.
Watford went into the home leg of the play-off semis 1-0 down to Leicester and scored a great first goal through Vydra to balance things up before Nugent scored his second of the tie. The Czech championship-player-of-the-year then poached a second to make things all square. Four minutes of added time were extended due to an injury and it was with 95 minutes on the clock that their French winger won a tie-winning penalty with a dive. I was in the New Rose on Essex Road, with a Leicester fan I'd met there, and started complaining that this was no way to behave.
Lockaert then got up and took the penalty. It was weak and Almunia saved it with his legs and got in the way of a dinked follow-up from the same cheat. The ball was hooked away and next thing you know, the Horns were breaking down the right. The ball was passed to Forestieri to deliver a cross that was cushion-headed back by Johnathon Hogg - who had run faster than anyone else on the pitch to get from our penalty box to their goal line - for Troy Deeney to blast in from close range just 22 seconds after the penalty kick and Watford were in the final at Wembley on the 27th. My description does the drama no justice.
Palace beat Brighton away after a goalless first leg and it is them we will meet. I am confident of getting tickets but have my fingers crossed.
Drama. I saw before I left for the pub that our first-choice keeper had been injured during the warm-up. When I got to the pub, the stand-in was prostrate, head being supported by a medic. Sixteen minutes were added to the first half and nineteen year old academy graduate, Jack Bonham, came on to play in our biggest game for years.
A defensive mix-up gave Leeds the lead. The Horns needed to better Hull's result so defeat was not in the script. Almen Abdi took a pass after a great run by Ikechi Anya and slotted a great shot into the top corner. 1-1. Game on.
In Hull, the champions Cardiff took the lead. As it stood, Watford were automatically promoted. There was a long time left, though. Before Watford's second half had begun, Hull scored and minutes later took the lead. Nothing Watford could do would be enough.
Watford were nervy. There were no great chances and then Troy Deeney dove in and got himself a second yellow and marching orders. Head-in-hands time.
Because of the stoppage time, Hull's game was in its 90th minute when we still had more than quarter of an hour to play. The screen flipped to Hull's game: they had a penalty. Saved! But still, they were 2-1 up. Back to Watford: a chance, another chance. Agh. The screen split to show Hull again. Cardiff had a penalty now. They scored: 2-2. The game finished minutes later. Watford had plenty of time to score and go up in second place but with 10 men and not looking like they could. The fans got behind them, lifted the atmosphere for a push for that goal. There was pressure, there were half-chances. Nothing. We edged closer and closer to the 90th minute. Leeds broke, long ball, player took a weak chip. And our young keeper, what was he doing? It was not clear what he intended but the ball hit his palms and kept going...and into the net. 2-1 down with a few minutes left and no way back.
It was saddening and the poor young keeper will never forget his nightmare. On the way home, though, I was able to appreciate the excitement and drama of the previous two hours and got home to tell my too-young-to-understand-anything-but-the-breathlessness son the story.
We're in the playoffs against Leicester, while Brighton play Palace. No way I'll be able to get a ticket for either leg so just have to hope we make it to the final and there are enough to go around.
I can't remember such an exciting final day and I won't be there. Watford are third, a point behind second-placed Hull with one game each to play. Hull have failed in the last two games to get the points they need to ensure automatic promotion, giving the Horns the opportunity to close a gap that opened up again after we went to their stadium and won. This Saturday, Watford host mid-table nothing-to-play-for Leeds, while Hull are visited by already-champions Cardiff. They have the harder game on paper and have already choked twice but who knows? Watford's game is live on Sky so although I couldn't get one of the tickets (it's sold out) I will be watching as it all plays out. Come on you Horns!
The Horns aren't doing too bad in Yorkshire. A 6-1 win at Elland Road on 10th of this month was followed up with a 4-1 win at Hillsborough tonight. We've gone undefeated in the month and moved right up to 8th. Not going too bad: the team seems to have gelled.
The deal has not been done but it looks likely that the Pozzos, who own Granada in la Liga and Udinese in Seria A, will buy the Horns from Laurence Bassini, who is hardly a hit amongst fans. The Pozzo family have money and football pedigree. I foresee taking my son to Premiership games before too long.
There have been several games since I posted last but coming from behind to beat Burnley at the Vic, followed by a draw at second-placed West Ham and a victory at Derby's Pride Park has done wonders for our league position. One of our loanees - Alex Kacaniklic from Fulham (the other is ManU's Tomasz Kuszczak) - got assists for both goals on Saturday and scored the week before that. We've now reached a giddy 14th and another season's safety has been ensured.
I stuck a tenner on us today, fancying us to beat a Reading side that are up in the playoff positions. The match was live on Sky Sports 2 so I was able to stream it through EPL site (a bit laggy, but ok). The Horns scored first when Cummings stabbed into his own goal but Reading were back in it before half time and looked likely to get the late goal that the commentator started tempting fate about. Their sub came on and sunk us.
The fourth round tie is on the Friday and you have to have been to another game this season to have a chance of getting ONE ticket. Luckily - I suppose - Virgin gave us a month's free ESPN and they are screening it so I'll be watching a second live match on a screen at home this month. It won't be the feed that lags in that match.
Watford's unbeaten run came to an end in the first game of the year. They'd beaten Darlington 4-1 at the Vic on NYE (Sordell got 2) but went down 2-0 at Fratton Park a couple of days later. They are currently 18th and have been there and about since October. With the league pretty tight, a winning run could put them right up there but it doesn't look likely (from this armchair, anyway).
On Saturday, the Horns battered Bradford 4-2 in the cup third round and the following day were drawn home again to slightly bigger opposition. Tottenham - flying high in 3rd in the Premiership - come calling on the 28th January and I am hoping to be there for my first game since April. COYH!
I may be 11,358 miles away (or 13 hours ahead) but enjoy the news of Watford's fifth straight win (2-1 at Scunthorpe) and seventh game without defeat. Three wins out of three in December (snow prevented matches) - beating Sven's Leicester 3-2 at home; inflicting QPR's first league defeat of the season (3-1 at Loftus Road); thrashing protion-chasing Cardiff 4-1 at the Vic - have been followed by a 3-0 over Portsmouth before this latest triumph. We are top scorers in the division and now have the prospect of suffering for our success: Burnley are sniffing after our manager and I'm sure there will be bids for top-scorer Danny Graham. As is pointed out with crushing regularity at this time of year, we are "a selling club".
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?
The Nobel Prize winning Danish physicist Niels Bohr famously stated “Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future”. I cannot better that, but would like to add that it is made that little more difficult by inconsistency in the elements that you are basing that prediction on.
Sportingo writer Donna Gee was a little hard on herself in claiming that she had been foolish with her assertion that the Championship was the most competitive league in Europe (shortly before seeing Newcastle and West Bromwich Albion begin to run away with things at the top, much in the manner of the boring Chelsea and Manchester United domination of the Premiership).
With her beloved Cardiff beating West Brom at the the Hawthorns yesterday (shortly after a run of one point in four matches had ended), they are back up to third just three days after she was bemoaning them dropping out of the play-off positions. Meanwhile, Leicester, who had suffered only one defeat in ten games to see them enter December in third place, lost two on the trot to immediate rivals, conceding eight goals in the process and dropping to seventh.
It seems clear that the best prediction concerning the play-off positions of the Championship (at this stage at least) is that it will remain unpredictable. Indeed, the only element at the top of the table with a degree of consistency is Newcastle´s home record. They are not too poor away, either, and I would not be surprised to see them dominate this league the same way Wigan and Reading did when they were Champions.
Although West Brom are a good footballing side, three defeats at home already this season indicates that they are not going to maintain a steady challenge to the Magpies. They might well end up second, but I reckon there will be fewer points between them and third than there are between them and Newcastle.
Hmmm, this prediction lark is fun, isn´t it?
For further unpredictability, however, look no further than Middlesborough, who thrashed QPR 5-1 at Loftus Road on Saturday only to lose at home 3-0 to Blackpool days later, with the Tangerines just getting over their first home defeat of the season, and this by mid-table Barnsley.
QPR, like Leicester, also conceded eight goals in two defeats and have dropped to twelfth from fifth. So now Swansea and Nottingham Forest, who each took a mediocre four points from the last six, seem to be on the front foot, while a meagre one win in three matches has taken Blackpool back into the play-off places.
The pattern of unpredictability in the bigger picture can be broken down. Just about any team who goes on a good run of four or five games (let´s say winning ten or twelve points from them) will likely have a place in the play-off positions at the end of it.
Even Watford, who have consistently lost one match for each win since the end of September, briefly found themselves in a giddy sixth position after beating QPR 3-1 on Monday night. When your average point rate is less than one and a half per game (as the Hornets´ is since back to back wins in early September), you should not really find yourself moving upwards in the league.
Not, unless, this is indeed a competitive league where most teams have the potential to beat each other, precluding consistency and defying prediction.
Look at Reading, who appear to be withering away hopelessly in nineteenth position in the league until you realise that there are as many points (eleven) between them and sixth place as there are between sixth and top of the table. It may not seem any comfort for them at the moment, but that gap is bridgable, though whether Brendan Rogers is the man to provide the results to span it is another question.
I think Newcastle will take this league at a canter but as for the positions immediately below them, I think it is fair to assume that there will be lots more comings and goings yet. And if I am wrong? Donna, I hope you will stick up for me.
Since the two home defeats mentioned in my last footballing entry, Watford have redeemed themselves with victories away at Middlesborough and home to Sheffield Wednesday, as well as stealing a point with a 93rd minute goal at yet-to-win Ipswich.
Manchester United`s Tom Cleverley got the winner at the Riverside whilst Arsenal`s Henri Lansbury scored two as we found home form at last, beating the Owls 4-1 on Friday. Entrusted with some of the G4`s youthful talent (we also have Craig Catchcart from Man U™), we seem to be thriving in the season we sold all our best players. Now we have news that Sir Elton will play another concert at Vicarage Road, this time to raise money for us to actually BUY some players rather than survive on loans.
The next match – and the last before my birthday and the inevitable “life begins” messages – is away at West Brom. I would take even one point from the Hawthorns as an early birthday present, whether or not any goals are scored by someone borrowed.
I have been gone too long. After two months of insufflation in La Paz, we have all but completed two weeks of volunteering at animal refuge La Senda Verde near Coroico in Bolivia (the website will be improved in the near future). In the meantime, Watford have sold all their best players (Tommy Smith eventually went to Portsmouth and was followed by a petulant Mike Williamson, Tamas Priskin went to Ipswich, Jobi McAnuff and Grzegorz Rasiak followed Brendan Rogers to Reading). The latter two players combined to put Reading ahead in our Saturday showdown but Danny Graham continued his scoring form (six already in nine matches) to get us a point at the Madjeski. There is great satisfaction at seeing Ipswich and Reading poach from us and now struggle in the bottom four while we sit in a far better-than-expected seventh (Newcastle are threatening to run away with it), which makes us closer in position to bottom-of-the-Premiership Portsmouth than to either of our championship rivals. We got old-boy Heidar Helguson back and he scored twice in a recent 3-3 "thriller" with Leicester and although now injured, I´d back him to beat Saturday´s red-carded Nathan Ellington in the goals tally even if H didn´t find the net again all year. Coventry at home tonight and if we can send them back pointless to whence they came, we might even nick a play-off position. Okay, okay: it is early days.
Just when we may have thought we had a manager with whom we might be going places, he goes to a place without us: the news (a message on my Facebook page - I am adrift 4000 feet above sea level) that Brendan Rogers has taken the Reading managerial vacancy 192 days after joining us is bad for the Horns and I never even got to sing one song with his name in (still, I found something to laugh about later). Early favourite to replace him is Malky Mackay, who I hope does not get the post. Where is Peter Taylor these days? Always liked him...
After our 3-1 victory over Derby in our final game, WFC finished 13th in the table. Tommy Smith predictably retained his Player of the Season award, Grzegorz Rasiak won Goal of the Season while Lloyd Doyley was players` player. I texted Kerry to see if Joss wanted a season ticket for next year and my reply took the form of photo without text. A picture is worth 1000 words, they say, though in this case maybe just the one.
The Horns recorded their first win in seven league games and their first win at home since I left by beating the second richest club in the world (QPR) 3-0 with first-half goals from Tommy Smith, Darren Ward and Lee Williamson. In doing so we moved up to fourth from bottom as Charlton were thrashed at home, consequently parting company with manager Alan Curbishley.
In Brisbane, I had to go to bed ten minutes before the Vicarage Road final whistle but woke up with an A-League game to go to with my congenial hosts Sue and Allen (who lent me an away shirt). So it was that Watford’s red and gold merged to become the orange of Queensland Roar (rubbish name), who had a worse home record than the Golden Boys, not having won at the impressive but largely empty Suncorp Stadium (which, in common with WFC, they share with a rugby club) all season.
The parallels with my English club are not repeated when it comes to the league (Roar are third out of eight while their opponents Perth Glory, whose fans faced a six-hour flight home, are bottom). There is neither relegation nor promotion in the tiny division, which will grow by two (Gold Coast Galaxy and North Queensland Fury) next year. Still, the English Championship does have a Welsh team (Swansea City) while New Zealand’s Wellington Phoenix play in the Australian league.
Roar’s captain Craig Moore, who had an operation for testicular cancer just 12 days ago, started this Movember match (moustache growth is sponsored to benefit male charities every year in this month) and saw his team break their hoodoo and win by the same margin Watford did yesterday though this game saw five goals, the best of which was a second-half volley from Roar’s ex-Watford player Charlie Miller.
After catching an overnight train to Shanghai from Beijing when my mum and Brian had boarded their flight back to the UK, Jun and I spent the night of my birthday in a drink all you can club with her brother’s girlfriend playing a dice drinking game. Then we flew to Osaka, spent time with Orlando, Kahori and their girls and then went to Nara. A series of slow trains over about eleven hours got us to Tokyo late last night and we visited my friend Koji in hospital in Saitama Prefecture today.
Way before we’d come out here, Koji had said that he planned to take time off to take us places because last time (2002 for the World Cup) he’d been really tired what with working and his newly-arrived twins. Since that promise, Koji has had a motorcycle accident and is paralysed for life. He’ll never walk again but hopes to get back some feeling or use of arms or hands. I approached our meeting with a certain amount of dread.
Speculating on why that was is a little too self-indulgent given the nature of what has happened to Koji (putting aside the MRSA virus he caught after getting to the military hospital which is closest to where he had his accident), who put me at ease immediately we got there and is remarkably upbeat, taking strength from the words of those who have wished him well. We bought and fed him grapes and chatted about the mundane (my desire for a new camera lens, Watford’s trials (we lost at Swansea in the league on Sunday and won there the following Tuesday to reach the Carling Cup quarter-finals)) and the all-important: friends and friendship.
Many of his Essex University mates have rallied and those he saw once a year are now at his bedside of a weekend. In Jun Shimizu’s case, she is doing much more than that, even taking time off work to help Megumi (Koji’s wife) deal with those nasty financial issues that are overbearing in a state where health care is not free. Blame for the accident has been assigned by a witness to Koji and so his insurance company is refusing to pay. The government won’t help until he is certified as having a disability and that won’t happen till after months - as many as eighteen, possibly - of expensive rehabilitation.
Circumstances like these are supposed to make you grateful for what you have but I am reminded more of the most haunting words of the Band Aid single: “Tonight thank God it’s them instead of you.” This is a negative sort of gratitude rather than a real appreciation. Maybe it shows a lack of imagination on my part: an inability to see myself in his position and therefore value more highly the abilities most of us take for granted. But tonight, before I sleep, I am pondering the idea of what we mean when we say “be grateful”.
I took my son to the Vic for the first time. I don't want to overstate it. It's a moment I have been anticipating at least since I asked my wife to have my baby, always hoping for a boy. However, "dream come true" is perhaps a bit too much like hyperbole. I felt proud and excited to take my little Watford Boy to the ground I'd been to probably a couple of hundred times with my dad (though not one stand remains from the first matches I went to) and then taken my nephew to sixty or seventy times.
