The Player You Most Regret Leaving Watford…

I remember that goal as well and it was definitely a fluke and heavily wind assisted. The Bury goal was no fluke though -

 

Fair enough - had forgotten that one was at a wedding that day so couldn't go to Bury

 

I don’t remember any of this. Are you sure?

 

Off the top of my head:

Rarely chased back, and when he did he commonly gave away really silly yellow cards. Broke our yellow card record about half way through a season, and then was a walking red-card/ had to duck out of future tackles. He probably loved the excuse
Moaned about every decision, and would end up walking around in a huff completely out of the game when a minor decision didn't go his way
Stood around on the centre circle numerous times just watching play when we conceded, because he was annoyed about something
Feigned injury against Huddersfield that directly led to us conceding a goal
Tried to get into a fight with fans
Gave away probably the most ludicrous handball I have ever seen in the last minute of a game against Bournemouth(?), where he basically hit it away because he was angry
At least twice, he walked off the pitch really slowly near the end of a game when we were losing
I thought he sent a message on his instagram saying 'I'm sick of this ****" or something, but happy to be corrected

 

Ah, I see! You were talking about Holebas, when the main subject of the post you were replying to was Anya. Thought it seemed odd.

 

Lee Cook. ****.

 

Ah, yes I booked the part about Holebas but could have been clearer.

Anya was a consummate professional, and was thoroughly likeable, even if he was a little limited.

 

Danny Graham, scored plenty of goals in a bang average side for a good two years. Was a proper finisher & although many have said his attitude stunk at other clubs I always thought he gave his all for us.

 

Yes, he was my choice too. Guaranteed goals while he was with us, so it was really odd how his form bombed after he left Swansea.

 

John Barnes

 

Adam Masina

 

Kevin Phillips.

 

Barnes hurt , but then you realise it’s just football and the players don’t care as much about playing for Watford as you do, for them it’s a job , for me it would be a dream come true.

then ones i missed the most where the ones that were the heart of the club, players that left it all on the field: players like Luther, Doyley and HG, I know it was time for HG to go but name a player with more Watford passion than him.

not a player but was pissed when we let Joka go and Vydra never played in the prem with Deeney

 

Barnes leaving didn't hurt so much because he was a fabulous player who was always going to play for a bigger club than us and he had already given us six great seasons. I always assumed he would end up abroad at one of the big teams in Italy or Spain. The thing that hurt was who he played for subsequently for so long.

 

I think the hurt of Barnes going was the manner. Liverpool not taking him after 'that year' in div 1 as he would have cost loads of dough (as he was still contract) but waiting a further year before they could get him for only £850000 (?) discretionary compensation. The only positive of this tawdry affair was that I got to watch him for another season from the terraces.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by 'that year' in div 1. Barnes played all but one season in Div 1 for us ('82-'87). Although since 1978 players could no longer be forced to remain at a club after their contract had run out, pre-Bosman transfer fees were still payable. So the fee Liverpool paid was not just discretionary compensation. At the time the transfer record between British clubs I think was the £1.5m paid by Man U to West Brom for Bryan Robson in 1981, but the Barnes fee was not way out of line for the time (Hoddle went to Monaco for £750,000), although we had hoped for over £1m.

 

By "that year" he means the extra year that he stayed.

 

My regret is that his departure coincided with the start of the Bassett "era" (does half a season count as an era?) and relegation the season after he left.

 

Akchewally no. By 'that year' I meant the first year in Div 1 ('82-'83) when we came second & shocked the entire footballing establishment.

 

Sorry - I wasn't replying directly to you, just repeating my regret at him leaving to tip us into horrible decline (I acknowledge it wasn't all about him!).

 

Helguson
Ramage
Philips
Connolly - just to be controversial
Penrice
Robbo
Holdsworth
It was such a big impact at the time- Tommy Smith

 

Classic Liverpool.

We won't pursue Van Dijk as we've tapped him up. Fair play. You caught us.

... actually we're going to sign Van Dijk and there's nothing you can do about it.

 

First time or second time?

 

or next time ?

 

John Stirk.

When Malky left for Cardiff along with some coaches and that half-decent player whose name I have forgotten, that was pretty depressing. Not so much for the loss of the people, but for the vote of no confidence it was in our club (Baz!) as a whole.

 

First. Rays side was thin anyway, but losing Smith left us languishing at the bottom of the league
I suppose though if we weren't in that position then RL wouldn't have gone, Betty wouldn't have come in and we wouldn't have had the season we did in 04/05

 

I'm not sure I quite agree with the connection. Smith left at the end of the 02/03 season, mainly because he was annoyed at being left out of the FA Cup semi-final team in favour of Chopra, and there was then another whole season under Lewington before the one where we ended up fighting relegation and Boothroyd came in at the end.

 

I was distraught when Gravelaine fucced us off 48 hours after signing, or whatever it was.

 

Martin Devaney

 

I seem to remember being a bit gutted when David James left.

 

Sietes.