If, for whatever reason, you want to quickly learn everything that really matters about Watford Football Club, then you are very much in the right place. Perhaps your new partner is a fan of the Hornets (that’s their nickname by the way!), or maybe you’re going on a stag do with a group of Watford fans and football really isn’t your thing. Or maybe you’re a new fan wanting to learn a bit more about the club.
Here we provide all the key facts, stats and pieces of information you need to know about Watford to hold your own. And even if you are a staunch supporter of the club, we still reckon you’ll find something you didn’t know, or have forgotten about.
The Basics
It’s always good to start at the beginning, so here are the most basic, fundamental facts you should know about the club.
- Founded – The club was founded in 1881 as Watford Rovers.
- Name – The name changed to West Hertfordshire in 1893 and then Watford FC in 1898 after a merger with Watford St Mary’s.
- Home – Watford play at Vicarage Road and have done since 1922. It holds just over 22,000 fans and is an all-seater stadium.
- Nickname(s) – As said, the club’s nickname is the Hornets, thanks to the yellow and black kit they sport. Less commonly used nicknames are “The ‘Orns” (short for hornets) and “Yellow Army”.
- Owner – Watford have been owned since 2014 by Gino Pozzo, an Italian businessman. Pozzo initially bought the club with his father in 2012 and the family run a multi-club model that includes Udinese in Italy, with Spanish side Granada also previously part of the mini-empire.
Modern Watford
Before we look back at the players, managers and eras that have been so important, let us briefly consider Watford as we head into the 2024/25 season. The club are in the Championship, which is the second tier of English football. In 2023/24, they finished a disappointing 15th, having hoped to earn promotion back to the top flight, the Premier League. They finished 11th the season before that and had expected to improve, having dropped down to the Championship after finishing 19th in the PL in 2021/22.
That had only been a very brief, one-season sojourn to the promised land of the highly lucrative Premier League. Watford enjoyed five seasons in the top tier from 2015/16 onwards but were relegated after the 2019/20 season after finishing 19th. They bounced straight back up thanks to being runners-up in the Championship, but then dropped back down just as quickly.
Modern Watford, at least since the Pozzos took over, have been known for their extreme lack of patience when it comes to managers. In little over a decade they are closing in on their 20th manager but, for now at least, it is former Watford (and Man United and Everton) player Tom Cleverly who is in the hot seat, ahead of the 2024/25 campaign. That may well change quite quickly though if the Hornets do not start well!
Should you be asked about the club’s chances for the season ahead, a vague, non-committal, largely negative response should suffice. Watford are 66/1 outsiders for the title, 20/1 for promotion and just 6/1 for relegation. Something along the lines of “Not looking good is it, but maybe if we stick with Cleverly and buy a couple of decent players we could challenge next season?”.
Have Watford Ever Won Anything?
Sadly, the club has never managed to lift a major piece of silverware. On the plus side, that means you don’t have to memorise lots of dates and years! If you are going to commit a few seasons to memory, however, the ones to remember are:
- Back-to-Back 2nds – In 1981/82, Watford finished second in the second tier, earning promotion, and the following season were second in the top flight (then known as the First Division). As such, 1982/83 is the closest the club have come to scaling the heights of English football, with only Liverpool finishing above them.
- Two FA Cup Finals – Watford made the final of the FA Cup in 1984, losing to Everton. In 2019, they lost to Man City and the less said about that, the better – it was a 6-0 thrashing.
- Champions – The club has never won the second-tier title either, but they did win the old Third Division in 1968/69 and 1997/98. They were champions in the fourth tier in 1977/78 too.
Players, Managers, & Owners You Should Know
In the scheme of things Watford are a big club. They aren’t like Man United, Liverpool, or Arsenal, but they have played in the Premier League, been to multiple FA Cup finals, and have generally competed in the top two tiers of English football. As such, whilst they haven’t really had any global football superstars turning out for them, they have certainly had some very decent players over the years.
The two key ones you really need to know are:
- John Barnes – Arguably the club’s greatest player, Barnes played 296 times for the Hornets, scoring 85 goals. He helped them earn promotion in 1982 and then took them so close to the First Division title the following season. Barnes played 79 times for England.
- Luther Blissett – Blissett was a Watford youth product, played alongside Barnes and in all had three spells with the club. He is the club’s record appearance maker and goalscorer, with 503 and 186, respectively, and also played for the Three Lions.
Don’t Forget About Elton
A key figure in Watford’s history is, odd as it may sound, Elton John. The Tiny Dancer singer and musical legend is the club’s honorary life president. He has had two separate spells as chairman, spanning parts of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and into the new millennium! Under his ownership the club enjoyed the golden era of the early 1980s and he was responsible for bringing in their best ever manager.
Graham Taylor may not have shone with England but part of the reason he got the national job was his success with Watford. He is the club’s greatest boss and had three spells at Vicarage Road (that’s the ground, remember?!). It was his first, from 1977 to 1987, that he is best remembered for. In total Tayor was Watford manager for 747 games and if you can remember that you’ll be assured of legend status if it comes up in the pub quiz!
