One for the older fans . Keith Eddy has passed away aged 77. Before my time but think he was a pretty decent player during a time of relative success at the club . https://mobile.twitter.com/TMA_TV/status/1579927346307792896 https://mobile.twitter.com/hoop0709/status/1579920804737060867
RIP Keith He always looked so comfortable on the ball to my young eye. Ever present in our promotion season 68/69 reaching the then promised land of Div 2 (Championship now)-good penalty taker. Six seasons with us, left following our disastrous season in 71/72 when we won only two out of 42 games.
Sorry to hear that Keith has passed, he was the captain when I first started following the horns, a very classy player that stood out in our team. I’m pretty sure he even went on to play with Pele in the states, he was on Hive Live during the lockdown talking about how he signed for us and had fond memories! Condolences to all his family and friends.
Keith Eddy was before my time but he was one of my Dad's all-time favourite players. Eddy starred in the team that got promoted to the second tier for the first time in the club's history. He also played in the team that finished bottom of Division Two in 1971-72 and my Dad described him as a Rolls-Royce engine in a Robin Reliant chassis. A retro car reference that'll be totally lost on the kids, I'm sure.
Very sorry to see on the official site that Keith Eddy has passed away. He was the first player I saw score a goal for Watford - a penalty at home to Sunderland.
Oh no! Eddy Pen as I thought he was named as a child. Condolences to his family and another piece of the iconography of my youth disappears. RIP.
Yep reminds me of the question posed to Shankly as to who was better Keegan or Finney. Shankly thought for a moment and replied " Kevin..but Tom is 67." Fine words from Oliver P in the WO article.
Very sad news, I met him on a couple of occasions in a business capacity, he was a true gent, with a good sense of humour, as well as being a fine footballer.
Could play either CB position, although not normally 'first jump', as well as a shielding midfielder and at times in a more creative role. I think the only penalty I saw him miss was the Div 3 'championship decider' at Swindon in 1969. 'E for B and Keith Eddy' as the chant went in more innocent times.
RIP Keith Eddy (sufc.co.uk) Recent interview with Keith earlier this year: BBC Radio Cumbria Sport - Keith Eddy: From Walney to New York - BBC Sounds
Thanks for posting that, Smudger, that was a great listen. How lucky were those of us who grew up in the Eddy and Furphy era? RIP Keith Eddy, one of my first-ever heroes. Big Watford Love to any family, relatives or friends of this great man who might happen upon this forum.
Keith Eddy was pure class. An elegant skilful footballer and a good captain. Oh for a Keith Eddy to galvanise and lead the team today... RIP
RIP. Before my time as a fan but one of the handful of well known former Watford players I’d heard a lot about. True leader and a penalty spot genius. You don’t see too many CHs as the regular pen taker these days do you ? Sam Ellis and Ian Bolton of course….
Sad news, a true great at Watford. My first match 67 /68 v Swindon. Eddy was skipper, think we won 2-0 and pretty sure he got a pen (did he ever miss)? RIP.
Keith Eddy took 19 penalties for Watford and he missed only one penalty (away to Swindon). My father took me to watch that match on Saturday, 29th March 1969. The game had been moved to the evening so that it did not clash with the Grand National. Swindon were competing with Watford and Luton for two promotion places and two weeks earlier they had beaten Arsenal 3-1 in the League Cup Final (after extra time during which Don Rogers, Swindon's brilliant winger, scored 2 goals). Fortunately, Watford managed to keep Rogers quiet during the game and Eddy's miss did not matter because Barry Endean scored the winner in Watford's 1-0 away victory. Watford went on to win the Division 3 Championship (level on points with Swindon but with a superior goal difference). Luton finished in third place and missed out on promotion. Keith Eddy, R.I.P.
I first attended the Vic in '78...and recall the name well. Dennis Booth is one of the first WFC players I liked for some reason, he was likely dogshit in reality, but I liked him. Jan Lohman was another one later on I liked, who was probably ***** too. Les Taylor, was a scraper he was. Malcolm Poskett another one i liked. GT had good judgement on No9's didn't he, the likes of Colin West/ Mark Falco /George Reilly/ ROSS JENKINS. AHH The good ole'days.
He did have good judgement for strikers, at least first time round anyway, but we were such an attacking side it was difficult not to score for us. Jenkins & Blissett were of course already at the club when he arrived and he was looking to replace them at the end of his first season at the club ! Second time round, Dom Foley, converted Mooney to CH initially having released him at Villa, Ngonge, Smart....no real star signings there....but he did bring in HH !!!
Ngonge said that he wished that he had been coached by GT much earlier in his career. As for Eddy, he was imperious ..... except when he wasn't. The first game of one of our three seasons in Div 2 was at Fulham. Eddy got the ball on the edge of our penalty area and, instead of booting the ball clear, fannied about, lost possession and they scored. He was a great player for the club. I can't think why the only details I remember are poor ones. The missed penalty at Swindon was another though, to be fair, I didn't see that. I was on the goal line as they had got all the kids out of the terracing behind the goal for safety reasons and put us next to the pitch. There were too many other people in the way for me to be able to see the goal and it was a few moments before I realised that the penalty had been saved.
A friend's Dad took us to that game and due to all the fighting behind the goal at the end that penalty was taken, we made our way to other end, much to our disappointment. However it meant we got a spot right on the fence behind the goal so got a perfect view of Endean slotting home the winner from Dixie Hale's pass.
