Graham Taylor managed Watford through the most successful period in their history
Elton John’s Taylor Made Army – Watford in the 1980s
by Stephen Brandt
Sometimes a little club can rise up the pyramid and become that story book club that we all want to see. Watford in the 1970s and 1980s was that club. There have been many generations since then who have forgotten about them and their story needs to be told.
It starts out with a rock star trying to make his boyhood club a First Division club. In 1976 Watford were bought by a lifelong supporter of the born as Reginald Dwight. He later changed his name to Elton John ans became famous as such as a singer and songwriter. He started pumping money into the club.
At the time he bought the club, Watford were playing in the Fourth Division. To kick start the new era at the club Elton took the advice of Don Revive, former Leeds manager and current England Manager at the time, and hired then Lincoln City manager Graham Taylor in 1977. This would be the right hire at the right time. As soon as Graham got in the door, he started the Hornets’ ascent up the table.
Taylor led them to the Fourth Division title in 1977-1978 with the most wins, fewest defeats, fewest goals conceded, and the most goals of any club in the league. Then they escaped the Third Division in 1978-1979, and it took them a year in the old Second Division to conquer it, coming up to the old First Division (now Premier League) in in 1981. Watford spent time that first season in the First Division at the the top of the table. However this was during the heyday of the Merseyside clubs, so they finished second to Liverpool.
This was a club that had a lot of players barely known who would later turn out to be superstars. Winger John Barnes, one of those names, was spotted at a Middlesex League side Sudbury Court when Watford were in the Second Division.
Barnes became a focal point of the team under Taylor and went on to win 79 caps for the English National Team. His time in the spotlight was sadly marred by racism. There was the ever present Luther Blissett, a striker, who stayed with the club on their ascent up the divisions. He would bang in goals at a rate that would put him among the top players in the league.
In fact in Watford’s first year in the top league, he banged in 27 goals. He would get a big money transfer to AC Milan in 1983 for his efforts. Like some of the big time scorers in England at the time (Ian Rush comes to mind), he never settled in Italy and was right back at Vicarage Road the following season. The Hornets finished 2nd in 1982/83 winning 22 games.
They were for the most part a mid table club for most of their existence in the First Division. Watford did make the 1984 FA Cup Final losing against Everton, then in their golden period. Everton would win two league titles, the FA Cup, and in Europe with the Cup Winners Cup, only denied grater European glory by the Heisel tragedy, caused by Liverpool fans, but which saw all English clubs excluded from European competition.
Eventually like with al Cinderella sides the good times ended with players and managers leaving. Graham Taylor in 1987 departed for Aston VIlla, Blissett would leave a second time for Bournemouth in 1988, and John Barnes would be out the door too heading to Liverpool in 1987.
Watford eventually couldn’t take all this turnover and went down to the Second Division in 1988. They remained a second tier side for four years but reappeared in the top flight for another four years before being relegated again in 1996. Their best finish since Taylor left is 13th in 2016.
There’s now a statue of Taylor who died last year outside Vicarage Road. The emotion following his death is a testament to how fondly he is remembered at the Hertfordshire club
