Welcome to the Soccer Tavern, where we’re discussing the history, culture, and philosophy of the beautiful game. My name is Dave and in this video, we’re talking about the history of Watford Football Club. Pull up a seat and let’s start the discussion.
Watford FC is located in the southwestern-central part of the town of Watford. Watford is located in the central part of England, just barely north of London, in the United Kingdom. The club currently play in the Premier League and its home ground is called Vicarage Road, which opened in 1922 and holds a little less than 24,000 people.
Origin
Watford FC traces their founding back to 1881 when a group of teenagers, led by Henry Grover, formed Watford Rovers. In 1890, Rovers became a part of West Herts Club. By 1898, West Herts and another local club named Watford St. Mary’s were both struggling financially, so they decided to merge and form Watford Football Club.
Nicknames
The club has a few nicknames including: The Hornets, The Horns or ‘Orns, & The Golden Boys.
The Hornets nickname comes from 1959 when the club changed their primary kit colors to gold shirts with black shorts. Supporters started calling them the Hornets shortly thereafter because they looked like Hornet bees.
The Horns or ‘Orns are slang versions of the hornets nickname.
And you’ll also sometimes hear the nickname of The Golden Boys, which comes from the kit color as well
Crest
Watford has a relatively simple crest.
It’s been in use basically since 1978 with some minor tweaks throughout the decades. The kind of diamond shaped crest has the club’s two main colors of black and yellow outlined by red.
The Watford at the top obviously comes from the club’s name, but why is there a moose in the middle of the crest? It’s actually not a moose but is a hart. A hart is a male deer and is the symbol for the county of Hertfordshire.
Up until the 1990s, Watford FC were the only club from Hertfordshire to be in the Football League (England’s top 4 divisions). So, the deer is an emblem of local pride.
Important Events
Most of the important events in Watford’s history revolve around 2 men: Elton John and Graham Taylor.
Elton John was born 5 miles from Watford’s home ground and is a lifelong Watford supporter. In 1976 he bought the club, then in the 4th division, and assumed the role of chairman of the board. After giving the existing manager 1 season, John appointed Graham Taylor as manager in 1977. Taylor immediately led the club to 2 consecutive promotions before gaining promotion to the top flight after the 1981-1982 season. Promotion was secured on May 4, 1982 with a 2-0 home victory over Wrexham. It was the first time the club had reached the first division in their history.
Following the club’s miraculous rise of 3 promotions in 5 seasons, the club went on to finish the 1982-1983 First Division season in 2nd place. It was an incredible time for the club as Elton John’s star power and steady leadership were able to attract talented players while Graham Taylor proved to be an exceptional manager for the club.
Taylor left Watford in the late ’80s and Elton John moved on in the early ’90s, but both men returned to the club by the late ’90s. In the 1998-1999 season, the club incredibly won 7 of their last 8 matches to qualify for the Championship playoffs. Watford dramatically beat Birmingham City over 2 legs via an epic penalty shootout to face Bolton in the final. On May 31, 1999 Watford won 2-0 at Wembley to qualify for the Premier League for the first time since its creation in 1992.
Both Elton John and Graham Taylor have stands in Vicarage Road named after them.
One last important event I’d like to mention happened in 2002. The club was in a terrible financial position and needed to raise at least £9.5M to avoid going into administration (bankruptcy). In September, the players agreed to a 12% pay deferral and reached the FA Cup semifinals that season. That helped stabilize the club financially and saved them from slipping into administration or worse.
Supporters
Supporters are sometimes called the Yellow Army, but more often than not, go by one of the club’s nicknames that we’ve already discussed.
Noteworthy Players
Luther Blissett is a club legend. He has the club’s all-time appearance and goal scoring records which he achieved during 3 different stints with the club. He was a key part of the club that rose from the 4th Division in the late 70s to 2nd place in the First Division by the early 80s.
John Barnes was one of the most talented players to ever play for Watford. He was signed as a 17 year old and made his debut shortly after. He scored 10 goals in that 1982-83 season where Watford finished 2nd in the top flight. He scored many goals during his 6 seasons with the club before being transferred to Liverpool in 1987. He’d go on to win many trophies, including twice being named PWA player of the year.
David James was a youth academy product for Watford, making his debut at 20 years old. He left the club after only 2 season, but went on to have a very long and successful career, winning a League and FA Cup each as well as 53 caps for the full English National team.
Ashley Young also came through Watford’s academy and spent his first 3 professional seasons with Watford before moving to Aston Villa. He subsequently moved to Manchester United where he’s won a Premier League and is still a regular contributor to that talented squad.
And I have to mention Jay Demerit. He was an American centerback who famously went to England to chase his dream of playing professional soccer. He started in the amateur leagues and had to work as a bouncer to make some money. Watford signed Demerit after a trial in 2004 and he helped the club reach the Premier League in 2006. Jay would go on to become Watford captain and represented the US at the 2010 World Cup.
Noteworthy Managers
We’ve already talked about him at length but Graham Taylor is the greatest manager in Watford FC history. He managed over 1,000 league matches in his career and also led the English National Team from 1990 to 1993.
No one can really come close to Taylor in Watford’s history but some other well thought of managers for the club are Ken Furphy and Aidy Boothroyd.
Furphy managed the club for 7 seasons. He led Watford into the 2nd division and FA Cup semi-finals, which were both firsts in the club’s history.
Boothroyd was 34 years old when he took over a struggling Watford side in the spring of 2005. He saved the club from relegation and led the club to a surprise promotion to the Premier League in the following season. He left the club in the fall 2008 but was a decent servant for Watford during his time in charge.
Brendan Rodgers, who is famous for his time at Liverpool and now Celtic began his first team manager career with Watford in 2008. It was a short stint but he’s somewhat noteworthy and I also wanted to mention here.
Rivals
Watford’s main rival is Luton Town FC, who currently play in the lower divisions of the English Football league. The two clubs are 19 miles apart and each represent proudly their respective counties of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. The two clubs first met in 1885 but the rivalry really kicked off with a match in late April 1969.
Three players were sent off in that match, keep in mind during that time, extremely physical play was tolerated, so people had to be doing some pretty violent things to get sent off. After that match, the supporters also fought in a nearby town.
With hooliganism spreading throughout the English game, there were many violent clashes between the two sets of fans over the decades since this 1969 match with the worst incident occurring in 2002 where fighting took place all over the town of Watford.
This rivalry has definitely lost some intensity in recent years with Luton being many divisions below Watford but Luton still remains Watford’s chief rival.
Stats & Records
The stats and records we’re about to discuss are as of March 2018 when we are recording this video.
The Hornets have spent 11 seasons in the top flight in their history.
The club has no major trophies but does have a championship trophy from each of the 3rd & 4th tiers (I mistakenly said Watford won the 2nd tier in the video).
The club’s record first team appearance holder is Luther Blissett with 503 appearances.
The club’s record goal scorer is Luther Blissett with 186 goals.
Watford’s record transfer purchase was Andre Gray from Burnley FC on August 9, 2017 for about £18.5M.
And the club’s record transfer sale was Odion Ighalo to Changchun Yatai in the Chinese Super League on January 31, 2017 for about £20M.
One last interesting fact about the club: Only two players have been capped by the full English national team while on Watford’s books. That was John Barnes & Luther Blissett, who were both born in Jamaica.
Meanwhile, Watford have had five players represent the full Jamaican national team (Lloyd Doyley, Micah Hyde, Marlon King, Adrian Mariappa & Nyron Nosworthy) and they were all born in England.
So there you have it… a bit of history on Watford Football Club. Let’s continue the discussion in the comments section below this video.
Thanks for stopping by the Soccer Tavern. Hope to see you again sometime soon. Cheers.
The Soccer Tavern 