When Graham Taylor signed what he described as his “big, ugly centre half” in 1977, Sam Ellis had an immediate effect on the dressing room.

“I suppose, looking back, we had more of a working relationship in those days, as opposed to a mates’ relationship,” reflects Ellis. “It was a great relationship and he trusted me. He also moved me into the coaching side and I have had 50 years being gainfully employed in football. We became friends, kept in regular touch and Helen and I were invited to their girls’ weddings.”

In my first interview with Graham, he asked me what I thought about the squad and I said I felt they lacked an ‘oak tree centre-half'. Graham obviously thought along similar lines because Sam was his first signing, along with Ian Bolton.

“He always wanted me to be captain; get the dressing room on his side. In fact it was not a difficult job. When you are winning games, nothing is as difficult as it might be,” Ellis said. “Graham believed in attacking football and the strength of his teams were up front. That is where we played the ball. He wanted us to play in the opposition half, arguing that if we did that, the opposition would find it very hard to score goals.”

Sam regards the criticism that was to envelop Watford and the Watford Way, as being ill-founded.

“Glenn Hoddle hit great long balls,” says Sam. “We did not just hit it forward, we played the ball forward. We knew our options whenever we got possession and the forward players would be sprinting into positions to receive it. Then, as defenders, our job would be to get forward as fast as we could to press high. So, in effect, we had to run as much as the forwards because we had to tighten up as a team when we hit the ball forward.”

Graham was insistent on this point because if they stretched the opposition defence with the forward play, they had to be tight at the back, just behind the midfield. To amble out of defence was not acceptable because it would leave the team stretched and vulnerable.

“I did not just hoof it upfield. I would give the ball to someone who could play. That is standard throughout football. But Graham worked us in training, ensuring we knew exactly where we should be when the ball was in various areas of the pitch.

“We would take 70 corners in one training session. It was drilled into us: how we would prepare to take a corner and where we would be.

“He knew what he was doing and he knew where we were going. He took hold of that Watford squad, worked us in pre-season training and then told us, before the season started, that we would win the Fourth Division by 10 points. He instilled that confidence and discipline in a squad that had finished a poor seventh the previous season.

“At the end of that first season, we finished 11 points clear of the opposition,” Sam pointed out.

Watford hit the top one October night after victory at Brentford and never looked back, stretching that lead to become the runaway winners. It took Graham two months to turn also-rans into potential champions.

I recall interviewing Sam in his capacity as Watford captain for the end-of-season supplement. In the piece, Sam stated that he had no doubt Graham would end up as England manager one day.

In those days, Graham had given permission for the players to speak to me along with Mike Green of the Evening Echo. He asked us to respect that access and that should anything controversial be said, to draw it to his attention.

I showed him the article I had put together, based on Sam’s quotes and he immediately knocked out any reference to the England job. He was very aware at that time there were people in football that thought he had grabbed a sinecure, taking the pop star’s money. The game is filled with envy, now as well as then, so Graham, knowing he was thought of as a young upstart, did not want England claims associated with him as a Fourth Division manager.

Sam had been in the top flight with Sheffield Wednesday, playing in the FA Cup Final at 19 and stayed with the club for eight years before moving on to Mansfield, then Lincoln, for whom he made 173 outings and Watford. Sam was also the ace penalty-taker for Lincoln and Watford. Yet, on the face of it, the £6,000 fee for an almost 31-year-old pivot who made some 35 league and cup appearances for Watford was quite an expensive deal but it was Ellis’ influence on the dressing room that Taylor prized most.

Also it was impossible to predict the subsequent injuries that hampered Sam’s time at Watford and his final game came in November 1978 when the Hornets were thrashed 4-0 at Hull. I remember colleague Terry Challis stating that Sam was standing there like a wounded bull as the famed Bannister and Warboys ran riot for the Tigers.

“I absorbed Graham’s ethos. Whatever you thought, you could find a place for what he said and had done,” said Sam. “He was very influential and he really pushed me onto the coaching side. As a player, you don’t want to admit that you are reaching retirement age. How many times do you hear a player saying they have a couple of seasons left? You are never the best judge in that position. Well Graham let me know. When the manager goes out and signs a £170,000 club record signing centre-half, midway through the season, you know your days are numbered,” Sam, now retired, smiled at the memory.

“He told me it was time to step out of the playing arena and take the next step. I didn’t take it well but afterwards you realise he was probably right. It was a step I had never really thought of. Overall, he rescued my career and gave me another one. I have been unemployed for a total of 12 months in the last 50 years. I am proud of that record but Graham not only rescued my career, he rescued my life.”