Well-known Watford FC archivist, Trefor Jones, passed away at a Northampton care-home on Saturday night after a short but losing battle with cancer. He was 77.
Travelling up to Manchester by train in the autumn of 1983, I was reflecting on the likelihood of Watford being knocked out of the UEFA Cup by Prague, after trailing 3-2 from the home tie.
Duncan Welbourne who died on Monday at the age of 78, was unquestionably a top Watford legend but, if he had his way, he would have become a Vicarage Road fixture.
Last week I mentioned players and teams from the past and I apologise to the modern spectators that I have not included many of their favourites but I ceased to watch Watford regularly in 2005 and have been limited to televised games and excerpts. In short, insufficient time in which to judge.
It is 50 years and a couple of months since I first contributed an article to the Watford Observer. I mention that because this is my penultimate article - I sign off next week.
FOR those Watford fans, who cheered loudly when the legendary Graham Taylor returned to Vicarage Road, but were too young to recall his previous era, those years from 1997 to 2001 were great and filled with more success than failure and some truly positive memories.
The theme of this column, since Graham Taylor’s passing, has been to reflect on his time at Vicarage Road and indeed, before taking a break for the summer in early June, I had reached the stage where Graham had returned as general manager and Kenny Jackett was promoted to the post of team manager.
Has Watford’s promising opening to the campaign prompted us to expect too much? I questioned myself after watching the Hornets fritter away the near-certainty of three points at Craven Cottage. The plain fact is, it would not have taken much to have tweaked that performance to turn it into a comfortable victory.
Watford are a very direct side. I heard that said many times over the last two weeks, with even England boss Gareth Southgate contending “they have their own way of playing”. The insinuations were somewhat familiar. I looked at various newspaper articles and searched for a Jeff Powell by-line.
Seemingly forever, the claim has been mounted by people of my generation that times have changed and not always for the better. I remember when Graham Taylor was asked what changes could be made for the benefit of the game and he replied quickly: “Shoot all the agents.”
