I’ve had a week to digest it, and I haven’t changed my opinion that 2007/08 was one of the most unpleasant, and strangest, seasons I can remember in thirtysomething years of supporting the Hornets. Unpleasant because of the combination of hopeless football on the pitch and seething rancour in the stands – how many times were the team booed off the pitch at half- and/or full-time? And strange because for much of this time, in the midst of the mindless hoofing and the angry jeering, we sat at the top of the table and dared to dream of promotion. Even despite the painful end-of-season slump, I make this the 13th most successful season in Watford’s history (behind eight years in the top flight, three promotion seasons and one previous failed attempt at the play-offs).
It was also strange for being so utterly joyless. We football fans, hardened cynics as we are, can usually find something to laugh about, even in the pit of despair. Take the Vialli season: it was absolute pants, but I still have fond memories of the uselessness of Blondeau, Vega and Hughes (you had to laugh or else you’d cry), Pierre Issa falling off the stretcher, the inability of Paul Okon to make any impression whatsoever on a match...
Yet the hardened cynic and the incurable optimist live side by side, often in the same person, and the spirit Watford displayed in those two play-off games has given us a reason to dream again, and to utter that deathless phrase: there’s always next season. Even while acknowledging that the standard of the Championship is unlikely to be so low again for a while (well, at least until this season’s three promoted teams come back down in a year’s time), there are grounds for optimism.
For me, the main one is Aidy’s public acknowledgement that he needs to give the younger players in the squad a chance to show what they can do. He’s said this before, of course, without necessarily keeping his promise. This year only John-Joe O’Toole broke into the first team, though it seems likely that Jordan Parkes would have done the same if it weren’t for an untimely injury that ultimately forced Aidy to buy a replacement for Jordan Stewart rather than using the player he’d been grooming for the role.
Next year I hope to see, at the very least, Parkes and Theo Robinson making the matchday squad regularly. Moses Ashikodi ought to get a chance, too, and there’s been much talk of Scott Loach taking over the goalie’s jersey (though it’s a brave manager who pitches a 20-year-old with half a season of 4th division football behind him straight into the maelstrom of the Championship). Then there’s Tamas Priskin, who’s still only 21 – his status as an international makes it easy to forget that he’s still learning his trade.
Add to them a fit Gareth Williams, and maybe an experienced striker and centre-half, and you’ve got the makings of a decent squad. We’ll see. And we’ll also see if Aidy can keep another of his promises - to freshen up the playing style. God knows he needs to.
Tuesday, 20 May 2008
Sunday, 27 April 2008
Must we throw this filth at our kids?
On my way to the game yesterday, I found myself walking along Liverpool Road and up Occupation Road behind a man and his young son. From the questions the boy was asking, it was clear that this was his very first football match. For instance, he asked if there would be commentary, like on the telly, and his dad had to explain that no, there wouldn’t, but they would announce the names of goalscorers and substitutes.
Mind you, dad was clearly far from an expert himself: when his son asked what time the match kicked off, he answered with a rather hesitant “Three o’clock – at least, I think so.” Apparently he’d only been to two football matches before: a Bristol derby when he was a student in that city, and a Liverpool v Everton FA Cup final at Wembley which ended in a draw, which must therefore have been the 1989 final.
The main question going through my head at this stage was: why now? Why break an 18-year gap between matches with Watford v Scunthorpe? Dad wasn’t dressed smartly enough for one of the corporate hospitality areas, so they were presumably attending as paying punters. And it seemed unlikely they were armchair Hornets who’d finally decided to see a match in person, especially as dad reeled off a list of all the replica shirts the boy owned, which included those of Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea.
In contrast, after the match, the main question that occurred to me was: would either of them ever return to Vicarage Road? Why would anyone want to sit through another 90 minutes of the tentative, unimaginative football currently served up by Aidy’s team, unless (like me) they had years of emotional investment in the club?
Then again, my first game at Vicarage Road was in 1970, a season when we only won six games and scored 18 goals at home. From there it got steadily worse, with two relegations in the next four seasons - but somehow it didn’t matter to me, and I was still there when GT arrived to make everything better.
So maybe that innocent little six-year-old won’t have been put off by the shower of shite he witnessed yesterday. As for me, I just want the season to be over now.
Mind you, dad was clearly far from an expert himself: when his son asked what time the match kicked off, he answered with a rather hesitant “Three o’clock – at least, I think so.” Apparently he’d only been to two football matches before: a Bristol derby when he was a student in that city, and a Liverpool v Everton FA Cup final at Wembley which ended in a draw, which must therefore have been the 1989 final.
The main question going through my head at this stage was: why now? Why break an 18-year gap between matches with Watford v Scunthorpe? Dad wasn’t dressed smartly enough for one of the corporate hospitality areas, so they were presumably attending as paying punters. And it seemed unlikely they were armchair Hornets who’d finally decided to see a match in person, especially as dad reeled off a list of all the replica shirts the boy owned, which included those of Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea.
In contrast, after the match, the main question that occurred to me was: would either of them ever return to Vicarage Road? Why would anyone want to sit through another 90 minutes of the tentative, unimaginative football currently served up by Aidy’s team, unless (like me) they had years of emotional investment in the club?
Then again, my first game at Vicarage Road was in 1970, a season when we only won six games and scored 18 goals at home. From there it got steadily worse, with two relegations in the next four seasons - but somehow it didn’t matter to me, and I was still there when GT arrived to make everything better.
So maybe that innocent little six-year-old won’t have been put off by the shower of shite he witnessed yesterday. As for me, I just want the season to be over now.
Monday, 7 April 2008
The joy of bets
The HornetsBet link is one of the better features of the official site – which, let’s face it, no one would bother with if it wasn’t for the occasional snippet of genuine news lurking among the marketing messages.
I usually have a few punts before each home game, betting a maximum of five quid on various items, at anything between one pound and two pounds fifty a time. First goalscorer is one of my more successful categories, as the odds are so crudely calculated (not surprisingly, since the Bet365 site as a whole carries odds for a bewildering variety of sporting possibilities). Strikers get the shortest odds, then wingers, central midfielders, centre-backs and finally full-backs – okay, it’s slightly more complicated than that, but not a lot. So if your side has a regular penalty taker who doesn’t play up front, for instance, the odds on him getting the first goal will be longer than they should be.
In Watford’s case, this means that Danny Shittu is usually a decent 16-1 to score the first goal in a game, despite his record this year; ditto John-Joe O’Toole, who looks to have more goals in him than most Hornets midfielders of recent years.
Since I’m putting on such small amounts, it’s barely worth betting on anything where the odds are shorter than 10-1. I often have a punt on a slightly unlikely score - usually 3-1 (NB: I never, ever bet against Watford), since we’ve won a few games by that score this season - and sometimes I try one of the ‘Match specials’, things like ‘Watford to score a penalty’ (actually, I don’t think I’ve ever put money on that) or ‘Watford to win from behind’.
And finally, just for fun, I usually do a ‘Scorecast’, where you have to predict not only the first goalscorer, but also the final score. It’s a bit like a horse racing accumulator, and just as unlikely to come off. So if I could work out why, when I sat down to place my bets on Saturday morning, I selected ‘Nathan Ellington’ and ‘Watford win 2-1’ from the dropdown menus - what mystical force was influencing my mouse hand, what powerful visions of the future I was subconsciously channelling – I’d gladly tell you. The truth is, it seemed as likely as any other eventuality in this topsy-turvy season, and as a result I’m now £35 richer.
PS: Well, you didn’t expect me to write about the actual match, did you?
I usually have a few punts before each home game, betting a maximum of five quid on various items, at anything between one pound and two pounds fifty a time. First goalscorer is one of my more successful categories, as the odds are so crudely calculated (not surprisingly, since the Bet365 site as a whole carries odds for a bewildering variety of sporting possibilities). Strikers get the shortest odds, then wingers, central midfielders, centre-backs and finally full-backs – okay, it’s slightly more complicated than that, but not a lot. So if your side has a regular penalty taker who doesn’t play up front, for instance, the odds on him getting the first goal will be longer than they should be.
In Watford’s case, this means that Danny Shittu is usually a decent 16-1 to score the first goal in a game, despite his record this year; ditto John-Joe O’Toole, who looks to have more goals in him than most Hornets midfielders of recent years.
Since I’m putting on such small amounts, it’s barely worth betting on anything where the odds are shorter than 10-1. I often have a punt on a slightly unlikely score - usually 3-1 (NB: I never, ever bet against Watford), since we’ve won a few games by that score this season - and sometimes I try one of the ‘Match specials’, things like ‘Watford to score a penalty’ (actually, I don’t think I’ve ever put money on that) or ‘Watford to win from behind’.
And finally, just for fun, I usually do a ‘Scorecast’, where you have to predict not only the first goalscorer, but also the final score. It’s a bit like a horse racing accumulator, and just as unlikely to come off. So if I could work out why, when I sat down to place my bets on Saturday morning, I selected ‘Nathan Ellington’ and ‘Watford win 2-1’ from the dropdown menus - what mystical force was influencing my mouse hand, what powerful visions of the future I was subconsciously channelling – I’d gladly tell you. The truth is, it seemed as likely as any other eventuality in this topsy-turvy season, and as a result I’m now £35 richer.
PS: Well, you didn’t expect me to write about the actual match, did you?
Sunday, 17 February 2008
No one likes us...
Having seen two of the three games in what may turn out to be a defining week in Watford’s season (one of the oddest I can remember in my 38 years of supporting the ’orns), I’d like to make two observations about Aidy Boothroyd’s team.
The first is that we are *not* one of the two best teams in the Championship this season. West Brom made mincemeat of us at the Vic in the autumn, and in both games against Charlton, they’ve managed to make us look very pedestrian at times. Indeed, though it pains me to say it, numerous visitors to Vicarage Road – some of them nowhere near the promotion places – have shown far more attacking flair than the Golden Boys.
The second is that it doesn’t matter, because this Watford team has a quality of sheer cussedness that makes it more than capable of overcoming its limited ability. Defending a one-goal lead with 10 men for an entire half; coming back from the dead to steal two points from a promotion rival – these are feats not to be underestimated, feats that not many teams are capable of.
What’s also clear is that it irritates the hell out of opposing fans and managers, who – in the past week alone – have variously accused us of being boring, lucky and favoured by the referee. But who cares? We’ve already beaten 13 of the other 23 teams in this division, and we’ve got a second crack at eight of the remaining 10.
I still don’t feel qualified to predict where Watford will finish this season, but I’m pretty sure it will be somewhere between first and sixth. I just can’t see this dogged, bloody-minded (and occasionally brilliant, let’s not forget that) team letting even a play-off place slip out of its grasp.
Oh, and the two teams who’ve definitely escaped a beating this season? QPR and Charlton. And guess which two away games I’ve been to...
The first is that we are *not* one of the two best teams in the Championship this season. West Brom made mincemeat of us at the Vic in the autumn, and in both games against Charlton, they’ve managed to make us look very pedestrian at times. Indeed, though it pains me to say it, numerous visitors to Vicarage Road – some of them nowhere near the promotion places – have shown far more attacking flair than the Golden Boys.
The second is that it doesn’t matter, because this Watford team has a quality of sheer cussedness that makes it more than capable of overcoming its limited ability. Defending a one-goal lead with 10 men for an entire half; coming back from the dead to steal two points from a promotion rival – these are feats not to be underestimated, feats that not many teams are capable of.
What’s also clear is that it irritates the hell out of opposing fans and managers, who – in the past week alone – have variously accused us of being boring, lucky and favoured by the referee. But who cares? We’ve already beaten 13 of the other 23 teams in this division, and we’ve got a second crack at eight of the remaining 10.
I still don’t feel qualified to predict where Watford will finish this season, but I’m pretty sure it will be somewhere between first and sixth. I just can’t see this dogged, bloody-minded (and occasionally brilliant, let’s not forget that) team letting even a play-off place slip out of its grasp.
Oh, and the two teams who’ve definitely escaped a beating this season? QPR and Charlton. And guess which two away games I’ve been to...
Thursday, 7 February 2008
The pecking order
One thing we can’t complain about this season is a lack of strikers. Even with Marlon gone, the hefty Hornets squad still contains eight of them by my reckoning (and that’s not counting young Liam Henderson, who made the bench for the Southend League Cup tie in August). What’s so fascinating is the constant ebb and flow in the pecking order among our would-be goal aces. Here’s my take on the current placings:
1) Darius Henderson
The top scorer in the squad since Marlon’s departure, Doris is the closest we’ve got to an automatic pick up front. I’m not his biggest fan (shouldn’t someone that tall score more headed goals?), but there’s no denying his workrate, his tenacity and his valuable ability to be in the right spot to knock them in from inside the penalty area.
2) Nathan Ellington
Finally getting the run in the first team he so obviously needed. Let’s hope his two goals to date are just the start, and that he goes on to make a key contribution in the run-in. He’s certainly got the pedigree to do so.
3) Steve Kabba
I know, I know. Who’d have guessed it? He’s never been so high in this list before, and he may never be so high again, but right now Steve is making a serious bid for a starting berth. As the commentator on Sky pointed out during last Saturday’s game, all that running rarely results in any worthwhile end product (and let’s face it, that far-post header isn’t going to win Goal of the Season) – but still, Watford fans love a trier, and Steve is trying with all his might right now.
4) Collins John
He hasn’t even made the squad yet, so he’s there purely on reputation and potential. And because he’s got to be better than...
5) Tamas Priskin
I'm sorry, Tamas. I've given you the benefit of the doubt for a year now, excusing your ineffectual performances on the basis that it’s hard to show what you can offer when all you get is the odd 10 minutes here and there at the end of a game. Aidy said earlier this season that of all his strikers, you had the potential to be the very best, and I usually believe what Aidy says. But this time I’m going to have to take issue with him. After watching that gutless performance against Wolves in the Cup, I just don’t think you’ve got what it takes.
6) Theo Robinson
I suspect (and hope) that if I compile this list in a year’s time, Theo will be several places higher. Aidy recognised the skinny youngster’s potential by giving him a debut at Loftus Road two seasons ago, and he didn’t look out of his depth then. A season on loan at Hereford has given him the chance to show he’s a genuine goalscorer (he’s got 10 so far), and I reckon he’ll come back next year and make a strong case for a place in the matchday squad.
7) Moses Ashikodi
I almost put Moses ahead of Theo, but in the end, his injury-plagued time at Vicarage Road counts against him. Put simply, he’s hardly played, though when he has (notably the FA Cup tie against Stockport, where he scored a classic poacher's goal) he’s looked pacy and hungry. If his current loan spell at Swindon works out well, he should be challenging Theo for that spot on the bench next year.
8) Will Hoskins
Would have been higher, but this week’s loan move to Forest (with an option to buy in the summer) signals that Will’s time at Vicarage Road is pretty much up. He was unlucky in that Aidy pitched him straight into a hopeless battle against relegation last year, and he never really got a chance to show the skills in front of goal that we’d signed him for. If he’d only had to step up one division instead of two, it might have been a different story.
1) Darius Henderson
The top scorer in the squad since Marlon’s departure, Doris is the closest we’ve got to an automatic pick up front. I’m not his biggest fan (shouldn’t someone that tall score more headed goals?), but there’s no denying his workrate, his tenacity and his valuable ability to be in the right spot to knock them in from inside the penalty area.
2) Nathan Ellington
Finally getting the run in the first team he so obviously needed. Let’s hope his two goals to date are just the start, and that he goes on to make a key contribution in the run-in. He’s certainly got the pedigree to do so.
3) Steve Kabba
I know, I know. Who’d have guessed it? He’s never been so high in this list before, and he may never be so high again, but right now Steve is making a serious bid for a starting berth. As the commentator on Sky pointed out during last Saturday’s game, all that running rarely results in any worthwhile end product (and let’s face it, that far-post header isn’t going to win Goal of the Season) – but still, Watford fans love a trier, and Steve is trying with all his might right now.
4) Collins John
He hasn’t even made the squad yet, so he’s there purely on reputation and potential. And because he’s got to be better than...
5) Tamas Priskin
I'm sorry, Tamas. I've given you the benefit of the doubt for a year now, excusing your ineffectual performances on the basis that it’s hard to show what you can offer when all you get is the odd 10 minutes here and there at the end of a game. Aidy said earlier this season that of all his strikers, you had the potential to be the very best, and I usually believe what Aidy says. But this time I’m going to have to take issue with him. After watching that gutless performance against Wolves in the Cup, I just don’t think you’ve got what it takes.
6) Theo Robinson
I suspect (and hope) that if I compile this list in a year’s time, Theo will be several places higher. Aidy recognised the skinny youngster’s potential by giving him a debut at Loftus Road two seasons ago, and he didn’t look out of his depth then. A season on loan at Hereford has given him the chance to show he’s a genuine goalscorer (he’s got 10 so far), and I reckon he’ll come back next year and make a strong case for a place in the matchday squad.
7) Moses Ashikodi
I almost put Moses ahead of Theo, but in the end, his injury-plagued time at Vicarage Road counts against him. Put simply, he’s hardly played, though when he has (notably the FA Cup tie against Stockport, where he scored a classic poacher's goal) he’s looked pacy and hungry. If his current loan spell at Swindon works out well, he should be challenging Theo for that spot on the bench next year.
8) Will Hoskins
Would have been higher, but this week’s loan move to Forest (with an option to buy in the summer) signals that Will’s time at Vicarage Road is pretty much up. He was unlucky in that Aidy pitched him straight into a hopeless battle against relegation last year, and he never really got a chance to show the skills in front of goal that we’d signed him for. If he’d only had to step up one division instead of two, it might have been a different story.
Tuesday, 27 November 2007
It was a nice theory...
A few theories that were disproved by tonight’s beating by Burnley:
1) Under Aidy, Watford always bounce back after a defeat
2) Our poor defensive showings in the last three games have been purely down to Jay Demerit’s absence
3) We always play with extra verve in a midweek home game under floodlights
4) Steve Kabba is a winger
Actually, only Aidy ever seemed to believe that last one - Steve himself certainly didn’t seem convinced.
1) Under Aidy, Watford always bounce back after a defeat
2) Our poor defensive showings in the last three games have been purely down to Jay Demerit’s absence
3) We always play with extra verve in a midweek home game under floodlights
4) Steve Kabba is a winger
Actually, only Aidy ever seemed to believe that last one - Steve himself certainly didn’t seem convinced.
Monday, 5 November 2007
Marlon/toys/pram
Before I forget, another candidate for those alternative end-of-season awards. In the ‘Best Strop’ category, Marlon gets a nomination for his reaction to West Brom’s third goal. After everyone had stood stock still for a good 10 seconds, looking at each other, Marlon started jumping angrily up and down on the spot in the manner of a three-year-old who’s just been told he can’t have an ice-cream. And to be honest, you can’t really blame him
Sunday, 4 November 2007
An attempt to look on the bright side
Um... Well, I suppose it’s better to lose one game 3-0 than to lose three games 1-0. And we are still five points clear.
Sunday, 21 October 2007
Hallelujah!
The Hull game, though generally short on interest, saw an early contender for the alternative end of season awards, in the ‘Most Sarcastic Gesture by a Watford Player’ category: Darius Henderson’s reaction to finally being given the benefit of the doubt, a clenched-hands, eyes-raised-towards-the-heavens pantomime that clearly translated as “Thank you o lord for this benison you have bestowed upon your righteous servant.”
I told you it was sarcastic. A more intelligent referee would probably have booked him for it.
I told you it was sarcastic. A more intelligent referee would probably have booked him for it.
Monday, 15 October 2007
Just once, oh lord…
I know it’s going to look as if I’m obsessed with Lloyd Doyley, but the excellent interview with Jordan Stewart on the official website does highlight once again the remarkable fact that Lloyd has never scored a goal for Watford at any level. Surely this calls for some targeted chanting on Saturday: “Doyley, give us a goal”, perhaps, coupled with a lustily bellowed “Shooooot!” every time he gets within 20 yards of the Hull penalty area.
Lloyd’s predicament reminds me in a roundabout way of my own experiences of playing rugby at school. I was overweight, unfit and uninterested, so it’s not particularly surprising that I managed to get through four winters of weekly games lessons without ever scoring a try. Like the other fat kids, I was always forced to play as a forward, so I spent every game trudging from scrum to lineout to scrum, watching from a distance as slimmer, faster boys scored all the tries.
Still, even though I was aware of my limitations, I did have a slender competitive streak, and in my final term of playing rugby (the point at which the school finally accepted that any dormant stars must have revealed themselves by now, and allowed us duffers to go off and play other sports instead) I started mentioning to anyone who would listen that it might be nice if I scored a try before ‘retiring’.
Nothing came of it for a few weeks, apart from one tantalising opportunity when I managed to grab a loose ball a few yards from the line, only for some obstinate bastard on the opposing team to put his body in between me and the ground, making it impossible for me to touch down. Then, one week, we were playing one of those games that occasionally happened when one team proved far superior to the other - and I was on it. We were already about 60 points up when a teammate intercepted a pass and hared towards the try line. I was jogging in the same direction, just for form’s sake, when I realised that he was calling to me and suddenly understood what he intended. So I picked up speed, took the ball he handed me (he didn’t bother throwing me a proper pass – I’d only have dropped it if he had) and launched myself spectacularly over the line for my first (and last) try. Seconds later I was being mobbed by my teammates, and I can honestly say it was one of the most joyful moments of my sporting career. (Not that there’s much competition, mind you.)
So what point am I trying to make? Well, Darius, Marlon: if you’re reading this, and if at any point this season you find yourself with the ball at your feet and an open goal in front of you, just before you boot it in, have a quick look around and see if Lloyd is anywhere nearby. You know he needs it more than you do.
Lloyd’s predicament reminds me in a roundabout way of my own experiences of playing rugby at school. I was overweight, unfit and uninterested, so it’s not particularly surprising that I managed to get through four winters of weekly games lessons without ever scoring a try. Like the other fat kids, I was always forced to play as a forward, so I spent every game trudging from scrum to lineout to scrum, watching from a distance as slimmer, faster boys scored all the tries.
Still, even though I was aware of my limitations, I did have a slender competitive streak, and in my final term of playing rugby (the point at which the school finally accepted that any dormant stars must have revealed themselves by now, and allowed us duffers to go off and play other sports instead) I started mentioning to anyone who would listen that it might be nice if I scored a try before ‘retiring’.
Nothing came of it for a few weeks, apart from one tantalising opportunity when I managed to grab a loose ball a few yards from the line, only for some obstinate bastard on the opposing team to put his body in between me and the ground, making it impossible for me to touch down. Then, one week, we were playing one of those games that occasionally happened when one team proved far superior to the other - and I was on it. We were already about 60 points up when a teammate intercepted a pass and hared towards the try line. I was jogging in the same direction, just for form’s sake, when I realised that he was calling to me and suddenly understood what he intended. So I picked up speed, took the ball he handed me (he didn’t bother throwing me a proper pass – I’d only have dropped it if he had) and launched myself spectacularly over the line for my first (and last) try. Seconds later I was being mobbed by my teammates, and I can honestly say it was one of the most joyful moments of my sporting career. (Not that there’s much competition, mind you.)
So what point am I trying to make? Well, Darius, Marlon: if you’re reading this, and if at any point this season you find yourself with the ball at your feet and an open goal in front of you, just before you boot it in, have a quick look around and see if Lloyd is anywhere nearby. You know he needs it more than you do.
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