Whats the best and worst Watford games you have been too and why? My best was Home to wrexham when we finally clinched promotion to the top flight for the first time (going totally mental in the Rookery terracing)! Worst a couple of years back was the Derby game at pride park ,a collective off day for everyone involved! Worst feeling was losing the cup final to Andy (gobby cheating bastard)Gray!
Tricky to pick a best. It would probably have to be the 1999 playoff final, not necessarily because it was better than 2006, but because I had the misfortune of starting my Watford days during the '87-'97 period. As far as normal games go, the 5-2 win over Coventry at the start of Lewington's reign sticks out. Worst? I'll go left field, and say the FA Cup tie against Scunthorpe a couple of years back. I have never (and will never again) walked out of a ground that bored and frustrated after seeing my team winning. Jenkins and JJ in particular were absolutely abysmal, although to be fair to them Rodgers putting them at the heart of a sideways style was at least partly to blame.
Has to be the 1999 Play-off final...winning at Wembley to gain promotion to the Premiership in such style! Worse - Losing to Luton when there was that violence at the Vic in 2002 wasn't good.
Best - first time promotion to old First Division - because of what it meant not the game itself and worst - the 3-0 home defeat by WBA under Boothroyd as it showed the wheels had truly come off our wagon
It must say something that there are so many 'bests' to pick from! I can't decide between these: 1) The Southampton game - to win 7-1 against the previously unbeaten Div 1 table-toppers was simply unbelievable - the adrenalin ran throughout the match and the beer ran for hours afterwards. 2) Beating Sunderland 8-0. I flew back to Oz on the Monday after that one - nearly didn't bother, but ended up boarding the plane from cloud 9. 3) Sheff. Wed in 1982 - four goals in 20 exhilerating minutes that blew away our nearest promotion contenders. Not too many worsts though - perhaps my mind has blanked them out Probably a friendly in the early 70's against Morton - 0-0 and so dire and boring a match that The Rookery invented a goal, much to the bemusement of the Morton keeper.
All of BB's PLUS beating the dirty ones 4 nil at The Kennel.... Worst? Losing 1-0 to the filth in the cup replay, not just losing but I got a big fat lip as well! PLUS take your pick from any of the dire games in the bertie era...
Beating Man U at Old Trafford in the League Cup in 1978 was pretty special and of course those mention above - Sunderland 8-0, Southampton 7-1 and the Play-off Finals plus any win over that lot from up the road. Worst - there were plenty of dire games in the early/mid seventies but one that springs to mind was away to Huddersfield on a Tuesday evening in 1998/99 - truly awful performance! It's the only game I've left before the final whistle in 45 years of watching Watford.
Best- don't know why but beating West Brom in the FA Cup (02/03) sticks out for me. And also, of course, the 2006 play-off final. Worst- Quite a few, but for me was loosing to Millwall at home 4-1 on New Years day in 2001 I think. Really bad game where everybody had an off day.
Erm I've only been to a few over 900 Watford games so there are a few highs and lows. OK Highs - has to be L**** 4th Oct 97 and I got a black eye afterwards. That led to my appearance on Page 3 (of the Watford Ob) with the "the scars will fade, but the result will stand" mantra!!!!!! Lows - the Bassett era and so many others! What about Birmingham away Sep 83? At least 8 rubbish performers all in the one game! Oh yes and Boothroyd after Adam Johnson. Grimsby Mar 93, the 3-0 defeat that saw the end of Petchey. I could go on .....
Losing at Northwich Victoria is a game I will not forget in a hurry - thought I was just there for a party
I went to the Northwich game, too, Leo. Truly embarrassing, especially as the game was moved to a 2pm kick-off because we suggested that their floodlights were not up to it. All the Northwich fans near me were holding candles. The worst game I saw was a 3-0 defeat against Bristol City in the early seventies. We were dire. For some reason I also remember a game against Torquay a few years later, only because I vowed never to watch Watford again after it. Don't remember anything about the match, just the thought. The most memorable for positive reasons have been mentioned. For absolute other worldliness it has to be the Southampton game. The expressions on people's faces coming out of the Vic after the game were bizarre and full of incomprehension. For poignancy was the Wrexham game that got us promotion to Div One. It was the day the HMS Shefield got sunk in the Falklands war with Watford lads on it. I remember the discussion in the pub afterwards.
The 8-0 v Sunderland was pretty special too - one of the directors at work was also a Sunderland director and he was pretty obnoxious so I left a copy of my programme under his windscreen wipers. He knew who had done it but could do nothing about it
Best: The 3rd round replay win v L*t*n in 1984 - what a great birthday! (I'm not saying which one, just that I was still at primary school) Worst: Once again, the FA Cup 3rd round - this time the 0-0 at Scarborough, where all of us who were there, including both sides, froze.
watford 2 Huddersfield 0 2 men sent off for us, 2 goals from Keith Mercer and then Mike Keen gets sacked....
Best: That Wrexham game or the Plymouth semi-final Worst: Peterborough game in 2009-10 or Walsall at home in 1975
Pretty good game when we came back up again, too. First game of the season back in Div 3 to managerless Walsall and we go 2-0 down. Their fans start singing, "Who needs a manager?". Andy Rankin then saves a penalty and we go on to win 4-2. We start singing, "You need a manager."
There was an awful trip to brighton one New years day was cold and wet ,the game was rubbish we were winning 1 -0 when Brighton equalised near the end !