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Winners at Wembley, now the Finals for a Fiver!
Under the captaincy of Watford legend (Sir) Tommy Mooney, the Watford team that took part in the Selco London Masters was always going to be a competitive and well organised outfit. In their first game against “North London giants” Arsenal, It quickly became clear that the team of Kevin Miller, Marcus Gayle, Derek Payne, Craig Ramage, Steve Palmer, Nick Wright, Micah Hyde and captain Mooney were much more than competitive. They were frightening!
Selco London Masters
We still have a few weeks to go until the new football season starts. The first team started pre-season with a 2-2 draw away at Borehamwood and the Watford Masters were crowned champions at the Selco London Masters at Wembley Arena.
“Rambo” set to master Wembley with Watford
Here at From the Rookery End, we generally like to look to the future, talk about the present, the here and now. Occasionally though, it’s nice to take a look back and with the Hornets entering a team into the London Masters – now less than a week away, what better excuse is there to talk to a true Watford FC cult hero.
WIN: Masters Football Tickets
This is your chance to see some of our Watford heroes in action one more time. It’s also a chance to compare beer bellies to see if they’ve finally caught up with yours.
Get involved with FTRE!
Our first full season has been pretty much just the three of us, and we’d love to expand that next season. So we were wondering… Do you fancy getting involved with From The Rookery End?
Sean Dyche – Watford Manager
Well, it’s obvious isn’t it? We know what Watford are about. Academy, player trading model, young squad. Words and phrases we’ve become familiar with over the last couple of years. And Dyche is a big part of that. We talk a lot about the home grown squad we have. Let’s not forget that our new boss was youth team coach when he rejoined the Hornets back in 2007. So he’s got more experience then maybe he is being given credit for. Experience working with young players. Our young players. And don’t just take my word for it. Both Graham Taylor and Laurence Bassini have quoted continuity and the Watford Way when talking about his promotion from within. Plus we know it works. Did Malky not take the same steps on making his first foray into management at Vicarage Road?
If you’ve read my ramblings before then you’ll know what I’m like. I need facts, stats. I feel it necessary to back up my fluffy spouting with some solid reality. So what gems from the past can I dig up to prove this is the way to go? Well I’m going all the way back to when I was a nipper beginning my education in the beautiful game. It’s the early 80’s and Liverpool were in charge of English football and Bob Paisley was in charge of Liverpool. He was the first product of Bill Shankly’s legendary Boot Room, winning League titles, domestic & European cup competitions and surpassing Shankly’s legendary record. When he retired in 1983, he was replaced by another Boot Room member, Joe Fagan, followed by player manager Kenny Dalglish. They won 32 trophies between them.
Impressive, huh? But maybe it’s a bit far-fetched to compare Watford to the all conquering Liverpool side of the late 70’s, early 80’s. Well, let’s look at it from a historical Watford perspective then. When we’ve gone for so called big names in management, it hasn’t always worked. Vialli and Bassett come to mind. Whilst those that we’d never heard of…. Boothroyd, promotion in his first full season. Rodgers, okay, he didn’t hang round very long but was growing green shoots of recovery at the Vic. And whilst it didn’t quite end up the proverbial silk purse left behind by Malky, Sean hasn’t been left with a complete pig’s ear of a team.
So, Dyche appears to be the right choice. He knows the club, he knows the players. In times of such uncertainty, to have the opportunity to make a decision that allows the club to have some stability at a management level is not to be passed by. Add to that a demeanor that screams leadership, with a likeable personality, was there ever any other option? Tisdale. What was I thinking?
Jason
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REVIEW: Season Review 2010/11 DVD
It’s a well produced DVD and includes every single goal. It’s great seeing them all again, but as these aren’t highlights I was left wanting to see more of games. Should that matter? Maybe not. As I watched our 3-0 home win against Sheffield United with two former hornets being sent off I was reminded of how I felt watching that day in the Rookery. And maybe that’s all I need, but I didn’t get to see some of the great team performances I remember. All 6 away goals at Millwall and the 3 goals from that Friday night away at QPR are fantastic to see again, but I did want to see some more of the football in-between all the goals. Lots of the enjoyment of watching football are the 5 near chances that build up the tension before the 6th attempt leads to a goal and there is much celebration.
Thanks Malky
In their end of season review, our brother is Watford blogging over at BHaPPY said that Malky would be risking another season at Watford. He’s had two great years of saving the club from the doom of League 1 and proved to the football world that he can manage a team to ‘success’. But what if season 3 wasn’t as good? What if his playing budget wasn’t increase and Watford went down? He would surely see a promising managerial career disappear. If he is to become the next Sir Alex then he needs to have a different story to tell.
How much is Danny Graham worth?
Friend of the podcast from across the pond @Curtiford asked fellow fans on Twitter that very question. I responded with an off the top of my head figure of £4 million, maybe £5 million. And that seems to sit somewhere within the general consensus, looking at the responses to the very same question asked by the Watford Observer online. But that doesn’t seem very scientific does it? The club must have their ideas of what constitutes a good price, the minimum they would take if no-one reaches the valuation come 31st August, the “offer we can’t refuse”. They’re the pro’s so will know what they’re doing, hopefully! But we’ll take a look, in particular at previous Championship top scorers, to see if we can work out how much cash we can expect for our star striker.
Watford’s season on aggregate
With that thought on my mind, and for a bit of fun and to take a different look at the 2010-2011 season, I’ve put together the home and away results for every Watford results from the last season to see if things looked a little different. Oh, and away goal rule was enforced.