With a lot of the Talk recently about comparing SD to MM, I started thinking about the various managers that Watford have had and those I have liked and the one I really hated and still to this day cannot forgive for what he did to our club. When I first started going to watch Watford Bill McGarry was Manager I used to enjoy going but it wasn't until the era of Ken Furphy who joined the club as player/manager that I learnt to love the club and become a lifelong supporter. He built his own team and style (even losing Charlie Livesey) then in 1968/69 it was fantastic with Barry Endean up front we won nearly every game after Christmas and became Third Division Champions, winning promotion for Watford for the first time ever. The following year we got to the Semi-finals of the FA Cup playing Chelsea at White Hart Lane (the pitch was worse than the allotments over the back from Vicarage Road. Barry Endean scored first for Watford but we ended up losing 5-1. As normal when things are going well a bigger or richer club moves in for our assets and Ken Furphy went to Blackburn Rovers, things then went from bad to worse, selling players to survive (recognise the story) until 1975 when we got as low as you could go in the Fourth Division. We then had the first coming of GT and you all know that story. So now we get to the bit I was aiming at The Manager I hate most When GT went to Aston Villa SEJ brought in Dave Bassett, within eight months he had completly destroyed everything GT had built up at the Club, selling the best players trying get us to play like Wimbledon. By January SEJ could see the error and sacked him, however it was too late and we were relegated and have never really recovered from those days. But the thing that I hate about him is his smug attitude, he thought then he was bigger than WFC and still does, if he can have a poke at Watford when he is a pundit on TV or Radio he still will. So who are your favourite and most hated Watford Managers?
In my memory, Chelsea scored first and Terry Garbett equalised. But no argument from me over Bassett - and to think that we actually paid him as a 'consultant' not that long ago As to favourite - anyone who does the right thing by the club and fans really, and is also in the mould of GT
I see we are the same era! What a journey! After GT... who of course is God .... I grew up with the successes of Ken Furphy.. and yes we had some great times. I personally have a soft spot for Aidy... although he lost the plot big time... and really was not as good a manager as he thought he was. I liked the way we played football under MM... Worst.. of course has to be Bassett.... dismantled a half decent team and got us relegated... complete a@@hole. Then it would have to be Vialli.... who used the club for his own ends. Certainly been a roller coaster ride
You're right about that semi final, shows I should look up things before I commit to print, mind you we did get some revenge by beating Chelsea 5-1 at Stamford Bridge in 1986
Have to admit it was really difficult to decide between GT and Furphy. We all congratulate Sean Dyche - quite rightly - for the job he has done on a shoestring budget, but there is absolutely no comparing his shoestring with Furphy's who virtually worked miracles on next to nothing. It's sad to think that that was his downfall - he performed so well on next to nothing, and that is exactly what he was given with which to keep the club in Div 2. I guess it boils down to just not knowing whether access to funds such as GT was given would have made him any more successful.
Aahhhhhh, Barry Endean. One of the best goals I ever saw at the Vic. Ray Lugg crossed from the right in a flowing move onto Endean's head and a bullet went past Tommy Lawrence. Watford 1 Liverpool 0. All of liverpool's defence nowhere.
Favourite since I've been Supporting the club - Sean Dyche Worst- Boothroyd. favourite otherwise - Graham Taylor Least- Basset
Lloydinho - harsh on Boothroyd - I did not like the Hoofball style of play but he took us into the Premiership and if Middlesboro had not recalled Johnson so quickly we would almost certainly have gone back there. Bassett destroyed our club - he deliberately undid everything GT had built - I rarely use the term but I think I still hate him. Perhaps it is just your terms of reference "since supporting the club" but surely either BR for his "integrity" comment or MM for his excessive poaching would be ahead of poor old Betty
I have been supporting since late 60's. Was a fan during Ken Furphy's era but probably too young to judge what he was doing with what resources. GT of course has to be the favourite, but I still have a soft spot for Aidy purely because it was such an enjoyable promotion season, and we the first half of the season after we came down. He did of course lose his way, football was one dimensional and the successes he had seemed to affect his relationship with his backroom staff, but it was a fun ride for a while. Bassett I agree has to be the worse (and that really was one dimensional football), and I still can't believe he sold Falco and bought Senior for a similar sum! But I also have to have Vialli up among my least favourites. Very boring football, played by a number of uninterested players. It had its positives, it was a pleasure to see Galli play for instance, but overall it was so frustrating to watch.
Got to agree with the popular choices of GT and Bassett. Never have I been so outraged at the action of Bassett to undo all the good work done over the years. Going back to my earliest days, the manager was Haydn Green who did a great deal to reshape the club. Rather like GT he did not have a very successful playing career, but did have some success as a manager. He brought in some good players, Frank Mitchell, Jimmy Bowie amongst them who really did get the fans support and all looked good, but then he was suddenly sacked. It only came out later that he was getting a commission on the transfers unbeknown to the board. It seems as if I was hearing similar things in a recent court case.
Also started supporting Watford in the late 60's and remember the Furphy era with great fondness - if he had had the resources of some later managers then there is no telling what could have happened. So Furphy and GT. stand out by a mile. As for the others I liked Ray Lewington a lot. Many people forget that he guided us through possibly the most financially instable part of our history - with pay cuts and administration never far away, also he guided us through the tragedy of a young player being killed on the night before the opening match of the season. Despite all of this he got us to 2 cup semis in 3 years before being very cruelly treated by the club - I for one would love to see him back in some capacity or other. In terms of the percentage of games won during his tenure Steve Harrison was one of the most successfull, and gave us the stability we desparately needed straight after the Bassett fiasco. No doubts about the worst - Bassett - unsuccessfull, unlikeable, arrogant and thought he was bigger than everything around him
GT best (both times) - Bassett worst with Vialli a distant rival. I started watching Watford in Div. 4 when Ron Burgess was the manager - not the best and certainly not the worst - but interestingly enough there is a case to make that Cliff Holton was the best manager that Watford never had. Oli Phillips, in his history of Watford FC contends that most of the time that Burgess was manager, Holton actually dictated tactics (and maybe even the make-up of the team). However when push came to shove in early 1961 and there was a difference of opinion between Holton & Burgess over the way that the team should play, the board backed Burgess and Holton was sold to Northampton Town. The furore this created amongst the club's fans was tremendous with many hiring coaches to go and see Holton play for the Cobblers rather than watch Watford. The board backed the wrong horse; Watford declined for the next 2 seasons and Burgess was replaced by Bill McGarry - one of the most successful managers the club has had - but only for one season. Then came Ken Furphy......
That is amazing vic.....I was going to write something similar about Cliff being a good manager for us. At the time that he was signed McBain was the manager in his second spell in the job, but by then it was common knowledge that he had too great a friendship with the bottle. Oli does say that Cliff and Pat Malloy ran the team, but with Burgess arriving he needed to do things his way, so he started to play Cliff at centre half. I remember well the huge uproar that was created when he was sold to Northampton, but it did appear that not all of the board knew that he had been sold.
There was also a (vicious) rumour that he was over friendly with the wife of one of the directors. Holton played most of the 58-59 season at centre- (or wing-) half. The following season he hit 48 goals. Now could we switch Mariappa or perhaps Nos for next season?
Some managers have to work with very difficult chairmen/owners. In the Centenary Book (yes, I still have my copy) it shows pictures of demonstrations against Jim Bonser. Please can someone who followed the club at that time say what the protests were about? There is a little bit in there which seems related to finances, but I want to know a bit more than that.
Slightly off topic, but I have seen that Keith Warn our reserve team goalkeeper who played in 1960 died last week from an unexpected heart attack.
