On This Day...

3 great watford goals. Loved that Rasiak shot.

 

On this day 37 years ago, a second top flight win over Everton. We'd beaten them in our very first game in Division One but since then had lost 8 and drawn one so this win live on TV was particularly satisfying.



https://oldwatford.com/1987/03/08/8th-march-1987-division-one-watford-2-everton-1/

 

What a great side we were back then just before GT left....

 

On this day 21 years ago one of the best days as our financially stricken club reached the FA Cup Semi Final for only the fourth time in our history.



https://oldwatford.com/2003/03/09/9th-march-2003-fa-cup-quarter-final-watford-2-burnley-0/

 

On this day 40 years ago, John Barnes at St.Andrews.



https://oldwatford.com/1984/03/10/10th-march-1984-fa-cup-quarter-final-birmingham-city-1-watford-3/

 

Let's hope we get a similar result next Saturday!

 

My first ever away game.

 

On this day 38 years ago, possibly Tony Coton's finest display in a Watford shirt as he kept Liverpool at bay in the FA Cup Sixth Round.



https://oldwatford.com/1986/03/11/11th-march-1986-fa-cup-sixth-round-liverpool-0-watford-0/

 

The best performance by a Watford player ever in my opinion. We got absolutely battered and he was unbeatable

 

Yep. Shame about the stitch up in the replay.

 

On this day 41 years ago another Luther Blissett hat-trick as we beat Notts County 5-3 at Vicarage Road.



https://oldwatford.com/1983/03/12/12th-march-1983-division-one-watford-5-notts-county-3/

 

Still annoys me to this day

 

Some of the county defending was as hilarious as the camerawork !

 

On this day eight years ago Adlene Guedioura's rocket helped dumped the holders out of the FA Cup.



https://oldwatford.com/2016/03/13/13th-march-2016-fa-cup-sixth-round-arsenal-1-watford-2/

 

On this day 37 years ago, the 3-1 FA Cup Sixth Round win at Highbury when Luther kept going to score our third after Arsenal had stopped playing.



https://oldwatford.com/1987/03/14/14th-march-1987-fa-cup-sixth-round-arsenal-1-watford-3/

 

Which was the better quarter final win at Arsenal? It has to be the '87 one for me, purely for the outraged reaction of the Arsenal players and management.
For the record Arsenal were 3rd in the table on both occasions. We were 10th in 1987, 11 points behind them and 14th in 2016, 15 points behind. So I suppose the more recent one was slightly the bigger shock result.

 

1987 by a mile. The fury was hilarious as was Adams injuring himself crashing into the post trying to keep Blissetts controversial 3rd out !

 

Absolutely loved this game because of how much it pissed Arsenal and their moronic fans off.

It's often forgotten, but we played them in the league just 7 days later and beat them again 2-0. Martin Hayes had an early penalty saved by Coton just to really rub salt in to their wounds.

Most of the highlights of the FA cup match don't show the aftermath, where coins were lobbed at our coaching staff and future scummer Steve Williams squared up to GT. The clip below includes the footage:

 

Bardsley was unplayable that afternoon.

 

Yep. Of all the major f**kups Bassett made, ditching Bardsley was one of the worst.

 

Abso-bloody-lutely !! Loved Bardsley. And to bring in Gary-bloody-Chivers !!!!

 

Christ, there's a name I'd erased from memory!

If you've not read Bardsley's take on Bassett, this is well worth a read: https://watfordlegends.com/enjoy-the-game/david-bardsley-enjoy-the-game-interview/

 

The other side of that coin is that Bardsley was not the most positive of people. Probably not the sort of character Bassett wanted around the place, but it was still a terrible decision to get rid of a player who could be absolutely brilliant as both a defender and as a winger.

The number of self-inflicted problems Bassett created in such a short space of time was staggering but, to be fair to him, in his interview for Enjoy the Game he did admit to some of his faults. I found him a very engaging bloke – although perhaps that's because I expected to dislike him.

Bombing out Kevin Richardson was another terrible decision – especially as he went on to win the title with Arsenal a couple of years later – but, like Bardsley, he did have a tendency to assume it was raining outside before drawing the curtains to take a look, and Bassett's whole ethos was to build a team of a certain type of character.

 

I remember reading that a few years ago but forgot the detail and just how awful he thought Bassett was.
"That absolute dipstick came in"
"Dave thought he could bring in some clowns from Wimbledon"
"When this other crew came in it was like a big joke. The training was rubbish. There were no standards. It was Fourth Division training. I couldn’t wait to get out of there."
"I thought I was a really good striker of the ball, but they said I was kicking it wrong. I mean, **** you. They put the ball down and said, ‘Kick it on the valve and it will go a certain way.’ I mean, really?"

 

I love that game more every time I see it. What an absolute prat Williams was. I have a feeling the lino flagged for a free kick to us, sure I heard something like that years later

 

Yes that squad that finished the season under GT was excellent and so much stronger than the squad Bassett built in his short tenure, accepting that he had no choice about losing Barnes. Chalk and cheese.

 

I've read the Bassett one also and I will admit he does come across pretty well in accepting he got many things wrong. As a comparison, I can't ever believe we'd hear similar honesty from someone like Hodgson.

Perhaps whoever followed GT was destined to fail, but my word did Bassett effectively seal his own fate with some of the decisions he made. We were certain he'd lost all sense of what was best for the team when he dropped Coton for Mel Rees, although it seems unfair to critique Rees now seeing as he died so young.

 

My favourite sequence against Arsenal came the season before when we beat them 2-0 at Highbury on Easter Monday and then again 3-0 at Vicarage Road the next day. They just didn’t want to know. No cojones you see.

 

After the Monday game the Arsenal players went on a bender and were all over the place on the Tuesday night. Apparently, or perhaps allegedly.

 

On this day 38 years ago, our second win away at Manchester City in five weeks! Steve Terry scored as we won 1-0 at Maine Road to follow up our 3-1 FA Cup win in February.



https://oldwatford.com/1986/03/15/15th-march-1986-division-one-manchester-city-0-watford-1/

 

On this day 5 years ago, one of my favourite games, the FA Cup win over Crystal Palace. Restricting them to the exact number of seats, the pre-match atmosphere and Gomes reaction at the end. A great day.



https://oldwatford.com/2019/03/16/16th-march-2019-fa-cup-sixth-round-watford-2-crystal-palace-1/

 

Is that the last time we beat them?