Category Archives: Rob Edwards

26th September 2022- Rob Edwards departs and Slaven Bilic is appointed Head Coach.

BBC Sport: Championship club Watford have named Slaven Bilic as their new boss on an 18-month deal after sacking Rob Edwards just 11 games into his tenure.

Sky Sports: Bilic has signed an 18-month contract at Vicarage Road, replacing Edwards who took charge of just 11 matches during a three-month stint at Watford.

Watford Observer

Watford sack Edwards but sporting director Giaretta stays

Watford appoint Bilic as head coach after Edwards sacking

LIVE REACTION: Bilic new Watford head coach, Edwards sacked

17th September 2022- Championship, Watford 2 Sunderland 2

This was the first home game since the death of HRH Queen Elizabeth II. The programme had a special wraparound with a tribute from club CEO Scott Duxbury.

Attendance:19,767

BBC Sport: Jewison Bennette’s late equaliser earned Sunderland a draw at Vicarage Road to deny Watford a fourth home win of the season.

Sky Sports: Colombian teenager Yaser Asprilla curled a clever ball into space on the left for Hassane Kamara to chase. The full-back’s cross was shovelled into the path of Keinan Davis by Sunderland goalkeeper Patterson, leaving the on-loan Aston Villa striker the easiest of tap-ins on his first Watford start.

BHappy: We can’t implore the club to exercise more patience on the one hand and then turn on a young manager in a challenging position if things look a bit tricksy after ten games.

Fran’s Watford Blog: There were boos at the final whistle that were baffling to me. This had been a hard fought game with a lot of skill shown by the Watford players. The draw was a fair result as the Watford players had run out of steam by the end, which allowed the visitors to get back in the game, but it was not a performance that deserved to be booed.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/62858313

30th August 2022- Championship, Watford 2 Middlesbrough 1

This game was the 100th anniversary of the first ever game played at Vicarage Road.

https://www.watfordfc.com/post-match/watford-mens-team-middlesbrough-first-team-2022-08-30/statistics

BBC Sport: Vakoun Bayo scored a stoppage-time winner for Watford as they beat Middlesbrough 2-1 on a historic night at Vicarage Road.

Sky Sports: Watford wore black and white striped shirts – a replica of the kit they wore in 1922 – for this one after the centenary had been marked by a pyrotechnics display, Elton John music and chats with former Hornets favourites.

BHappy: The thing is, it isn’t like anywhere else. Other places… homes, schools, where you work… might have similar long standing but nowhere has this permanence in significance and role. None of it looks like it did when I first came in 1980, not even the now-more-green-than-brown stuff in the middle. There are no longer busses visible trundling along the top of the northern end of the ground. There’s no longer a hotchpotch of bits of stand and terracing down the east side, nor is there any longer a place where you can swap panini stickers (is there?). The Shrodells Stand has long gone, as has the Watford Observer Clock (though – spoiler alert – only as far as the Museum’s excellent commemorative exhibition).

Fran’s Watford Blog: We had been told to be in our seats at 7:45, so duly obliged and were treated to hearing Lloydy and Mapps talk about their happy memories of Vicarage Road. Nigel Gibbs, who was working with the Tottenham U-21s had recorded a message for the big screen. I had joined a twitter space on Sunday where Gibbsy was a guest. Hearing him talk about Watford as both a player and a fan was so heart-warming. There was a wonderful video shown while “I’m Still Standing” played to accompany pyrotechnics around the ground. Then the team came out to Z-cars, which was followed by Chariots of Fire ringing out.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/62641671

27th August 2022- Championship, Watford 2 Queens Park Rangers 3

https://www.watfordfc.com/post-match/watford-mens-team-queens-park-rangers-first-team-2022-08-27/statistics

Attendance: 19,977

BBC Sport: Substitute Albert Adomah scored the winner for Queens Park Rangers to end Watford’s unbeaten start in the Championship.

Sky Sports: Ilias Chair and Chris Willock were also on target for Michael Beale’s side, who won for the first time away from Loftus Road under their new head coach. Ken Sema and Joao Pedro had equalised for Watford, who saw a late goal ruled out for a questionable offside.

BHappy: Losing’s fine of course… well, not fine but certainly part of the tapestry, and a part that we’ve been all too familiar with over the past couple of years that we’ve been able to “enjoy” at Vicarage Road. This is different though, a different flavour of defeat to last season’s regular diet of inadequacy and helplessness. This is stomp around scowling and looking for someone to argue with, nobody talk to me for a month frustration. This is outrage at the unjustness and the AAAAARRRRGHHHH of it all.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/62614069

12th August 2022- Championship, Watford 1 Burnley 0

https://www.watfordfc.com/post-match/watford-mens-team-burnley-first-team-2022-08-12

Attendance: 19,225

BBC: Tom Cleverley’s winner helped 10-man Watford extend their good start to the Championship season and end Burnley’s unbeaten start under Vincent Kompany.

The Guardian: Hassane Kamara was shown a straight red card for a professional foul nine minutes from time but the Clarets could not get the better of the home goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann and succumbed to their first defeat under Vincent Kompany.

Fran’s Watford Blog: It wasn’t a classic performance, but it was head and shoulders above what we saw at the Hawthorns on Monday. The Hornets had the better of the first half and, while it was mostly one way traffic in the second, there were still some impressive signs from the home side. Dan Bachmann was, again, my man of the match and I was delighted that he made the Burnley fans eat their words. The defence was very well organised and there was a much better showing from the midfield. I was very impressed with our new boy, Choudhury, who appears to be an excellent addition. We didn’t get to see a lot from Bayo or Asprilla, but their time will come.

1st August 2022- Championship, Watford 1 Sheffield United 0

https://www.watfordfc.com/post-match/watford-mens-team-sheffield-united-first-team-2022-08-01/statistics

Attendance:19,536

BBC Sport: Rob Edwards made a winning start to life as Watford manager as Joao Pedro’s goal proved enough to beat Sheffield United in a highly-competitive Championship game at Vicarage Road.

BHappy: After six largely untroubled added minutes the game ends. Not without concerns… this is surely the dying embers of last year’s model, what could have been, and yet we only managed one goal for all that. But a first win for Rob Edwards, getting that monkey off our backs at the earliest opportunity, was priceless and a jammy one-nil would have been just fine. This wasn’t jammy; we fully deserved it, even if we might not have gotten away with it with an unfavourable wind.

Fran’s Watford Blog: Last season was soul destroying, so I am very happy to be reporting on a very entertaining performance. My first reaction was that it was nice to see a team who appeared to have met each other. I was particularly impressed with the organisation throughout the team. Every player had a job and they all stuck to it. Passes generally found another player in a yellow shirt. They fought for every ball and refused to see any cause as lost. Energy and passion were what we were crying out for last season, it was so good to see them back. Sarr, Dennis and João Pedro were unplayable up front. Let’s hope that we can keep them and that they continue to play like that. They will be giving Championship defences nightmares. Equally, much as there has been much moaning about our defence on social media, I thought they were well organised and really restricted the chances for Sheffield United.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/championship/scores-fixtures/2022-07

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/championship/table