Steve Terry started it I believe. The shorts weren't quite as 'hot pant' as they appeared, so Steve started rolling his shorts over at the top so as to tighten them to the desired testicle stress. They ended up with the label rolled over to the outside.
Moving on from Steve Terry's testicles.. I found a couple of program articles yesterday concerning ex groundsman Les Simmons. Now it might only be me who's interested in such things but Les was awarded a testimonial by the club and, at least at the time, he was the only groundsman to ever receive such an honour. Can anyone recall who we played? I thought it was also interesting that he mentions the "2 foot slope" of the pitch.. when everybody thought it was much more? and he also talks of the ongoing drainage problems. Anyway have a read..
That's just brilliant! Never seen it before and what an interesting array of old hand me down kits on display as well I guess this is also answers a question i brought up on the training ground thread about former training grounds. Well did we used to train at Cassiobury park?
This is a splendid thread! Funnily enough my brother Laurence,on his most recent visit to me from Norfolk,brought me the programme from the concert. I'm hoping he finds the letter GT wrote to him from the late '70s. Laurence had vowed not to shave his moustache for as long as he didn't see us lose. GT wrote some kind words and finished with something akin to 'I trust,unless you went to Swansea(?),your moustache is of handlebar proportions!' Unfortunately Laurence did!
Very interesting Stevo. Caravans in the background I wonder if Les stayed in one! I remember the game he mentions with the snow. Televised as nearly all top games called off. I think we beat Stockport ? 4-2 or something. Don't know his testimonial game (Spurs?) but he deserved it never taking a holiday. I wonder what he would think of the pitch today? (I assume he is no longer with us?) And where is his old Ransomes? mower?
Close with Spurs but it was Arsenal we played, May 1997. That was the last season Les worked for the club.. after 50 years service. Apparently Luther made a cameo appearance in the game, as he was our assistant manager at the time. The Arsenal players, showing their respect, had let Luther through on goal only for him to be tackled by a young Nic Anelka, who didnt understand the situation! Sadly Les Simmons passed away in 2010. http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/4828384.Watford_stalwart_dies/ Some great comments in that article..like the one from someone who worked at the power station behind the Rookery and had Les come down and ask him to stop generating power as it was poisoning the grass! Also the comment there about about the Sunderland 8-0 game. Their manager, Alan Durban, had praised the pitch but had added that it should be good as "the ball's never on it" Les passed this information on to GT who used it in his pre-game talk. We know the rest
Yes the Rotherham game and you are right, 2 goals from Lees, who had come on as a sub. I have a pic.. i can only imagine diving full length on ice like that must have hurt!
I have a couple of more shots of the EJ-Stewart concert that came up recently on the "Watford memories" FB group. Seems there was a lot of injuries that day. The pic behind the stage in the old Shrodells stand looks like a war zone!
The photo that you show is not from that 5-1 Rotherham game which was in Feb 1969, but from a game a few years earlier against Carlisle United - which also finished 5-1 to us. You can see Bobby Bell on the far right. He never played with Walter Lees. Dai Ward scored a hat-trick. The game was on Dec 29th 1962 and was the last game played before the "Big Freeze" of early 1963. In the days long before undersoil heating and all-seater covered stands, the snowy conditions prevented any games being played for almost 2 months. Our next fixture was home to Rotherham in the third round of the FA Cup on February 20th 1963! When the Big Freeze started we were (I believe) third in Div. 3, but after it our form plummeted, winning only 3 games out of the last 20 and finishing 17th avoiding relegation by 2 points. We lost 3 games at home in succession 5-2, 4-1 and 4-1. A collapse of QSF and Walter proportions....
Ah cheers for that. I mistook the Carlisle pic i had in my collection as being the same occasion. Although the kits looked similar they are clearly more modern on closer inspection. This was the 1969 Rotherham game.. I also found pic of the later Rotherham game.. http://c7.alamy.com/comp/ER6A5M/rot...ronside-makes-a-flying-save-during-ER6A5M.jpg
Les trained and raced greyhounds up to the 1990s. He had a dog called Belle-adaire (not sure about the spelling) which was highly rated at the time, and was selected for a special race of the top racers at the time (which I believe included Scurlogue Champ), but, if my memory of the time line serves me correctly, got bitten in the cheek by a squirrel, and never got her form back afterwards - she was a complete woos! He kept the dogs in kennels out the back of his house in Radlet Road (just on the roundabout coming down from the orphanage). He was a top bloke, and, outside of the board, God and Eddie Plumly, was probably the most influential person at the club during that rather special time. He was still complaining about the damage done to the pitch by Elton's concert up 'till the pitch was replaced, and was very dissapointed that he would no longer be able moan about it to the chairman. He hated anyone going on the pitch if they weren't either maintaining it or playing on it, and one of the first things he said to me was 'get of my f***ing pitch!' I wasn't always sure if he was a fan or not. He always backed the team, loved the players, but just seemed to indulge us if we talked about supporting the club. But then he would do something that would show real delight in what the club was achieving. My favourite memory of him was after the Plymouth Semi, when all the staff were dropped off of a very boozey coach at the club, and spilled onto the pitch, in front of the Rookery, all pretending to be George Reilly. Les had disappeared, and, despite being in a merry state, a few of us were a little nervous what he would say, especially with a number of league games still to be played on it. No problems though, suddenly the flood lights came on, and Les came running out of the tunnel with three footballs shouting something along the lines of 'just the once mind'. Another fond memory, which reflected his history with the Club, was coming back from the Cup Final, in the staff coach. As we were leaving the environs of Wembley, Les noticed a chap strolling along the road, heading back from the game, and started banging on the window shouting, "It's Mike Keen, it's (expletive) Mike Keen", and gestured for him to come onto the bus. Mike just smiled and waved back shaking his head. For some reason that really puts a smile on my face; he was the first Watford manager I really registered and that made him a bit of a legend, former scummer or not.
A few more great pics from https://oldwatford.com/ (if you haven't already, check it out yourselves when you have a chance - lots of great stuff). Cropped from the front of the Newcastle matchday programme, 29/8/78. Can you name the players? Acknowledging the fans on promotion, May 78: Another promotion, further acknowledgement: Volunteers helping clear the pitch of snow, January 1982: Vicarage Road as seen from the Rookery, 1984:
Found a few LWT items items concerning Watford fc on Youtube. This first one is concerning the council turning down the planning application for the original Shrodell's replacement..
There's also quiet a few news items concerning Elton selling his shares in the club in the 80's.. and nearly being bought out by Paul Raymond!
It's Keith Pritchett (LB) not Trevor How but you're spot on with the others. Pritchett was with us from late 1976 through to beginning of the first Div. 1 season in 1982 although not actually making an appearance in the league that season. Only Luther and Ross spanned more seasons during our rise under GT in the late 70s, early 80s. Sherwood made his first appearance later that 76-77 season and, of course, stayed longer overall.
It was a toss up between the two. Keith Pritchett contacted me a few years back through my YouTube channel. He asked if i had any footage with him playing for the Horns. I had a few bits and pieces so made him a DVD and sent it to him in New Zealand. He never did thank me for it!
I had a go at putting names on these players from 1963, but of course may not have got them 100%. My guess is that one of the others I have not named is Dai Ward but not sure which. The team I saw in my first game, late 1962, formed the basis for this team in '63. Dave Underwood was goalie in 62, but Pat Jennings had just appeared in the world youth cup for Northern Ireland in April 63 and we signed him immediately. Straight into the first team and what a keeper. Ken Oliver was my boyhood hero because of his ability to score headers when challenged by enormous defenders despite being not terribly tall. George Harris was also a favourite.
Weird. Just heard Les Simmons saying exactly that in today's Hornet Heaven podcast. Mike Keen was in yesterday's.
When I was first a ball boy ( at home to Walsall 67/68 ) Les Simmonds was in charge of us. I don't think he really wanted to be, but had the job given to him regardless. First game of the season, he insisted we all line up in the old central tunnel under the main stand, as Ron Rollitt was on the microphone announcing the team changes and got us to march-out round the outside of the pitch ( before the players came out from their own entrances to the left and right of the stand ) in a line, until we each reached our station. By game no.2 that was all forgotten, Les briefly poked his head round the corner to see if we were there and left. The tracksuits were undried from the rain against Walsall, so were horribly musty & unwashed in the box and we picked out the least muddy stinky ones to wear and left the bad ones to the latecomers. Then we all wandered out at different times going wherever we wanted. The following season first game, he told us he had secured new tracksuits which were still in their wrapping and again, we were marched out to show them off and again that didn't last long before we were left to our own devices. Although I do remember Ken Furphy coming in once to tell us how we were representing the club and had to look professional, which we all loved.
Found this with the names included sw17.. So McNeice instead of Mancini.. and you got most of the others. I checked and this was the starting 11 against Hull City for the opening game of 63/64 season, so i guess that's when the pic was taken. Btw i found that pic on Ebay.. always a good place to find old squad photo's, in fact you can find most seasons. Have a look here.. https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/Watford-Football-Team-Photographs/68300/bn_18361435 I see you can purchase a collection of photos covering 55 different seasons, for £110! Lastly i dont if you have seen this before.. 1st round of the fa cup from 1963. Not the greatest quality but very evocative of the era..
No matter what designer clothes and headphones the current squad can muster they will never be as dapper as this lot from 1905.. Bonus point for anyone who can name the players not mentioned
Slaven Bilic is top left with Ricky Hatton in front of him to the right. Is that Vydra on the far right?
Haggerty F, Haggerty R, Tomkins, Noble, Carrick, Dobson, Dewhurst, Crapper, McIntyre, Treadmore.. Davitt. PS Has to be the funniest football sketch of all time..
Pretty sure they're on the forum. So what Stevo does one day, HH will probably end up doing a few days later. A bit like The Mercury with rumours, only more interesting and insightful.
Brings back so many memories - there is a typo - the player second from left at the back is George Catleugh (not Carleugh as printed). He was a cultured half-back who worked at PSR Builders Merchants in West Watford after his football career. I believe that he was sacked along with a number of other employees for theft but I may be wrong. He died only 63 and GT was at his funeral in 1996.
Another great picture from https://oldwatford.com/ - celebrating a goal in our cup classic against Harlow Town in 1980: ....a game that was shown on the TV later, as told by the scoreboard! and here is the main action - worth a watch:
After the Harlow game we were sat waiting for the Aylesbury bus in Exchange Street when a bunch of Essex boys turned up in vans and cars. They proceeded to park up and set about a group of Watford who had seemingly appeared from nowhere. It was a big enough disturbance to halt the traffic in Exchange Road. Word on the street after was that the Harlow lot were really masquerading Spurs fans.
