Vicarage Road (Watford)

Welcome to the latest installment of the Gloucester Groundhopper blog.

For this installment, we went to Hertfordshire to watch Championship side Watford take on fellow Championship side Southampton in the FA Cup at Vicarage Road. 

It's All In The Name

Many football fans may identify Watford's moniker as the Hornets, which is in relation to their kit colour, but this was not always the case; in the beginning, it was something different.

In 1922, the Hertfordshire club relocated from the West Herts Sports Ground to Vicarage Road, where they still play today.

Benskins Brewery, a local corporation, had purchased the renowned stadium and agreed to lease it to Watford. As a result, they were initially known as the Brewers, a moniker that Burton Albion also embraced.

Some Notable People From Watford:

• Vinnie Jones- Footballer and Actor

• Bradley Walsh- TV Presenter

• Geri Halliwell- Member of The Spice Girls

• Gareth Southgate- Footballer

• Anthony Joshua- Boxer

Some Notable Former Players

Luther Blissett

Tommy Barnett

Troy Deeney

Lloyd Doyley

Cliff Holton

Ross Jenkins

Ashley Young

Nigel Callaghan

Kenny Jackett

Gerard Deulofeu

Richarlison

John Barnes

Heidur Helguson

A History Lesson From The Gloucester Groundhopper

The club's history can be traced back to 1881, when Henry Grover founded Watford Rovers, where he later played as a full back. Rovers, which began with only amateur players, played their home games at a variety of locales in Watford. Watford initially competed in the FA Cup in the 1886-87 season, and they won the County Cup for the first time in 1889. In 1891, the football department of the West Hertfordshire Club and Ground was formed, and the team relocated to Cassio Road.

Watford Rovers changed their name to West Herts in 1893 and entered the Southern Football League in 1896. They took the step of becoming professionals, and their fortunes improved. Watford St. Mary's finished second in the Hertfordshire Senior Cup in 1894-95, drawing audiences of 400 to 500 even while West Herts were playing at home. The two clubs discussed a merger, which took place on April 15, 1898. It was agreed that the two clubs should finish their remaining season's fixtures. Watford Football Club was the name given to the new club.

Following their relegation to the Southern League Second Division in 1903, Watford hired their first manager, John Goodall. He guided Watford to promotion and held the club in the Premier League until his retirement in 1910. Despite financial restraints, Watford won the Southern League title under his successor, Harry Kent, in 1914-15. Watford won the title for five years after the Southern League was suspended during World War I; after finishing runners-up on goal average in the 1919-20 season, the team resigned from the Southern League to join the new Football League Third Division.

From 1921 to 1922, The Football League's third tier consisted of two parallel sections of 22 clubs competing for promotion to the Second Division as well as league survival. The league had a re-election system in effect, which required the worst two teams in each of the two divisions to apply for re-election. Between 1922 and 1934, Watford finished outside the top six league places in every season. Following Kent's departure in 1926, they finished 21st out of 22 clubs in 1926-27, but were overwhelmingly re-elected to the league following a ballot of clubs from The Football League's top two divisions. Under Neil McBain and then Bill Findlay, the team finished in the top six five times in a row between 1934-35 and 1938-39, and won the Football League Third Division South Cup in 1937. Due to the Second World War, the Football League was stopped in 1939.

Football resumed in 1946, with Watford remaining in the Third Division South. A 23rd-place finish in 1950-51 forced the club to re-apply for league re-election, but teams in the First and Second Divisions voted unanimously to keep Watford in the league. McBain returned in 1956, and the team remained in the division until 1958, when the league was rebuilt into four national divisions for the 1958-59 season, and Watford were placed in the Fourth Division. During that season, Ron Burgess took over for McBain, and the next season, Burgess presided over Watford's first Football League promotion. Cliff Holton, who set a club record with 42 league goals this season, was on this team. To the chagrin of supporters, Holton was sold to Northampton the following year after scoring another 34 goals. Burgess was succeeded by Bill McGarry, who brought in new players like as Charlie Livesey and Ron Saunders and led the club to its highest ever league position: third in the Third Division in his only season there.

McGarry joined Ipswich in 1964 and was succeeded by Workington player-manager Ken Furphy. Watford won the Third Division title at home against Plymouth Argyle in April. Watford reached the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time a year later, defeating First Division clubs Stoke City and Liverpool along the way. Furphy joined Blackburn Rovers, but was replaced by George Kirby. Watford dropped back into the Third Division in 1972 after being forced to sell players in order to stay afloat. Watford struggled in the third division and were demoted again in 1975, despite a managerial change.

Elton John, a lifelong Watford fan, was appointed club chairman in 1976. The club was in the Fourth Division when Graham Taylor was selected as Keen's successor. Taylor led Watford to the Fourth Division title in his debut season, with the most wins, fewest defeats, most goals scored, and fewest goals conceded of any team in the division. In 1978-79, the club was promoted to the Second Division, and Ross Jenkins finished the season as the league's top scorer with 29 goals. Watford gained promotion to the First Division for the first time in 1981-82, finishing second to rivals Luton Town.

Watford began the 1982-83 season with four league wins in the first five games; in seven years, the team had risen from bottom of The Football League's lowest tier to top of the highest division. Watford were unable to sustain a title push, but finished second behind Liverpool, ensuring UEFA Cup qualification for the next season. In 1984, they reached the FA Cup Final, when they were defeated by Everton.

Taylor left Watford to coach Aston Villa after leading the club to ninth place in 1986-87. Wimbledon manager Dave Bassett was appointed as Taylor's replacement, while England winger John Barnes was sold to Liverpool. Bassett was fired in January 1988 after winning four of his first 23 league games. Watford were bottom of the First Division when he left, and Steve Harrison was unable to prevent relegation at the end of the season. Harrison's Watford failed to return to the First Division after losing in the Second Division play-offs in 1988-89. After Harrison left in 1990, Watford's best chance of promotion came in the 1994-95 season, when they finished eighth in Division One. Despite Graham Taylor's return as caretaker manager in February 1996, the club was demoted to Division Two.

Taylor was appointed director of football following the relegation, with former Watford footballer Kenny Jackett as manager. Jackett was relegated to assistant manager following a mid-table result in Division Two in 1996-97. Taylor returned as manager, and Watford won the Second Division title in 1997-98, their second league triumph under his leadership. A 2-0 play-off final victory over Bolton Wanderers secured a second consecutive promotion in 1998-99. Watford's first Premiership season began with a win over Liverpool, but the club's form quickly waned, and the club was relegated after finishing bottom. Graham Taylor departed at the end of the 2000-01 season, and Gianluca Vialli took his place. During Vialli's tenure the club finished 14th in the division in 2001-02. Vialli was fired at the end of the season. Ray Lewington, who had joined the club the previous summer as Vialli's reserve team manager, took his place.

Watford faced administration in 2003, but narrowly avoided it. After consolidating in 2003–04, the following season started well, with the club in the upper half of the Championship at the end of September. Despite reaching the semi-final of the League Cup, Watford's league form did not improve, and Lewington was sacked in March 2005. Aidy Boothroyd took over and led the club to Championship survival.

In Boothroyd's first full season, Watford finished third in the league and defeated Leeds United 3-0 in the play-off final to achieve promotion to the Premier League. However, the team did not win a Premier League match until November. Watford finished last in the league after winning only five games, however they did reach the FA Cup semi-finals. Watford led the Championship by several points early in 2007-08, but finished sixth; Boothroyd's squad was eliminated in the play-off semi-finals by Hull City, 6-1 on aggregate. Boothroyd departed Watford by mutual consent three months into the 2008-09 season, when the club was 21st in the Championship table.

Watford finished 13th under Boothroyd's successor, Brendan Rodgers. Rodgers went to manage Reading at the end of the season, and his replacement was Malky Mackay, who had previously served as caretaker manager. Watford finished 16th in 2009-10 and 14th the following season. Sean Dyche succeeded Mackay as manager of Cardiff City in June 2011. Despite leading Watford to its greatest league position in four years by finishing 11th, Dyche was fired as manager in July 2012.

Laurence Bassini concluded the sale of the club to the Pozzo family (Gino Pozzo and his father) in June 2012. Following Dyche's dismissal, the new owners appointed former Italy star Gianfranco Zola as manager. Watford finished third in the Championship in 2012-13 and advanced to the play-off final, where they were defeated 1-0 by Crystal Palace on an extra-time penalty by Kevin Phillips. The following season, Giuseppe Sannino took over as manager, replacing Zola, and the squad finished 13th. Sannino resigned at the start of the 2014-15 season and was replaced by Oscar Garcia.

Billy McKinlay took his position, however despite winning 4 points out of a possible 6, he was removed after just eight days by Slavia Jokanovic. Watford finished second in the Championship under Jokanovic, being edged out on the last day by champions AFC Bournemouth, and were promoted.

Watford did not renew Jokanovic's contract, and he was replaced before of the 2015-16 season by Spaniard Quique Sánchez Flores. Watford finished 13th in the Premier League and reached the FA Cup semi-finals, stopping Arsenal's ambition to win the competition three times in a row, but were defeated 2-1 by Crystal Palace. Sánchez Flores and the club exercised a break clause in his contract before the end of the season, in May 2016, and he was replaced by Italian coach Walter Mazzarri, who signed a three-year contract.

Watford finished 17th the next season, in May 2017, and Mazzari resigned, being replaced by Marco Silva. Following Everton's interest in January 2018, the new coach was ousted after about six months, and the club signed Javi Gracia. Watford came back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup final for the second time in club history in April 2019, with Gerard Deulofeus scoring twice and Troy Deeney scoring a penalty in the 94th minute to force extra time. They met Manchester City in the final and were defeated 6–0, a joint record margin of victory for an FA Cup Final. In the league Watford finished 11th, with 50 points, both club records for the Premier League era.

Gracia was fired after four games in charge of the 2019-20 season owing to poor league performance. Former manager Quique Sánchez Flores was reappointed 30 minutes after he was fired. Watford halted Liverpool's 44-game undefeated run in the top flight in February 2020, however Pearson was fired two games before the season concluded, and the club was relegated, finishing 19th. Watford finished second in the 2020-21 Championship season, securing rapid promotion back to the Premier League, but were relegated back to the Championship the next season after finishing 19th out of 20.

Honours

🏆 First Division (Runners-up: 1982–83)

🏆 Championship (Runners-up: 1981–82, 2014–15, 2020–21) (Play-off winners: 1999, 2006)

🏆 Third Division (Champions: 1968–69, 1997–98) (Runners-up: 1978–79)

🏆 Fourth Division (Champions: 1977–78)

🏆 Southern Football League (Champions: 1914–15) (Runners-up: 1919–20)

🏆 FA Cup (Runners-up: 1983–84, 2018–19)

Matchday: Watford 1-1 Southampton

We travelled to Watford on a warm (ish) Sunday morning as we looked forward to some more FA Cup action. We were making good time so decided to stop at Beaconsfield (The Beacon Of Light) Services which arguably is the best services there is. After filling up on food when we were there, we were under way again.

We arrived in Watford, having pre booked parking in a local multi-storey car park on the JustPark app. It was a short walk to the ground, and during our walk, it became clear that the community of Watford take a huge amount of pride in their football club. There were murals galore; some depicting former players such as Tommy Mooney and Troy Deeney, and one depicting former Watford manager Graham Taylor. We talk about it a lot that clubs that go out of their way to showcase their history automatically gain extra points.

Arriving at the ground, we headed straight to clubshop, which sold our customary pin badges for £4. Outside the club shop, there is a statue depicting 'the greatest manager Watford have ever had'- Graham Taylor. Walking around the ground, there is so much character on show, especially a certain mural showing Elton John, while the ground seems in pretty good condition.

The ticketing system was a bit naff to be honest. We originally tried going to the Watford game versus Chesterfield, but for some reason the club decided it wouldn't go to general sale, despite it not selling out. Additionally, a lot of clubs develop these NFC ticketing systems, where the tickets are sent directly to your phones, which clearly stops touting. However, when you're buying multiple tickets, and you have to coordinate with everyone which exact tickets they're downloading to their phones, it's a bit annoying.

Entering the ground, we were frisked by the stewards (a bit over the top in my opinion) and then we went in to the Elton John Stand. There is a foyer that sells a variety of food, and with Finners having not eaten in over an hour, he promptly sat on the floor and ate a vegetarian pie- which he loved. There was also a small club shop in the foyer, which I thought was really simple yet so clever, you have a captive audience when you're in the ground, so it's really clever to have some produce available to buy- I'm surprised more clubs don't do the same.

Other than the aforementioned frisking as we entered, every single Watford fan and member of staff we spoke to was lovely, and really helpful. One little side note I would like to say to all football supporters: if you see someone taking a photograph, don't walk in front of them, I'm sure you can take 10 seconds out your day.

Following on from this, the atmosphere was great. The Watford fans behind the goal in particular were awesome, loud and the fact they wave flags that make them look like Borussia Dortmund... awesome. The Southampton were equally as good, singing throughout the 90 minutes and supporting their team throughout.

Teamsheet

Watford

Manager: Valérien Ismaël

Daniel Bachmann

Ryan Andrews

Mattie Pollock

Wesley Hoedt (c)

Jamal Lewis

Francisco Sierralta

Matheus Martins ⚽️

Ismael Kone

Giorgi Chakvetadze

Yaser Asprilla

Vakoun Bayo

Substitutes

Ryan Porteous

Tom Ince

Ken Sema

Emmanuel Dennis

James Morris

Jake Livermore

Mileta Rajovic

Myles Roberts

Jack Grieves

Southampton

Manager: Russell Martin

Joe Lumley

Mason Holgate

Taylor Harwood-Bellis

Jack Stephens (c)

Jayden Meghoma

Joe Rothwell

Shea Charles

Carlos Alcaraz

Tyler Dibling

Che Adams

Sekou Mara

Substitutes

Alex McCarthy

Adam Armstrong

Will Smallbone

Stuart Armstrong ⚽️

Ryan Fraser

Sam Amo-Ameyaw

Kyle Walker-Peters

Ryan Manning

Jan Bednarek

The game was quite close throughout, then it was Watford that gained the lead. They had a dangerous free-kick, with Matheus Martins sending in a strong low strike that slammed into the back of the net.

Watford came inches away from increasing their advantage in first-half stoppage time when Bayo seized on a loose ball in the box, but his shot flew agonisingly wide of the far post.

A period of end-to-end football occurred, with both teams coming close, but the Hornets will believe they had the better of the opportunities. The most remarkable came from Matheus Martins, whose shot was blocked and bounced into the post.

A late barrage from a much-changed Saints lineup put the Hornets under intense pressure. The Saints fought hard for a leveller, with Holgate forcing Bachmann into a flying save, but the Hornets custodian was beaten with a minute left. Stuart Armstrong scooped up the ball on the outskirts of the box and hammered it past Bachmann to level the score.

Scores On The Doors

Atmosphere: 8/10

Food and Drink: 8/10

Stadium: 9/10

Welcome: 8/10

Overall Experience: 8/10

GG

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