Tag: Playoffs

27th May 2013- Championship Playoff Final, Crystal Palace 1 Watford 0 (After Extra Time)

It’s really not the old Wembley, is it? True, the old Wembley smelt of sour tramp when you got up close and it felt as though it might just fall down if everyone jumped at once…but not even the stale piss of a dozen generations could hide the essential romance of the place, the sense of that-happened-over-there history. This…well, it has the moneyed sheen and efficiency of an airport departure lounge. Any idiosyncrasies have been firmly ironed out by committee, any dark corners where you might be able to scratch your name for those who follow have been illuminated by an artful downlight. All trace of this game will have been wiped clean by the time you read this.

11th May 2008- Championship Playoff Semi-Final First Leg, Watford 0 Hull City 2

I haven’t done any research but I imagine we must have set a record of being the only club to ever achieve our lowest league attendance of the season at the first leg of a playoff. Just 14,713 turned up.

Scan 34 Scan 35 Scan 36 Scan 37 Scan 38 Scan 39 Scan 40 Scan 41 Scan 42 Scan 43 Scan 44 Scan 45 Scan 46 Scan 47 Scan 48 Scan 49 Scan 50 Scan 51 Scan 52 Scan 53 Scan 54 Scan 55 Scan 56 Scan 57 Scan 58 Scan 59 Scan 60 Scan 61 Scan 62 Scan 63 Scan 64 Scan 65 Scan 66 Scan 67 Scan 68 Scan 69 Scan 70 Scan 71 Scan 72 Scan 73 Scan 74 Scan 75

Goals from veteran pair Nicky Barmby and Dean Windass put Hull within sight of the Championship play-off final. Watford had a goal harshly disallowed in the fourth minute and fell behind shortly after when Fraizer Campbell set up Barmby to sidefoot home.

To make matters worse for Adrian Boothroyd’s men, skipper John Eustace was given a straight red card after a second-half scuffle.

Yes, okay, so we lost. And we can’t defend. And, well, Dean Windass. But that was rather fun wasn’t it?

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

Scan 22 Scan 23 Scan 24 Scan 25 Scan 26 Scan 27 Scan 28 Scan 29 Scan 30 Scan 31 Scan 32 Scan 33 Scan 34 Scan 35 Scan 36 Scan 37 Scan 38 Scan 39 Scan 40 Scan 41 Scan 42 Scan 43 Scan 44 Scan 45 Scan 46 Scan 47 Scan 48 Scan 49 Scan 50 Scan 51 Scan 52 Scan 53 Scan 54 Scan 55 Scan 56 Scan 57 Scan 58 Scan 59 Scan 60 Scan 61 Scan 62 Scan 63