Watford F.C.

Watford's colours were blue and white from 1927 until 1959.

Watford's kit has changed considerably over the course of the club's history. The club's kit featured various combinations of red, green and yellow stripes, before a new colour scheme of black and white was adopted for the 1909–10 season. These colours were retained until the 1920s, when the club introduced an all-blue shirt. After a change of colours to gold shirts and black shorts for 1959–60, the team's nickname was changed to The Hornets, after a popular vote via the supporters club. These colours remained until 1976, when Watford's kits started featuring red, and the gold was changed to yellow. That colour scheme has continued into the 21st century.[71]

The club changed to a gold and black colour scheme in 1959–60.

Watford's initial nickname was The Brewers, in reference to the Benskins Brewery, which owned the freehold of Vicarage Road.[72] This nickname did not prove particularly popular, and upon the adoption of a blue-and-white colour scheme in the 1920s, the club became predominantly known as The Blues. When Watford changed kit colours in 1959, supporters chose The Hornets as the team's new nickname, and the club later introduced a crest depicting a hornet.[71] In 1974 the design was changed to depict Harry the Hornet, the club's mascot.[71][73] The club's nickname remains, but in 1978 the hornet crest was replaced by a depiction of a hart – a male red fallow deer– on a yellow and black background. A hart represents the town's location in the county of Hertfordshire. Until Barnet[lower-alpha 3] and, later, Stevenage joined the Football League, Watford were Hertfordshire's only league club.[76] Other nicknames have since been adopted, including Yellow Army[77] and The 'Orns.[78]

Until April 2019, when Watford played at Vicarage Road their players traditionally entered the pitch at the start of the game to the Z-Cars theme tune.[79] However, in mid-April 2019 the team changed their entrance song to Elton John's "I'm Still Standing".[80] The club returned to Z Cars as the theme to welcome players to the pitch in August 2019 at the start of the 2019–20 Premier League season, following fan pressure and petitions.[81][82][83]

Watford fans at Vicarage Road, on the last day of the 1999–2000 season

Watford Rovers played at several grounds in the late 19th century, including Cassiobury Park, Vicarage Meadow and Market Street, Watford. In 1890, the team moved to a site on Cassio Road, and remained there for 32 years, before moving to Watford's current stadium at nearby Vicarage Road in 1922.[7] The new stadium was initially owned by Benskins Brewery; the club rented the ground until 2001, when it purchased the freehold outright. However, the club's financial situation worsened following the purchase, and in 2002 Watford sold the ground for £6 million in a deal which entitled Watford to buy the stadium back for £7 million in future. Watford took up this option in 2004 using a campaign backed and funded by the fans called "Lets buy back the Vic".[85]

Vicarage Road is a four-sided ground with a capacity of 21,577.[86] The East Stand, part of which was constructed in 1922, was closed to the general public in 2008 for health and safety reasons, although it still hosted the dressing rooms and the matchday press area.[87] In November 2013, the East Stand was demolished and in its place a new steel-framed, 3,500-seater stand was constructed. The stand opened fully on Boxing Day 2014 and was named The Elton John Stand after the club's longstanding chairman.[88] The Graham Taylor Stand[89] (previously the Rous Stand), built in 1986, has two tiers and runs the length of the pitch, with the upper section containing the club's corporate hospitality. At either end of the pitch, The Vicarage Road Stand is split between the club's family section and away supporters, while the Rookery Stand is for home supporters only. Both stands were built in the 1990s, financed by proceeds from player sales.[90][91] In the summer of 2015, The Elton John Stand was revamped in order to accommodate an extra 700 seats.[92] This number was revised a day later to around 1,000 extra seats following the announcement of an expansion in the north-east corner.[86]

Between 1997 and early 2013, Watford shared Vicarage Road with rugby union side Saracens F.C.[93][94] The stadium has hosted matches for the England under-21s,[95] and senior international football between overseas teams.[96] Elton John has also used Vicarage Road as a venue for concerts: He first played at the stadium in 1974 and returned in 2005 and 2010 to stage fundraising concerts for the club.[97] Former events include horse and carriage shows[6] and greyhound racing.[98]

The Watford Training Ground is located on the University College London Union (UCLU) Shenley Sports grounds in St Albans, Hertfordshire.

Watford fans maintain a rivalry with those of Luton Town. The two sides met regularly in the Southern League between 1900 and 1920,[99] and continued to do so in The Football League until 1937,[100] when Luton gained promotion from Division Three South. Luton remained in a higher division than Watford until 1963.[101]

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Watford and Luton met sporadically. Despite this, the rivalry grew in significance, particularly following an ill-tempered match between the sides in 1969, in which three players were sent off.[101] Both sides won promotion to the First Division in the 1981–82 season, with Luton taking the championship ahead of Watford.[27] They were also relegated together from the new Division 1 in 1995–96, with Watford finishing 23rd ahead of bottom-placed Luton.[102][lower-alpha 2] Watford's promotion from Division 2 in 1997–98 meant that the two sides did not meet again until Luton won promotion to the Championship for the 2005–06 season.[lower-alpha 2] The only meeting between those seasons – a League Cup tie in the 2002–03 season – was marred by violence inside Vicarage Road.[103]

On 2 January 2006, Watford won 2–1 at Kenilworth Road in the Championship, followed by a 1–1 draw between the sides, on 9 April 2006, a point that secured Watford's place in the 2006 Championship play-offs, from which they eventually won promotion to the Premier League for the second time, beating Leeds United 3–0 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.[104]

Over a fourteen-season span, Watford have played in a higher division than Luton between 2006–07 and the 2019–20 season, with Luton dropping out of the football league altogether for six seasons between 2009–10 and 2014–15.[33][105]

The rivalry between the two clubs resumed in the 2020–21 season. On 26 September 2020, Watford won the first league match of the season between the two clubs 1–0 at Vicarage Road.[106] On 17 April 2021 in the reverse fixture at Kenilworth Road, Luton won 1–0, so the spoils for the season were shared. With Watford's promotion back to the Premier League for season 2021–22, the rivalry did not commence that year; although it is set to resume for the 2022-23 season after Watford's immediate relegation from the Premier League, whilst Luton remained in the Championship.

The head-to-head record between the clubs, in competitions which currently exist, stands at Luton 39 wins, Watford 27 wins, with 23 draws.[lower-alpha 4] Watford have remained the higher ranked team at the end of every season since 1997 (and for 28 of the last 29 seasons, with only 1996–97 seeing Luton finish higher in the league than Watford) whilst Luton still have a many more years in a higher league throughout both teams history.

Graham Taylor took Watford from the Fourth Division to the First, between 1977 and 1982.

Watford's team was selected by committee until 1903, when former England international John Goodall was appointed player-manager. The impact was immediate, as Watford secured promotion to the Southern League First Division in 1903–04. Goodall retired as a player in 1907, and left the club in 1910. He was replaced by his former captain, Harry Kent, who become known for his financial management of the club; under Kent, Watford frequently made a profit in the transfer market.[109] Kent led the club to the Southern League title in 1914–15, and missed out on a second title in 1919–20 on goal average, before resigning in 1926. His three immediate successors – Fred Pagnam, Neil McBain and Bill Findlay – all played for Watford before and during the early part of their managerial tenures. None were able to lead the team to promotion from the Third Division South, although Findlay did lead Watford to a Third Division South Cup win in 1937.

Up until Findlay's departure in 1947, Watford had been managed by five managers in 44 years, all of whom played for the team. By contrast, six men managed the club between 1947 and 1956, only two of whom were former Watford players.[8] After a further three years under McBain between 1956 and 1959, Watford's following three managers presided over improved teams. Ron Burgess led Watford to promotion from the Fourth Division in 1959–60. Bill McGarry was only in charge for one full season (1963–64), but Watford recorded a finish of third in the Third Division, the club's highest Football League finish until that point. His successor Ken Furphy matched that achievement in 1966–67, and led Watford to the Third Division title in 1969, before taking the club to its first FA Cup semi-final in 1970. Following Furphy's departure in 1971, Watford entered a period of decline, experiencing relegation under subsequent managers George Kirby and Mike Keen.[8]

Graham Taylor took charge of Watford in 1977. He led the club to promotion to the Third Division in 1978, the Second Division in 1979, and the First Division for the first time in Watford's history in 1982. After a second-placed finish in the First Division in 1983, Watford competed in European competition for the first time in 1983–84, as well as reaching the 1984 FA Cup final. Taylor left the club at the end of 1986–87. Under the six subsequent permanent managers (Dave Bassett, Steve Harrison, Colin Lee, Steve Perryman, Glenn Roeder and Kenny Jackett), Watford slid from 9th in the top tier in 1987, to 13th in the third tier in 1997. Taylor returned as manager for the start of the 1997–98 season. He led the club to consecutive promotions, but could not prevent relegation from the Premier League in 1999–2000. Since Taylor's retirement in 2001, Watford have had twelve managers. Of these, Aidy Boothroyd took Watford back to the Premier League in 2006, but Watford were relegated in 2007, and Boothroyd departed in 2008.[110]

Following Watford's takeover by the Pozzo family, Gianfranco Zola was appointed head coach, replacing former centre back Sean Dyche in July 2012,.[52] Zola took Watford to third position in the Championship in 2012–13 but resigned on 16 December 2013. He was replaced by fellow Italian Beppe Sannino in December 2013. Sannino guided the team to a final league position of 13th.

Despite winning four of the first five league matches of the 2014/15 season, and with Watford sitting in 2nd place, Sannino's position had become the subject of much speculation following rumours of dressing-room unrest and some players taking a dislike to his style of management. Sannino resigned from his position as head coach on 31 August 2014 after just over eight months in charge. His final game in charge was a 4–2 win at home to Huddersfield Town the day before.

Sannino's departure initiated a bizarre sequence of events which led to Watford having three further head coaches in little more than a month. On 2 September, Watford confirmed the appointment of former Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Óscar García as the successor to Sannino, beating off competition from fellow Championship side Leeds United for his services. García, however, resigned from his position on 29 September 2014 for health reasons, having been admitted to hospital with chest pains a couple of weeks prior. Billy McKinlay, who had only been appointed first team coach on 26 September 2014, was appointed as his immediate successor on the same day – his first position in management.[111] A week later, McKinlay was released by mutual consent and former Partizan coach Slaviša Jokanović appointed in his place, apparently because the club favoured a head coach with greater experience.[112]

On 4 June 2015, Quique Sánchez Flores was announced as the new head coach as the replacement to Jokanović,[113] who had failed to agree contract terms. Despite going on to lead the newly promoted Watford to a comfortable mid-table position in the Premier League and the semi-final of the FA Cup, it was announced on 13 May 2016 that Sánchez Flores would be leaving the club at the end of the season.[114]

Following Sánchez Flores's departure, Walter Mazzarri was announced as Watford's head coach starting on 1 July 2016.[115] Mazzari's tenure as manager was terminated at the end of the season. On 27 May 2017 Marco Silva was appointed head coach.[116] On 21 January 2018, Javi Gracia was appointed as head coach following Silva's departure.[117] Gracia has been met with widespread praise since his appointment after a successful 2018–19 Premier League campaign which saw Watford finish with their highest points tally ever in English Premier League football. After a disappointing start to the 2019–20 season, Javi Gracia was sacked and replaced by previous manager Quique Sánchez Flores. Then Quique Sánchez Flores was fired again after a 2–1 loss to Southampton on 1 December. On 6 December 2019, Nigel Pearson agreed to take manager's job, with Craig Shakespeare as his assistant, on a short-term contract to the end of the season.[118] He was sacked on 19 July 2020 with two games to go with Hayden Mullins appointed as interim coach until the end of the season.[119]

In the 2020-21 season, there were two more coaches, beginning with Vladimir Ivic, and followed by Xisco Munoz, who ultimately steered Watford towards promotion to the Premier League. Xisco continued to coach the team for the 2021-22 Premier League campaign until October 2021, and was subsequently followed by Claudio Ranieri from October 2021 to January 2022. Former England manager Roy Hodgson took hold of the reigns from February 2022 until the season's end, where Watford finished in 19th place and were relegated from the Premier League. Rob Edwards was announced as the new manager for the 2022-23 EFL Championship Season, but was released by the club in September 2022 after 11 games in charge.[120] Slaven Bilić was announced as his replacement on an 18-month contract.[121]

Striker Luther Blissett holds the record for Watford appearances, having played 503 matches in all competitions between 1976 and 1992, and his 415 appearances in The Football League during the same period is also a club record. Blissett holds the corresponding goalscoring records, with 186 career Watford goals, 148 of which were in the league. The records for the most league goals in a season is held by Cliff Holton, having scored 42 goals in the 1959–60 season. The highest number of goals scored by a player in a single game at a professional level is the six registered by Harry Barton against Wycombe Wanderers in September 1903.[15]

Watford's biggest ever competitive win came in 1900, when the team defeated Maidenhead 11–0 in the Southern League Second Division.[15] The team's biggest Football League winning margin is 8–0; this first occurred in a Third Division South match against Newport County in 1924, and was repeated in a First Division match against Sunderland in 1982. Both of these matches were at home – Watford have won an away league match by five goals on six occasions, most recently in the 6–1 win against Leeds United at Elland Road in 2012. The most goals scored in a Football League game involving Watford is 11, in Watford's 7–4 victories against Swindon Town, Torquay United and Burnley in 1934, 1937 and 2003 respectively.[122] The club's highest home attendance is 34,099, for a fourth round FA Cup match against Manchester United on 3 February 1969. The record home league attendance is 27,968 against Queens Park Rangers in August of the same year.[15] Watford's home capacity has since been reduced due to all-seater requirements; it currently stands at 21,577.[123]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Watford F.C..

• Official website
• Watford on BBC Sport: Club news – Recent results and fixtures
• Watford statistics at Soccerbase
• Watford Legends – Interviews with former Watford players
• Hornet History – History of Watford Football Club from 1940s
• Forza Watford – Watford news and opinion
• Play-Off record for Watford
• Watford break the mould in youth development Archived 23 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine