Olly Wicken talks about a bag. A lovely bag.
Must have been 1975, I reckon. I was 12, and the latest craze at Watford Boys’ Grammar School was Adidas holdalls – for carrying your books and sports kit. (They’d become fashionable as an overnight bag on the Northern Soul scene.)
The holdalls came ...
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Nick Catley takes a look at 100 Years at Vicarage Road, and talks to its author Geoff Wicken
As you may, just conceivably, have heard by now, Watford FC moved to Vicarage Road 100 years ago, in August 1922. Celebratory events such as the recent VR100 anniversary matchday (against Middlesbrough)...
Pete Remnant of Do Not Scratch Your Eyes tries to solve a mystery
Watford do not tend to buy players who have recently played in the Champions League final. So, when Roberto Pereyra walked out to the centre spot to wave at the crowd after his signing in 2016, we did not really know quite what t...
In a mysterious occurrence, far too complicated to explain to anyone lacking a degree in quantum physics, Watford’s tenacious midfield lion, Roger Joslyn, has been transported from 1978 to today’s first-team squad. Caught in a maelstrom of conflicting ideologies, Jaws is forced to adapt to modern...
Mark Evans tells of mixing with the great and the good the night he became a Watford fan
It’s Wednesday 27 February 1980, and any Watford fans who don’t want to watch the Football Combination game at Vicarage Road that evening can stay in and watch the Rock and Pop Awards on BBC1 to see The Pol...
Not all Watford legends played on the pitch. Justin Beattie tells more.
Many seasons ago I used to be one of those lads that threw balls back to players. It wasn’t a particularly arduous task, unless you were placed in the Lower Rous, in which case you would have to jump down into the void that...
Colin Payne on why sometimes you need to choose your hobbies wisely
Some hobbies are exciting, adventurous and thrilling. Sexy even. Hurtling down Kilimanjaro on a mountain bike, wearing no more personal protective equipment than a light smearing of factor 10 on your bare chest, adrenalin cours...
Ruth Catley visits Vicarage Road for the first time and finds a sense of place and home
Forgive me Hornets, for I have sinned…
I have been dating (and am now married to) a fellow Hornet for the last five years, and until 3 July 2022, I was a Vicarage Road virgin. Now, before him indoors reminds...
Nick Catley has a night out with one of the family
Issue 4 of The Watford Book of Soccer carried an interview with early-90s Hornet Lee Bland, a player who, despite being fictional, arguably still contributed more to the cause than Andy Kennedy. Many of the answers echoed those in standard play...
Mark Harrowell with some fascinating facts about Vicarage Road
The cemetery on Vicarage Road originally extended onto the site where the football ground was subsequently built, while Shrodells hospital was formerly a Victorian infirmary for the criminally insane. It is said that many inmates of...
Challenging popular wisdom, Colin Payne looks at why Watford history should consider Sir Jack Petchey with a bit more fondness
Watford-wise the 1990s were a bit of a lost decade for me, well at least the years from 1992 to 1997 were. We all have a lost period in our supporting lives, that time ...
James Little goes back to October 1977 to recall a memorable game at Griffin Park
Memories of getting to this game are hazy – Dad must have picked me up from a nearby station, and caught up in traffic we blocked someone in on their drive and raced to the ground, arriving after kick-off; as it t...