Yellow Fever - a Watford FC blog

Heurelho Gomes

2008-12-03T21:13:00.003Z

I'm watching the game on Sky Sports, for which I should be shot etc.

But doesn't Gomez look like a sensory homunculus?

C'mon you Glory Hornet Boys.

Witch Hunt

2008-04-29T21:22:00.005Z

Well, it's not looking good. Another lacklustre/incompetent/panicky/unfortunate* performance against Scunny, and we are, if not at rock bottom, then certainly heading that way at quite some pace.

Who's to blame? Well, everyone probably in some way or another, but can we wait a few weeks for the post-mortem? After all, the patient is not dead. Yet. Laughable though it may seem, you'll be surprised how rosy things will seem after a trip to Wembley in a few weeks.**

In the meantime, if you want, you can blame everything, and I mean everything, on Jordan Stewart. Thanks to James on BHaPPY for pointing this gem out.

* take your pick.

** Foo Fighters on 8th June. Why? What are you going there for?

"Yeah, I had a phat weekend"

2008-04-18T19:27:00.004Z

I reckon at about ~~5:00pm~~ 7:15pm tomorrow we should see some closure. A few months ago I predicted that the Glory Hornet Boys and Hull would occupy the top 2 slots come end o'season. Hull are away, WBA are too, Stoke and Brizzle City can't both win (surprise rule change by Sepp Blatter not withstanding), so a win tomorrow* will do us plenny proud.

Let's be 'aving you.

*The author would like to point out no chickens were counted in the writing of this blog posting

No Heart, No Guts

2008-04-09T20:44:00.002Z

No Brains.

No chance of promotion.

That's that then.

Balls.

Heart and Guts

2008-04-08T11:25:00.003Z

There is a growing vocal contingent of Watford fans who are moaning about our current style of football and suggesting that Aidy should sort it out. Now is not the time. There will be time for moaning about style. It's September.

Now is the time for the vocal contingent to join us, the Happy Clappers, blindly backing the team, no matter what the dross served out on the pitch. I believe Ken Furphy said something along the lines of "If I bring on a horse and cart, it's the fans job to cheer it". Quite so. Even if that Cart Horse is Jordan Stewart. Whatever you might think of him as a player and a person.

Saturday may not have been pretty, and it may not have been deserved, but for a team largely lacking in confidence and individual flair, it was just what was needed. Add that to Saturday's other results and to last nights Palace win over Stoke, promotion is back in our hands. Five games left. Five wins and we're up. Simple equation.

Also, three-points tomorrow night against Barnsley will take us Top, no matter what the Baggies score at Blackpool tonight.

Read that again. We'll be TOP if we win on Wednesday night.

Promotion from this division will not be won by the team that plays the best football. It will be won by the teams that have the guts, the will, the heart and the sheer bloody-mindedness to get the most points from the next 5 games.

So when Aidy brings on a defender to protect a lead from a Barnsley team scrapping for their lives, cheer the team on. Because nothing will give our players the confidence to play the good football we know they can against West Brom, more than seeing Watford top of the table on Thursday morning.

Come on you Horns!

Quote Of The Day #2

2008-04-03T12:32:00.005Z

#2 in an occassional series

Following Norwich's Matty Patterson's arrest for drink-driving, club Captain Mark Fotheringham wants the squad to go tee-total in order to maximise the club's chances of Championship survival.

"If anyone steps out of line they'll get hammered. They know that."

He may have said winking at the reporter.

Life Is A Rollercoaster

2008-04-02T20:41:00.002Z

Supporting a football team more so.

One week you’re up. Next week you’re down, or at least you thought you were. What you hadn’t seen was the monumental cliff your team were about to drop off. That really was down. Things weren’t exactly rosy before I went away for two weeks holiday, but having come back, things have gone a bit shit-shaped.

A draw at Plymouth and a mauling at the hands of Hull FC means that matters are theoretically out of our hands in terms of automatic promotion, and sitting 5th, we’re no shoo-in for a play-off place at the moment either.

However, I did tell you that those games would be difficult, and anyone who sees the names of Plymouth and Hull as regular also-rans in this division hasn’t been paying attention. Hull in particular have the momentum that will gain them promotion. You certainly wouldn’t want to meet them in the play-offs.

Some people of a more sensitive constitution have made noises that this ride is more than they can handle and would like to get off. The seriously nauseous have even suggested that Aidy should stop driving the ride. Despite testing of my resolve I’m still in the Happy-Clapper camp and am behind Aidy and the boys to beat a woeful Coventry side at the weekend, who we have a good record against, then followed up by a game against cup-specialists Barnsley, win that and with the momentum, you never know what might happen against a defensively-frail looking Baggies. That might be one hell of a game.

Bristol City and Stoke have been riding their luck recently, and I suspect both will drop a number of points between now and the end of the season. My guess, 15 from 18 may be enough to sneak up with Hull.

Come on, get behind the lads, this ride’s got more thrills to come yet!

One Hell Of A Week

2008-03-16T17:37:00.007Z

Well, we've played the top two and come out with two points. We'd have obviously have liked more, but most importantly we did not lose. To lose ground on either Bristol City and/or Stoke would have been suicide and as a result we can look upon the last week as a professional job well done.

Certainly Bristol City was, putting it mildly, ugly. Big Doris missed a penalty and the two teams dug trenches at Ashton Gate and waited for full-time. Yesterday had many parallels with that game, given the result and the missed penalty, but in footballing terms this looked like a different team.

We can wave our arms around and conjecture until the bars run dry on the subject of whether Mr Styles reduced our chances of winning the game, but he was equally bad for both teams, and it is not often that both sets of fans sing "You're not fit to referee" while a sent off player shakes the hand of a number of opposition players on his way off the field.

What we can say though it that yet again, just as against Leicester, the sending off galvanised the team and the crowd, and hopefully we can carry this through the last eight games.

Thankfully, after the Robins lost 1-2 at home to Plymouth, we have our destiny in our own hands. However, Plymouth, like Hull, who beat Southampton 5-0 have been on the charge recently, which is a bit of a bugger because we have a long trip to Devon on Saturday and another to Humberside the week after. Lets hope for more of the Stoke performance than the Bristol.

P.S. Who's your choice to step up to replace Eustace, I think my vote might go to Ali Bang Bang.

P.P.S. In other news, our game in hand against FA Cup semi-finalists Barnsley has been moved back to Wednesday 9th April, and Jordan Parkes is back out on loan again, this time at Barnet.

The Duke Of Bosnia

2008-03-13T20:32:00.002Z

I've been feeling pretty tired after the exhaustion of Tuesday night. So when I saw this story this morning I thought I'd fallen asleep for 17 days and woken up on April 1st.

The long and the short of this story is that the Duke is interested in getting a Bosnia-Herzegovina call-up. He already qualifies for Jamaica, The Dominican Republic and England, but obviously feels his skills are not good enough for the former and too good for the later (is that right?)

Anyhow, being married to a Bosnian, Ellington believes he may qualify to play for the national side. In a statement to Bosnian television he also said "I went there last summer".

Well that's alright then.

Presumably then, following their recent training trip, most of the Watford Squad are hoping to turn out for the United Arab Emirates in this summer's World Cup Qualifiers.

Name That Road

2008-03-12T11:58:00.004Z

Exciting news! Not only will we have a new stand to name in the coming months, but the new road off Occupation Road that will be used to access the new key-worker housing requires a name too. And the club are for fans suggestions for the name.

Best of all, you don't even need to go and get a postcard and a stamp; thanks to the wonders of modern technology, you can e-mail your great idea for the name e-mail it to themediateam@watfordfc.com with your details, your suggestion and "Road Name Competition" in the header.

So, should it be Nicky Wright Close, Mooney Avenue or Yellow Fever Lane? It could be your suggestion that adorns maps of Watford for all eternity, and it could be your fault that some poor nurse will have to spell Brynjar Gunnarsson every time they give out their address. The choice is yours.

Bristol City 0 Watford 0

2008-03-12T08:22:00.006Z

Will someone please stop the ride. I want to get off.

"The fourth official has indicated there will be at least three minutes of added time."

For the love of god man, please, no.

I hope yesterday evening was simply the result of two teams so utterly scared of losing that they clammed up, bolted the doors shut and waited for the final whistle, because if this is the brand of football being served by the top teams in the Chamionship then the Premiership will be scrapping promotions and relegations from it's league very soon.

You get the impression that a lot of time and effort could have been saved had both teams walked out at 7.45, shook hands taken the point there and then, and sent all the supporters home before it started raining, again.

It wasn't completely turgid, indeeed for the first 20 minutes we did look like we wanted to go and win the game. We didn't really know how we wre going to win it, but at least we looked like we wanted to win. Collins John looked lively, but plainly no-one else was on his wavelength, and despite more possession and territory we'd barely created a real chance when Marvin Elliot forced two good saves from Richard Lee in the space of a few minutes. City's game plan it seemed, was to soak up the pressure and hope to take their chances.

Then with thoughts turning to a half-time Bovril, the game exploded, albeit briefly, into life. Big Doris used his immense strength to win a ball that was never his to win, slipped in my man of the match Tommy Smith who was clumsily brought down. The City fans were moaning, but no clearer a penalty will you ever see. Darius stepped up to take the penalty, seemed to wait to see if the keeper would make the first move and when Basso didn't budge he seemed to change his mind and delivered his shot at a nice height for the keeper down to his left.

Angry with himself for the miss Hendo took out his frustrations on Lee Johnson, the City manager's son. It was an ugly challenge and he was perhaps fortunate to stay on the pitch, then again Johnson himself was fortunate to stay on the pitch moments later when he delivered his own retribution with a very very late challenge on Danny Shittu. I suspect had half-time not saved them, this game would have shortly have seen at least one red card. Tensions were high, and this was not helping the football.

The awful weather got worse in the second half, and with the removal of John for Williamson ten minutes after the restart, Watford were closing up shop. From then on, we created very little as we concentrated on not making any mistakes at the back and lumping aimless balls forward. City though also failed to show any guile and the quality of football went from bad to down-right awful as the tension grew, the weather worsened and the both sides mentally settled for a point. The last 20 minutes was some of the worse football I've ever seen.

However, we so nearly nicked it in those three-minutes of stoppage time when JJO'T poked a shot wide in a scramble in the City box, and although it would have been so welcome, we didn't deserve it, and the game didn't deserve it.

I'd have taken a point before the game, so I suppose I shouldn't be disappointed, but I had hoped for so much more, both in points and football. Hopefully better conditions will assist the quality on Saturday, though I fear the tension might be just as bad.

Super Saturday

2008-03-08T20:29:00.009Z

Well, it was a super Saturday, if you don't follow the oval-ball game :-(

But as a Watford fan and general follower of the round-ball game it's been great. Bristol City were, by the sounds of it, lucky to take a point away from Leicester.

Elsewhere, in Staffordshire, the Manager of the Month curse continues to do it's business, as Stoke dropped two points at home to that thorn in everyones side Burnley. Though it could have been better had Stoke not scored a rather fortunate last-minute penalty.

So, a good day for the hornets, and hopefully our well rested team will capitalise against a heavy-legged City team on Tuesday night.

However I can't leave it there. I have to say well done to Portsmouth and Barnsley for restoring some pride and excitement to English football. The thought of another final between the top clubs in the country filled me with dread, and some of the romance of cup competition has returned with the knowledge that an unfashionable club will win something this year. It would be wonderful if it was a club from outside the Premiership.

And it could be useful to the horns too. Every club left in the cup will now believe they can actually win it, yes even The Gas, so hopefully they'll get a draw out of the Baggies tomorrow. Also our re-arranged game against Barnsley will now take place in the week leading up to a Wembley appearance, so hopefully their mind will be on other things, as long as they have points in the bag.

In other club news, after refusing to drop down to League One, Tamas has gone to find some form at Preston. He played 70 mins in their 2-1 win at Charlton, which realistically leaves the Championship a four-horse race.

Come On!

Where Are They Now #1 Perry Suckling

2008-03-05T14:51:00.003Z

#1 in a very occasional series.

Ex-hornet goalkeeper Perry Suckling is currently the Academy Goalkeeping coach at Spurs.

According to this mornings free-rag Metro (aka The Daily Mail Lite), since the departure of Martin Jol and all his backroom staff (including goalkeeping coach Hans Segers), Perry has stepped up to coach the first team goalkeepers including the woefully out of form, calamity-prone, Paul Robinson.

Which might explain a lot.

Juande Ramos says he'll bring in a full time replacement at the end of the season.

Armchair Fan's Second Half Woe

2008-03-05T13:14:00.003Z

0:28
Foul by Gary Doherty (Norwich) on John Eustace (Watford). Direct free kick taken right-footed by John Eustace (Watford) from left channel, passed.

When I was around 10-years-old I was regularly attending Watford home games with my Dad, standing on the old family terrace. We went to very few away games however, so I used to follow our fortunes on the road via the medium of BBC Ceefax.

8:10
Defending throw-in by Adrian Mariappa (Watford).

I'd be glued to the rotating three pages for our division, hoping the next time it came around we'd have scored. Or the opposition had had a player sent off. That was all you could hope for, because that was the only information you got.

10:30 GOAL - Dan Shittu
Watford 1 - Norwich 0

Inswinging corner from left by-line taken right-footed by Jobi McAnuff (Watford) to centre, headed goal by Dan Shittu (Watford) (top-right of goal) from right side of six-yard box (6 yards).Watford 1-0 Norwich. Assist (cross) by Jobi McAnuff (Watford) from right by-line.

Yes - get in!
Times have changed. We now live in an era of Multimedia communications, I don't follow games via Ceefax anymore - my wife wants to watch Eastenders! No, instead I follow the games via the live text updates on the BBC sport website. Here information is more readily available, though whether it's actually useful information is debatable.

35:48
Foul by Darius Henderson (Watford) on Mark Fotheringham (Norwich). Direct free kick taken right-footed by David Marshall (Norwich) from own half, resulting in open play.

Is this information actually useful. Does the armchair fan want to know about every foul by big Doris?

45:00 (0:47)
Cross by Leigh Bromby (Watford), save (punched) by David Marshall (Norwich).

Half Time

Make myself tea. It's all going very well. Bristol are losing at Charlton and the Baggies are being held at Hillsborough. All good.

56:51
Attacking throw-in by Mohammed Camara (Norwich).

What does that mean? Does he have a monster Bromby-style throw? I am getting tense now.

76:14
Inswinging corner from right by-line taken left-footed by Jordan Stewart (Watford) to centre, clearance by Dion Dublin (Norwich).

Well Duh! All corners are taken from the by-line. Who has to write this guff? I know for certain the Jordan Stewart is unlikely to have beaten the first man with a corner, so what does "to centre" mean?

80:57 GOAL - Jamie Cureton
Watford 1 - Norwich 1

Goal by Jamie Cureton (Norwich) drilled right-footed (bottom-left of goal) from left channel (25 yards).Watford 1-1 Norwich. Assist (pass) by Lee Croft (Norwich) from left channel.

Bum, I know what that means. Check other scores, McCombe has equalised for Bristol City. This evening is turning bad.

84:17
Inswinging corner from right by-line taken left-footed by Jordan Stewart (Watford) to centre, clearance by Juan Velasco (Norwich).

Will someone stop letting him take Corners.

90:00 (0:19)
Shot by John-Joe O'Toole (Watford) right-footed from centre of penalty area (12 yards), save (tipped round post) by David Marshall (Norwich).

Oooo so close. I hold my head in my hands. I realise I have no idea if that was close or not.

Full Time

Oh no, and now Kevin bloody Phillips has got a last-gasp winner for West Brom. This is all going wrong.

Am not feeling so confident about next Tuesday now, but I do know that it is absolutely huge, and the nervous anticipation is cranked up yet another notch.

Beating The Arse

2008-03-04T13:21:00.006Z

Steveohorn's been up to his usual tricks and has uploaded another classic Watford win on to Youtube. This is the 1987 FA Cup quarter-final against Arsenal at Highbury.

This great video has some brilliant bits to watch out for; Arsenal's first coming from a classic bit of hoof-ball, a fantastic performance from the mistachioed Tony Coton in goal, Bardsley's destruction of podgy England full-back Kenny Sansom, some incredibly biased commentary and the classic break away third goal that leaves a 21-year-old Tony Adams standing on the half-way line with his arm in the air, a familiar pose to football supporters the world over, no matter what your age.

You should though, try not to look too hard at the very tiny Watford shorts. You might go blind.

Weekend Round-Up

2008-03-03T10:33:00.004Z

So the MoM curse does it's ugly business as Stoke went down 3-0 away at QPR yesterday, failing to take back the top-spot from Brizzle City who went back to the top on Saturday afternoon. Tony Pulis has said he'll appeal the red card shown to Captain Andy Griffin, however Stoke were already 2-0 down by that stage so it's difficult to argue it changed the outcome of the game.

Much has been made of Watford's tough run-in, but there are going to be few games with nothing riding on them, and those teams at the bottom are fighting as hard for survival as those at the top. You could argue that everyone down to Palace in 11th is eyeing a play-off spot, whilst even in 12th Blackpool might not consider themselves completely safe yet. One suspects that the magic 50 points might be the survival target in this division yet again.

Elsewhere at the top the baggies got back to winning ways with a 3-0 win at home to Plymouth, and ex-horn Kevin Phillips picked up the Championship player of the year award at the Football Year Awards. Watford picked up the community club of the year, showing the club is still the Family Club.

Bristol City won a tight game at home to Hull thanks to an acrobatic over-head kick from centre half Jamie McCombe. Just 3 points now separate the Robins and the Horns who meet at Ashton Gate next Tuesday, and this reporter, who lives just 10 miles from Bristol is getting very excited at the prospect of this clash, especially as his tickets arrived in the post this morning.

But lets not get ahead of ourselves, first we face a Norwich team who've been rejuvenated under ex-horn Glenn Roeder on Tuesday at the Vic. Lets hope we can build on some recent good home performances.

Aidy Sidesteps Curse

2008-02-28T13:28:00.003Z

Aidy was up against Tony Pulis, Gary Johnson and Plymouth's Paul Sturrock for Manager of the Month for February.

Thankfully that particular curse, erm, I mean prize went the way of Stoke's Manager Pulis, despite his team losing 2-0 at Deepdale on Tuesday.

"That's our promotion challenge f**ked then", Pulis may have remarked when no-one was listening.

An Artist's Impression

2008-02-27T12:45:00.004Z

Piccies have been released to show what the new East Stand Development will look like when it's all done. You can see it here.

It will be a shame to see the mish-mash of stands go, it is a wonderful reminder of a time when football wasn't really a business. Before it's closure in 2004, the wooden part was the oldest stand still in use in the football league having been erected in 1922.

Still, times change and things move on, and the modernisation of the fourth side of the ground should leave us with a fairly intimidating ground and bring the club firmly into the 21st century. And at least the ground will still have some sort of character with it's four different stands rather than the horrid identi-kit grounds that can now be found in some parts of the country. Oh and we're still at Vicarage Road in the heart of Watford, so it's all good IMHO.

In other news (well, a rumour going around, is that), Liverpool and Newcastle are sniffing around young 'keeper Scott Loach. Hands off! says Yellow Fever, he's not even played a first team game for us yet!

PNE 2 Stoke City 0

2008-02-26T21:44:00.003Z

Wey-Hey the Preston lads! A two-nil win thanks to a brace from baldie ex-Baggie Richard Caplow, and a heroic performance from Lonergan in the Lilywhites goal.

It's Alright For Some

2008-02-26T10:17:00.008Z

The christmas break is long-gone, and I don't know about you, but the few extra days off at Easter still seem a long way off. If you're a professional footballer though, this is an ideal time for a training trip to Dubai. Tough life isn't it? Aidy says;

"The players will be training just as they would over here, but they'll be doing so in much better conditions."

The trip is designed to build a bit of team spirit before the final for the last 12 games, with Collins John, Eustace, Bromby and new Robbo all fresh faces in the squad, hopefully the trip will be a useful bonding excerise. Lets hope they get some shooting practice in, after the frustrating 0-0 draw with Preston at the weekend.

Finger's crossed that the rearguard action didn't take too much out of Preston, as the take on Stoke at Deepdale tonight. They've been in excellent home form since the new year, beating everyone (including us and the baggies) except Portsmouth in the cup, so hopefully they'll complete a hat-trick of promotion scalps tonight. Come on the Lilywhites.

One player not sunning himself, erm, I mean training hard in Dubai is Matt Jackson. This can be taken as a sign that he's not in Aidy's plans for the rest of the season. Instead he captained a young stiffs in last night's 1-2 home defeat to Wycombe, the team included Jordan Parkes, back from Brentford, Santiago Aloi, and Lewis, little brother of Ashley, Young.

Old Skool

2008-02-19T14:59:00.009Z

Some of you will no doubt have had this brought to your attention already thanks to WML. However if you prefer not to have your inbox filled with every nuance of all that is WFC-related then it may have passed you by.

This first video shows Watford manager Ken Furphy giving a team talk during the lead up to an FA Cup 4th Round tie against European Champions Man Yoo in 1969. Apparently it was the first time that a manager had allowed TV cameras in to watch a team talk. Ken Furphy was one of the brightest managerial prospects in the game at the time; he led Watford to promotion that season to Division 2 for the first time in our history. The next season he took us to the FA Cup semi-final for the first time.

So this is 3rd division Watford taking on United, European champions in the FA cup 4th round at a packed Old Trafford. Check out the player having a fag at the back of the room - those were the days!

Then these are the goals from the game. The team talk inspired Watford to a 1-1 draw courtesy of a Stewart Scullion screamer (check Charlton's lazy defending - Ken was right) and a scrappy equaliser from Dennis Law. The surge of the crowd for the equaliser is amazing.

Sadly, United went on to win the reply 2-0 at Vicarage Road. We would get our own back 9 years later when, still as a third division side, we went to Old Trafford in the league cup and won 1-2, with Luther getting both the goals. Now those really were the days!

Thanks to Stevohorn in Norway for posting these up on Youtube. Go visit his youtube site; he has some other gems that'll make your eyes fill with nostalgic tears.

Squeeky Bum Time

2008-02-18T20:54:00.006Z

Now that the promotion band-wagon seems to be back on track and my internet connection is up and running again, this feels like a suitable juncture to post a bit more on this here blog.

I don't know about you, but I'd have taken a point at the Valley last August, so given the situation we found ourselves in on Saturday at 15:45 I was very happy indeed to come away with a two-two draw.

John-Joe O'Toole, has somehow, while we were otherwise engaged worrying about our sieve-like back four, has managed to sneek his fourth senior Watford goal. That's twice as many as Tamas Priskin, even if you genourously give him that goal he scored in a swimming pool against Wigan.

But now we have Big Dan back from Africa, new robbo at left-back and surely two of the finest deadline signings in history in John Eustace and Leigh Bromby, and the back-four is looking far more solid.

Looks like it's gonna be a pretty tight run thing going into the end of the season, so there should be plenty to chat about. In the mean-time the FA Cup has given us a fairly decent draw, with the Boing-Boing-Baggies in with a decent chance of being distracted by an FA Cup semi-final given they face a trip to League One Bristol Rovers. Though either way, one suspects that being beaten by the Gas might be quite a downer too, so I think the draw is win-win for us, especially if Rovers can pinch a draw.

Elsewhere in the sixth-round draw, Barnsley on the right side of a last-minute win at Anfield will be rewarded by welcoming Chelski to Oakwell. We were due to play the Tykes that same weekend, so looks like we'll be be letting Bristol City and Stoke have a bit of head-start. In the words of the beetroot-faced scot - it's squeeky bum time.

P.S. Speaking of Liverpool, I'm starting a sweep on when Benitez will be sacked. I'm having Friday, what about you?

Help to keep BSaD online

2008-01-03T13:06:00.000Z

From those lovely boys over at BHaPPY:

When we finally packed it in, we promised ourselves and everyone else that we’d keep BSaD online for ever and always, as an archive of ten-and-more years of Watford-related stuff. Thing is, that costs us money. So, if you’d care to donate to our running costs, we’d be enormously grateful. You can do it here. Much obliged. You’re lovely.

Bang Bang Bang Bang Save Bangura

2007-12-12T16:45:00.000Z

Yes, yes, I know - We've been slack.

I can't speak for Coldbrain (though I know he's recently moved house), but I've been very busy carving myself out something resembling a career whilst organising a wedding, and the hamster-in-a-wheel powered Internet connection at my flat has finally died. The fact I'm still paying £14.99 a month for a non-existent service will tell you how busy I've been. And besides, you could come and join us and help out a bit.

On the off chance that someone (Hi, if it's you) is still checking this occasionally, they probably will have already heard that the Home Office has decided that hard-working, 6-figure-tax-bill-paying, Alhassan Bangura should be deported because, well, because they have targets to meet set by the Daily Mail.

Yellow Fever would like to say this decision fucking stinks, and wants you to go and sign this petition here. When you've done that you can go here and e-mail Watford's MP Claire Ward. Keep an eye out here for any other news. You can also make a lot of noise for Al on Saturday to show him how much we're with him.

Finally, in two years time you can boot out this ineffective, war-mongering, big-brother government led by a man 99% of us didn't vote for.

Oh and in the mean time, stop buying the Daily Mail and other facist newspapers.

Cheers Colin!

2007-10-30T09:26:00.000Z

Smellhurst park has never really been a happy hunting ground for the hornets. Ok, yes, I know we demolished Palace 0-3 in the first leg of the play-offs 18 months ago, but fans with longer memories will remember being hammered 4-0 by Palace, and in possibly the worst Watford performance of all time, 5-0 by Wimbledon.

But thankfully now, that demon has been put to bed. It has been overpowered by a much stronger curse. The curse we have over Warnock’s sides away from the Vic. In all his years in charge at The Blades, Bramall Lane was a pretty happy hunting ground, and that curse has now been transferred to our bogey ground. Cheers Colin!

It's now 5 wins from 5, we’re 6 points clear of Bristol City (memories of 97-98's two horse race), and 9 points clear of West Brom in third. It's been thanks to 6 hugely satisfying away points against sides managed by two of the most dislikable people in the division. And who’s this up next? Ah, Mr Mowbray, welcome to the Vic, don't make yourself too comfortable.

Pole Position

2007-09-30T13:27:00.000Z

It's shaping up alright, I suppose. Top without playing particularly well. Marlon not firing them in yet. The Duke yet to get off the mark. Mahon playing worse than Neil Price's mother (apparently). But doesn't Johnson look good, ill-advised theatrics aside? As does the rest of the table - why, hello there Wolves.

In the battle of the abbreviations (AKA BotA) it's WBA v QPR today. The Boing Boing Baggies are winning - so our lead will be cut to 1 point by this afternoon.

Bring on Sheffield Tuesday.

The Agony of Choice

2007-09-03T08:59:00.000Z

"Just hurry up and choose."
"Hmmmm.... I'll have Chocolate Buttons"
"Ok."
"No, I want Jelly Tots"
"Jelly Tots it is"
"Dad, do I have to have sweets, can I have stickers instead?"

Inevitably, Dad would be so exasperated with my inability to make a decision that he'd end up buying me sweets and stickers (I know - what a spoilt brat.) It's so difficult to make these types of decisions though. When there is so much good stuff to choose from.

And you'll have seen where this is going quite a way back now, but Aidy must now feel like a child in a sweet shop. Marlon, Doris, The Duke. All looking tasty, like chocolate ice-creams on a hot day. Which ones do you go for today? Do you dare play all three? I wouldn't want to be in the opposition defense the day that happens. This weekend Aidy played safe, and responded to Doris' commitment to the club, by rewarding him with a start. 6 minutes in, faith repaid, Vicarage Road is like a big love-in and the weekus horribilis was forgotten.

So, with new, pumped up Doris with his new shorter, blonder locks, seemingly clearing the air and putting his mark on a new and improved 4-year-deal, the club now has a potentially 60 goal-a-season strike force. And that is without Smudger remembering how to shoot. See the goals below.

It's enough to make you want the next two weeks to pass as quickly as possible, especially as Heskey has been recalled to the England squad.

UPDATE: D'oh! What's the point of putting videos on youtube, but not allowing people to post them? Oh well, you can still click and see the goals here. No great hardship, really.

Deadline Day: Championship Update

2007-08-31T12:47:00.000Z

We're just over half-way through deadline day and the busiest manager in the championship is Alan Pardew at Charlton; Amdy Faye has packed his English-Glaswegian dictionary and is off to Rangers and Marus has doubled the number Bents to leave the Valley this summer with his move to Wigan. Passing them in the training ground car park, Sam Sodje and Danny Mills have arrived to shore up a defence that has already shipped eight goals this season.

Elsewhere Mike Leigerwood's move from the Blades to the Hoops seems a shrewd bit of business by John Gregory. While down on the south coast, George Burley has spent none of the £6m he received for Kenwyne Jones (yes, I know, £6m - makes the Duke look even better business) in replacing him with Middlesborough's Jason Euell.

Nothing much to report so far from Vicarage Road, and that's just how we like it. Conflicting rumours state that Doris will pen a new four year deal today, and that he's off to Fulham for an increased offer. We have also been linked with loan deals for Chris Eagles and Scott Sinclair of Chelsea. Don't think much will come of these though, especially as in the Championship the clock striking midnight does not stop us making loan signings.

So, are you happy with the inactivity now the Duke is on board, or do you hope Aidy is wheeling and dealing somewhere this afternoon?

Young Gets The Call

2007-08-31T11:59:00.000Z

Yellow Fever is very happy for one of our favourite ex-hornets Ashley Young, who has this morning, received a phone-call from second-choice Steve, asking him to replace globe-trotting David Beckham who has knee-knack, in the England squad. Ash and Blackburn's David Bentley have been drafted into the squad for the crucial qualifiers against Israel and Russia next week. Congratulations Ash. Only wish you could have got the call whilst in a yellow shirt.

Bentley you'll remember refused to play for the England at the European U21 championships this summer, citing "burnout". Many observers thought that this would damage his full international chances, but it would appear McClaren is really desperate following the broken leg sustained by Keiron Dyer that will keep him from international football for around 9 months (stop cheering at the back).

"I thought it was the right decision to leave him [Bentley] out last time. He accepted that and he paid the consequences [he missed a pointless friendly match] but this is a new squad and he is in it and he deserves to be in it." Said McClaren, forgetting that this is and emergence draft and he had not considered Bentley good enough for the original squad.

The Duke Signs On

2007-08-29T18:48:00.000Z

It wont come as a shock to many, but it has been confirmed that Watford have signed Nathan "The Duke" Ellington from West Bromwich Albion for 3.25 million squid. Breaking the club's record transfer along the way. This fee could rise to 4.25 million.

Ellington has a decent scoring record, 0.34 goals a game over his entire career. If he can get motivated and form a partnership with King then this is money very well spent. Rumour has it that he turned down a move to the Vic in January because we wouldn't break our wage structure. So the question is, did we break it or did The Duke get more desperate for first team football?

Lets hope this money spent shows the ambition of the club to the minority of ignorant fans who have been calling for Aidy's head. Hopefully it will have the same effect on Doris and will stay and fight for his place, which might leave us with a plan A and a plan B. Shock.

Phoenix Update

2007-08-29T15:09:00.000Z

As promised previously, here's an update on our adopted team on the other-side of the world.

The Wellington Phoenix, the sole New Zealand-based team in the Australian A-League are pre-season favourites to finish rock bottom, but have confounded critics, pre-season, with some eye-catching performances.

The pre-season cup, a friendly competition between all the A-league sides, saw them beat Sydney FC and last years A-league winners Melbourne Victory, before losing the third-placed play-off to Newcastle Jets on penalties.

The Season proper began on Sunday night with the Nix boys up against last years Champions Melbourne Victory. The Victory have been severely weakened in the close-season by the new salary cap introduced by the A-league, with last year's top scorer, Fred having left for a larger salary at D.C. United in the States, but they were still heavy favourites to beat the cash-strapped Phoenix. Watford old-boy Richard Johnson started the season on the bench, though at least he was at the game, as at one point it looked as if he may spend this season in Prison.

Victory showed their class, controlling most of the first half and took the lead through former Wolves man Kevin Muscat's penalty after Cleberson (no, not that one) was judged to have handled in the area. Ricki Herbert shook things up for the Phoenix at half time, bringing on Brazilian play-maker Felipe, despite his lack of match-fitness. Despite coming back into the game the New Zealanders found themselves two down after 60 minutes when Danny Allsopp was put through and calmly finished past Glen Moss.

But then the magic happened. Pre-season top scorer Daniel pulled a goal back for the Phoenix with twelve minutes to go, heading in a corner following some appalling defending from the Champions. The Nix, roared on by the majority of the 14,000 Westpac stadium crowd, then went searching for an equaliser, which duly arrived when Shane Smeltz headed in Tony Lochead's cross on 85 minutes to send the Yellow Fever-ettes completely bonkers.

Wellington might have gone on to steal an unlikely victory too, when first Royce Brownlie and then Shane Smeltz hitting the Melbourne woodwork in the closing moments. You can catch the goals below. Next up for the Nix are the Central Coast Mariners on Friday, who beat Sydney FC (Juniho and all) one-nil at the weekend and sit atop the embryonic A-League.

So a super comeback to start the season for the Phoenix, maybe they wont be the league whipping boys after all...

Interview With An Idiot

2007-08-29T07:27:00.000Z

Hello Mr. Idiot.
Hello. Crap game innit. Why don't they bring on Henderson?
That's Liam Henderson.
Who?
As in: Not Doris. A young chap.
Why's he playing all these kids then?
Because they were uniformly excellent against Gillingham, and deserve another chance.
Why they playing so shit then?
Well, they certainly haven't performed today,I agree.
They should play like they played against Gillingham every time they play. Arsenal's kids got to the final last year.
Erm... I'm not sure it works like that.
McNamee should play every game instead of that tosser MacAnuff.
You sure about that, Mr. Idiot? McNamee is not The Answer.
And that kid that came on last time, Forbes. He should start every game, he should.
He's 17. Just.
Aidy needs to sort this lot out or we should sack him.
Goodbye, Mr. Idiot. I'm moving seats.

Perspective & Hindsight

2007-08-28T08:17:00.000Z

Perspective and Hindsight are fine things. They allow a slightly-rose tinted view of real world events.

Saturday's result is put into perspective by the news of the tragic death of QPR's Ray Jones. Although we can pick a news story on any day of the year to remind us that football is just a game, this story in particular will have jolted Watford fans, given the similarities to the death of Jimmy Davis in 2001. Our thoughts are with Ray's family and we once again remember Jimmy.

The result also puts into perspective our start to the season. Against Wolves and Sheffield United we did not play as well as the table might have suggested. At Leicester we got what we deserved, as a lackadaisical performance was rewarded with a proper thumping. The 4-1 scoreline looking half-respectable thanks to a fortunate last-minute, King penalty and some sturdy woodwork around Mart Poom's goal. Still we'd have taken 6 points from the first three games two weeks ago. In the interest of fairness the "highlights" are shown below. I wouldn't bother if I were you though.

Aidy has suggested, somewhat perversely that this result might be exactly what our season needed, a boot up the backside to remind this team that they are far from invincible. Lets hope with the benefit of hindsight this turns out to be correct, and not a return to last years mindless optimism.

The benefit of hindsight can not only highlight the good, but also the bad. I imagine that now, Aidy is wishing he hadn't accepted Preston's offer for Doris before securing the return of Heidar to the Vic. There was much praise laid upon Henderson following his decision to stay and fight for his place, and some have been as quick to malign his transfer request following the interest of Northern Ireland, but you can understand his decision after his treatment by the club. I hope he stays and we can bring in another striker at the right price. Lets hope though that Saturday's lacklustre performance had nothing to do with this saga. The window closes on Friday night, and it can't come soon enough as far as I'm concerned.

Next up is Sarfend away in the drink cup this evening. It appears the kids don't get a run-out this time with Aidy keen for the first team to make ammends for the weekend's woeful performance.

Fat Frank Scores

2007-08-23T07:56:00.000Z

England still lose.

I don't know about you, but with a couple of very notable exceptions I thought England played pretty well last night. OK, we lost but the Germans are a good side and last nights match was played in a pretty competitive spirit, and on balance we probably deserved a draw. I suspect that one reason for the good performance was the relatively balanced nature of the side with Carrick holding and Lampard able to get forward. However, I suspect this balance will be lost again once Stevie G is squeezed back into the side.

This season has been notable so far for it's goalkeeping blunders and last night was no exception. Although Mad Jens looked shaky again, this time it was Paul Robinson blunder that gifted the Germans their equalizer, and his place is under massive pressure. His swing-and-a-miss has already cost England dearly in Zagreb, and we cannot afford to drop any more points. Ben Foster may be thinking it was a bad time to have that Knee Op.

The biggest plus point of last night has to be Micah Richards. Is there anything he can't do? It's hard to believe he's only 19, as his performances belie his youth. He has looked immense for Man City so far this season playing at centre-half, last night at full-back he looked a class act, solid in defense and hungry and sharp bombing forward, doing all the hard work for Frank to score the England goal. With any luck we'll never have to look at Gary Neville's ugly face ever again.

Two questions remain unanswered from last night, one is very important, the other is not so important.

1. What has Jermain Defoe done to upset second-choice Steve? Crouch is suspended for the Israel match and Dyer isn't a striker yet poor Jermain still didn't get a game. Did he do the dirty with McClaren's missus? Did he stink out the toilet on the coach on the way to the game? He must have done something wrong because the decision to leave him on the bench didn't seem that sensible to me.

2. Is it just me or did Alan Hansen look like he's been sleeping rough since the weekend?

Any thoughts?

7 days. 3 wins.

2007-08-21T10:26:00.001Z

How cool is that? Six points and top of the league for a couple of hours before Stoke overtook us on alphabetical order. We may not have played all that well, but we've only conceded one goal, scored 6 and the kids are all knocking on Aidy's door asking to be played. We can only get better. The video below shows Williamson's classy strike that totally surprised Fat Paddy in the Blade's goal. It also shows Smudger's awesome goal-line clearance, even with the replay you'll not be able to work our how he did it! Also isn't the man behind the wall interfering with play, given that his sole job appears to be to put-off/unsight Mart Poom?

In player news, Clarke Carlise left at the end of last week for rivals Burnley with a fee of around a quarter of a million quid. This is a slightly strange decision, but with Shittu and Jay from the USA in good form Clarke was at least third choice, if not worse with the performance of Avinel last week. As usual being closer to his family in the north was cited as a motivating factor, which is weird as wasn't being near his family in the south the reason he moved down from Leeds? Either way it'll be interesting, given recent inter-league transfer activity, to see if Clarke plays at the Vic in November. I suspect he may take a light knock in training the day before.

Also leaving the Vic, Johan Cavalli has climbed out of the transfer window and gone looking for first-team football, thus cementing his place as a Watford enigma, remembered for helping mastermind that win at Upton Park which gave us hope, albeit rather fleetingly. He made four appearances for the club, never for a full 90 minutes.

Newspaper rumours today suggest that Jay's agent wants 15% of a new signing on fee. This is actually good news, because presumably he was touting Jay around the not not clubs earlier in the summer, but now they've come to the negotiating table at the Vic instead. Danny Shittu's Mr 15% is not resting either and seems determined to take the man mountain north of the border. The quoted £4 million fee would be awesome business if he really wants out, but with the window shutters closing in just ten days would a replacement be found in time? Lets hope we don't regret offloading Carlise.

Drink Cup

2007-08-15T21:10:00.000Z

Two questions; Why does the League Cup still involve the not not teams, given that they broke away and formed their own rich, big league? Also is it compulsory for this competition to be sponsored for by a drink? Milk, Coca Cola, naff beer, and now pissy lager, has it ever been sponsored by a non-beverage?

Anyway, a fairly strong looking stiff’s side beat the Gills in the Drink Cup last night. 3-0 suggests a pretty one-sided affair, though it certainly didn’t start out that way, with Richard Lee saving a penalty in the opening quarter of an hour. Priskin was the only man to start on Saturday and last night, which might suggest Aidy is saving big D for potentially physical encounter against the Blades at the weekend.

The youngsters produced an entertaining display by all accounts with plenty of tricks from the not quite so young McNamee who gave whoever the Gills played at right-back a torrid time. The Will Hoskins on the right experiment didn’t really work again, but in a more central role he looks a real prospect. The young defence (average age less than 20 when Jackson went off) coped well, and I was delighted to see Mariappa given the armband. Debutants Forbes and Campana looked pretty good coming off the bench too, the latter notching his first senior goal in the process. The future looks very bright indeed. Highlights below.

Last Minute Winners

2007-08-13T14:28:00.000Z

It's one of the great feelings in football. A last minute winner. This one wasn't totally undeserved by all accounts, we did have a perfectly good goal ruled out, after all. But maybe Wolves will feel a little hard done by, but frankly we don't care, it's an opening day three points for the first time since Neil Cox and Tommy Smith scored away at Huddersfield in 2000. Re-live the coolness of Marlon's penalty below.

An seemingly unlikely comeback (albeit from a greater deficit) at Plymouth was also the early kick-start to the season two years ago, so lets hope it inspires the boys on to great things again.

Off the pitch, you'll already know that Boozer went off to play for Northern Ireland, erm, sorry, Fulham. Aidy has said he's looking for a striker and a winger before the window shuts in 18-days time. The striker was rumoured to be Chinese youngster Dong Fangzhuo, on season-long loan from Manchester United, though the Rooney injury, yawn, may snag this up, though probably not really.

Marlon King does Wayne Rooney

2007-08-07T10:05:00.000Z

Great spoof of Wayne Rooney's obviously faked Nike Ad.

This is taken from Mitre's Pass It On advert for the upcoming Championship season. It's quite good, but Marlon's bit is the obvious highlight.

Watford 6 Others 0

2007-07-25T08:10:00.000Z

The friendly fixtures are coming thick and fast now. Saturday saw our annual trip to local Isthmian Premier League side Boreham Wood. Aidy gave the first XI, 60 minutes of what largely sounds like shooting practice, which they won 2-0. The highlight being Marlon's sublime 20-yard curling goal on 51 minutes, doubling the lead earned by Tamas Priskin who is very much making a case for a starting berth on August 11. The stiffs then played the last half-hour, with Boozer opening his pre-season account to seal a 3-0 victory.

The lads then flew out to Germany to begin their hastily arranged tour. This began against Czech Premier League side SK Dynamo České Budějovice, who's chairman is none other than Karel Poborsky. Apparently Karel's a bit of a legend in České Budějovice, having begun his career there, he returned in 2005 and helped the club achieve promotion to the Czech top-flight in the unusual, if not unique role, of player-chairman. He hung up his boots at the end of last season, which saw his beloved club finish a respectable 9th in the league.

Though providing a sterner test than Boreham Wood, Dynamo CB were no match for a strong Watford side who ran out 3-0 winners thanks to goals from McAnuff, Priskin and the forgotten man of vicarage road Anthony MacNamee. You get the feeling Macca is a man having to fight very hard for his football career at the moment.

Another man who I hope is fighting hard for his Watford career is Darius Henderson. There have been as many rumours flying around about him leaving, as there have strikers linked with moves to vicarage road (Latest: Matty Fryatt). I hope Doris stays. He did the job last time we were in this league, and I hope he is given another shot, but given Aidy is yet to give him a run-out in pre-season, I fear his yellow shirted days may be numbered.

Weekly Round-Up

2007-07-20T08:24:00.001Z

With just three weeks to go until the season kicks off, things are starting to finally get interesting.

Let's start with the bad news. H has gone to Bolton. There has been a lot of noise coming out of the Vic over the last few weeks regarding a possible return of the iconic iceman, but you just had this nagging feeling that it was taking a long time as H and his agent were hanging on to see if he could get an offer from Premiership club. That offer came last night and this morning he is a Bolton player. Bum.

Rumours are abound that Aidy is moving quickly for Birmingham's DJ Campbell instead. I saw him play for Brenford a couple of years back. He's certainly very fast, but my other memories of him are not all that complimentary, I was very surprised Brum splashed 500K on him. I'll be horrified if the reported £2m we're offering is the required asking price now.

In other silly-money news, possible Watford target Michael Chopra has gone to Sunderland for £5m, and Lee Cook is apparently worth half that, of which 15% will be heading to Watford's bank accounts. Which by my reckoning makes Boozer worth £10m and Marlon King worth more than the GDP of most African Nations.

This week also saw a good work-out at Harefield where a first team beat Wealdstone 3-0 in 45 minutes, and a team of youngsters sent out for the second half also managed to get a victory. Next up is Boreham Wood before the squad fly out to Germany for a couple of games against whoever happens to turn up.

Finally, Scott Loach has apparently impressed on trial at League One Leeds United, this trial is with a view to a loan move to League One club, Leeds United and not a permananent move to the third tier side, Leeds United.

Further Reaction to Blades' Relegation

2007-07-14T13:48:00.000Z

Hello all, I've been away on a conference for a few days, so thought I'd quickly stick up a "lazy post" from You-Tube rather than get depressed about Super Harry Forrester leaving us for Villa.

I'm not entirely certain how it's known that the leader of the Third Reich was a Sheffield United fan, but it made me giggle none-the-less.

Jobs For All

2007-06-30T11:15:00.000Z

There has been a lot of goings-on at our club over the last few years which some supporters might describe as cloak-and-dagger type operations. Here at Yellow Fever we generally stay clear of dissecting such matters and leave that to the experts elsewhere. We like to take a more light-hearted view of matters.

With this in mind, having read the news that Dave “Harry” Bassett was paid a reported £1500 a week for 90 minutes work as a “consultant” to Aidy on footballing matters last season, we’d like to suggest the club make the following inappropriate appointments for next season:

Jamie Moralee – Shooting Coach

David Connolly – Teamwork Builder

Gary Plumley – Goalkeeping Coach

Ray Wilkins – Attacking Football Consultant

Mick Quinn – Fitness Coach

Dai Thomas – International Relations

Paul Robinson – Anger Management Therapist

Hanibal Lecter – Catering Manager

Paul Furlong – Car park Attendant (we're serious about this one, anything to stop him having to play for them)

Richard Johnson – Driving Instructor

Gifton Noel-Williams – Family Planning Advisor

Rumour Round-Up

2007-06-29T07:56:00.000Z

“Do you have two legs?”

“Have you ever kicked a football?”

“Have you ever called yourself a striker or forward, with regards to the above football kicking?"
If you answered yes to the above questions then you are eligible to be a rumoured transfer target of Aidy Boothroyd, especially if a certain website is to be believed.

Possible transfer targets have included (*deep breath*) Kenny Miller, Freddy Eastwood, Billy Sharp, Heidar Helguson, Jamie Cureton, Christian Benitez, Rohan Ricketts, Stan Collymore (sadly I’m not joking, though they surely must be) and Dena Rosa (who rejected us in favour of League One Southend - stop laughing).

But it’s not just strikers either, other players rumoured to be pulling on a yellow shirt next year include Michael Mancienne, Stewart Cumming and Paul Robinson.

In an outgoing direction, utility man James Chambers has definitely packed his bags and headed to the Crisp Bowl in Leicester, in search of regular football. You can’t really blame him, he’s currently 3rd choice right back, and 3rd choice right midfielder. He leaves with my thanks, and I hope he gets a good reception when he returns to the Vic.

Danny Shittu’s agent has the ear of at least one red-top sports editor and seems intent on getting the man-mountain Premership football (English or Scottish, either’s good apparently) this coming season.

DeMerit’s agent hasn’t got quite as big a mouth, but the occasional rumour is floating around that Jay from the USA is also on the way out. One “journalist” also seems to think that Clarke Carlisle is wanting out after a lack of first-team opportunities last season, forgetting that Carlisle was injured for most of it.

Unfortunately, Boozer is being tracked by a few Premiership clubs, whilst Moses Ashikodi is rumoured to be wanted by Mad Ollie down at Plymouth, which would surprise me, as I think he has a broken leg. It would also appear that Doris is being waved around by Aidy as a make-weight in any deal for a 20-goal-a-season striker.

Hopefully now everyone is back off their holidays we can stop speculating and two months of mad transfer dealings can begin.

Talking of mad transfer dealings, the godfather has splashed out £16.5m on Darren Bent. Is he mad? He could have bought himself a Thierry Henry and a Yassin Moutaoukil for that money.

And finally, I'll finish off with the sketchiest rumour of them all. Two blog comments, an anonymous one on this site, and another from "mike" over at BHaPPY, suggesting Al Bangura wont play next season. Why? Who knows? Maybe it’s someone playing a game to see who’ll pick up a story and run with it, like some elaborate game of inter-web Chinese whispers. We can all do that you know;

My Dad plays golf with someone, who knows someone. I have it on good authority that Alan Smith is on his way to Watford. You heard it here first.

TV Interference

2007-06-26T07:59:00.000Z

One of the reasons many people are looking forward to a return to Championship football, other than that we might win some games, is the return of the Saturday, 3 pm kick-off. As a species we are creatures of routine, and routine makes us happy.

Few beers on Friday. Shopping with the missus on Saturday morning, football at 3. Fry-up and golf on Sunday morning. Or whatever your routine is. We all have one.

However, we have not escaped the interference of Mr Murdoch by hiding in Division 2. No, in their infinite wisdom, Sky have moved our opening game of the season at Wolves, which will now kick off at the catchy time of 17:20.

Seriously, twenty past five, what's that all about?

Quote Of The Day

2007-06-25T11:01:00.000Z

#1 in an occasional series.

Paul Ince has today, been revealed as the new manager of MkFranchise. He said;

"My heart has said stay but my head has been telling me to go to MK Dons. It feels like the decision Thierry Henry has had to make regarding going to Barcelona."

Yeah, right. Whatever.

Watford Sign Child

2007-06-20T14:11:00.000Z

It has been confirmed on the 'fishal site that we will sign 15-year-old Hungarian keeper Botond Antal this summer once he turns 16.

One can only presume that this signing is "one for the future", given that he is young enough to be fellow new-signing Mart Poom's son. (also, Alec's grandson and Keith Burkinshaw's great great great grandson.)

I'm pretty sure this signing will not have a massive impact on this season coming. Presumably he'll slot straight into the Academy, alongside fellow embryonic footballer, England U-16 regular and Yellow Fever favourite Harry Forrester*. Not even Scott Loach will be quaking in his boots.

This signing though, does make a statement about the future direction of our club. The poaching of talented, foreign youngsters from their cribs is the way football is these days, and presumably we must join in, if we harbour ambitions of being a small-budget top-ten team. It just doesn't sit that comfortably with me, that's all.

*oops spoke too soon. It would appear that Forrester is yet to sign Academy forms. Do it Harry - we love you!

There's Only One Steve Kabba, Thankfully

2007-06-19T17:24:00.000Z

So, the Steve Kabba deal (I use the word deal advisedly - in the same way being served a half-eaten hamburger and bottle of backwashed lemonade in a restaurant is a deal, it is not a good deal) is under inquiry.

Kabba's merits have been discussed to death elsewhere. Depending on who you talk to, he's either a lazy git with Toblerone-shaped feet and the careful touch of a loved-up rhinocerous, or else a misunderstood and misused dynamo of a goal-getter. Either way, he's probably not for us at the moment.

Could the expose have been instigated by a canny WFC employee eager to get Kabba sent back from whence he came? Of course not, don't be so stupid. But if it quickens his departure and gets Warnock's old boys in some bother - who's complaining? It could leave a Helguson, Earnshaw or Sharp-sized hole in our squad.

And, has already been suggested by at least one wag, could we sell him to a Championship side and insist that he does play against us?

The Table Doesn't Lie (Much)

2007-06-18T10:12:00.000Z

There is a phrase often trotted out that bad decisions cancel themselves out over a season. This is, by and large true, as a look at this alternative version of last years Premiership (not, not) table bears out.

In this table, compiled by The Right Result, bad refereeing decisions are put right. Offside goals are expunged and penalties won by Christiano Ronaldo are removed etc. The table still shows Watford bottom and Manure top, proving that the table doesn't lie (much). However, closer inspection reveals the Hornets hard done by to the tune of 6 points. Funnily enough the same amount by which Man Yoo and Chelski were up.

This is, of course, all arm-waving. For starters the site assumes that all penalties that should have been given, would have been converted. And we all know that any of these decisions going the other way would have changed a game completely and ensured a completely different game from that point on. But it is something to talk about at this bleak football-less time of year.

And interesting reading it does make. Everton were done out of a massive 10 points (despite the panel awarding Watford a win in our opening game of the season - Oh, how it all could've been so different). Spurs gained a UEFA Cup spot thanks to 7 ill-gotten points, denying Aston Villa their deserved European place. Down at the bottom, the Tevez saga should have been made irrelevant, with Wes Tam gaining 7 lucky points thus avoiding their rightful position in Divison Two. The Blades would still have gone down as well, so they can quit their moaning.

EXCLUSIVE: Bears DO deficate in woods

2007-06-16T09:16:00.000Z

In other less-than-shocking revelations Lord Stevens has announced that the 17 dodgy transfers, over the two-and-a-bit years from Jan '04 to Jan '06, involved just five clubs, Chelsea, Middlesbrough, Bolton, Portsmouth and Newcastle.

Is anyone really shocked that the used-car-salesmen of Football Sam Allardyce and Harry Redknapp are involved?

But involved in what? The report finds no evidence of irregular payments to club officials or players. So just what does make these transfers suspect?

Conflict of interest in deals involving Allardyce and his son, inconsistent evidence provided by Graeme Souness and Freddy Sheppard's son Kenneth, agent Pini Zahavi wouldn't let Lord Stevens look at his bank accounts. Oh, and football agent Willy McKay registered a race horse in the name of Harry Redknapp.

So 17 dodgy deals, and yet no evidence of any wrong-doing. So just how are they dodgy?

The report is being passed on to the FA and FIFA. Who have been looking for something to prop the office door open with.

The Return Of Legends?

2007-06-15T10:11:00.000Z

No sooner had I finished my first post, this landed in my inbox:

Watford bid 1m for Robinson.

Just like the rumours floating around about the return of fellow cult-figure Heidar Helguson, I wouldn't hold your breath on this one.

But if those two came home, we'd only need to sign Sir Thomas Mooney to complete a full-set of "legends who can still run without zimmer frames."

Johnno Escapes Jail & The Other Yellow Fever

2007-06-15T08:54:00.001Z

In an attempt to shake Mr Coldbrain from his lethargic coma I have joined the great ship Yellow Fever. I believe there's still room for more if you wanna jump aboard and grab an oar.

So my thoughts turned to the subject of my debut post. Shall I be serious and discuss the merits of signing an experienced, but match-rusty 35-year-old Estonian Keeper? No, that's been done to death elsewhere.

Shall I go all childish and mock the usually entertaining Ian Holloway for whinging that Plymouth is a long way from anywhere and bloody difficult place to travel to/from for evening kick-offs? While he conveniently forgets the lack of sympathy his fans showed when the beeb moved our quarter-final with the Pilgrims last year. No, I wont, I'll just quietly chuckle to myself.

Instead I'll draw your attention to the news that may have passed you by that Richard "Shooooot" Johnson has escaped an eight-month prison sentence in Australia for drink-driving. When this story first broke, it was pretty much assumed he'd be banged up for the offence and would have his contract cancelled, but it appears that he has promised to behave himself and will join up with the Wellington Phoenix, the New Zealand-based franchise of the Australian A-League, in time for the start of the new season.

Johnno has been plying his trade in Oz since the A-league's conception in 2005. First for Newcastle, then the now defunct New Zealand Knights, who were captained last year by Darren Bazeley of all people! The Knights had their franchise removed for financial irregularities last year, and the Phoenix have risen from those ashes. Geddit?

Interestingly the newly formed supporters group for Wellington Phoenix is called Yellow Fever. Why this has been chosen, given the team play in black and white, is unclear. Maybe they thought the path was clear given the recent dearth of posts? Whatever the reason, given their Hornets connections, and the fact they are likely to finish rock-bottom of the league (we all love an underdog, right?) I think we should adopt The Phoenix as our own. Maybe I'll keep you updated of their progress during the season (as long as Coldbrain's apathy isn't contagious).

DEAD?

2007-06-14T20:24:00.000Z

Not as funny as The Fiver, not as educational as BHaPPY

Yellow Fever is more or less dead.

I haven't the inclination to update it any more. I thought about deleting the whole thing, but decided against it. Mainly because it's like, effort, man.

As I see it from my binoculars atop Yellow Towers, there is room for a light-hearted Watford presence on the interwebnet. One that is neither overly serious nor ridiculously juvenile. You know who you are (but I love you both).

So: a new season will be upon us soon. This blog's doors are wide open, and the security guards are all asleep after too much gin at lunchtime.

If you want to contribute to Yellow Fever, you can. You can have ownership permissions if you've got a Blogger account. I'll show you what to do. Or you can email stuff to yellowfeverblog@googlemail.com. If you support another team (I know some readers, in their infinite stupidity, do) then that's cool too, daddio. If anyone is interested, then all will be well again. I'll be reinvigorated to try again, much like after 15 cans of Special Brew and a huff on the crack pipe.

Just let me know. In the meantime, you can read more about my boring life here. Although I wouldn't particularly recommend it.

I love you all. Kisses, and that.

Common Sense And Idiocy

2007-03-26T17:55:00.000Z

Common sense: The FA sort out the ridiculous points penalty previously attached to AFC Wimbledon for their fielding of the ineligible Jermaine 'Man' Darlington. Well done the FA (not often one hears that).

Idiocy: Steve McClaren continues his perplexing love-in with Frank Lampard, meaning Aaron Lennon and Steven Gerrard have to play out of position against Israel. What will the tabloids say after yet another soul-destroying draw against Andorra this week?

Also: friend of Yellow Fever Mr Simon Harriyott has used guile, cunning and voodoo to create an RSS feed for the the official website. If you know what to do with it (clue: not for internal use), click here.

Balls Of Steel II

2007-03-12T13:41:00.000Z

The expected draw came off without a hitch, with Fat Frank & The Heavyweights all set to meet Man Ure in the showpiece final that - according to those in the know - New Wembley™ clearly deserves. The BBC must have been over the moon with that draw, as they left Trevor Brooking looking blankly around the room for 15 seconds before getting any reaction.

Balls Of Steel

2007-03-12T10:44:00.000Z

So: one resilient (ie lucky, and shit) performance later, and the semi-final draw is coming up. Release those big money balls:

Boro or Manchester Utd
Blackburn
Chelsea or Spurs
last... and least
Watford

Surely Man Utd and Chelsea will be kept apart? What with the new Wembley, and all that?

Jermaine Beckford

2007-03-07T20:32:00.000Z

Oh, and sticking with YouTube, here's what former transfer target Jermaine Beckford (signed by the hilarious Leeds, on loan at Scunthorpe) is up to.

A Wednesday Round-Up

2007-03-07T19:53:00.000Z

Evening Feverettes.

Aidy's newsletter today helped explain (if explanation were necessary) the recent change in style and the introductions of Gareth Williams and Tamas Priskin:

Many of you will have perhaps noticed our slightly different approach to the game with Charlton on Saturday. I know that many people have been pushing for a change in personnel and possibly a change in the system.

We’re still finding out about ourselves and what we can do but the inclusion of Gareth Williams on Saturday made us look more capable of keeping the ball. I was delighted with [faint praise alert] parts of his performance.

Tamas Priskin was also a massive plus for us which will, no doubt, beg the question as to why I didn’t get him involved in the first team earlier this season.

My experience of working with young players taught me that they are very erratic in their development at that stage – the kind of situation that Tamas has found himself in where he’s been in and out of the first team is notoriously difficult for young professionals to deal with.

Williams, along with Lee Williamson and Will Hoskins, are cup-tied for Sunday's Plymouth game, meaning Monday's reserve victory over Tottenham gave a few squad players a chance to impress. The win was presided over by Alec Chamberlain and, for the first time, Malky Mackay. The article refers to Alec as 'reserve team boss', something possibly not officially confirmed before. Also not confirmed so far by the official site: they don't own a dictionary or spell-checker; Keith Burkinshaw is nothing but a reanimated corpse; Clarke Carlisle and Matthew Spring are undercover agents helping to bring about the downfall of that lot down the road.

Elsewhere on the official site Jordan Parkes reflects on his season so far - making his debut, signing a pro contract and getting the call-up for England U18s. Unfortunately, the title of the article is 'Parkes Life'; a pun so rubbish that even this blog would dismiss it out of hand. Also, our Hameur has been called up again by Algeria, this time for the game against the mighty Cape Verde Islands (who are almost certainly better than Wales).

Watford ought to watch out for the pace and trickery of Plymouth's Scott Sinclair, a winger/striker on loan from Chelsea. See the clip below for his exploits in a previous round - about the four minute mark.

Reserves Win At Spurs

2007-03-05T21:09:00.000Z

Well, at Stevenage Borough actually. But you know what I mean.

http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/reservesvwatford050307.html

Rinaldi scored the only goal after 38 mins. Report to follow on the Watford site.

Tamas is great, bloke is penis

2007-03-04T20:05:00.000Z

Well then, bloke-who-sat-next-to-me-against-Wigan, how d'you like them apples? When I suggested Aidy introduce Tamas Priskin in place of a clearly out-of-sorts Steve Kabba, you scoffed and giggled like schoolboy whose Mum had just mentioned sex. Well, a cracking performance and a half later and young Tamas is hoping to cement a place in the starting line-up for the rest of the season. Says Aidy of the young Magyar:

It was a big, big step for Tamas today, and that sort of performance shows that there is progress being made at the club.
He's a very good player who has taken his time to settle into things, but now he looks as though he's arrived and I'm very pleased for him.
He's very, very fast, has a great deal of ability and I think he's got a great future ahead of him.

So 'ave that, matey boy. Tamas is here to stay.

Obviously disappointing to draw yesterday after leading 2-0. But lots of positives to come out of the game (Christ, I sound like Aidy), not least the change in style and the performances of Francis and Williams. It's all of a fabric; when Aidy signed Williams it was as a 'catalyst to change the way we play'. And he certainly did that.

Meanwhile, more woe for the Unhappy Hammers as they lose hilariously to Tottenham in the last minute of stoppage time. Next season we will win the league. West Ham will get relegated for the second season in a row. Mark my words.

Actually, don't. I predicted we'd finish in the top half this year.

Just When We Thought They Were Down...

2007-03-02T10:48:00.000Z

...Luton have taken Clarke Carlisle on a month's loan.

Good luck to Clarke. Let's hope he excels for the Hatters, but the rest of their defence implodes to send them down. Don't fancy going to Kenilworth Road next season.

Ding Ding Ding!

2007-03-01T10:03:00.000Z

That bell signals the start of the Aidy Boothroyd vs all-comers fight.

Round One: Aidy uppercuts that moaning fan. KAPOW!

Round Two: A quick right hook floors those people that have been moaning about Tamas Priskin's non-selection. BOOF!

Round Three: A running headbutt takes out Alex Ferguson for thinking that Edwin van der Sar is better than Ben Foster. CRUNK!

Wednesday... Halfway There

2007-02-28T09:29:00.000Z

Morning Feverettes.

A few things in the news lately. Jay DeMerit has - shock horror - called into question Andy '6.0' Johnson's integrity when it come to winning penalties. Says DeMerit of the cheating diving bastard:

"I thought he made a meal of it as he does. He has become very good at that and credit to him for being able to make up refs' minds."

Gifton Noel-Williams will be wining and dining senoritas after his deadline day move to Real Murcia. There's a feature on the BBC site about his settling in.

Apparently Al Bangura had expected Watford to submit documents to the FA after a racist allegation against Newcastle's Emre. It seems nothing has happened, which is bad news for whoever the little ball of rage is marking next.

Elsewhere academy shining light Harry Forrester started upfront for England U16s as they lost 3-1 to the mighty Slovenia.

Good Cause Alert

2007-02-26T22:17:00.000Z

The Watford Celtic Supporters Club is holding a sponsored walk around the route of the Circle Line in London this Sunday. This is to raise money for the MND Association. The MND Association provides care and support to people with Motor Neurone Disease and to those who care for them. It speaks on their behalf, demanding the best possible standards of care, and promotes and funds scientific research into the causes, treatments and potential cures for the disease.

The club have already raised over £2,000 but are some way off their target of £4,000. If you would like to support this worthwhile cause please click here.

And so ends this public service broadcast.

That'll Be That, Then

2007-02-26T18:33:00.000Z

We at Yellow Fever are paid-up members of the Happy Clappers. We wear special yellow and red smiley face badges, defend to the end the useless drivel served up to us by Watford as 'football', and generaly wander about in a haze thinking how great Aidy is.

After the games against Blackburn and West Ham, it seemed like our relentless positivity was going to be proved right, as the Hornets pulled off (quiet, you) a miraculous escape from the dreaded drop. But after the last two games, our Positive Mental Attitude has - much like Damian Francis' enthusiasm - ground to a miserable halt.

So: plans for next season. No Ben Foster. We might lose DeMerit. We might not. Everyone else will stay, unless Aidy has had enough of them. Priskin might get a few games. Henderson will go back to being a 15 goal a season striker. Mariappa can have a go at being the new Cannavaro without being torn into McNamee-sized pieces. We can look forward to Saturdays (3 o'clock kick-offs! Huzzah) in the expectation of victory. Nice days out at Selhurst Park and Layer Road*. Marlon King and Clarke Carlisle being fit. Flying foetus Harry Forrester might get a game.

Let's have it, then. Like in '00, show these Premiership mugs how to go down in style. And we might win the FA Cup while we're at it.

*Joke. Why do people romanticise the 'lower' leagues, with their god-awful excuses for grounds? Not much use for character when you're peering around a post to follow the play.

Junk Mail

2007-02-19T21:01:00.000Z

In bum-fruit-posting news, this is not the way to convince the MotD bosses to put us on earlier.

In unrelated news, Mike Newell lives at Kenilworth Stadium, 1 Maple Road, Luton, Bedfordshire LU4 8AW.

Fourteen Days

2007-02-19T20:01:00.000Z

Crikey, 2 weeks since we spoke. How are you? I am well. Thanks for asking.

Things, as they tend to, have happened. Most importantly a few victories. Pleasing to beat both the Unhappy Hammers and Ipswich in the last two games, even if the latter was rather embarrassing in its execution. Somewhat akin to falling down the stairs, breaking every bone in your body, and landing in a pit of money (and reconstructive surgeons, hopefully). The reward for the win being a trip down the... whatever road it is you go down to get to Plymouth.

Before we get carried away with dreams of semi-final appearances at the Theatre of Prawns or Ashburton Grove, let's not take these Pilgrims too lightly. After all, they are managed by one of the greatest philosophers of all time, and have a kid upfront who tears up and down the pitch faster than David Connolly in search of a more lucrative contract.

Still, armed with a couple of wins, a renewed vigour and a squat left-winger not afraid to get amongst it, we could be alright. 25-1 for the cup? How d'you like those onions?

More sooner though (or firstly, if you like) is the little game against Wigan on Wednesday. Our luck seems to have turned lately and we should be hopeful of three points - which would put the metaphorical cat amongst the figurative pigeons.

Things That Make Me Feel Sick

2007-02-05T10:40:00.000Z

Monday mornings
Cider
James Blunt
Inept performances against mediocre Bolton sides resulting in narrow defeats

I feel another retch coming on - a combination of 1 and 4. A combination of 2 and 3 would force me to suicide (unless it was 3 drowning in 2, obviously).

David Pleat, Football Genius

2007-02-01T23:31:00.000Z

Renowned football idiot and crazy dancer David Pleat is full of useful information. Including the revelation that Watford "must start winning their home matches" to have any chance of staying up. Now that's tactical insight. He's not a Five Live pundit for nothing; unlike the walking brain-dead corpse that is Alan 'I love Manchester United' Green.

But He Of The Kennel clearly hasn't reckoned with our 8 (that's EIGHT, vidiprinter fans) transfer window signings. What price Aidy using our new crop of creative central midfielders to adopt a slick one-touch passing approach, carving open all that lay before us? And maybe even winning a few home games, to satisfy D. Pleat and the rest of the football cognoscenti? Hmmm.

Finally, if you haven't read Aidy's battle-cry of a newsletter this week, do so. It's not often you read something like that from the pen of a manager (or, perhaps more accurately, PR man).

The Others

2007-01-31T21:56:00.000Z

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?

2007-01-31T19:28:00.000Z

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

2007-01-30T16:09:00.000Z

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

'Virtual reality'

What The World Is Searching For

2007-01-30T14:29:00.000Z

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

2007-01-29T13:59:00.000Z

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

2007-01-29T12:11:00.000Z

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

2007-01-28T18:47:00.000Z

Thanks Al Bangura

Now Savage has one good leg

This country loves you

BFaMOUS

2007-01-21T23:44:00.000Z

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

2007-01-19T00:22:00.000Z

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

2007-01-18T11:49:00.000Z

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!)

2007-01-17T19:57:00.000Z

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

2007-01-16T19:53:00.000Z

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?

2007-01-15T19:50:00.000Z

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

2007-01-06T12:14:00.000Z

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

2007-01-06T10:51:00.000Z

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?

2007-01-05T12:42:00.000Z

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

2007-01-04T15:05:00.000Z

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

2007-01-04T10:10:00.000Z

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.

Your Arsenal

2006-12-27T17:37:00.000Z

Way back when, a young Yellow Fever was playing with He Man, Transformer, and Thundercats toys. At the same time, Steven Patrick 'Morrissey' Morrissey was putting the finishing touches to his album Your Arsenal, the first track of which contained the following lyrics:

With the world's fate resting on your shoulders
You're gonna need someone on your side
You can't do it by yourself any longer
You're gonna need someone on your side

All of which strike as being rather apt. We need a fucking striker. Yesterday's performance against Arsenal was nothing short of immense (Yellow Fever doesn't give out praise lightly, least of all to the likes of you) yet we came away with nothing. Bouazza Babe was amazing, Ashley never gave up (despite some spectacularly stupid comments on WML), and the defence was able against undoubted class. The decision to leave out Darius Henderson and push Hameur upfront was fantastic. Yet, like a ordinary drunk against a canny mugger, we got hit by a sucker punch. Bastards. At least we kept our phone and credit cards (this time).

Fortunately, we can open our presents from Aidy on 1 Jan. Or shortly after. What will be under the tree (Watford Observer clock)? Today's rags suggest Will Hoskins or Billy Sharp. Mil and mil-fifty respectively. Let's get both, Daddy Aidy!

Talk of the Toon

2006-12-18T20:22:00.000Z

Deja vu? Yes, yet another 'spirited display' from 'hard to beat' Watford. The sycophantic platitudes keep rolling in as quickly as the inevitable defeats. This time its the turn of Newcastle boss and pigeon-a-like Glenn "You want a tall striker? Here's Devon White" Roeder.

Watford are linked today with West Brom's forgotten man Chris Perry and, more interestingly, Everton's forgotten man James Beattie. Quite how Beattie has gone from playing four times for England to being linked with a team struggling at the arse-end of the Premiership is anyone's guess, but I'm happy to go along with it for the time being.

Away at Liverpool on Saturday. Let's see if we can keep that 100% Premiership record intact. Stop laughing at the back.

Team Talks, and Cake Walks?

2006-12-14T11:39:00.000Z

Flying Frenchman and Yellow Fever dreamboat Hameur Bouazza has been talking up Watford's survival chances:

"We are not playing badly, but the results don't show our progression. I have to score more goals and find offensive solutions in order to be more efficient on the pitch. I am sure we can do better and we will show people we can improve."

"The coach wants everybody to be focused, to work hard," he said. "He is a demanding man and he knows what he wants. I love his speeches. Every time we enter the pitch, we know that he is looking for three points.

"I think that Watford are going to buy a couple of players during the January transfer window in order to strengthen our young squad. I think our situation is going to be better in a couple of weeks. Personally, I am very happy. I start all the matches and am beginning to feel more comfortable. There is a reciprocal confidence between the coach and me."

"I'm delighted at the support, advice and curious erotic pictures that popular Watford blog Yellow Fever has given me," he didn't go on to say.

Last night the little 'uns lost on penalties against Sheffield United in the FA Youth Cup, and Saturday's opponents Newcastle ran their injury-ravaged side into the ground before losing to Chelsea. Mwah ha ha.

Deep Prem Diving

2006-12-12T11:48:00.000Z

Despite Charlton's best efforts, the weekend's results leave us adrift at the foot of the ocean (table) like a polychaete worm (rubbish football team) desperate for falling plankton (points).*

Crunch time at St James's at the weekend as Watford face Newcastle. This is a good time to be playing the barcodes, for two reasons:

They're utterly rubbish
They're playing Chelsea away tomorrow night

* too much Planet Earth recently

The Reading Group

2006-12-08T22:59:00.000Z

Reading tomorrow at the Vic. A must-win game if ever we heard of one.

Not many updates here lately but expect a thorough match report* tomorrow.

* Not likely... see BHaPPY.

Playing Catch-up

2006-12-05T20:05:00.000Z

Lots to catch up on over the last few days.

Most recently a hard-earned goalless draw against Manchester City last night at Eastlands. The welcome return of Wee Ashley Young and Oui Hameur Bouazza, coupled with what can best be described as 'stoic' defending, moved our points total into double figures. However, we're still three points behind Newcastle, who have played a game less than us. But who are still playing like 11 tramps after a pint of meths apiece.

Elsewhere, the FA Cup third round draw sees a youthful Watford team win at home against Division 4 middleweights Stockport, who knocked out Wycombe in round two.

Aidy and the club won gongs at the recent BBC London (sic) football awards. In more geographically accurate news, the stiffs play Stevenage tonight in the Herts Senior Cup.

Finally, tonight in Division 1 sees Tottenham home to Gareth "where's my qualifications?" Southgate's Middlesborough and, more significantly, Charlton entertaining Blackburn. A Charlton win would put us bottom. But we tend to say that most weeks, no? I'll believe it when I see it.*

* Kiss of death

Transfer round-up

2006-11-30T15:14:00.000Z

A-hoy hoy. Illness means we can catch up with a few transfer rumours.

Firstly, Aidy's escalating striker problems have led him to the door of Atromitus FC's Rafik Djebbour (no, me neither). Quite whether he is another Marlon King (The Answer) or Tamas Priskin (The Question Mark) is uncertain, but he's 19 and has scored 6 goals in 12 games so far this year. But those other teams include the splendidly monikered Skoda Xanthi. Whatever, he's apparently been on trial at the club recently and impressed.

Another name mentioned is Ray Jones. Despite sounding like a 50s American bluesman, he is in fact a teenage striker currently knocking 'em in for QPR. Other clubs linked with him include Liverpool and Arsenal, so let's quietly move on.

Also reported today is Gordon Strachan's desire to bring Danny Shittu to Celtic. Despite the odd defensive blunder and spell upfront, Big Bad Danny has been one of the pluses this season, and his relationship with the rather more mobile Jay DeMerit could yet blossom into something quite strong. I can't imagine we would sell him in January - if he fulfills the mystery criteria involved in his transfer fee he could yet turn out to be our record signing. These probably involve Watford staying up, the club keeping 10 clean sheets and Danny recording this year's Christmas number one.

Aidy's special e-newsletter: 29 November

2006-11-29T10:09:00.000Z

Here at Yellow Fever we have been fortunate* to come across the next edition of Aidy's regular e-missive. Please note this is before proofing, editing, content checking etc, and so the final newsletter may change. We present it below for your reading pleasure.

*stole it off a bloke's computer

Hi everyone

Still learning!

What a lesson last's night's game was, eh? As I've said before, this Watford team learns something from every game - win or (more likely) lose. Yesterday we learned all kinds of good things! I filled my little book with useful ideas that will certainly help us get three points in our next game.

Danny Shittu coming on in an attacking role helped us learn that we need more strikers - I knew there was something I forgot to do in the summer! He is improving though, and will be challenging Jay DeMerit for a striking place soon. I left Priskin on the bench because he was learning lots of new tricks on his yo-yo that I bought him, and that will aid his overall development.

I liked it best when we created all that noise! I know that everyone loved it when Richard Short sang Yellow Army down the tannoy, even when you guys were singing something else. That's the sort of confusion we like to create to give us all that extra 1% over the opposition.

After the game there were a lot of tired bodies. They really did give their all last night, even though it might have looked like they couldn't be bothered! I gave them all 9's for effort, and a gold sticker that they can put in their achievement books.

Watch out Europe, here come the Hornets!

Come on!

Transfer Round-Up

2006-11-27T12:20:00.000Z

As many have noted, a potential barrier to getting any decent players in is our lowly league position. That must be a contributing factor to why we've been linked for the nth time with Ade Akinbiyi, rather than anyone under 30 and that can hit a cow's arse with a banjo. Please god, no.

Another name this morning is Gillingham's winger Matt Jarvis. I've seen him play before and he looks pretty good - but Aidy recently suggested he didn't want to collect any more wingers in his Watford FC Top Trumps set. Or was that whingers? Quite where this leaves the reputed bid for Carlos Edwards is anyone's guess.

Sheff Utd

2006-11-27T11:48:00.000Z

Over on BHaPPY (where they ponder important stuff and take produce to games), Matt Rowson writes about the importance of tomorrow night's game against The Blades.

The most important game of the season so far, and despite Aidy's probable post-match comments, much of this seasons's destiny rides on the result. Despite us not playing this weekend, looking at the league table on Sunday evening was the first time it occured to me that we might be, as the French say, in le shit. Defeat (or rather, failure to win) against Sheff Utd would be a bodyblow, as Aidy, Malky and co are revealing. Especially considering they've been absolute toilet away from home so far this season.

So the top brass are all encouraging noise, noise and more noise to help gee up the team and put the wind up the opposition. I'm half-expecting Graham Simpson to come out and suggest we all arrive tooled up, wearing balaclavas in an attempt to intimidate the opposition that extra 1%. I'm going to do it anyway, in case he forgets.

Aidy and Perry Go Large

2006-11-21T09:58:00.000Z

Yellow Fever's friends over at Arseblog are running a terrific campaign - to get terrace legend Perry Groves' autobiography selling more copies than that utter cretin Ashley Cole. Brilliantly, it working; he's even outselling England prankster Rio Ferdinand and England lard-arse Frank Lampard.

Elsewhere Aidy has been let off by the FA after suggesting that poor officials should be put in the stocks, after they decided his comments were sufficiently tongue in cheek.

In what was surely the strongest line-up for many years (if not ever), the stiffs beat Chelsea 3-1 last night. Before that, Chelsea had only conceded 3 goals in 6 games. Tally ho!

C'mon Ref!

2006-11-19T19:26:00.000Z

Another week, another defeat and more bad luck. Not only in the result - I doubt any Pompey fans would've decried Watford a point - but in injuries too. Yellow Fever heart-throb Hameur Bouazza took a knock to his ankle early on and only lasted for half an hour, while Ben Foster was replaced at half time by Tricky Dicky Lee after what seemed to be a recurrence of his recent knee injury.

All Watford fans know how important Ben Foster is to the team, and in the event of any lasting injury he'll be sorely missed. Unfortunately you always get the feeling that Fergie would rather be safe than sorry and get him under the surgeon's knife, if needed.

Hameur has been a revelation this year and is currently one of our most exciting attacking threats. It reinforces, if reinforcing were necessary, the lack of strength in depth on the wings and upfront. Sigh.

Aidy made a few comments after the game that might see him get a cane to the backside. He's right, to a point; we have been the unfortunate recipients of some dodgy refereeing decisions this season, but you get the impression that a more potent firing line would have made more of the chances presented to us.

Why not the Yorkie Stadium?

2006-11-18T14:17:00.000Z

Flying foetus Harry Forrester has been called up by England U16s for the game against Scotland, which takes place Friday 8 December at York's KitKat Crescent (yes, really). Harry was involved with the first team in preseason and looks an excellent prospect. He's played 6 times for Watford U18s this season, scoring twice.

The Mirror today reports that Aidy is going to revive his bid for Luton winger Carlos Edwards. Elsewhere David James declares his love for Watford.

Breaking team news - Mackay in for DeMerit and Spring in for Francis, who is left out altogether.

Marlon Says You're A...

2006-11-17T15:33:00.000Z

Marlon King, friend of assistant referees everywhere, has today responded to whoever started the rumours that he lamped Aidy during training. He says it's not true, and anyone who thinks differently should step outside.

Followers of total football will surely place Arsenal's free-flowing late 80s and early 90s sides right up there with Cruyff's Netherlands team of the mid 70s. Therefore it goes without saying that professional carthorse Tony Adams is perfectly placed and qualified to describe Watford as "a throwback to the old Wimbledon days". Tosser.

Don't forget your Peppers at Pompey tomorrow.