Watford Fc 1-0 Millwall - 24/04/2021 - Promoted To The Pl

Woodgate has gone under the radar slightly but done an incredible job. But his sample size is significantly smaller than Munoz’s, who has overseen 50% more matches.

 

I think it was always known as the rookery end, rather than stand, but as a mere 40something, i’m unaware of it ever being known as anything else than Rookery in some form or other. As an aside, i still feel the home end is really the Vic Rd end.

 

I think there's still a divit of Fulham turf cultivating in a pot in my mum's garden that I dug up and pocketed when we got promoted from division 2 back in the late 90's.

 

I smoked my Deeney v Leicester pitch invasion turf ala Keef Richards and his dads ashes .

 

A few of us made it into the directors box and very nearly into the directors lounge. The look on their faces was pricless when the door was kicked open. The fella who kicked it open I know posts on here every now and then so won't name him but I don't know who was more shocked the directors or us when, what we thought was a locked door swang open with one kick.
I also have the ball from that game that was pinched by someone who was with us but was on a football ban so didn't invade the pitch.

 

I remember going to the Vic to see Klinsmann make his Spurs debut in a pre season friendly. Maybe someone here can help me with my memory, but I’m not sure if that game was when the Rookery reopened after the rebuild, or if it was still a work in progress. I’m thinking the later as I was sat in the Vic Road end, and that is the only time I’ve ever watched a Watford game from that end of the ground. So I assume I was likely there because I could not be at the Rookery end. My memory is fuzzy on this.

I do remember singing ‘what a waste of money’ a lot when Klinsmann did anything during the game.

 

Cant find footage of that game easily, but the cup game soon after shows the rookery still being built.

 

It seems the signings of Ramage and Mooney transformed a shambolic side and we weren't far from making the play-offs that season (but our task was made more difficult than normal because the league was being restructured and only one team went up automatically that season, meaning we would have needed to finish at least 5th). Wonder why/how it went so horribly wrong the following season?

Closer to topic, Millwall went down with us after what is widely known as possibly the most spectacular collapse towards relegation in English football history. They got what normally would have been a creditable 0-0 draw at Ipswich who were going for the play-offs on the final day, but it wasn't enough and they ended up in the relegation zone for the first time and Ipswich missed out on the play-offs. Must have been one of the gloomiest crowds walking out of the ground that day!

 

Cracking cup tie that. The friendly I referred to even gets mentioned by Brian Moore at the start of these highlights.

 

And then we won the 2nd leg 3-2 away! 8-5 defeat on aggregate. Ivic would have combusted.

 

The actual state of that Elmohamady tosser.

 

We all have our own starting era, of course, which we think of as the norm. The Vicarage Road end would have been the original home end because, in the days when most people walked to the match, they came from the town centre and that’s the first part of the ground they came to. It was the same for almost all grounds.
Some time in the 60s I think (a little before my time) when youth and pop culture had emerged and ‘aggro’ at football was becoming more widespread was when the Rookery was adopted as the home end by the more raucous element of our support and it remained so for the next 15 years or so.
When I first started going in 1970 there was no crowd segregation at all but this became less of a problem as Watford slid down the divisions and crowds got smaller. We arrived back in Div 2 under GT in 1979, and there were several games with big crowds that season against Chelsea, West Ham and QPR as well as L*t*n. Their fans were housed in the Red Lion corner but with there being no fences they were kept separate by police cordon. On occasion some Watford fans would be on the Vicarage Road end to trade insults etc.
As time went on it was realised that it was easier to control the away fans if they were at the other end of the ground, so they were put in the opposite corner between the Rookery and the Shrodells stand. This is when the tales of the long walk around the allotments to the away end began to circulate amongst visitors to VR. There was usually an empty bay in the Rookery and a transparent screen separating home and away fans, but for the biggest games the whole end was sometimes given to the visitors. This was when the Rookery stopped being the home end and the movement back to the VR end increased when the Rous stand was built in 1986.
When the VR stand was built in 1992 in the move to all-seater grounds, it was natural for it to remain as the home end and the unreserved seating made it a more similar experience to turning up to the old terrace.
Finally the move back to the Rookery as the home end was forced by our promotion to the PL in 1999 when the access to the stadium via Vicarage Road was required for the away fans. For people of my era we were back at the ‘right’ end.

 

I remember it well.

Probably because my brother and uncle are Spurs fans.

The second leg did bring some welcome relief.

 

I seem to remember the season after where it went so wrong Mr Ramage arrived back from the summer twice his body weight and couldn’t play for the first few games due to tubbiness!

 

I dreamt of this game last night, we were four nil down at half time. It was being played at Swansea’s ground, which wasn’t actually Swansea’s ground and the pitch was semi waterlogged.

I’m afraid you’ll have to draw your own conclusions on its meaning.

 

Any pubs showing the game?

 

T

Inspired themlegend of Roeder chasing him round thenone way system after seeing him eating a pork pie in his car!

 

One of the craziest things about this season is that neither Ivic nor Xisco wanted to play 433 with Sarr. I'm at a loss to understand how anyone could look at our squad and not play 433 with Sarr in a free role. The benefits of doing that completely outweigh any drawbacks. I'd rather play 433 with Deeney waddling around at left back than have Isma shackled in a 442 or more confined in the central channels of a 352. He's much more dangerous coming in from the right than starting in the centre.

 

Two goals in the first twenty minutes for watford tomorrow I think.
Going to hammer them.

 

In the spirit of Ross Jenkins v Wrexham at the Vic in 1982, Nicky Wright v Bolton at Wembley in 1999, Jay Demerit v Leeds at the Millenium in 2006 and Matej Vydra v Brighton at the Amex in 2015. Let's do this........for the 5th time in our history!!

 

I've just listened to a podcast that was interviewing Nigel Jemson and he mentioned his month on loan at Watford. He spent his spare time knocking about with Ramage and subsequently went back to his parent club half a stone heavier. Ramage was a hugely gifted player, if he was more professional he could have played at a higher level.

 

Is it Saturday yet ?

 

Goes to show we're bigger than the big 6, have they even been promoted to the top flight 6 times between them? (I'm sure they will have given they have chelsea and man city in their ranks actually)

 

You're right, 10 of Man City's 11 promotions were into the top flight. If we go up this season City will be 1 of only 7 teams who have been promoted more often than us in the history of the football league. Chelsea have 7 promotions to the top flight.

 

I was there that day and I managed to get to a small roof that covered the players tunnel, it was from there to the Directors box that stumped me, it was beyond my physical abilities to climb up. Funny thing the Wobby had photos of the incident, and me and my mate were a bit behind the main crew that stormed onto the pitch, and I fell over the hoardings just behind the goal which the Wobby captured me in full flight.

 

So it's fantasy football time, if you could pick any 2 Watford strikers to get us over the line and seal promotion, who would you go for?

I'm picking Jason Lee and Matty Vydra. Both proved they can get late goals in this situation, and classic big man/small man up front.

 

You could try the Railway Arms in Bushey.

Any pub that is showing the game will have to do so via Hive Live so doubt they'll be shouting from the rooftops about it. You also need to find a pub that has a beer garden, has a screen outside, is showing the match and isn't fully booked.

 

Only need one striker in a 433 and I’m not going back to 442 nonsense, so I’m going Luther Blissett, with Marlon King on the bench.

I’ll take a left winger instead, Gerri.

 

It's probably why his days were numbered as soon as GT returned.

 

I could watch this clip on repeat for hours. The reaction of the fans when the ball hits the net is one of the most jubilant I can ever remember seeing.

Who was there?

 

It was carnage. The game felt like it went on for several hours, but that Vydra goal sparked one of the greatest away end bundles ever.

 

I think that's broadly right. I felt Ivic became obsessive about the lack of a left back; possibly he was using it as an excuse, possibly he genuinely felt aggrieved about it, maybe promises had been broken. But, with the arguable exception of Guardiola and Klopp, no coach has all the players he would like. They just have to get on with it.

 

You didn't factor in water displacement, 0/10

 

Hopefully Millwall tomorrow.