Favourite Watford Matches

I was at all those matches too. The 1969/70 match was my 4th away game having been to Man U in the FA Cup and Bournemouth the previous season and Bristol City on the opening day of that season.

I remember the wall collapsing quite close to where I was standing with my Dad, Uncle and Cousin.

The Bristol City game was quite crowded too - my Dad paid full price for me to get in as the turnstile operator said kids had to go through a different turnstile but it was so crowded he wasn't prepared to do that! The coach, on the way home, got a flat tyre so had to stop in Swindon where the pub we pulled up outside of put on a buffet for all of us - they also had a skittle alley which was great fun.

 

Was there no segregation at games back then, or at least those below the top flight?

 

No segregation back in those days - Vicarage Road end used to have a mix of home and away fans certainly through to the mid/late seventies.

 

There was no official segregation until the 1980s. The worst trouble inside grounds took place in the early to mid-70s often when visiting hooligan gangs aimed to 'take' the home sides popular 'end'. Most areas of grounds were terracing and used could move around in much of it. There was also a fairly short-lived tendency for pitch invasions when a result was going the wrong way or fighting spilled over - this was before there were any kind of fences. The reaction to all this was heavy policing, which became a high cost to clubs, before different areas of grounds were allocated to home and away fans. Certainly at Vicarage Road in the '79/'80 season when there were a lot of big games against London teams there was a fair amount of trouble and I distinctly remember at the Cup quarter-final against Arsenal in 1980 police dogs having to separate fans on the old Vicarage Road end terrace. Once segregation was in place trouble inside grounds became much less frequent, although not impossible, but it was transferred outside into surrounding streets before and after games.

 

There was a fair bit of trouble in that 79/80 season when West Ham visited early on (fighting on the pitch), Chelsea later on that season and as you mention the Arsenal cup match.

I can remember some sort of segregation in 77/78 when Southend visited and their fans were put on the old Family Terrace.

 

Very impressed and envious that you went to Man Utd in FA Cup & Our first ever Div2 game at Bristol City, two WFC games I would have loved to have gone to see, however being only 9 yrs old and living in Ickenham (Middx) I was dependent on my Dad going, he usually worked until 12.30 on a Saturday, so that was that.

I have seen the limited footage of the United cup game and Scullion's stunning goal, and their equaliser, I am guessing you went by train from Watford Junction, I am led to believe a good number of Hornets did, wow that attendance 63,498, did you stand in the Scoreboard open terracing opposite the Stretford end?

My Boss comes from Warrington, and his local pub is the Rope & Anchor on Manchester Road do you know it,
He told me for a WFC away game I think it was last season, possibly Man City, Man Utd or Liverpool that the Rope (as he calls it) had a number of Hornets in it, you may have been one of them.

 

I was nearly 8 when I went to Old Trafford with my Dad, my first ever away game. We went on one of the many specials from Watford Junction.

We sat in the cantilever stand (now the Alex Ferguson stand) down towards the Stretford End who were making a lot of noise until Scullion scored and they went very quiet and the ground seemed to turn black and gold. I have heard that they reckon there were about 10,000 Watford fans there - it seemed like that as the opposite end to the Stretford End (which was open terracing) seemed to be packed with Hornets fans.

At the station to go home afterwards the queues stretched out of site - our train didn't get back to the Junction until nearly midnight as various 'youths of the day' kept pulling the emergency stop chain !! Tickets for the replay went on sale on Sunday morning so Dad dropped me off at home and went to the ground and queued all night for tickets.

The replay was eventful too as the crush barriers collapsed at the Vicarage Road end so the kids, me included, were passed over people's heads and sat around the edge of the pitch. My claim to fame was passing the ball back to Denis Law for a United corner and he rubbed my head and said 'Thanks sonny'.

I know of the Rope & Anchor but have never been in there - my local is The Hoop & Mallet (The Hoop) in Callands where I'm known as 'Watford'. I have seen a few cars locally with Watford stickers on them. When we play in Manchester or Liverpool (not going to happen this season!) there are often a lot of Watford fans in town changing stations from Bank Quay to Central.

 

Fascinating your account of going to Old Trafford, back then it would almost of been akin to playing in a Cup Final, it occurred to me that Man Utd were of course European Champions at the time. Much to my everlasting disappointment I missed the replay as well as the Old Trafford game, given that the replay hosted our record attendance, that really rankles with me , I believe the first date of the replay, the game was postponed, and not living in Watford or even Hertfordshire and being only 9 I only found out about the replay after the game had been played , the following day, I am not sure I have ever forgiven my Dad for this, he should have taken me.

Apologies for brow beating you, but going back to your great account of the Bristol City away game, and your comment about how packed it was at Ashton Gate, I have always been aware of the 19,000 + attendance, someway short of the grounds capacity at the time, but it dawned on me after you comment, of course Ashton Gate was a three sided ground for a chunk of that season, due to the stand opposite the main stand being under construction, at least that's my understanding.

 

The Man united replay was my first game of my 51 year career supporting WFC, I went straight from school on the bus arriving at 1645 for a 1930 kick off, and stood on the ash trodden bend between Scrodells stand and the Rookery. (not sure why I got there so early), remember it like it was yesterday!

 

I’m really irritated that I’m not going to be able to celebrate my half century of watching Watford. The game at Birmingham on December 12th would be fifty years to the day from my first.

 

I think the reason I remember it being busy at Bristol City was due to the Watford coaches arriving very near to kick off - the queues outside were big.