2005-06 Season

3rd in the Championship. Promoted through the Play Offs.
League Cup: 3rd Round, Wigan Athletic a. 0-3 after extra time
FA Cup: 3rd Round, Bolton Wanderers h. 0-3.

Highlight: 3-0 victory over Leeds United in the Play Off Final.
Low Spot: 1-2 home defeat to Preston North End 6/8/06.

Good:
Marlon King 21 league goals were vital to the clubs challenge and was a menace in the play offs. Strong and pacy, King had an outstanding season.
Ashley Young One of several youngsters to flourish, Young was a threat in the centre and especially out wide. Scored consistently and showed himself to be adept with a dead ball. An exciting talent.

Bad:
Les Ferdinand Sir Les is apparently still registered to play so we can't do his profile yet. How well must King have played to keep him out of the team all season?
Paul Devlin Got left behind as the club really started to motor. Off loaded to Walsall where he didn't really help matters either.

In Brief:
After losing the first game at home to Preston most Hornets fans would have been happy simply avoiding relegation. Instead a run of 16 points from 6 games set the club up for an unlikely play off push.
8 wins out of 9 through January and February suggested Watford might even catch Sheffield United and go up automatically but a stumble meant the play offs it was.
The Hornets then triumphed emphatically, winning 3-0 at Crystal Palace in the 1st leg of the semi finals and battering Leeds by the same score in Cardiff.
This represented a remarkable achievement by Aidrian Boothroyd but he has of course now given himself an even greater challenge next time around.

Watford FC - Club History

Watford Football Club was formed in 1881, starting under the name Watford Rovers.

In 1883 they changed their name to West Herts and became Watford in 1898 when they merged with Watford St Marys.

Watford became original members of Division Three in 1920, taking their place in Division Three South the following year.

In 1958 the Hornets were placed into the newly created Division Four, winning promotion into Division Three two years later.

At the end of the 1960's there was a burst of activity at Vicarage Road.

In 1969 the club won the third division championship. Although they struggled for survival in Division Two the following year Watford did make it through to the FA Cup semi finals.

The Hornets disposed of first division sides Stoke City and Liverpool along the way but landed with a bump in the semis, losing 5-1 to Chelsea at White Hart Lane.

By 1975 Watford had dropped back into the fourth division but the arrival of pop diva Elton John as chairman and the equally camp Graham Taylor as manager saw the club enjoy a halcyon decade.

Watford were Division Four champions in 1978, Division Three runners up in 1979 and Division Two runners up in 1982.

In their first season in the top flight the club also finished as runners up; remarkable.

There was cup glory at this time also. As a third division side Watford reached the League Cup semi finals, winning at Old Trafford against Manchester United before losing to Nottingham Forest, who were virtually unbeatable at the time.

In 1984 the Hornets won through to the FA Cup final only to lose 0-2 to Everton, with Elton John queening it up for the cameras.

That same season Vicarage Road enjoyed a memorable first European night when the club overturned a 1-3 first leg deficit with a 3-0 win over Kaiserslautern.

They also put paid to Levski Spartak before being soundly beaten by Sparta Prague.

In 1987 the club again reached the FA Cup semi finals, putting out Chelsea and Arsenal along the way, before crashing to a 1-4 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at Villa Park.

The following year, however, Watford were relegated to Division Two and dropped into English footballs third tier in 1996.

Then, unbelievably, Graham Taylor came back to prove his first spell in charge had not been a fluke.

In his first season back the club won promotion as champions and the next year, 1999, they won a place in the Premier League after beating Bolton Wanderers in a play off final.

There would be no heroics in the top flight this time, however, and Watford were instantly relegated in bottom place with a meagre 24 points.

In 2003 the Hornets made it through to the semi finals of the FA Cup but then suffered a 2-1 defeat to Southampton.

The club is now in its sixth season in England's second flight and are currently enjoying a fine season under new manager Adrian Boothroyd.

Not only has Boothroyd got the team picking up points but he has brought about a radical change in the perceived playing "style" of the club, introducing several youngsters and an attractive passing game to Vicarage Road.

The clubs progress will be interesting to follow.

The club famously introduced Luther Blissett and John Barnes to English football, one a world class, ball playing superstar, the other one Luther Blissett.