Watford Football Club was founded in 1881. The stadium used until 1922 was Cassio Road, however this all changed in 1922, when Watford began to use Vicarage Road. Vicarage Road has served as the home for Watford ever since. It has a maximum capacity of 19,920 and is a four stand all-seater stadium.
Watford had a fairly uneventful history in English Football until the start of the 1976-1977 season, prior to this they had never risen above the Third Division. Watford found itself in the old Fourth Division and was in dire financial trouble. It was at this time that the world famous pop star Elton John (who is a lifelong Watford fan) decided to purchase the team. Elton John not only provided an influx of much needed money, but brought with him a new manager by the name of Graham Taylor. It was during Taylor's golden era that Watford was able to rise from the Fourth Division in the 1976-77 season to the First Division by the 1982-83 season. During their first season in the top flight, they were able to finish in 2nd place just behind the champions Liverpool. Watford was able to follow up this most impressive feat in their 1983-84 season where they not only played in the Uefa Cup, but also appeared in the FA Cup final where they lost against Everton. After guiding Watford to a ninth-place finish in 1986-87, Taylor was lured away by Aston Villa, thus endind his successful reign.
The time period following the departure of Graham Taylor proved to be very bleak for the Hornet supporters. The team slid back down to the Second Division after a very dissapointing season in 1987-88. This was followed by another drop to Division Two (former Third Division) in 1996. After much soul searching, it was decided to bring back Graham Taylor as manager. Taylor had actually returned to Watford as Director of Football in Feb 1996, but had no intention to coach once again. Taylor once again proved to be the right choice at the time right time for Watford. Taylor was able to gain two succesive promotions for Watford. By the beginning of the 1998-99 season, Watford found itself in the Premiership. The Premiership season started off brightly for Watford beating Liverpool at Anfield, however despite this early success, Watford was relegated to the Championship.
After, two fruitless spells by former Chelsea manager Gianluca Villa and Ray Lewington that saw Watford establish itself as a Midtable Championship team, the role of manager was given to Aidy Boothroyd. Boothroyd was appointed manager after serving as a coach for Leeds United. Aidy was considered to be fairly inexperienced and this alarmed many Hornets fans who believed that their club would suffer from this move and be relegated from the Championship.
After what seemed to be a poor start in 2005, Watford began to gain steam. Watford managed to end up in a playoff spot. Watford beat Crystal Palace by a score of 3 - 0 on aggregate after two legs. Then, Watford went on to defeat Leeds United 3 - 0 at Wembley in the final to secure themselves a promotion spot to the English Premiership. There time in the Premiership would prove to be shortlived as they finished in dead last place after just one season. Watford not finds itself once again the English Championship.
Team Details: Watford 07/08 Season
Nation: England
Year Founded: 1881
Status: Professional
Reputation: Regional
Chairman Status: Loves the Club
Favourite Personnel: Luther Blissett, Adrian Boothyroyd, Marlon King, Nigel Gibbs, Malky Mackay, Gavin Mahon, Tommy Mooney
Fierce Rivals: Luton
Other Rivals: Q.P.R. and Crystal Palace
Finances: Secure
Estimated Value: 30 Million
Stadium: Vicarage Road, Watford
Stadium Capacity: 19,500 with under soil heating
Training Facilities: Good
Youth Facilities: Good + Youth Academy
Media Prediction: 6th
Squad Average Age: 25
Squad Personality: Determined
Captain: Gavin Mahon
First Team Roster Goalkeepers
Richard Lee
Matt Poom
Ian Joyce
Scott Loach
Defenders
Matt Jackson
Jordan Stewart
Danny Shittu
Jay DeMerit
Lloyd Doyley
Adrian Mariappa
Malky Mackay
Cedric Avinel
Junior Osborne
Jordan Parkes
Midfielders
Damien Francis
Gavin Mahon
Jobi McAnuff
Lee Williamson
Anthony McNamee
Alhassan Bangura
Gareth Williams
Douglas Rinaldi
Alex Campana
John O'Toole
Kieron Forbes
Lionel Ainsworth
Santiago Aloi
Toumani Diagouraga
Forwards
Marlon King
Darius Henderson
Steve Kabba
Tanas Priskin
Nathan Ellington
Tommy Smith
Will Hoskins
Moses Ashikodi
Ewan Clarke
Liam Henderson
Theo Robinson
Tactics and Improvements
I use a 4-4-1-1. It is an interesting formation and I have seen it used in other tactics here on this forum. It has been my staple since I started playing FM 05. I will post a screen shot of it underneath.
The biggest improvements needed was a decent left back and right back. Mariappa can play RB, however his low dribbling and crossing attributes do not make him an offensive threat. Also, Doyley, Parkes, and Avinel are simply not championship material in my opinion. If you want a chance at getting promoted in your first season I would highly recommend finding both a DL and DR. The DC situation is pretty good as Shittu and DeMeit are both rock solid and could easily play in any Premiership team and Mahon or Mariappa are good backups.
The midfield is fairly average. There is no real outstanding player on it. It can be strengthened and I did strengthen it quite a bit as you will see later on with my transfers in. My tactic needs a strong MC that has a playmaker ability. I interchanged between Williamson and Rinaldi and both proved equally adept at the position. Bangura is absolute class as a pure DM and as many know he is definetly a skillful player that will continue to grow and develop.
The strikers are once again average. Tommy Smith, Nathan Ellington, and Marlon King seem to be the best of the bunch. Marlon King is the most outstanding, he has an tremendous amount of pace and can finish like no other. Tommy Smith and Ellington both proved to be fairly average in my pre-season friendlies, as a result I decided to go out and buy a new striker.
I ended getting around 9M for transfers.
Transfers In
Phillip Bardsley (12 Month Loan)
Nacer Barazite (12 Month Loan)
Gabriel Torje (775k)
Balazs Dzsudzsak (500k)
Nejc Pecnik (1M)
Michael Woods (6 Month Loan)
Charles Doudin (250k)
Laszlo Sepsi (300k)
Bagdan Stancu (1.5M)
Total: 4.25M
Transfers Out
Ian Joyce (Free)
Junior Osborne (6 Month Loan)
Scott Loach (6 Month Loan)
Will Hoskins (12 Month Loan)
Tamas Priksin (100k)
Moses Ashikodi (55k)
Cedric Avinel (14k)
Total: 169k
Recommended Starting Eleven
GK: Richard Lee
DR: Phillip Bardsley
DC: Jay DeMerit
DC: Danny Shittu
DL: Laszlo Sepsi
MR: Gabriel Torje
MC: Lee Williamson or Douglas Rinaldi
DMC: Bangura (if injured Mahon)
ML: Balazs Dzsudzsak
AMC: Nacer Barazite or Nejc Pecnik
FC: Doudin/Stancu/Marlon King
Final Championship Standings
I forgot to take a screen shot at the end of the season. I ended up in 3rd place and secured a playoff spot. I played Plymouth Argyle in the Semi-Final and ended up winning 3 - 0 on aggregate. I think was forced to play Sheffield United in the finals at Wembley. After 120 minutes of a 0 - 0 tie, I won in penalties 4 - 3 and managed to get promoted to the Premiership. I currently find myself in 19th place in the EPL after 5 games.
Doudin proved to be vital and he ended up as the topscorer of the Coca-Cola Championship with 23 goals. The second most top scorer was Stancu with 15 and then Marlon King with 10. Torje and Dzsudzsak tore it up in the midfield and my defense was fairly solid, it ended up conceeding about .7 goals per game and I was scoring 2.6 goals a game. All in all it was a very successful season. I will post my transfers in and out for my 2008/09 season in another post.
I hope that this proves helpful for the few Hornets fans out there and for anyone who wants to play in the Championship, I highly recommend starting as Watford. It is a good core group of players that with a couple of season and the right signings can make a splash in England and possibly in European Competition. I will continue to update this as I finish subsequent seasons. Please feel free to post any comments/questions about Watford or your experiences with Watford in FM 2008.
James
FM 2008: Watford Football Club - Ready to be Stung? 
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