A bit about you:
Name: Matt Rowson
Current home town: Sharnbrook, Beds
Birthplace: Aylesbury
How long have you supported your team? 35 yrs
Overview of your club:
Favourite thing about your home ground: When I answered this question for these pages three years ago I talked about Vicarage Road being "home", and that's still the long and short of it. And it's still set in a quarry, and it still sucks the darkness inwards when the floodlights are on.
Over the past few years however – and even since the Foxes' last visit two years ago – the ground has undergone a minor transformation. The derelict east side of the ground has been rebuilt, creating an enclosed four-sided arena for the first time. The atmosphere within the ground has improved dramatically thanks in part to the new stand and in part to organised supporter efforts to improve it and the club's support for it. Don't laugh, but it might soon come to pass that an overexcited journalist uses the word "intimidating" about Vicarage Road for the first time.
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 inside 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? Four summers ago Troy Deeney's Watford career was in the balance; convicted of affray and sentenced to 10 months in prison, much moralising and hand-wringing took place over the rights and wrongs of giving the player another chance. He got that chance and repaid the club in spades… the Hornets exploded on his return to the side, the season crowned with an ultimately doomed play-off campaign which is remembered fondly but is perhaps best glossed over in present company. That season and for each of the subsequent campaigns he topped 20 goals attracting significant bids from the top flight (including, reportedly, from City) but his commitment to Watford never wavered. He’s going to do well to make 20 again this season, but remains the leader and totem of the side.
Player in your squad we should most fear and why? Odion Ighalo you’ll know about. His form has wobbled a bit of late, but he can be permitted that after a ridiculous 2015 in which he scored 29 goals. Less prominent perhaps are our new boys, both of whom have been introduced gradually but both of whom will be big assets. Nordin Amrabat is a Dutch-born Moroccan forward who has been used in a variety of attacking roles. He looks most dangerous when breaking wide… mobile, aggressive and flamboyant, he’s a lot of fun. Mario Suárez is a central midfielder signed from Fiorentina but previously with Flores at Atlético. He’s a Spanish international, which is testimony in itself. He also kicks the ball very hard, an undervalued trait in the modern footballer.
Player in our squad you most fear and why? City have been terrific this season. The “who most neutral supporters want to win the League” question would be redundant even if you weren’t competing with Spurs. As for fear… that’s too strong a word. Respect, yes. Nobody’s kidding themselves that this is Just Another Game Against Leicester, who we’ve been playing for ever. But fear? I wouldn’t want to meet Marcin Wasilewski in a dark alley, but that’s about it.
Up and coming prospect in your squad? How times have changed. With Tommie Hoban returning from injury and Lloyd Doyley at Rotherham (which doesn’t feel right…) there won't be any born-and-bred 'orns anywhere near the first team squad. There are a number of promising looking kids in the U21 side, but we've not seen enough of them to pass judgement. Nathan Aké is 21 and an absolute beast at left back, but he's not strictly OUR prospect…
How do you think you’ll do against us? Writing before our midweek trip to Old Trafford, on 37 points we’re all but safe with eleven games to go and have no loftier ambitions this season. So the pressure’s off a bit, and Quique has suggested a loosening of some very tight recent shackles. Whether this comes on Saturday will determine in part what sort of game this is. Either way… games between Watford and City have often been brilliant over the last ten years or so (perhaps dependent on perspective on occasions)… but isn’t the view nicer from the top tier?
General Questions:
What did you think of the January transfer activity both in and out of your club? Amrabat and Suárez (see above) came straight in. They look promising at worst, but Suárez in particular is a ridiculous standard of player for us to be signing. We beat Liverpool to a transfer, that’s preposterous. As exciting are the two stashed away for next season… Abdoulaye Doucouré, a long-legged French midfielder signed from Rennes and loaned to Granada until the summer, we didn’t want to disrupt our midfield yet but didn’t want to lose him either.
Adalberto Peñaranda, a Venezuelan teenager… just looks stupidly exciting. Signed from Granada but again, left there until the summer. As for outgoings, these were largely peripheral players who weren’t getting much action. Only Doyley joining Rotherham, though strictly speaking he’d been out of contract since the summer, feels weird.
Where do you think you’ll finish this season? Mid-table. Ha. That’ll do, for now.
Which three teams do you think will go down? Villa, Newcastle – who are quite likely to indulge in a bit too much hand-wringing and self-pity if they have another bad run – and Norwich, who can console themselves with being the self-styled “Best Side in the Championship” ™ again next season.
Who do you think will win the league? I’ve no idea. Which is brilliant.