Category Archives: Graham Taylor

10th February 2001- New Division One, Watford 2 Portsmouth 2

…whatever they were trying to create in the second half, we should applaud Watford and Portsmouth. Sure, it was incredibly ugly…but, as I’ve explained, prototypes often are. No, we should encourage their attempts to create a new sport with the rucking and mauling of rugby, the sparse incident of snooker, and trace elements of football. However, we should also request that they don’t trouble us again until it’s been fully tried, tested and perfected.

This was going to be a fully-interactive role-playing report on the second half of the match, but in all honesty there wasn’t a whole load of interaction so here’s a rundown of the roles the players played.

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20th January 2001- New Division One, Watford 1 Fulham 3

GT on passing the landmark of 1000 games as a manager.

Think back to the start of the season, when we could look at our forthcoming opponents without fear, when even our fellow Premiership casualties didn’t appear to offer a serious challenge. Our squad was as strong as any in the division, more complete and more experienced than the one that had been promoted. All we needed were performances to match. On Saturday morning, those thoughts were finally laid to rest. Fulham are better than us, better than everyone else. Of course, the league table already provides a fairly clear indication of that…but it’s beyond doubt now.

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6th January 2001- FA Cup Third Round, Watford 1 Everton 2

Everton staged a dramatic late rally to stun Watford and snatch an FA Cup third round victory in injury time at Vicarage Road.

In many ways, this was like an out-takes video from last season, and it was equally lacking in amusement value.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000%E2%80%9301_FA_Cup

https://oldwatford.com/2007/02/24/24th-february-2007-premier-league-watford-0-everton-3/

https://oldwatford.com/2007/02/24/24th-february-2007-premier-league-watford-0-everton-3/

2nd January 2001- New Division One, Watford 3 Wimbledon 1

At first glance, you could reasonably say that we’ve waited for two miserable months for a performance like this. Personally, I’d argue that we’ve been waiting for it all season.

So, back to basics – a cold January evening, a 36-year-old goalkeeper who cost one-squillionth as much as his deputy, and some changes in personnel since I last watched the Horns. Steve Palmer and Michel Ngonge have been Frankensteinly morphed together to produce Carlton Palmer, whose all-round Mr Tickle aspects were at their very best last night.

We had shape. And purpose. The central midfield of Carlton Palmer and Allan Nielsen scrapped away tirelessly and destructively, and when they got the ball they fed the wings or the the forwards rather than just passing the ball to them.

More games from 2nd January at https://oldwatford.com/tag/jan2

23rd December 2000- New Division One, Watford 1 Huddersfield Town 2

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

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…”.