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.
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.


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