Let me take you on a journey through space and time.... My first game that gave me the Watford bug was against Oxford way back in 1988. I'd been a Liverpool fan until that point but decided that glory hunting was overrated so went for my local team. My mates were all QPR or Chelsea fans so the temptation was to follow suit and join their faux Cockney crews. But no.....Watford was the choice. No one in my year at school supported them. This was a stupid move putting me at the mercy of the bully boys that followed the big clubs. On this day we beat them 3-0. It was our first win for months in a doomed season of relegation. The match was awesome and I loved every second of it. To top it off the ticket price was £1.50 in the family enclosure! After relegation was confirmed I got a Watford shirt for the new season and couldn't wait to get back there with my brother and parents. 36 years later and I still go with my brother. My dad is no longer with us (but is a total hero for taking me all those years ago). I still go with mates who started going to games with me in the 90s. Still laugh at some of the simply awful footballers we've seen play for us. Top 5 worst: Digweed Blondeau Issa Quinn Oulare I still get that buzz when we score, still get annoyed at shoddy referees, I still do a little giggle when the scoreboard men come up on screens when we score. Essentially I bloody love our brilliant football club! So onto Friday evening (write up pre Swansea): Bayo is amazing/dreadful having repeated his 4 goals/been sent off/not had a shot against Swansea. Mods delete as necessary! Oxford are a good footballing team. They've had a good start back in the Championship and sit mid table. They have some good youth players mixed with experience. Top scorer so far is Mark Harris with 4 goals. They have a decent winger in Tyler Goodrhym who scores goals - 3 and also gets booked - 4 yellows. Josh McCechran is still playing and somehow is only 31!!! Head to head: Watford - 18 wins Draws - 14 draws Oxford - 7 wins Our record is good in recent years against them - they haven't beaten us for 31 years and only twice in 51..... Tache prediction: Watford 3 Oxford 1 Did you know: Thanks to being a Watford fan I was once made famous by being in Gazza's first book....
Good chance to get back to winning ways at home against Oxford. It will be very much like Watford to mess the home record up with a terribly poor performance against a team like Oxford. Oxford are one of the worst teams in the league away from home and we have one of the best home records. I have actually watched them a fair amount of times this season as my in-laws are from around that way and if I am honest they haven't looked that good. They do seem to be getting a few results but got the impression that they were in a bit of a bubble. They did pick up a good win at home against struggling Hull tonight but I believe that was their first win in 9. I fully expect Oxford to be right down there at the end of season so for that reason in a typical Watford way I expect the scoreline to be Watford 0- 3 Oxford.
Haha me too. I gave a few a go and it just seemed like a random mad mix of weirdness with nothing really going on. I always just figured it was one of those random alternative shows that everyone pretended to like just so other people thought they were cool.
Always remember a home game v Oxford in GT's second spell where they forgot we play in yellow and didn't bring their away kit, so had to borrow ours and play in that. Turns out the staff were too hungover to pack it... Then we sort of did the same in the reverse fixture. Won 2-0
Loved that home shirt. We looked a bit like a Hertfordshire Arsenal. Le **** Sportif did some nice kits for us back in the day.
I remember both games very well. When we went to the Manor Ground (for the most boring uneventful game that season), that was my first ever away game. The 9 year-old me learnt some interesting new words that day....
Game before THAT run to glory ! Least the game won’t be called off late on or hopefully no floodlight failure either as there was v them in the FA cup .
TC definitely in defiant form in the presser: "Friday, we’re playing Oxford United. They're a decent team, they’re alright, but let's not kid ourselves, we’re the better team. We have the talent, we have the players, we have the fans, we’ve got everything. Nobody has more potential than Watford right now. Trust me, I know it. And we’re going to show them what we can do on Friday—big time. Huge performance."
Gino is also very supportive: "We have assembled a top 2 squad meeting Tom's exact requirements. Of course we are disappointed with our current position in the league but we are going to give Tom as much time as he needs to fix this by the end of November. The long term zero hours contract he signed last season evidences the confidence we all have in him. If he requests that we bring in a more experienced forren coach at the end of the month to work with him, then of course that is what we will do. We will again try in January to encourage him to utilise the £30m promotion war chest we have made available but I expect he will again tell us he doesn't need it. Rumours of the recruitment side of the business being "over-complicated" due to Nani and the whole of the rest of the recruitment dept, and Tom, stepping on eachothers toes are over-stated at this stage but of course we will keep an eye on this and act if any issues develop".
