[Lord Snooty]

Watford v Huddersfield Town
The Sky Bet Championship
Friday April 7th - 15:00 ko
at the Elton John Arena

Huddersfield Town travel to Watford to Vicarage Road on Good Friday afternoon for the latest installment of the Great Escape. Keep it topical, we'll call it a resurrection.

Manager Neil Warnock has said that achieving the goal of avoiding relegation this season would be the greatest achievement of his long and distinguished career. He said similar things about the performance against Middlesbrough on Saturday as well. I think the gaffer's in a good head space at the moment and the lads are responding to him well.

Sadly, after only 25 minutes of his comeback, Duane Holmes is out again, this time for the rest of the season. He's got ligament and ankle damage, as well a a small chip. Which is a lot of damage from just blocking a shot. Unlucky, Duane lad. Coventry loanee Martyn Waghorn is also out injured. Watford loanee, Joseph Hungbo is also out, mainly because we're playing Watford, but he's hardly played over the last few games. I still think there's more mileage in his legs though before we see this season out.

Watford, now with Chris Wilder in charge, still have players from their Premier League days, players like goal scorers Ismaїla Sarr and João Pedro. But the rest of the team are very much under performing and though not unusual for Watford, they've managed to get two managers sacked already this season in Rob Edwards (not the Town legend) and Slaven Bilic.

Town are the form team going into this game and should be full of confidence, backed by a big following, this could go well. Fingers crossed.

Here's what the boss had to say in his presser on Wednesday.......

Tickets: The club have been given 1,996 tickets for this fixture.
Adult - £20
65 and Over - £10
18 and Under - £5

Tickets will go off sale at 2pm on Thursday the 6th of April.

Going by car and don't know where to park? Have a click on this. https://watfordfcparking.co.uk/football/...field-town We parked there and it's a 15 minute walk to the ground.

Official coach travel is available for this fixture. This will be priced at £30 per-person, with coaches departing from our St Andrew’s Road car park at 9am on match day.

Due to poplular demand, a third coach has now been added for this match day!


A brief history of Watford FC: formed in 1881 as Watford Rovers, becoming West Hertfordshire in 1893 and then merging with Watford St Mary's in 1896 to be known henceforth as Watford FC. They played in the Southern League and their home was at Cassio Road. When the Football League was extended in 1921/22, they were founder members of the new Division Three (South). That first FL season saw a record crowd at Cassio Road of 13,000 turn out for the local derby against Luton Town and that would remain the record as in the next season they moved to Vicarage Road.

They stayed in Div3(S) for it's entire existence and when the two regional divisions were made national in 1958, they were placed in Division Four. It was around this time that they changed their kit from blue to the gold shirts and black shorts that are familiar today and adopted the nickname of The Hornets.

Promotion proved elusive for Watford in those Div3(S) days, but it only took two years in the new 4th Division for them to get promoted, when they went up in 59/60 in 4th position behind Walsall, Notts County and Torquay Utd. Cliff Holton scored a club record 48 goals in the season. That was under the management of Ron Burgess and when he left, the job went to the Bournemouth manager Bill McGarry, who had spent ten years playing for Huddersfield Town. He brought into the side a couple of names who would go on to become big names in the game, but not necessarily with Watford. One of them was striker Ron Saunders, who to be fair was already a big name having a great scoring record for Portsmouth, but would later in life go on to manage Aston Villa to the League title. The other one was young goalkeeper Pat Jennings, who after one season at Vicarage Road was sold to Spurs and he would go on to be a legend at both Tottenham and their North London rivals, Arsenal, as well as his country Northern Ireland.

Bill McGarry

When McGarry left to go and manage Ipswich, his job went to Ken Furphy. His key signing was Barry Endean, who would later go on to be a disappointing flop at Huddersfield Town, but at Watford, his goals helped them to their first promotion to the 2nd Division, by winning the 3rd Division title in 1968/69. They won the title while level on points with Swindon Town but with a better Goal Average.

All was looking good down at the Vicarage, so much so that in the first season in the 2nd Division, they reached the FA Cup semi finals. They lost at White Hart Lane against Chelsea, who went on to win the Cup and despite this almost success, they struggled in the league. Finances were also poor and key players were sold, resulting in relegation back to Div 3 in 72 and then all the way back down to Div 4 in 75. Hope for the future was already there though. They had a celebrity fan at the club and he became chairman in 1976. He was, of course, speccy pop singer, Elton John.

Elton managed to persuade Graham Taylor to leave Lincoln, who he guided to the 4th Division title, and he persuaded Elton that the greyhound track around the pitch had to go. It was the start of a successful rebuild. First up, they won the 4th Division title in 77/78, finishing 11 points ahead of Southend Utd when it was still only 2 points for a win. Next season, they went up again, this time as runners up to Shrewsbury Town. After finishes of 18th and 9th in Division 2, they finally made it to the First Division for the first time in the club's history in 81/82 as they finished runners up to local rivals, Luton Town.

Vicarage Road with the greyhound track

They had some young upcoming stars in the team, the likes of Luther Blissett and John Barnes. Their goals fired them all the way to the top. They led the First Division for a while in the early part of the season and by the end of it, they had achieved their highest ever finish, ending the season as runners up to Liverpool. From Division 4 to Division 1 runners up in just 7 years.

This led them into their first venture into Europe, which went as far as the 3rd round of the UEFA Cup when they were beaten by Sparta Prague of Czechoslovakia. They followed their first venture into Europe later that season with a first venture to Wembley by reaching the 1984 FA Cup Final. They lost 0-2, beaten by Everton.

They qualified for Europe again by finishing 5th in 85/86, but were denied entry by the fact that the English clubs had been Brexitted following the Heysel disaster. The following season saw a bigger disaster for the Hornets when Taylor decided to leave. He was dazzled by the bright lights of Birmingham and went to manage Aston Villa. Barnes left as well. He went to Liverpool in a club record transfer.

Taylor's replacement was Dave Bassett, who had worked wonders with Wimbledon. He didn't last long and was sacked before the club was relegated at the end of 87/88. His replacement was former player Steve Harrison. He guided them to the Play Offs in that first season back in the 2nd tier but they lost on the away goals rule in the semis. They got nowhere near in the next few seasons until, with Glenn Roeder at the helm, got relegated to the 3rd tier in 1996.

After managing England and being turned into a turnip by the press, Taylor came back to Watford as boss for a second stint just before that relegation. He appointed former player Kenny Jackett as his head coach. The second Taylor era started moderately with a mid table finish, but the next season saw them win the title, winning promotion back to the 2nd tier. They followed that with another promotion, this time winning their first Play Off Final, beating Bolton Wanderers at Wembley 2-0. Goals came from Nick Wright and Allan Smart and Taylor's magic had worked again. Watford were now in what was now known as the Premier League.

They came straight back down though, finishing bottom of the table and Taylor decided to retire. Gianluca Vialli got the job and set about spending the money received from the new tv deal that the FL had struck with ITV Digital. He spent millions on players, who didn't perform and Vialli got the boot when his team only finished in mid table. Ray Lewington took over, but results didn't improve much and to make matters worse, ITV Digital went bust and so Watford, like many others, Town included, were up shit creek financially.

They struggled along, avoiding going into administration and even having a decent Cup run, getting to the semi finals in 2004. They made it to the League Cup semis in the next one, but despite the good cup form, results in the league were poor and Lewington was sacked. To be replaced by the young, inexperienced, ex Town full back Aidy Boothroyd. He stopped the rot and despite the worries, relegation was easily avoided.

The next season though saw much better progress, culminating in a successful Play Off campaign. They beat Crystal Palace 3-0 on aggregate, to set up a Final at the Millennium Stadium against the Skip Dwelling Bums of Beeston. Leeds were the favourites, just because they're Leeds, but that meant nothing to the reality of the situation as the Hornets hammered them 3-0. American international Jay DeMerit opened the scoring and it was 1-0 at half time. James Chambers had a shot in the 57th minute that was deflected onto the post. Don't laugh! The ball rebounded off the post, hit keeper Neil Sullivan on the back of the head and went in. I said don't laugh. Darius Henderson then scored a late penalty to wrap it up and so they were back in the Prem. Could they stay a bit longer this time?

No! They did make it to the FA Cup semis again though and Boothroyd extended his contract in the hope of bouncing back again. They made it to the Play Offs, but failed this time, losing 1-6 on aggregate to Hull City at the semi stage. Boothroyd left early in the next one. He was replaced by a series of managers who would go on to have success elsewhere in Brendan Rodgers, Malky Mackay and Sean Dyche.

The Pozzo family bought the club in 2012 and ditched Dyche in favour of Gianfranco Zola. It almost paid dividends with the club reaching the Play Offs again. In a remarkable semi final, they beat Leicester City with a famous injury time winner from Troy Deeney after Anthony Knockaert (where's he now?) had missed a penalty up the other end. They went through 3-2 on aggregate and met Crystal Palace in the Final at Wembley. That match went to extra time but a Kevin Phillips penalty gave the Palace a 1-0 win and so Watford had to stay in the Championship.

The managerial merry-go-round went mental over the next few months with managers coming and going so often, they had to install revolving doors. But when Slaviša Jokanović had his two minutes in the hot seat, he managed to get them promoted in 2015, finishing as runners up to Bournemouth. He'd been replaced before the new season kicked off by Quique Sánchez Flores and he kept them up, achieving a respectable mid table position as well as a trip to Wembley for the FA Cup semi finals.

More managers came and went. Javi Gracia (whatever happened to him?) came in and got them to the FA Cup Final of 2019. Unfortunately, they met Manchester City bang in form and got absolutely mullered 6-0. And in the next season, 2019/20, despite ending Liverpool's unbeaten run, they were relegated back to the Championship.

They went straight back up as runners up to Norwich, but came straight back down again and now we meet once more in the Championship.

Straight back down y'all.

Head to Head



Town lead the head to head with 15 wins to Watford's 13, with 5 draws.

This is only the 16th season that we have spent in the same division as each other and half of those have been in this century. Despite not having met that many times, we have played each other in all four divisions, including the Premier League where the Hornets became one of only three teams that we did the league double over. The other two of course being West Brom and Wolves.

Those two PL wins over Watford were a brilliant 4-1 win at Vicarage Road with goals from Elias Kachunga, Aaron Mooy (2) and Laurent Depoitre. Then a 1-0 home win with a last minute winner from Tom Ince.

The most recent game, back in December, the first home game after the World Cup break was another disappointing affair. A dull, drab game, stolen in the second half by a poor Watford team with two goals from João Pedro. So crap were both teams that day that both managers, Mark Fotheringham and Slaven Bilic, have both since been dismissed.

Back in time, the programme image above was from the first ever meeting of the two teams, in the 69/70 season when we won the 2nd Division championship. Full back Dennis Clarke scored in a 1-1 draw, then in the return fixture, the last game of the season at Leeds Road, we were presented with the trophy after a 3-1 victory with goals from Dick Krzywicki (2) and Jimmy Lawson.

So what's going on down Vicarage Road? Managed nowadays by Chris Wilder, the ex Halifax Town manager. A former player for the Shaymen, he went back there as manager in 2002 and stayed for six years. Sadly, his time ended when they went into liquidation (before returning as FC Halifax Town).

He went on to win promotions with Oxford Utd, Northampton Town and Sheffield Utd before last season truning up as Middlesbrough boss. His team were so bad that Huddersfield Town won their first ever game at the Riverside Stadium on his watch and was dismissed early in this current season.

For some strange reason, Watford took him on. Of the four games he's had so far, they lost at QPR, beat Birmingham, drew with Wigan and then last week got beat at Luton. He's the third manager that Watford have had this season following Rob Edwards and Slaven Bilic. What kind of a club sacks two managers in a season?      

Last week's line up at Luton:

1 Daniel Bachmann
22 Ryan Porteous
15 Craig Cathcart
44 Wesley Hoedt
2 Jeremy Ngakia
11 Ismaël Koné
4 Hamza Choudhury
6 Imran Louza
12 Ken Sema
7 Keinan Davis
10 João Pedro

Subs:
13 João Ferreira
18 Yáser Asprilla
23 Ismaïla Sarr
25 Leandro Bacuna
26 Ben Hamer
27 Christian Kabasele
34 Britt Assombalonga


Club connections: How many of these do you remember?

Watford in popular culture:









Recent form - last 6 matches:

Town 4-2 Boro
Millwall 0-1 Town
Town 1-1 Norwich
WBA 1-0 Town
Town 0-0 Bristol C
Town 0-4 Coventry

Luton 2-0 Watford
Watford 1-1 Wigan
Watford 3-0 Birmingham
QPR 1-0 Watford
Watford 0-0 PNE
Sheff U 1-0 Watford

They've only had two wins in their last 12 games.

Town are 22nd in the Championship table with 39 points. Watford are 11th with 55.

Leading scorers:

Terriers:
Jordan Rhodes (6)
Danny Ward (4)

Hornets:
Ismaïla Sarr (9)
João Pedro (9)

[WakeyTerrier]

I've always liked Watford, I'm not sure why but it possibly to do with them getting to the cup final in 84 when I was just a young kid or more likely because we beat them in the League Cup the year before. I went to the home leg of that game, we won 2-1.

What do I think this weekend, well like last week I think it's a tough ask to get anything but now the gap has closed I'd be over the moon with a boring 0-0 draw. I even think the pressure is more on Watford than us so hopefully that weighs them down and Danny Ward can nick a winner

[Lord Snooty]

Watford say Pay On The Day will be available. Cash only though.

[theo_luddite]

The banks are shut tomorrow, where are you going to get that new fangled cash stuff from?

Round here most of the banks have shut full stop and the holes in the wall they used to have ain't there anymore either.

Many have reopened selling "craft beer", which is mostly tastier but just as fizzy as the crap lagers that old fashioned pubs sell. One or two have turned the old bank vault into a beer cellar where they can keep proper beer at a proper temperature.

PS - some of the best misheard lyrics ever in those Elton Bogg subtitles Snoots
I'd like to add a few nice words about Ginger Spice too, but I can't think of any right now.

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PS Wakey - a 0-0 draw would be a first between these two.

There's been 3 1-1's, but the last was 98-99 season and there's been 6 games with only one goal. Town have won five of them, 4 at home, the last one 14th April 2018. You're back into the 90's and beyond for the others. The last time Watford beat us 1-0 at theirs was Feb 28th 1975. If you're having an over-under bet, more than 1.5 goals might be the way to go. I think 0.5 goals are those things we score against Blackpool but they don't get given.

[Lord Snooty]

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With Duane Holmes ruled out for the season with the ankle injured sustained in Saturday’s 4-2 home win over Middlesbrough, David Kasumu makes his first start in four games this afternoon.

That’s the only change to the starting side this afternoon, but there are two changes among the substitutes. Joseph Hungbo, who is ineligible to face his parent club, and Tyreece Simpson make way for Scott High and Kian Harratt.

Warnock is without Lee Nicholls (shoulder), Ollie Turton (knee), Tino Anjorin (ankle), Joseph Hungbo (ineligible), Kieran Phillips (hamstring), Duane Holmes (ankle), Yuta Nakayama (Achilles), Jaheim Headley (hamstring), and Martyn Waghorn (hamstring).

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It's on Sky red button.

[Lord Snooty]

How the chuffing hell did that get in?

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RUDONIIIIIII

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Good first half. Deservedly level. Koroma looking dangerous when he gets the ball. Just shows what a good manager can do to a player. Confidence flowing back.

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2-1 Get in.

[Lord Snooty]

Well that was fun.

[theo_luddite]

'kin 'ell. Going 1 down seems to get 'em fired up dun it?
Happy days.

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We also won another with the Wicked Witch of West Yorkshire Sport in the stadium.
Is her hex on us finally on the wane?

[Lord Snooty]

Things are happening. Even Patrick Stewart has turned up today.

[jjamez]

Harratt took his goal well, kid scores goals. Although Mr Warnock doesn't rate Rhodes, although I think if we were behind he'd be on