Four million pounds was awarded to Watford for finishing fifth in the league, money that would hopefully go towards expanding the stadium, as well as to pay for signings of youngsters
Calum Bett, Aberdeen's 21 year old Icelandic right winger at a price set at £1.1M by a committee, and
Shaun Wright-Phillips, Manchester City's 21 year old forward, for £850k.
Sigurd Rushfeldt was voted player of the year by the fans of Watford, and rightly so, as he had a magnificent season with 29 goals in 39 games and 5 man of the match awards.
The stadium was expanded over the summer by 3000 seats, so Vicarage Road seated 26 126 fans.
Another 12 million pounds came into the club funds for TV rights for the season, as the board remained pessimistic and set the goal as "staying clear of relegation".
Then, the news came that Watford was entered into the UEFA cup. It was unsure still where they would start, but they'd find out soon enough.
More talent came to Vicarage Road as Dutch U21 star defender David Mendes da Silva was signed for his relegation release fee of 600K. The 21 year-old Dutchman said that the possibility of European football was a factor.
Fillipo Galli (40) announced on Wednesday, July 2nd that he was too old to play professional football. After 22 years of football at the highest level at clubs as AC Milan ('81-'96), Reggiana ('96-'98), Brescia ('99-'01) and Watford ('01-'03) playing 407 games, it was time to retire.
Another top notch defender signed for the Hornets by the name of
Tieme Klompe. The 24-year old centreback was potentially one of the best up and coming defenders with a bright future.
Another Watford veteran decided to retire as
Robert Lee announced that he, too was too old to play professionally. After 20 years of playing at clubs like Charlton ('83-93), Newcastle ('93-'02) and Watford ('02-'03), playing 615 games, he too decided to pass the torch to a next generation.
On July 17th Schalke 04 made an offer that matched the 6.5M release clause for
Bjorn van der Doelen, as did Rangers. Snellink tried to re-negotiate with the Dutch midfielder, but he decided that he'd rather go to Schalke, leaving Snellink to search for a replacement after losing two prominent (defensive) midfielders.
A lot of Hornets fans were surprised when
Paolo Vernazza decided to return to Vicarage Road after a season at Ipswich, for 2M less then Ipswich had payed to buy him. The Italian Englishman stated that he looked forward to his return in the Watford squad, and that he was enthusiastic about his future at the club.
Time then to decide the squad numbers, and thus a team evaluation.
In goal,
Espen Baardsen (25) and
Mark Bosnich (31) will be fighting for the starting spot, Baardsen having really improved over the last year. 22 year old
Dean Delaney will remain in the reserves.
The main competitors for the three defensive spots are
Vierklau (30),
Klompe (24),
Johnsen (34), and
Lucius (26).
McAteer (32) and
Issa (27) will provide backup, while a number of young, talented players will be getting a little taste of premiership football to gain experience: Robinson (24), Ward (24), Mendes da Silva (21), Ifil (21), Doyley (20), Neill (21) and Panayi (23).
Langston (23), Saunders (21) and Williams (20) will probably never make it, and have been listed for sale.
Then, the midfield.
Stone (31),
Nielsen (32) and
Lucius (26) will be the main competitors for the right midfield position, while the left side will most likely be occupied by either
van Galen (33) or
Glass (27). In the center,
Hughes (26),
Vernazza (23) will generally be first choice, with a number of players that can also play there if needed, such as McAteer, Lucius, van Galen and Nielsen, to name a few. Young talents
Calum Bett (21),
Lee Cook (20) and
Gary Fisken (21) will be picking up some first team experience.
Matthews (20) and Swonnell (20) have been transfer listed.
In the attack, the center forward position is undoubtedly
Rushfeldt's (30), with
Helguson (25) and
Noel-Williams (23) both looking to get some experience. On either side of the striker, van der Gun (24, right) and Jorge Lopez (24, left) will be the starters, with Proudlock (22, right), Wright-Phillips (21, right) and Glass (27, left) will be the back-up.
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Watford squad number sheet:No. Name Pos Age Nat============================================= 1. Espen Baardsen GK 25 NOR 2. Ferdinand Vierklau D RC 30 HOL 3. Paul Robinson D/DM LC 24 ENG 4. Tieme Klompe D C 24 HOL 5. Ronny Johnsen D/DM C 34 NOR 6. Theo Lucius D/DM RC 26 HOL 7. Steve Stone M R 31 ENG 8. Barry van Galen M LC 33 HOL 9. Sigurd Rushfeldt S C 30 NOR10. Stephen Hughes M LC 26 ENG11. Jorge Lopez F LC 24 ESP12. Shaun Wright-Phillips F RC 21 ENG13. Jason McAteer D/DM RC 32 IRL14. Heidar Helguson S C 25 ICE15. Pierre Issa D C 27 SAF16. Mark Bosnich GK 31 AUS17. Calum Bett M/F R 21 ICE18. Allan Nielsen M RC 32 DEN19. Paolo Vernazza M C 23 ENG20. Gifton Noel-Williams S C 23 ENG22. Stephen Glass AM LC 27 SCO23. Darren Ward D C 24 ENG24. David Mendes da Silva D/DM C 21 HOL25. James Panayi D LC 23 ENG26. Adam Proudlock F RC 22 ENG27. Lee Cook AM L 20 ENG28. Jerel Ifil D C 21 ENG29. Lloyd Doyley D RC 20 ENG30. Gary Fisken M C 21 SCO31. Thomas Neill D R 21 ENG32. Dean Delaney GK 22 IRL10 players without squad numbers.Watford stats:42 PlayersAverage age first team: 27.56Average age squad: 23.98Current International players: 11Number of foreign players: 19Foreign nation breakdownAustralia: 1Denmark: 1Holland: 6Iceland: 2Ireland: 2Norway: 3Scotland: 2South Africa: 1Spain: 1</pre>
Linear Mode
