A bit about you:
Name: Matt Rowson
Current home town: Sharnbrook, Beds
Birthplace: Aylesbury
How long have you supported your team? More than 30 yrs
Overview of your club:
Favourite thing about your home ground: To the outsider, Vicarage Road probably feels a bit scruffy at best… one side derelict and hardly a cauldron of fervour at the best of times. The best thing about it for me is that it's home, even if three sides of it have changed beyond recognition (and the fourth is now unused) since I started coming to games.
Whatever the benefits of a new stadium, and I'm sure that that affinity grows with time (you tell me?) the stadium itself forms a bond. Vicarage Road is at it's best at night, particularly in the cold months… it was built in a disused quarry in the 1920s, which is why it sinks so oddly into the ground and is inconspicuous on the approach. On dark nights, the blackness is sucked into the stadium, heightening the atmosphere.
Favourite match played by your team & why: I think my favourite game is one that we lost, technically. We had won what is now League 1 in 1998 and came up with a bit of momentum. A good start in the second tier tailed off and we were slipping down into mid-table before a combustible game against Tranmere on the Easter Saturday. We won that one, and embarked upon an unlikely run of consecutive victories which culminated in smashing our way into the play-offs.
We won the first leg 1-0 at home to Birmingham; the second was the most intense game of football played out in front of an astonishing wall of Brummie noise. We lost our advantage to Dele Adebola in two minutes; the rest of it was almost two hours of lunatic blocks, throwing bodies in front of the way… at one point Richard Johnson won the ball with a diving header at shin height in the middle of the park. We won 7-6 on penalties, and flattened Bolton in the final.
Favourite player of all time who played for your club: I grew up during the halcyon era of Taylor, Barnes and Blissett… i was spoilt, there are noticeably a large number of fans of my age with a fervent, romantic attachment to the club as a result. But my favourite player of all time was John McClelland, a centre back who looked like a wardrobe. He was an absolute colossus, and despite his shape and size incredibly, deceptively quick.
About our forthcoming match against you:
Your favourite current player in your squad and why? Lloyd Doyley. Completing his testimonial year, Lloyd has played under a wide range of managers at Watfford… Luca Vialli, Ray Lewington, Aidy Boothroyd, Brendan Rodgers, Malky Mackay, Sean Dyche and now Gianfranco Zola. Very different styles of playing, very different people, he has won them all over without exception (and despite this continues to have an admittedly shrinking minority of critics in the stands who think their defenders ought to be all-rounders). If he could cross the ball like Aleksandr Kolarov he'd have stayed in the top flight in 2007… as it is, we have to make do with the fact that nobody beats him ne on one. Ever.
Player in your squad we should most fear and why? Fernando Forrestieri is one of our many "loan" signings from Udinese. Extravagantly talented, very quick, terrific feet, it just… hasn't quite come together yet. Like a violin concerto played half a beat out of time. He'll have a day where everything falls for him sooner or later, and heaven help the opposition when it comes.
Player in our squad you most fear and why? David Nugent always scores against us when he's playing badly, we don't need to face him in form.
Up and coming prospect in your squad? There are several, but Tommie Hoban is likely to play as part of a back three (with Doyley and "Onesize" Fitz Hall) on Saturday. Long-touted as one of the next big things, he's now 18 and looks every inch the part. In addition, worth drawing your attention to the fact that Nathaniel Chalobah, a defensive midfielder on loan from Chelsea who is also likely to start, is only 17. Just astonishing.
Where do you think you’ll finish this season? Our start has been pretty unremarkable on paper, but we've had a hell of a lot of good players come in, many of whom haven't had a pre-season or played regularly for a while simply due to the size and nature of the Udinese set up. Our league position doesn't reflect how well we've been playing, and we'll get better as the season goes on; our squad can carry an awful lot of injuries (and is doing so already). Comfortably top half at worst.
How do you think you’ll do against us? I don't like doing predictions. But it won't be dull…..