Monthly Archives: December 2000

29th December 2000- New Division One, Barnsley 0 Watford 1

http://watford.fcdb.info/index.php?page=matches
The Guardian, 30 Dec 2000

BSAD: We scavenged for something approaching food to keep our fuel levels up. A futile exercise in the vicinity of Oakwell, as any previous visitor can testify. In the ground, they were selling something edible, allegedly…in such crisis conditions, you make do with whatever. We huddled together for warmth, discussing the conditions grimly and trying not to think too hard about television sets and cans of lager. Thankfully, a football match started, which was at least a distraction.

BSAD: This morning I turned on the radio again, just to confirm the score you understand, and the headline news was about the New Years Honours list. Now if I may I would like to propose some far more deserving candidates. They are the Watford supporters who journeyed to Oakwell. “The Watford contingent is so small you can count them,” said the man on the radio, but sadly he refrained from doing so. So how about giving those fans O.B.E.s – Our Bloody ‘Eroes. Well, it’s Christmas and it’s the best I can do.

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-1/29-december-2000/

26th December 2000- New Division One, Fulham 5 Watford 0

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http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4429

For thirty minutes or less, there was a sense of purpose about us, flickers of intelligent life that gave some hope. We began by knocking the ball around from kickoff, switching the play over to Paul Robinson on the left and then out to the other flank. At the end of it, Micah Hyde elegantly swung his right boot to send the ball drifting over the bar from twenty yards. In less than a minute, more constructive football than we’d seen during the whole of Saturday’s appalling nightmare.

Fulham FC.com: Watford boss Graham Taylor watched his side put to the sword by rampant Fulham, and then told his players: “There’s only so much I can do.” 

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2000-12-26
https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-1/26-december-2000/

16th December 2000- New Division One, Watford 3 West Bromwich Albion 3

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BSAD report

As the two sets of fans passed each other on Occupation Road afterwards, they summed up the whole thing far better than I ever could. Watford supporters looked back upon the events of the last five minutes, threw hands up in demonstrative frustration, and wailed “Oh, if only Mooney had buried that header…”. Their West Brom counterparts also reflected on the same five minutes, looked to the sky in disbelief, and howled “Oh, if only Sneekes had taken that chance in injury time…”.

9th December 2000- Crystal Palace 1 Watford 0

http://watford.fcdb.info/index.php?page=matches
Daily Telegraph, 11 Dec 2000

BSAD: Five consecutive defeats is unnerving, at the very least. But you can react in one of two ways. You can look backwards, remembering how we played in some of the games that made up that astonishing unbeaten run. Only some of them, mind…because there were occasions when we received standing ovations for performances that were flimsy in comparison to Saturday’s. And you can complain bitterly and ludicrously, simply because we haven’t been able to transfer our best form to the mud of Selhurst in December.

https://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=2000-12-09
https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-1/09-december-2000/

3rd December 2000- New Division One, Bolton Wanderers 2 Watford 1

http://watford.fcdb.info/index.php?page=matches

BBC Sport: Bolton recovered from a dreadful start to send Watford spinning to their fourth successive defeat in a game littered with defensive errors.

Daily Telegraph, 4 Dec 2000
The Guardian, 4 Dec 2000
Evening Standard, 4 Dec 2000

BSAD: “A game of two halves” was the fairly predictable quip employed by Sam Allardyce after the game, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. A better analogy would be that of a slowly swinging pendulum, or of a slab of concrete leaning on its side and then dislodged, teetering, teetering….