Sunday 31 August 2014

A Rockin' Rookery!

What a fantastic game at home to Huddersfield (Alright there were some poor patches, but the feeling I had as I left was pure joy!), and what an end!

At 3-2 up, down to 10 men, Watford were battling to secure the win against Huddersfield. Finishing off games last season had been a criticism of the squad and the crowd at Vicarage Road were starting to feel very tense.

Gabriel Angella and Daniel Tozser turned to the Rookery with a rally cry for more support and the Rookery answered - boy did they answer.

Here is what it sounded like in the last 7 minutes of the match and yes, Abdi's second goal is in there!



Was it the loudest the Rookery has ever been? Maybe not, but I've never heard it like that for a game taking place at the end of August. A sign that expectations are high for the fans and the team this season and both are prepared to do what is needed.

Monday 25 August 2014

WFC in 100 Objects #53 - Lost Floodlight Fuse


A cracking object nominated by David Range:

On Tuesday night in April 1959, Watford were in a dire position towards the end of the season and played a ‘must win’ game at Vicarage Road against Shrewsbury. Into the second half the Hornets were 5-2 down and when the referee signalled for the floodlights to be switched on nothing happened. With the light rapidly fading, as was our chances of staying up, the ref had no alternative but to abandon the game. 

It transpired that someone had ‘borrowed’ the fuses. An inside conspiracy? who knows? It didn’t matter though Watford lost the re-arranged game 4-1 and were duly relegated. I was there and remember some fans lighting fires on the terraces.

Monday 18 August 2014

PODCAST: Sean Dyche Anthology


On the day that Sean Dyche becomes a Premier League manager, we look back at the three interviews that we did with the Exhaust Eater. Firstly when he was Assistant to Malky Mackay, then Watford manager in his own right and finally when he returned to Vicarage Road as Burnley Manager.

Sean was always very welcoming to From The Rookery End and he always gave a fun and entertaining interview!

Good luck in the Big League Sean!

WFC in 100 Objects - #52 A Rotherham Meat Pie

This object sums up the relationship with one of the least popular managers in the clubs History - Gianluca Vialli.

The object is a meat pie - which was thrown by a Rotherham fan at Vialli during an away game at Millmoor on 12th January 2002 during a 1-1 draw. 

We are unsure of the flavour or if sauce was included in the Rotherham Meat Pie
So where did the meat pie land. As David Range told us - "it was a direct hit on Gianluca. Absolutely hilarious and I wouldn’t mind betting that most of the Hornet fans there would have liked to have done the same."

A meat pie in the face, the object we've chosen to sum up Watford manager Gianluca Vialli

Friday 8 August 2014

WFC in 100 Objects #50 - Terry Challis Painting of Elton John on the back of a Hornet

Our list of 100 Objects, that define Watford FC, is only made great by your nominations. Several have nominated Terry Challis’s painting of Elton John on the Back of a hornet and Kelvin Grimwood told us what the painting and Terry’s weekly Watford Observer comic strips meant to him as it does many Watford fans.
Elton John and Oliver Phillips with an original of the painting (Watford Observer)
Terry created this painting in 1977, before I had ever visited the Vic and "seen the light"!  

My first visit to the Vic wasn’t until 1981 and I guess when I first saw this, I thought it was a review of what had happened since Elton had become Chairman and was shocked when I learnt that it had been created 4 years earlier when Elton first took over the club. At that moment tt struck me how accurate and visionary Terry had been. 

It’s one of those paintings where each area you looked at, you noticed something else, like the Statue of Liberty and Eiffel Tower.  I guess that's what real art does. The only things it seemed to miss out was Luther scoring or Johnny Barnes running down the wing.  It captures Elton, dressed in his normal flamboyant style astride the big Hornet, pointing the way to a player from a cabbage patch of a pitch looking out on a flat mowed green pitch looking past the old Shroddels stand to a new modern stand.  Then lots of pitches to do battle on to the tip of hill paved with gold, upon which sits the Liverpool Liver Bird, who were the cream of England and Europe at the time. Then beyond it the Twin Towers of Wembley and international lands beyond.  It just captures, in one piece of art such an great piece in our history.  

To me, Terry interpreted the dream or vision of a "flamboyant" pop star who had bought the club he had supported as a boy absolutely perfectly.  In 1977, I imagine that most fans thought it was pure madness, especially after the fallow Bonser years that had just ended.

Terry Challis was well know to us all then as a great cartoonist through his brilliant weekly work in the Wobby, and personally growing up, I looked forward to his cartoon every week because he could sum up what the average fan was feeling about the game(s) the week before.  What was less known was that he was also a fantastic artist.  


To me, this painting is a lasting legacy of his talent. 

Thursday 7 August 2014

WFC in 100 Objects #49 - Dave Messenger’s Wallchart

Every football fan loves a Wallchart. Religiously filling it in through out a season, or a tournament, is  always fun and deeply satisfying once complete. If it is loved, a wallchart can show the highs and lows, the intricate details of a teams journey and who the heroes were.

Recently, whilst clearing out his stuff from the attic of his family home, Watford Internet FC manager Dave Messenger found such a wallchart from when he was 9, and it wasn’t just any old Watford season that he documented. Tt was the 1982-1983 season - Watford's most successful ever!.



Those of a statistical disposition may notice that Dave didn't fill in the chart 100% accurately. That does not matter. The 9 year old Dave did this chart with passion, and that's all that matters.



Wednesday 6 August 2014

WFC in 100 Objects #48 - A Luton Town Membership Card

Yes, this photo is sideways - but it's a Luton membership card so we didn't think it was worth changing that!
Many Watford fans have to sacrifice a lot in their lives to follow the glory hornets week in and week out. You may miss special events to travel up to Doncaster or not little Johnny a birthday present because you want the latest shirt.

However, life long Watford fan, Nick Dunsbury made the biggest sacrifice any Watford fans has ever had to make. Nick told us:

It was from the years when away fans were banned from Kenilworth Road. I applied for Membership of the club so I could buy a ticket. However, I was refused due to my Watford address. So I reapplied with my sister’s Bletchley address and I was officially a member of Luton Town football club. When we scored I recall half the main stand jumping up and I don’t remember any problems at that fixture.

Tuesday 5 August 2014

What's the score? (Hornets Hive App)

During a match at Vicarage Road a few years ago, all the people who sit around me found out that I have an iPhone and that I could look up the football scores during the game. The iPhone is an amazing thing (we record every FTRE on one), and I can look up scores, but there can be times when the webpages just won't update. I got very frustrated.

Now it seems that mine - and probably your - problems can be solved. A new App that was developed by a company called TribeHive aims to remove all these frustrations with a clever bit of technology. The best bit is that Watford will be one of the clubs trialling the app

I'm a proud geek, so when Watford told me that fans were going to be part of the App trial the app at the start of the season, I went to visit TribeHive's Ian Wakeman at his University of Sussex base to talk about how this wonderful app works and will benefit us Watford fans.




This is only going to work if loads of us get the free app. I've got mine, so click on the images below to go to the Smart phone app store you need:


Blackberry and Windows Phones won't be part of the Trial - Sorry!

- Jon

Watch TribeHive's video on how the app works.
You can read Ian's research paper on the University of Sussex website

WFC in 100 Objects #47: A Watford FC Passport to Europe

Watford's rise through the footballing pyramid in the early 80’s was a thing that football fans dream of. It’s the sort of rise that will probably never happen again. Who gets promoted to the top division and in the first ever season at that level qualifies for Europe?

So when Watford made their first over seas visit for a UEFA Cup tie against FC Kaiserslautern, the supporters on the club coaches were give a special pack from the club - a Passport to Europe. Regular 100 Object contributor, Nick Dunsbury sent us these pictures of a wallet containing a map of Germany and a letter from Graham Taylor himself.

A Watford Passport to Europe
GT's Letter
Map of Germany

Objects in this list can either represent a special moment in the clubs history or just symbolise your relationship with the club. Nick’s Passport to Europe does both. 

Monday 4 August 2014

Watford FC in 100 Objects #46 - Alan Cozzi's Nikon F Camera

Alan Cozzi is a Watford Legend, but many Watford fans wouldn't recognise him if he walked past them or they may not even know his name. 

What they will all have done is looked at a photograph he has taken. He sits at the side of the pitch at every Watford match and has has photographed every player and every major event since 1979. His first game was a bitterly cold away game at Colchester in 1979. Watford had been the only club to reply to a 19 year old boy wanting a break into football photography. It started there and he is still clicking his camera to this day.


On that day he used a Nikon F camera and it is that camera that we are putting into our list of 100 Objects. Cozzi has used many cameras over the years, many rolls of film/memory cards, but this was his first.

So who was his favourite player to photograph in his time on the side lines? Alan told us, “John Barnes - just his sense of balance and movement and you could see that when you captured an image of him. You could see that he had something that other players didn’t have.”

And what about his least favourite? “Heidar Helguson was difficult to get a good photo of to begin with", but as Alan explained, “once I understood his game he was easy to read. And that’s what you do. Different players at the club through out the years, you have to look at them playing their football first, then that gives you an idea of how to photograph them.”

If you saw a photo of Cozzi, you may not know it's him, but every Watford fan knows his iconic photographs.