Monthly Archives: July 2001

31st July 2001- Friendly, Northwood 0 Watford Reserves 3

Watford Observer, 3 Aug 2001

31st July 2001- Friendly, Inter Milan 2 Watford 1

Two years ago it was the Isle of Man, last summer an army boot camp and games against Newquay and Torpoint. These days, however, Watford’s players are sharing the bill with the likes of Christian Vieri and Javier Zanetti, and are worried about being referred to by their new manager as “the Manchester United of the First Division”.

AS Gianluca Vialli addressed his Watford squad last week, a reverential quiet descended on the group. The Nationwide Division One side had just played the first of two pre-season games against Italian opposition and some were clearly coming down from the experience. Thirty-six hours earlier, they had been up against the superstars from Inter Milan.

Watford Observer, 4 Aug 2001

IN what briefly threatened to be more of an event than a truly serious football match, Watford did well to hold Inter Milan to a 2-1 victory in Lecco during a humid evening on Tuesday, July 31.

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Taken from the programme on 18th August 2001-New Division One, Watford 3 Rotherham United 2

Taken from the programme on 8th August 2006- Friendly, Watford 1 Inter Milan 1

28th July 2001- Friendly, Frosinone 1 Watford 0

A match report from the Frosinone Facebook page is translated (badly) into English below.

https://www.facebook.com/frosinoneofc/posts/nontuttisanno-2001-2002-frosinone-1-0-watford-fc-frosinone-cano-desideri-fumagal/1674521845896425/

28th July 2001- Friendly, Chesham United 0 Watford Reserves 2

Watford Observer, 4 Aug 2001

21st July 2001- Friendly, Queens Park Rangers 0 Watford 0

Programme images courtesy of Matt Hall

https://www.watfordfcarchive.co.uk/fixture/2001-07-21

BSAD: Ah, football. As ever, pre-season arrives with promises of thrills that it can never deliver. Even at their best, these friendlies are an elaborate, mouth-watering banquet made of plastic food – you can look, you can imagine what it would taste like, yet it’s entirely artificial.

14th July 2001- Friendly, Aylesbury United 1 Watford 2

Gianluca Vialli’s first game in charge.

Looking as unlike any previous Watford manager as it’s possible to look within the usual constraints of one head, only four limbs and so on. Striding across the pitch in a smart cream suit, surrounded by the press and photographers who probably exited the ground before the game kicked off, Luca is more Tom Cruise than he is Mike Keen.