The Others

Aha. The other new signings - as mentioned before - are Brazilian central midfielder Douglas Rinaldi, French centre-half Cedric Avinel, and French left-sided midfielder Johan Cavalli. Whoever they are.

A slightly patched-up side lost 4-0 at the Prawn Sandwich Enormodome tonight. Kabba and Williamson came on for their debuts.

Elsewhere Ashley Young scored on his debut as Aston Villa lost 3-1 to Newcastle.

EDIT: Cavalli is in fact Algerian and is described by Aidy after the game as looking like a waiter and playing like Andy Reid. As long as he doesn't eat like Andy Reid, that's ok. Avinel is an 'asset for the future'. Gareth Williams is a 'catalyst for changing the way we play'. Rinaldi is 'not mentioned by Aidy at all'.

Yellow Fever - we stay behind and listen to the games, so you don't have to.

Hornets Sign Williams - Plus Others?

Aidy has 'swooped' for Leicester's Scottish international Gareth Williams for (you guessed it) an undisclosed sum. He was out of contract in the summer so can't imagine it's a huge amount of cash. Like Micah Hyde or Craig Ramage redux, Williams is a lazy-arse creative central midfielder of the sort we currently lack, who joins us with the blessing of the crisp-eating Leicester fans. He won't feature tonight, but expect him to mince about the pitch against Wigan at the weekend.

On BBC Three Counties Radio this evening it was 'revealed' that Watford have also signed three of the recent army of trialists that have been, well, on trial. Hopefully not for crimes against football - we've enough of those already. No further details on 3CR, and nothing on the official site.

Man Utd tonight. You can write the rest yourself.

Rerun The Fun

If you missed Anthony McNamee's goal at the weekend, here it is again. Sort of.

'Virtual reality'

What The World Is Searching For

Visitors to Yellow Fever are sick in the head, man. Yeah, you. Below are some of the search terms people put into search engines before arriving here:

• Aidy's blog
• Big yellow watford
• Prostitutes in watford
• Is lovejoy gay
• Motd2 turnip
• Adrian chiles is a round turnip
• I love martin jol lyrics

The Great Leveller

Home to Ipswich in the cup. A good chance for another confidence-boosting win and a passage into the quarter-finals? Here's hoping.

Jimmy Krankie

What a week. 2 games, 2 wins, 3 goals, a clean sheet, another new striker, McNamee's first goal since junior school... things are looking much better than after last weekend's disappointment at Villa. But Aidy's not getting carried away - he's billing the game at Old Trafford on Wednesday as Muhammed Ali versus Jimmy Krankie. Anything other than a 3-0 defeat against Man Ure should be viewed as a major success, especially after Sir Purple Nose rested a whole host of first-teamers against Portsmouth in the cup.

Having said that. some more stout rearguard action coupled with a strikeforce eager to keep in the starting lineup could yield a surprise. But, like David Pleat being unveiled as the second coming of Christ, it's pretty unlikely.

A couple more signings are promised (strong word, that) before Wednesday's transfer deadline, otherwise we face the prospect of climbing out the transfer window in a worse state then when we came in.

A haiku for Al Bangura

Thanks Al Bangura

Now Savage has one good leg

This country loves you

BFaMOUS

Those chaps over at BHaPPY had their five-a-day awaydays whatsit featured on MoTD2 tonight. Turnips, obviously. There was an audible shout of 'come on Doris!' at one point, and a lovely Chiles-a-like turnip donated by Frances & Farzana.

Not to be outdone, Yellow Fever's love of Hameur Bouazza is being profiled on a special comeback edition of the failed Davina McCall vehicle Love on a Saturday Night later in the month.

Late night update #1

Watford have accepted an offer for Ashley Young from this weekend's opponents, Aston 'strawberry, chocolate and' Vanilla. Top football news - it's the headline story on the BBC. In fact, by the time YOU read this, the deal might have gone through. Go to bed instead, and pretend Ashley will play for us again. It'll all be ok in the morning, I promise*.

Plus, hear this, dogs: Sheff Utd might sell Danny Webber to Flam to reunite the previously mediocre Webber-Helguson partnership.

* NB promises not legally binding

Springing Back To Luton

Play-off hero Matt Spring has gone back to Luton for £200k, possibly rising to £300k. It's a shame he never took his (admittedly rare) chances this season. I suppose that blows his chance of a decent reception if/when he returns to the Vic. He used to be a scummer... and he is again now, I suppose.

Yellow Fever: the rumour-mongers choice. Today the dirty rags report that Ugo Ehiogu will turn us down in favour of a move to Rangers, and that we will take Khalilou Fadiga (he of the dicky ticker) on trial. Also mentioned is the possibility that we will sell Ash to Spurs if we can have him back on loan until the end of the season.

Speaking of the Ashley/Tottingham deal, Spurs have flogged Callum Davenport to West Ham. For £3m. Bastards.

Young Guns (Go For It!)

A couple of pieces on the official site today about the academy. Firstly, manager David Dodds gives us an update on how 2007 is going for the baby Hornets (Bornets). Also featured is the league table which shows the side in 5th (out of 10). Due to the ineptitude of Cardiff and the McDons, however, the side is much closer to the top of the table than the bottom.

Also: Aidy has left the door ajar should Collins John decide to stage a Watford leg of his filthy lucre tour, and we've apparently taken Banik Ostrava's Davida Střihavku on trial. That'll be David Strihavka to you and I, and Dave S to Ron Atkinson.

Ashley Youngzzzzzzzzz

Christ alive, this is getting dull. Not so much will he/won't he, more like will he/when will he. Boothroyd is doing sterling work - flirting with and groping at the press - trying to keep him at Watford, but if we're getting offers of £9-10m (how?), and Ashley is getting offers of £50k a week (how?) then I doubt he'll be on the bus to Villa at the weekend.

Until he leaves, there aren't even any pointless rumours about who we might get with all that moolah. The Billy Sharp stories have dried up since we got Will Hoskins in. Robert Earnshaw (it was never likely anyway) has broken one of his enormous teeth, or something. If Ash is going to go, we could do worse than try to get Matt Jarvis from Gillingham - despite Boothroyd's comments, we could do with another winger. And a box-to-box midfielder who doesn't just hoof the ball in the air, please? Al Bangura, you've another year before you are ready, love. Would Ben Foster join us permanently?

And another centre-half for when Malky hangs up his sporran.

Ashley Young Stays?

Yes, but probably not for long. Upon hearing of sleazy West Ham's interest, Wee Ash took a sip of his Lambrini, raised a carefully shaped eyebrow and said "Not bloody likely, love". Interesting, that, because we could do all kinds of things with the better part of £10m. Like buy someone who could actually take corners, for a start.

John Collins has given us the brush-off, too. Never mind - he did come across as the sort of money-grabbing mercenary that Aidy tries to avoid.

Cup II - Son of Cup

The lovable Adrian Chiles is presenting the match between Tamworth and Norwich on BBC1 at the moment. He keeps saying 'come second' instead of 'lose'. How bizarre.

The Magic of the Cup

Yes, upset (aka cliche) season is upon us. Plucky underdogs Stockport today in the FA Cup. Stockport are the very definition of a mid-table side, with a home record the exact opposite of their away record, and a goal difference of precisely 0. Thankfully it should be a straightforward victory (Christ, I haven't written that for ages) with Aidy likely to play a near full-strength team. Tamas Priskin serves his one-match suspension, with new signing Moses Ashikodi ready to provide the Hornet's 'cutting edge'. Fnarr. Neither of our new signings can play, having masterminded a 3-0 defeat to Peterborough in round one.

What new signings? Wake up you dolt. The Hoskins/Williamson deal was confirmed yesterday evening, with former promising youngster Toumani Diagouraga moving to Millmoor on loan for the rest of the season. Toumani seems the same player he was two or three seasons ago, and you wonder looking back if the rumoured approach from Chelsea would've been worth taking. But whaddaya know?

In other important news, I had a dream last night that Watford had signed 7 high-profile players. There was even a press conference about it on BBC1 before the 6 o'clock news. Very odd.

Ashley Young to Spurs?

There's a few stories today about Ashley Young moving to Spurs in exchange for Calum Davenport, Wayne Routledge and a bag of cash marked 'undisclosed'. Hmmm. If the bag contains enough cash - £2m? - we should bite Martin Jol's enormous paw off. A good deal for club and player, that.

Today Watford should complete the signings of Allan Smart and Nicky Wright from Carlisle. Sorry, I mean Will Hoskins and Lee Williamson from Rotherham. Let's hope they have the same impact.

Looks like John Collins John prefers £20k a week and the occasional game for Fulham than he would a more realistic wage and a regular starting spot. Some people.

John Collins John bid accepted

By Fulham, from a unnamed Premiership club. It has to be us, dunnit?

Also see this: Paul Le Guen has completed his plan to get himself sacked by Rangers.

Another Delayed Roundup

Aidy has made bids for three players, with three more to follow. Fingers crossed that one of them can score goals. He's also rejected a £5m bid from a Premiership club, plus two other verbal offers. It's looking like the four-and-a-half year deal we handcuffed Ash with this time last year is working well.

Seconds into the New Year and Moses 'The Knife' Ashikodi was dragged through the transfer window. I'm fairly certain that about the same time I was being dragged out of a door, so there's an odd symmetry there.