Watford News Archives

Sunday was a momentous day in the English Championship with the teams going up, getting in the play-offs, going down and staying up, changing constantly through ninety breathless, tension filled minutes.

As a Watford fan I was right in there. Looking for other scores as our plan to keep things tight at Blackpool went horribly awry, like so many of our plans over the past few months, going one-nil down after just two minutes.

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Today I want to talk about the Gentlemen’s club that each level of football in England pretends to be. Should any team not deemed worthy of admittance to their particular club have the temerity to be successful and gain promotion to join them, they will be met with criticism, hilarity and condescending pity wherever they go.

The Crystal Palace Chairman Simon Jordan recently made an outrageous comment that Watford last season and Derby currently, have embarrassed the Championship by being so poor in the Premier League. These clubs have had desperately disappointing seasons and have obviously been out of their depth, but that does not make them an embarrassment.

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What a shame it was to see Derby County concede six at home to Aston Villa over the weekend. I’m sure Villa fans and probably all of Derby’s local rivals will have enjoyed the humiliation but no neutral football fans can enjoy watching a team so desperately out of their depth.

I watched my beloved Watford battling away with West Brom to get a ‘well deserved?’ point that keeps both clubs in with a realistic chance of playing Premier League football next year.

The Championship really does seem to be the league that nobody wants to win. The only team in the top few producing anything like promotion form are Hull City, who after becoming firm favourites for promotion fell into the same trap that all of the others have done, and drew 1-1 at home to QPR.

It is a remarkable statistic indeed that Watford have won just eight of their last thirty-one league games but remain just three points behind the league leaders. It is a very strange league.

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One of the many privileges of being a football writer is that occasionally you can be totally self indulgent and write something just to get it off your chest. Today I am going to abuse my position and do just that.

Hello everyone, my name is Graham and I’m a Watford supporter.

I’m thinking of setting up a support group for people just like me. WSA. Watford Supporters Anonymous. I might actually call it Hornets oblivious of Football. HOOF. That’s more appropriate.

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It’s a fact. Nobody wants to go up. Stoke are failing to seriously threaten teams who are reduced to ten men, Bristol City are losing at home, Watford are missing penalties for fun and West Brom are losing 4-1 at home to a relegation threatened team. Just what is going on!

Let’s look at what happened over the weekend:

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So near yet so far away! If Big Darius Henderson had converted from the spot at Ashton Gate I would have been writing this article in a much more optimistic mood. What I didn’t know at the time was that Hendo actually had no chance!

Anyway, there’s a big weekend ahead at both ends of the Championship table. Here’s a look at what happened in midweek:

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I’m sure many of you would never have given Millwall manager Kenny Jackett a second thought. His team currently sit in 18th place in English League One. He has never held down a really high profile job and to my knowledge has never been linked with any top jobs when they have become vacant or been mentioned when discussing the fine young managers and coaches in England.

I know Kenny Jackett because is a bit of a legend at my beloved Watford. He was part of the team in the glory days for Watford under Graham Taylor back in the eighties. I’ve always followed his career, but a closer look at what he has achieved reveals a remarkable record.

Prior to taking on the Millwall managers position Jackett had been working as a coach under Sven Goran Eriksson at Manchester City. Somebody mentioned to me the other day that I should investigate the possibility that City’s slump in form had coincided with him leaving the club. I was doubtful, but the facts and figures are amazing.

Jackett left Manchester City to take up his new post on November 6th last year. Prior to his departure City had won eleven of fifteen games played. Since his departure they have won just five of twenty-one.

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So Watford had a pretty good weekend. They didn’t play, but watched Charlton lose at home, Stoke and Bristol City pick up only a point each and West Brom continue to keep an interest in the FA Cup. Maybe we should have more weekends off!

In a week where Championship footballers have hit the headlines for despicable behaviour and every midweek game bar one has a bearing on promotion or relegation issues, this really is the league to watch at the moment

Results

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“You’re writing a review of the championship games every Monday, so why don’t you do a preview of the games on Fridays?” Ahmed said to me.

“No problem, I’ll start this week,” I said.

“Yes,” Ahmed continued, “Just do a preview and make some predictions”

That’s where I hit a big problem. As I said in this week’s review, the fact is that every team in the Championship can beat every other one. My track record of predictions has been pretty poor on this site so far, and the prospect of predicting games in this league could completely destroy any vestige of reputation I am clinging on to so desperately.

21st placed Preston sum it up for me really. Last week I was depressed and devastated by the fact that my beloved Watford could only draw with them. In midweek, Preston go and beat the leaders Stoke, and all of a sudden I’m optimistic again and thinking what a great performance we put in last week!

Anyway, here we go with a look at all this weekend’s matches:

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This is the first of what will become a weekly round up of the events in the English Championship. A chance for me to let everyone know how my beloved Watford are doing, and to let you know how much hair I have left and how much of it has gone grey.

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As we approach the business end of the season the race for success is really starting to hot up with a whole host of clubs all in with a shout of glory!

It’s just a shame I am talking about the Championship as opposed to what has been labelled ‘the greatest league in the world’, the Premier League.

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Saturday was packed full of FA Cup fourth-round action, and as was the case in the third round, things didn’t come easy - and for some, at all - for several Premier League sides.

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It’s Friday, so if you’re going out this weekend, be safe, and don’t do anything that Cristiano Ronaldo wouldn’t do.

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Fulham’s glaring need for attacking improvements was quite evident in their FA Cup shootout defeat to Bristol Rovers on Tuesday night, but Roy Hodgson may finally be getting his prayers answered. The Cottagers have signed American international striker Eddie Johnson from the Kansas City Wizards, with the 23-year old penning a three and a half year deal to be the latest American to ply his trade at Craven Cottage.

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The joys of the long ball game…

I’m a Watford fan. It’s not my fault. I was born two hundred yards from the Vicarage Road stadium and I had no choice. The first time I went to see them in 1968 as a seven year old I fell in love immediately. I was smitten, and as you know, the club you support is the only thing in life that you can never change. I was doomed to a life of wearing gaudy yellow shirts and malicious comments about Elton John.

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It’s Friday, so I know that you who are reading Soccerlens at work, you can’t wait to skate through the rest of your day and get home for the weekend, but that doesn’t mean you can do the same with the transfer roundup, because if you click, you read to the bottom - no return policy, and no money-back guarantees.

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The football world breathed a sigh of relief Monday as the Home Office announced that 19-year old Watford midfielder Alhassan Bangura would be granted a work permit and avoid deportation back to Sierra Leone.

Though a work permit looked bleak, (Bangura has never been capped by Sierra Leone, who are absent from top 70 nations of Fifa’s world rankings) the outpouring of support from both football and non-football supporters alike made his case appear even more inhumane.

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While there aren’t any jaw-dropping ties in the fourth round of the FA Cup, there are definitely a few ties worth watching. However, we don’t know who we’ll be watching in many of the ties, as there are still 12 places yet to be decided by replays that will take place over the next two days.

The Premier League participation in the competition might be slashed in half by the end of next Wednesday. If you’re Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, or Wigan, you’re sitting pretty right now, as their passage was sealed with a victory at the first time of asking.

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Finally, Nicolas Anelka is off to Chelsea, so we can breathe a collective sigh of relief. Everyone has what they want, as Anelka is finally on the move again (it took long enough, didn’t it?), Chelsea have their striker (and didn’t ‘overpay’), and Bolton have the money to do a little spending.

And, after finally getting what they wanted for Anelka, Bolton now have the task of finding his replacement, and that could be Johan Elmander, who I mentioned in the last roundup. Funnily enough, the Goal.com article that mentions this tidbit called him Johan Redknapp. I’m sure it was just a typo, and that someone didn’t have their morning coffee, but I suppose if you squint hard enough, he does look a little like Harry.

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In case you’ve missed anything over the last two days, here we go with the important stuff.

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Finally, we have some signings, because it can get a little boring talking about speculation sometimes.

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In a recent article, I discussed the incident involving Manchester United and Roma fans that resulted in four United fans being jailed for assault and resisting arrest, and whether or not football violence was getting out of hand.

In October 2007, the Home Office released a report detailing the number of arrests that occurred in English FA matches during the 2006/07 season.

It’s an extremely in-depth report, breaking down arrests by event (League, Cup, European/International, etc.), club, and most notably, by offense.

So, what do the numbers say?

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Many of you are by now familiar with the situation facing Watford midfielder Al Bangura. If you haven’t, well, you haven’t been reading Soccerlens regularly enough.

This article is intended to give you a better idea about who the promising midfielder is beyond the pitch, what he has been through, and why his case means something.

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The story of Alhassan Bangoura has been fairly well documented in the gathered media over in Britain over the last few days.

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FA Cup 3rd Round Draw - 2007/2008

It seems that they are destined for each other, rather to play against each other. The draw for the English FA Cup was made on Sunday and an almost inevitable pairing was announced. Manchester United and Aston Villa have locked horns in the FA Cup three times in the last six seasons and they will be fighting each other again this year, this time in the third round that will played out in the first weekend of the new year.

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Graham, a SL reader, asks if the contractual stipulation that prevented Steve Kabba from playing for Watford against Sheffield United was a breach of FAPL’s rule U18.

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As part of our 2006/2007 Premiership season-end review, here’s a look at how Watford’s season went. Read up, then offer your own advice on how Watford can improve this summer.

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Despite a couple of brief spells of discomfort, Manchester United brushed aside Watford with irresistable ease and booked a place in the 19th May FA Cup final at Wembley.

This treble business, it seems, will continue till at least 1st May, when Manchester United play Milan in the second leg of their semifinal at San Siro.

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Manchester United skipped, strolled and sauntered past Watford without as much as a hint of discomfort (despite the bloody EVDS nose and the Rio groin tweak) and are now in the FA Cup final, again.

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Your team is a goal down, 30 minutes to go in the second half and you’re watching your opposite number take a free kick from deep inside his own half.

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