Watford - Elton John and the favourites for Premiership promotion

English Football League / Dan Fitch / 25 September 2007 / 1 Comments

Dan "The Betting Man" Fitch looks at how Watford have gone from being the Premiership's basement club last season to favourites for promotion this one

The town of Watford is famous for two things and two things only.

1) It's been the birthplace to more infamous and downright odious celebrities, than anywhere else in Britain. A town with a population of only 80,000 is somehow the stomping ground for Vinnie Jones, Geri Halliwell, Nick Leeson, Nikki from Big Brother and Tim Lovejoy. It must be the proximity to London's bright lights, that gives breed to the sort of ruthless ambition that it able to leapfrog their available talent.

2) Watford football club. The launching pad for the careers of John Barnes and Graham Taylor. Second only to David Furnish in it's receipt of Elton John's money and affections.

Following their dispiriting performance in last season's Premiership, Watford have bounced back to lead the early runners at the top of the Championship. They lead the betting also, being favourites to take the title at a price of 5, having been matched as high as 14. Watford are also 2.06 favourites to be promoted and just 1.2 for a top 6 finish. Perhaps the best value can be found in the handicap, where with +4, Watford trade at 9.4.

Watford have done well to recover from their last season in the top flight. They won just 5 games on the way to recording a meagre 28 points; a total some 10 points short of the amount needed for survival. One reason for their comeback, is their canniness in the transfer market. They sold Ashley Young and Hameur Bouazza, for figures that dwarf even the amount spent on flowers by the artist formally known as Reg Dwight. They then spent a fraction of this bounty on the experience of Matt Jackson, Mart Poom and Nathan Ellington. Watford went into this season with a squad just as strong as the one that went down, especially when it came to the front positions.

By Championship standards, the likes of Darius Henderson, Marlon King, Tommy Smith and Nathan Ellington, are a strong quartet of attackers. Henderson leads the Watford scorers with 5 goals and is 16.5 to be the Championship top scorer, with King (2 goals) available at the same price. Either have trading potential at those prices, though James Beattie (5) will take some beating in the goals stakes.

The best of Watford's early season purchases may well prove to be Adam Johnson, a three month loan signing from Middlesboro. A left winger, Johnson is a natural replacement for the creativity lost when Ashley Young joined Villa. Such is the faith in this product of Middlesboro's academy, that it was rumoured last season that Stewart Downing would be allowed to be sold. With Downing's form taking an upward turn since then, Watford will hope that they can convince Boro to make Johnson available to them for the whole season.

But it is manager Aidy Boothroyd who should draw the biggest plaudits. Having taken over the club at the age of just 34, he saved them from relegation, before taking them up the next season and is now aiming for his second promotion to the top flight. Though questions were asked about his level of experience upon his appointment, Boothroyd was smart enough to appoint an assistant with a pedigree no one could question. The 72 year old Keith Burkinshaw won successive FA Cups and a UEFA Cup as manager of Tottenham and is famous for his quote 'there used to be a football club there' when he left in 1984. I should imagine what he'd say about the current mess would be unprintable.

Comments (1)

1. The Scaffolder | 06 October 2007

   I'm also a lifelong Spurs fan and I note with interest your recent 65 - 1 winning bets. If you have any more bets like this in the future please forward this information to your big brother!