Fantasy (part 3)

Just to balance things out... here's my rather-more-struggling Premier League fantasy team! Reassuringly, I have settled in my usual mid-table insignificance.

If I can be bothered, I'll keep you updated on my progress.

The Championship rollercoaster

So the Championship is already hotting up and already making utterly no sense either!

My team, Watford, struggle in their first 2 games only then to humble (away from home!) an in-form Nottingham Forest side that had been rather unfortunate to face two highly fancied sides in their opening two games. Then we play Blackpool at home, with a slight swagger in our step and end up... drawing!

The transfer merry-go-round continues to spin too - for everyone's sake it is vital that we race to the end of the month and things are allowed to settle into some sort of consistency...

Please stay Tommy!

Fantasy (part 2)

It seems as though I may never have such a lead in any sort of punditry competition so I'm officially bragging... Sorry, but I KNOW it won't last at all!

Fantasy (part 1)

I've had a Fantasy League team for the past few years but this summer a friend introduced me to the new concept of a Championship Fantasy League. I thought this was an intriguing twist and, being an expert in the Championship, I thought I'd give it a go...

Turns out it is a lot harder than I first thought. At first I was going for an all past and present WFC team - hence the presence of Williamson, Cowie, Smith, Henderson, Chopra - but I couldn't quite make it work (I was thwarted by the formation and had WAY too much 'money' left over...). So above is my final 'first' team - I don't feel that I'm giving away any vital secrets as I'm not holding out much hope for this debut season!!

If you're interested, this is the "Hornets Then & Now" team I had originally... with a few alternatives who have now come to light!

GK - S. Loach (WAT)

DF - M. Williamson (WAT)
DF - J. Chambers (DON)
DF - L. Bromby (SHU)
DF - W. Brown (LEI)

MD - T.Smith (WAT)
MD - L. Williamson (SHU)
MD - L. Johnson (BRC)
MD - A. Johnson (MID)

ST - M. Chopra (CAR)
ST - D. Henderson (SHU)

plus the other possibilities that may have worked...

T. Priskin (IPS) - ST
H. Helguson (QPR) - ST
C. Mackail-Smith (PET) - ST
S. Brooker (DON) - ST
B. Gunnarsson (REA) - MD
G. Mahon (QPR) - MD
L. Cook (QPR) - MD
C. Fletcher (PLY) - MD
T. Diagouranga (PET) - MD
J. Stewart (DER) - MD
M. Devaney (BAR) - MD
C. Powell (LEI) - DF

As you can see a relative embarrassment of riches going forward but pretty pitiful at the back...

It's nearly time...

If we were at Vicarage Road now, they'd be playing "Give It Up" by The Good Men...

We are now hours away from the new season and of course, it is now that everything "kicks off"! Priskin gets sold, Ellington gets flung an unlikely lifeline and we get stung by tribunal for the only player we have actually paid money for! It would seem that we are now down to a shoe-string squad - almost threadbare you might argue - but if Ellington's trial is successful, might we rest easier about the prospect of keeping Tommy Smith? Or is that inevitable raid from our former guide and guardian, just around the corner?

We are on the eve of the first match back and we've just lost one key player. Sadly, there are still question marks about others - Smith, Loach, DeMerit, O'Toole, Williamson & MacAnuff to name a few - but perhaps more positively there are still options to thin the squad down in other areas too. As for the current squad, I think the only area we might need cover is up front but if we can hang on to Smith at this stage, it will make a massive difference.

All in all, I'm more optimistic than some seasons going into day one - there are several reasons for this including the fact that everyone's tipping us for relegation and I don't think it is that likely, MacKay is a good, honest, hard-working Watford man and of all the people to get sold, Priskin is the most enigmatic and difficult to encourage into Malky's strong work-ethic...

Having said that, while I'm optimistic, I do predict a tough season ahead and anything above 20th place would be seen as a result - top ten being the most I could hope for! Our first three home matches with Doncaster, Blackpool & Barnsley (combined with the fact that only 2 of our first 5 games are at home...) are crucial to get some early points on the board

Bring on the season... "U 'orns!!!"

Pre-season lull

The pre-season period is not especially exciting for a "middling" Championship fan. Even our brief sojourn into the top flight didn't produce an exciting pre-season (just heightened the sense of dread as the lack of footballing 'messiahs' became apparent).

We might get the odd player here - an obscure Frenchman on trial, a Slovenian left back, a couple of solid if unspectacular signings - and there but most of our excitement revolves around who are we going to lose our grip on! Or more to the point, which of our players is going to get signed by Sheffield United next?! There are still question marks over 4 or 5 of our best players and, in truth, it is still too early to tell. Most of the deals will probably take place between now and the start of play in August.

Still there's always the 'high profile' friendlies to look forward to... no disrespect to sticking goals a-plenty past Borehamwood, Tring & Wealdstone but you really want a couple of juicy fixtures to get your teeth into. This year, Real Zaragoza pulled out on us and the closest we have to a glamour game (unless you count the local derby with our neighbours St Albans City...) is a home match with Parma. Hardly earth-shattering stuff. The WFC new kit is not even that exciting...

Elsewhere in the footballing "dress-rehersals", Man City are buying every striker who's got Premiership experience and a big price tag. Michael Owen is scoring for United. Everyone else is just kinda getting on with it. Can't really be bothered to do the research to work out the most interesting new signing of the pre-season either! Think I'll just sit back and see what happens really. Meh!

More Golden Nostalgia

Again, I'm feeling fragile, so please indulge me a little more. It was also 25 years this May since we reached our one and (so far) only FA Cup final. I was about 6 at the time; new to football and not really aware of my soon-to-become obsession... However, enjoy re-living the memories... (even, on this occasion, if you are a L*t*n fan!)

10 years ago...

With uncertainty clouding current times, it seems like a great opportunity to reflect on past glories. It hadn't occurred to me that it was 10 years ago, last Sunday, since my first and only trip to the old Wembley for a match. And what a match!!



I have many weird and wonderful memories from following Watford around the country and in many, many "cathedrals" (and a few cemeteries!) of football. But despite, giving Leeds a hammering at the Millennium Stadium back in 2006, Monday May 31st 1999 will remain etched in my memory forever. Please indulge me (if I go on a bit!) as I think back to happier times...

Firstly, some context. We're back in 1999 and I'm just finishing up my final year at University of Liverpool. I have spent the earlier parts of the play-offs revising for my own "finals" (first 'final' was the morning after my 21st birthday - had to be dragged out to the pub to even consider celebrating...) while Watford try to reach theirs. I think my finals were nearly over when I sacrificed a night to watch the second leg at St Andrews. Birmingham levelled the aggregate in the 2nd minute and so we were left at the mercy of nearly 120 minutes of staunch rearguard action from the boys in yellow (most notably the stalwart Alec Chamberlain in goal). Penalties, on a night like this, were as nerve-wracking as they were inevitable and it was destined to be our year. I recall the distinctive memory of myself and about three other WFC fans (at least two of those being "recruits" who shared a house with a WFC fan - we are a rare breed after all...!) huddled in one corner of a Liverpool boozer, cheering every kick of the shoot-out. Wondering which of our brave heroes would buckle under the pressure. Alon Hazan (a name you won't read too many references to on an English football blog), I believe, chalked up the latest penalty for the Hornets and then it was Chris Holland vs Chamberlain in the sudden death...

Moments passed, but they felt like hours as two prizefighters faced each other up. Then, BANG! Chamberlain the hero, Holland the distraught victim and all I remember is running through the pub, screaming while local Scousers offered us words of encouragement and congratulation ("You know you'll come straight back down..."). I didn't care... I knew I had my Wembley ticket reserved at home and this was going to be a great day... Even a visit from my family that weekend would stop me making the 200 mile trip back home to be with my footballing tribe!

Scroll on to the big day itself and my family have travelled up from Hertfordshire to Liverpool so I take my sister back on the train to Watford early that morning to join up with the Hornet hordes, heading the few stops down the mainline to Wembley Central... There was a lot of confidence as we all marched towards the Twin Towers, taking in Wembley Way and seeing it in a sea of yellow, red & black. Despite the fact that there were 37000 Watford fans present, when we found our seats in the ground, we were sat really near to some of my school friends! Also discovered that the seats at Wembley barely qualified as 'seats' - in fact, they were more like cramped benches. But there were gaps next to and in front of us so it wouldn't be all bad...

I needed to learn how to wave my "exclusive" Play Off Final flag so Ruth gave me a crash course in flag-waving, while there was a bit more space. Moments before kick-off two extremely drunk blokes arrived to take their seats and then went on to spend the entire game clambering over everyone, standing up, grabbing people, singing (tunelessly) at the top of their voices and yelling at nearby fans like us... Nice!

The game itself... I guess I don't really remember the detail that well but I do recall that Bolton were on top during the first half hour. I remember the then-little-known Eidur Gudjohnsen miss a gilt-edge chance and then Chamberlain made a point-blank save from him too. But then it all changed. A corner swung in to the Bolton box, was partially cleared and then Nick Wright, swung his leg and connected with an unlikely overhead kick, as it flew to the top corner over future Hornet Neil Cox. The Watford "half" (including our two plastered friends...) went totally nuts. From then on, it was "all yellow" - the legend that is Tommy Mooney went within inches of number two with a bullet header and other chances came and went. Bolton huffed & puffed but didn't look likely to level. Then Peter Kennedy broke away in the last few minutes and squared to Allan Smart who made no mistake and we were there! The promised land of the Premier League! The songs, the partying, the jumping, the yelling... and I even hugged the drunks!! The celebrations seemed endless and beyond that my memory is hazy...

My one remaining memory was travelling back up to Liverpool on the train (which by the way, was filled with Bolton fans...) with a massive grin on my face and then going to Blackpool the next day with my family and buying every different paper to bask in the Golden-hued sports pages...

Yes, I know I'm sad - but I feel like I've had a much-needed dose of footie therapy re-telling this glorious adventure!

Oh yeah, one last memory... I remember there being such long queues for the toilets at half time that the really drunk people were peeing up against the walls! I hope, with the new improved Wembley Stadium, that they fixed that particular problem

New Manager - new team? (Part 2)

Many a blog is left abandoned...

...and as I write this post, we find ourselves having turned the "doomed tanker" that was our season and survived the Championship relegation dogfight only to finish a most creditable 13th. We have a very promising young manager (how could I ever have doubted you?!), we're playing attractive football, scoring goals and even though we are still "potless", there is hope in the WD postcode. We are happy once more!

However, also as I write this post, we are being heavily linked with the managerial vacancy at Reading and even 3CR is saying Rodgers is off to Reading - his spiritual as well as "physical" home. The happiness factor feels like it is draining with every second... All the great ground work done since November could be for nothing and many of our best players could be off out of the exit too. Again, as in the previous post, I hope I'm wrong, but things are becoming too much of a familiar "rollercoaster of emotions" with my club. Please stay Buck - surely 5 months is not enough to prove your mettle...

New manager... new team?

Sometimes fears are realised; other times they turn out to unfounded; often they are just delayed... Right now, it is hard to tell which is true. We have a new manager - of great pedigree - but of minimal experience. He has a very well respected number 2 - with great connections. We seem to be playing much neater, more attractive football and, as of the last 5 days, we are actually WINNING!

But some of the same old problems are still there. We are still shocking at the back - worst in the Championship by a country mile. Despite all the exciting talk of 'new faces' (and endless loan aquisitions from Chelsea / Arsenal or wherever), we are still potless and likely to have to sell our best player if a decent offer comes in. Plus we are still hovering dangerously close to the relegation zone and we have board members etc disappearing like they're sailing the Marie Celeste.

So the jury is still out on Brendan Rodgers. When I saw the first game of our promotion season back in 2005 (very early in Aidy's tenure), I KNEW we were going to do well that season - despite the fact that we actually lost the game. Having witnessed us playing Spurs recently, I'm encouraged in a similar way but until we can tighten up that horribly leaky defense, it is all going to remain wishful thinking.

If you do have any rabbits to pull out of that hat, Mr Rodgers, can you make at least one of them a reliable defender please?!