Monthly Archives: May 2006

21st May 2006- Championship Playoff Final, Leeds United 0 Watford 3

http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4715

BSAD image BSAD reports:“Anything is possible.”  It’s the best phrase of the day, undoubtedly. And it comes from, if you like, the best man. Anything is possible. Not anything’s possible, a shrug of the shoulders to say that, hey, it just might rain five pound notes tomorrow. That’s not Adrian Boothroyd. No, take out the apostrophe: anything is possible. A defiant, substantial statement of intent. A summary of the man, perhaps.

BSAD image You’re not taking it all in. Not really. You can’t.  And why should you? The events you’ve just witnessed don’t happen to lowly Watford. You’re standing in someone else’s dreamland, a fantasy world of yellow and red confetti – delight, delirium and disbelief are the dominant emotions.

“From New York to Cardiff”
“Winning is believing”
“Disconnected”
“Trouble!”
“From Blooms Bar, Tel Aviv”
“View from afar”
“Childhood memories”
“Bermuda black-out”
“Bloody hell”
“We always win three-nil”
“Good omen, bad omen”
“The red car”
“Three-nil on an L-shaped pitch”
“On seeing a miracle in Brussels”
“An early taste of champagne and glory”
“Magic carpet”
“The Horn treatment”
“Safe again”
“Hahnemann was there”
“Hat korso es két palinka”
“Confessions of a recent convert”
“What it’s really all about”
“Oh baby!”
“Hell freezing over”
“Parallel universes”
“The long road to Cardiff”
“Fireworks”
“Very superstitious”
“Waving the flag”
“Dear Diary”
“Hornets on top down under”

Playoff Final photo album

BBC Sport Watford booked their place in the Premiership with a convincing victory over Leeds in a frantic play-off final.

guardian Kevin Blackwell could never have imagined the implications of his coach Adrian Boothroyd joining Watford last year. After little more than 14 months in charge the man whose appointment was greeted by supporters at Vicarage Road with concern, bewilderment and general unease yesterday etched his name in the club’s history and confirmed his status as one of the brightest young managers in English football when he secured promotion to the Premiership at the expense of his former mentor.

Mighty Might Whites report

Yorkshire Evening Post-Ten years after play-off final defeat how knock-on effect cost Leeds more than £30m

Daily Telegraph, 22 May 2006
Independent, 22 May 2006

9th May 2006- Championship Playoff Semi-Final Second Leg, Watford 0 Crystal Palace 0 (Watford win 3-0 on aggregate)

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http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4714

BBC SportWatford will meet Leeds in the Championship play-off final after cruising past a lacklustre Palace.

guardianAdrian Boothroyd faces the threat of being banned from the touchline for the play-off final against Leeds United, comfortably the biggest game of his brief managerial career, after being sent to the stands last night following a mass brawl in front of his dugout. The Watford manager sparked mayhem midway through the second half when he flicked the ball away from Fitz Hall with a hand as the Crystal Palace defender sought to take a quick throw-in.

BSAD imageBSAD reports: There is an air of something approaching hysteria inside Vicarage Road.

Immense. Amazing. Rock solid. Tense. Iron-willed. Undefeated.  Just some of the words we used, once we’d calmed down, to describe the fight on the touchline which was triggered by maybe a little too much management of the game and, in particular, the ball. But if we focus on that, we’ll be overlooking a job done with just as many of the qualities as we brought to the 60th-minute melee.

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6th May 2006- Championship Playoff Semi-Final First Leg, Crystal Palace 0 Watford 3

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http://watford.fcdb.info?id=4713

BBC SportWatford scored three second-half goals to take a commanding lead into the second leg of their play-off tie.

Sunday Telegraph, 7 May 2006
Independent, 7 May 2006
Daily Telegraph, 8 May 2006
Mirror, 8 May 2006
Evening Standard, 8 May 2006

BSAD imageBSAD reports: It had to be Selhurst. Of all the places, it had to be Selhurst. Scene of so many humiliations, disappointments, and dreary fizzles over so many years. The place where Curcic and his ludicrous goatee cheated us out of a deserved win. Where Glenn Roeder’s tenure came to such a decisive end. Where our short trip to the Premiership found its nadir, hammered by a team that was eventually relegated with us. Where Wayne Brown once had a shot that not only went out for a throw, but a throw level with where he’d struck the ball.

I haven’t slept for a week. The ambivalent feelings that I’ve had all season about the prospect of Premiership football next year have disappeared and been replaced by an overwhelming desire to see this wonderful group of lads playing ‘where they should be’.

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