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In fact after 15 games they and Fulham were well clear of the pack and it was Watford in top spot with 12 wins and three draws, a point clear of Fulham. From there it was all downhill with just one point from the next seven games and by the end of the season they were in ninth place and about to lose manager Graham Taylor.
Taylor had decided to retire (yes the same Taylor who is now manager of Aston Villa) and his last game in charge was at Burnley as the season ended with a 2-0 win for the Clarets. His replacement had already been chosen, former Chelsea boss Gianluca Vialli and that is where it went really wrong.
Taylor had always run Watford with some financial common sense but Vialli was bringing players in from all over the world. Only this week the Watford board have had to deny rumours that one of his signings, Filippo Galli, was earning more last season than David Beckham. That’s difficult to believe but players such as the 38 year-old Galli were earning far more than a First Division club could afford.
But there were others such as Blondeau and Vega but apart from costing a lot of money they brought the club no success at all and they ended last season in 14th place.
Things have certainly changed since then. They said farewell to manager Vialli along with his number two Ray Wilkins and Chairman Sir Elton John made a final exit down the yellow brick road.
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Like most clubs do when there are problems they bit the hand that feeds and beg even more money from the fans and that’s what they have done with millions needed in a short space of time to keep them afloat. They currently remain afloat, just, but life on the pitch has been so much better this season.
They are currently in their worst run of the season with the last three league games all lost but they have spent much of the season in the top six. Their last home game was a 2-0 defeat against Ipswich, manager Lewington described the Tractor Boys as the best team in the division, but that is their only home defeat in the league all season.
There has been one other home defeat in the local derby against Luton which came in the 1st round of the Worthington Cup. They were beaten 2-1 in a game that will sadly be best remembered for the crowd violence.
Last Saturday they travelled to Reading and were somewhat unfortunate to come away with nothing in a 1-0 defeat. They lost it to a fluke goal from a free kick that took a wicked deflection and Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann was named man of the match after he made a string of fine saves including a Neil Cox penalty.
The Watford team was: Alec Chamberlain, Lloyd Doyley, Marcus Gayle, Neil Cox, Paul Robinson, Neal Ardley, Micah Hyde (Stephen Glass 77), Allan Nielsen (Tommy Smith 69), Jamie Hand (Anthony McNamee 73), Jermaine Pennant, Heidar Helguson. Subs not used: Gavin Mahon, Richard Lee.
They have scored just 25 league goals but 18 of those have come in home games. Their leading scorer in the league is Heidar Helguson with 5 whilst Neil Cox has 4.
Watford are now one place and two points above the Clarets as we look to win at Vicarage Road for the third season in succession.
Click HERE to see all Watford’s results this season.
He played for both
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Unfortunately he was there at the same time as The Sinister One Glenn Roeder who took a dislike to him and was to hold it against him to Burnley’s cost some years later.
He played just 9 league games for Watford before moving on to Bristol City in 1991. He scored his first league goal for them but never established himself in the first team and after loan spells with both Cardiff and Hereford he signed a short term deal with Huddersfield.
It proved to be short term and just a few months later he was on his way to Turf Moor, signed by Jimmy Mullen following promotion to Division One. He made his debut in a 3-0 defeat at Oldham as a substitute in a game that saw Marlon Beresford sent off.
Never sure which was his best position he seemed to flit between full-back and midfield but that all changed when Adrian Heath became manager. Heath played him in the centre of defence as he went with a back three and Harrison (along with Chris Brass) had his best spell with the Clarets.
It was the arrival of Roeder with Waddle that knocked him back somewhat, immediately left out of the side with the influential Roeder apparently putting the boot in. There is a thought that Waddle only brought Gerry back in when things got desperate but that was not the case, he was in the side from September and only missed after that through either injury or suspension. He played in 35 of the 46 league games that season after being left out for the first 7 of them.
It was Harrison’s influence more than Roeder’s that enabled us to avoid relegation on the last day of the season and he turned in some superb performances as things got desperate. At the end of the season though he packed his bags and signed for Peter Reid at Sunderland.
His one and only appearance for the Mackems was a disaster, a 2-1 home win in the League Cup against York when Gerry failed to do himself justice. He was turned on by Peter Reid in the dressing room in no uncertain terms and told he would not play for his club again, how right he was but how little he knew.
Gerry was suffering with hepatitis and it was to effect him for the next three years and more. Having spent some time in hospital he had loan spells and trials with Hull, Luton and Burnley but was unable to cope with the physical demands.
Having left Sunderland he had a short spell at Halifax but again it was only for a short time but then towards the end of last season he signed for Leigh RMI in the Nationwide Conference.
He is still there on a long term deal and he is now back at Turf Moor working with the community programme but far important than that is the news that Gerry is, after suffering for some four years, back to full health.
The player who commanded the nicknames of Denzil and Mungo at Turf Moor was without doubt one of the crowd favourites during his four years with the club, a four year spell that saw him play 124 league games.
League results in the last 20 years
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
a | |||||
1994/95 | 1 | h | 1-1 | 11,739 | Eyres |
a | 0-2 | 9,297 | |||
1976/97 | 2 | h | 4-1 | 8,269 | Cooke(3) Parkinson |
a | 2-2 | 6,450 | Gleghorn Smith | ||
1997/98 | 2 | h | 2-0 | 9,551 | Cooke(2) |
a | 0-1 | 11,155 | |||
2000/01 | 1 | h | 2-0 | 18,283 | Payton Mullin |
a | 1-0 | 13,653 | |||
2001/02 | 1 | h | 1-0 | 13,162 | Little |
a | 2-1 | 12,160 | Cox Weller |
Click HERE to see all our past league results against Watford, the first as recent as 1971 when a Frank Casper goal was just a consolation in a 2-1 defeat.
Last Time in the League
Watford 1 (Pennant 23) Burnley 2 (Cox 72 Weller 90) - Nationwide League Division 1, Wednesday 6th February 2002
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Stan sprung surprises for this game, none more so than the decision to leave out Ian Cox and play Kevin Ball at the back alongside Arthur Gnohere. Besides playing at the back Bally also captained the side for the first time and he turned in a real leader’s performance.
This was a game where the scoreline says little about the game, we were the better side throughout and it is hard to believe that it took an injury time goal to win it so superior were we against Vialli’s team.
Watford actually took the lead as loan man Jermaine Pennant got the better of Graham Branch before cutting in to score. Stan wasn’t happy with that and off came Branch to be replaced by new signing Robbie Blake. This was to be the game where Blake showed us just what a good player he is.
Half time came with the Clarets still losing but we got even better in the second half. Still the goal didn’t come so Stan made one of those substitutions that none of us can quite understand, the type that usually works out just fine for him.
With us a goal down he took of a striker (Gareth Taylor) and brought on a central defender (Ian Cox) with Bally, who had been outstanding at the back, moving into midfield to accommodate Coxy.
It nearly ended in disaster when Coxy gave away a dubious looking penalty but Marlon came to the rescue but when Stan makes these strange substitutions they usually have a dramatic effect.
With just 18 minutes left we won a free kick just outside the Watford box, Briscoe hit the kick against the post and who was there to knock in the rebound, you’ve guessed it – Coxy.
From that moment on there could be only one winner but it was late, very late, when it came. Robbie Blake had been substituted with just three minutes to go and on came Brad Maylett. He was to get involved just twice. The first time he allowed a ball to run out of play but the second occasion saw him run on to a superb ball from Glen Little.
Somehow with the aid of a deflection he managed to get the ball across from the right and after a touch from Ian Moore there was Paul Weller to score from all of two yards right in front of the Burnley fans.
Burnley were back on form, albeit against a poor Watford side, and anything other than a win would have been hard to take for the dominating Clarets.
The teams were,
Watford: Alec Chamberlain, Patrick Blondeau, Ramon Vega, Fillipo Galli, Wayne Brown, Micah Hyde (David Noble 80), Paul Okon, Jermaine Pennant, Lee Cook (Stephen Glass 75), Gifton Noel-Williams (Jamie Hand 65), Marcus Gayle. Subs not used: Espen Baardsen, Lloyd Doyley.
Burnley: Marlon Beresford, Dean West, Kevin Ball, Arthur Gnohere, Graham Branch (Robbie Blake 31, Brad Maylett 87), Paul Weller, Tony Grant, Lee Briscoe, Glen Little, Ian Moore, Gareth Taylor (Ian Cox 60).
Referee: Matt Messias (York).