Watford Museum presents...

Follow the Yellow Brick Road: Memories:

A wanderer returns to the fold...

By Peter

I can well remember my first visit to Vicarage Road. It was with my dad sometime in the late 1950's. We stood at the Vicarage Road end. By half time I was bored but Dad was well into it, yelling and giving worthy advice to the team, advice that was obviously based on his extensive knowledge of the game gained from his playing centre forward for Oxhey.

One man in particular was shouting louder than the rest of the supporters at our end and his accent attracted my attention. Far more so than the activity on the pitch. He was a Scot and when he caught me looking at him he turned on me with a ferocious glare and asked "Wha' ye lookin' at, laddie.....keep yer eye on tha' game, no me!" Gulp. I don't think I ever went back to watch another game after that. All I can recall about the match is that incident and the fact that in those days Watford played in blue/white quartered shirts. Yes, it was that long ago!

Some years later, when I was 12 or 13, my friends and I used to hang around the player's entrance at the side of the ground, hoping to get an autograph or two on training days. Sometimes we did, sometimes we didn't. Then my mate Geoff, a football nut if ever there was one and Victoria School's top striker, was spotted by a scout and invited to trial for the team - the juniors I believe. Good as he was, Geoff failed to get an apprenticeship or whatever but I was mightly impressed nonetheless.

Time moves on. Things change and I no longer live in Watford. I've never been back to watch another game at Vicarage Road but if Watford are on the telly, I'll watch them. It's my duty. The Hornets are my home town team and it must be in my genes to maintain a healthy interest in the team's fortunes. Sometimes it's pure despair, sometimes pure elation and sometimes it's a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs but sometimes things go exceptionally well. And this season, things seem to be going very well indeed. So much so, that after almost 50 years, I might just have to pay a return visit....

Added to the exhibition on 16/01/2006