On This Day...

Yes! A wonderful strike eh. Arthur Scargill would have been proud of it!

 

On this day 25 years ago, we jumped above Bolton and Wolves and moved into the playoff zone after winning 2-1 at Port Vale.



https://oldwatford.com/1999/04/27/27th-april-1999-new-division-one-port-vale-1-watford-2/

 

....featuring THAT Robbo "tackle" that effectively ended in the career of a PV player ......who I seem to recall subsequently took legal action against him for damages ???

 

On this day 40 years ago our first win Kenilworth Road in almost 20 years was completely overshadowed by referee Keith Hackett sending off Wilf Rostron which meant the Watford captain would miss the FA Cup Final.



https://oldwatford.com/1984/04/28/28th-april-1984-division-one-luton-town-1-watford-2/

 

Apologies to Keith Hackett. Not sure where I got that from. It was, of course, Roger Milford who sent Wilf off. GT described him as 'he of the Shirley Temple curls and shortest of shorts'.

 

Quite extraordinary that the programme cover congratulated us for reaching the cup final - a far cry from the craftily coded 'Watford are ****' assertion which featured last season.

 

Remember that there was a definite joint initiative at the time between GT and David Pleat to calm the animosity between the two sets of fans.

 

Milford was sadly also the ref that awarded that very dodgy penalty against us when we were 4 minutes away from beating Liverpool in the 1986 FA Cup quarter final replay.

Two bad decisions that both cost us dearly.

I actually met him a few times in my working life and he was a very pleasant guy. Just a shame he was an awful ref and had such a dodgy hairstyle too.

 

The 'consciousness' that was the bent ref lurking inside Milford never actually left the game. Once the host body got too old, it laid dormant for a few years until a new host was deemed suitable. Eventually it chose Rob Styles and possessed that vacuous shell until it decided to jump ship to somebody with even fewer morals and less sporting intergrity, Stuart Attwell.

 

I went to this game. People may have forgotten that it was a rearranged fixture from the week before. Torrential rain had caused it to be postponed and we heard on 3CR whilst on the M1.

Port Vale's equaliser was from the penalty spot for an off the ball incident with Steve Palmer. At the far end to us, their fans suddenly went mad at a corner about something. After realising it was going to be a penalty, we then all thought that Palmer would be sent off. I think he escaped with a yellow.

The other significant thing for me was I was sat next to this total psycho. This assessment was based on an incident a couple of weeks earlier in the Red Lion. After a home game we used to go in there for a while to wait for the traffic to die down. The bit of the pub on the right used to go down some steps (haven't been in there for a long time so I don't know if it still does) so was significantly lower than the bar, where there was a hatch for the barmen to look down from. The psycho's mates were messing about and one threw a heavy ashtray at him 'for a laugh'. It missed but made a helluva noise as it hit the floor. The barmen - who seemingly had a deathwish - appeared at the hatch and screamed at the guy as if he was a naughty kid. As you'd expect, he didn't take this lightly. After some choice words, he ran to the hatch, jumped up and grabbed the barmen and proceeded to punch the hell out of him. We decided it was time to go.

When I saw I was sitting next to him at Vale Park, I just prayed he didn't recognise me from the pub. Turned out that as long as you didn't shout at him in a patronising way (or likely in any way), he wouldn't beat you up.

 

Thanks for posting this. I went to this match whilst in the grip of depression. It was for me a much needed bit of escapism.

 

You bought a programme? No, no, no! Never give them a penny!

 

On this day 46 years ago we celebrated winning the Fourth Division championship with a 3-2 win over Southport in what was their last game as a Football League club.



https://oldwatford.com/1978/04/29/29th-april-1978-division-four-watford-3-southport-2/

 

@Old Watford I just wanted to say how much I enjoy your nostalgic posts. Thank you. Keep them coming

 

The "McClenaghan throw-in" match ?

 

I think it was, yes. I remember being awarded two penalties in the first half - one penalty was rare enough back then but getting two was unheard of. Keith Pritchett scored both. Isn't it strange the things we can remember! Ask me what I had for lunch yesterday and I couldn't tell you, but I have instant recall when it comes to who scored two penalties for Watford against Southport 46 years ago!

 

I loved the way Keith P took his penalties. Invariably sent the keeper the wrong way. Complete contrast to the Bolton and Deeney "blast it at 'em" approach.

 

What about Luther’s back-to-goal, turn, run and shoot technique?

 

Yes an interesting technique. Sam Ellis was also deadly from the spot, though I'm not sure we saw much of that at Watford?

 

Thank you!

On this day 19 years ago our Championship status was secured as Heidar Helguson scored the only goal in our 1-0 win away at Stoke City.



https://oldwatford.com/2005/04/30/30th-april-2005-championship-stoke-city-0-watford-1/

 

Shame no video.
From the linked BBC report and post match interview with Aidy

"Watford manager Adrian Boothroyd: "I'm one of those daft people who don't believe in realism. I believe we can get promoted next season and that will be the aim.
"Some might say it's a success to avoid relegation but I certainly don't.
"I will only think I have achieved something when Watford are high up this league.""

 

Tony Pulis looking particularly menacing if I may say so myself

 

I think you mean Our Tom.

 

Just wait until he gets to 100 draws and then he'll be Sir Tom...

 

I like to think Captain/Sir/Our Tom are interchangeable.

 

On this day 25 years ago we drew 2-2 away at Barnsley which meant our playoff destiny was in our own hands going into the final game of the season at home to Grimsby.



https://oldwatford.com/1999/05/01/1st-may-1999-new-division-one-barnsley-2-watford-2/

 

Although it ended our 7 match winning streak, it was a great day out. The sun was shining, there was a barbeque in the garden of the away fans' pub. I got very lucky because when we went 2-1 up as I was in row A I jumped over the advertising hoarding and could have been thrown out. Checking the video in the link I see I wasn't the only one! I must have been out of shot on the left.

 

He'll be Tom T1t by October, I'm sorry to say

 

‘E for B and Keith Eddy’ was also great at penalties. The only one I remember him missing for us was early in the 1-0 win at Swindon in the 68-9 season; the result that meant we eventually pipped them to the Div3 title.

 

Indeed, although I would say when a load of stupid glory hunters who were only concerned with making sure they could invade the pitch played a very large part in us blowing the Championship title. But let's not focus on that.

On this day 26 years ago we were crowned Division Two champions on the banks of the Thames.




https://oldwatford.com/1998/05/02/2nd-may-1998-new-division-two-fulham-1-watford-2/

 

No, they still got in by finishing 5th, it would've been third if they'd beaten us. However almost more hilariously they then lost in the semi finals on aggregate to Grimsby who came up with us and Bristol City.