Watford FM09

Founded in 1881, Watford are a professional English club currently playing in the Coca-Cola Championship. The club play their home games at Vicarage Road and possess good training facilities and a good youth setup. The reserve team play at Meadow Park, the home of Boreham Wood and Arsenal Ladies. The club is affectionately known as The Hornets, The 'Orns or The Yellow Army, and retains a fierce rivalry with Luton Town.

As a club which enjoyed its best spell of success during the 1980's and their last competition win coming as recently as 1998, The Hornets are a club with a growing history. Watford finished runners-up in the English top division for the only time in 1983, finished runners-up in the FA Cup in 1984, finished runners-up in the English 2nd tier for the only time in 1982, and won the English 3rd tier in 1969 and 1998 and finished runners-up on one occasion.

Football Manager Information

Reputation - National

Stadium - Vicarage Road (20500 all seated)

Chairman Status - Will listen to offers

Finances - Okay

Estimated Value - £10.75mil(loan debt of £10mil)

Average Ticket Price - £27

Average Season Ticket Price - £400

Season Ticket Holders - 12,000

Legends - Graham Taylor, Luther Blissett, Nigel Gibbs

Icons - Tommy Mooney, Steve Palmer

Favoured Personnel - Kenny Jacket, Aidy Boothroyd, Alec Chamberlain, John Barnes

Fierce Rivals - Luton Town

Other Rivals - Crystal Palace, Q.P.R.

Training Facilities - Good

Youth Facilities - Good + Youth Academy

Continental Competition - None

Media Prediction - 5th in Coca-Cola Championship

Finances

Bank Balance

The bank balance of Watford is £124k, which is one of the lowest in the league. This makes managing The Hornets reasonably challenging. Despite this low balance, good management skills will be able to increase this quite quickly.

Budgets

The minimum expectation is that the team reach the Playoff of the Coca-Cola Championship. As a result of this, the transfer budget for Watford is set at £150k, no matter what you feel you can achieve. Your weekly wage budget is £109k, but as the club is currently spending £115,665 on wages per week you will need to cut down.

Squad

9.0.0

Below is the squad for Watford on the orignal patch for Football Manager 2009

GK - Richard Lee

GK - Mart Poom

GK - Scott Loach

DR - Adrian Mariappa

DR - Lloyd Doyley

DL - Matthew Sadler

DL - Jordan Parkes

DC - Leigh Bromby

DC - Jay DeMerit(captain)

MR - Tommy Smith

MR - Lionel Ainsworth

ML - Jobi McAnuff

ML - Jon Harley

MC - John-Joe O'Toole

MC - Lee Williamson

MC - John Eustace (vice-captain)

MC - Gareth Williams

MC - Al Bangura

ST - Grzegorz Rasiak (on loan from Southampton)

ST - Tamás Priskin

ST - Will Hoskins

ST - Nathan Ellington (on loan at Derby County)

ST - Steve Kabba (on loan at Blackpool)

9.3.0

Below is the squad for Watford third patch, 9.3.0, on Football Manager 2009

GK - Richard Lee

GK - Mart Poom

GK - Scott Loach

DR - Adrian Mariappa

DR - Lloyd Doyley

DR - Gavin Hoyte (on loan from Arsenal)

DL - Matthew Sadler

DL - Jordan Parkes

DC - Leigh Bromby (on loan at Sheffield United, will sign there permanantly)

DC - Jay DeMerit(captain)

DC - Mike Williamson

MR - Tommy Smith

MR - Don Cowie

ML - Jobi McAnuff

ML - Jon Harley

MC - John-Joe O'Toole

MC - Lee Williamson

MC - Jack Cork (on loan from Chelsea)

MC - Ross Jenkins

MC - John Eustace (vice-captain)

MC - Gareth Williams

MC - Al Bangura

ST - Grzegorz Rasiak (on loan from Southampton)

ST - Tamás Priskin

ST - Will Hoskins

ST - Nathan Ellington (on loan at Derby County, will sign there permanantly)

ST - Steve Kabba (on loan at Blackpool)

Youth

GK - Bontond Antal

GK - Jonathan North

DR - Dale Bennett

DR - Lee Hodson

DC - Cedric Avinel

DC - Aaron Beech

AMR/L - Billy Gibson

ST - Liam Henderson

ST - Lewis Young

ST - Fabrice Otshudi

ST - Theo Robinson

ST - Moses Ashikodi (on loan at Hereford)

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers

Richard Lee is excellent, but is out for around 2 months at the start. Mart Poom and Scott Loach are top backup, so you should be able to cope here. Jonathan North is a good player for the future, and could become decent enough for backup. Lastly, Bontond Antal looks reasonably good for his age, so when possible try and loan him out to get him some first team experience.

Youngster to watch: Scott Loach

Rightbacks

Lloyd Doyley and Adrian Mariappa are both great for the Coca-Cola Championship. Mariappa looks like he could turn out to be the better of the two. Neither of them are great attacking wise, but are up there with the best at this standard at the defensive work. Gavin Hoyte, on loan from Arsenal, can add something to the team that Doyley and Mariappa can't. He is better going forward, but weaker in defence. If you are willing to sacrifice stabiltiy for more attacking thread, Hoyte is your man. I would give Mariappa 'Youngster to watch', but Lee Hodson can become a good backup player and I feel he deserves it, seeing as Mariappa is in the first team. You should be fine here, as all four of the mentioned can be great.

Youngster to watch: Lee Hodson

Leftbacks

Matthew Sadler is a very good player, and should do the job. Unfortunatly Jordan Parkes isn't the best, coaches only rate him as having the potential to be a leading Coca-Cola Championship right back. Although they say right back, I think he's better at left back. Still, he isn't too bad, and it would be worthwhile keeping hold of him mainly for his versatility.

Youngster to watch: Jordan Parkes

Centrebacks

Jay DeMerit is the standout defender in the squad, and is the captain of the squad. 'Captain America' as he is known to fans normally seeks move away from club early on, and you should be able to get offers of £2mil for him. This would have to be a deal, with the financial system as it is. Mike Williamson is the second starter at centreback in the squad. He's an good player too, but not as good as the man he replaced - Leigh Bromby. It would be wise to replace Williamson as a starter, and use the ex Wycombe Wanderers man as back. Cedric Avinel looks to be good backup, and should do well for you. Despite this you could easily get better backup than him. Mariappa and Doyley can both cover here too, Mariappa the more natural of the two here.

Youngster to watch: Cedric Avinel

Right Midfielders

Tommy Smith is one of the best players in the team, but you may choose for him to be played upfront. Don Cowie is also very good, and one of the strongest players in the team. Ross Jenkins and Billy Gibson can play here, although I feel they are better in other positions. Apart from Jenkins and Gibson there is no backup, so I would look to buy a natural right sided youngster for here.

Youngster to watch: No one of note

Left Midfielders

Jobi McAnuff is the best player here, and can come up with quite a few assists aswell as a goal or two. Jon Harley is also very good, and can be used as first team left back or left midfield well. He's a good player, and is well worth a place in the first team. That means that both Jobi and Jon can play ML well, so you don't really need someone else here. Billy Gibson could become great too, I'd reccommend sending him out on loan to get some experience.

Youngster to watch: Billy Gibson

Centre Midfielders

Jack Cork, on loan from Chelsea, is a great player and could potentially become world class. Because of this Chelsea are unlikely to let him to, so you will need to make sure you have enough players for future seasons. John Eustace is very good on this game and probably one of the best players in the team, or even the league. Gareth Williams can be excellent, when fit. He would be excellent backup, as would Al Bangura. Williams and Bangura could both be very good potentially, with both excellent backup. John-Joe O'Toole is a brilliant player too, and would warrent a place in the team. Lee Williamson is great, but you could probably sell him for £1.4mil, and for that, with the backup you have, it may be worth selling. O'Toole and Williamson, as well as Eustace, are out on loan if you are using a WeeGiE update, so you may need to get someone else to cover here, preferably on loan.

Youngster to watch: Ross Jenkins

Strikers

Grzegorz Rasiak is probably the best striker at the club, as if he is played right he can score many goals in a season. There is an agreed price of £1.3mil for him, so it may be worth trying to tie him down permanently in January if you get the chance. Money permitting, of course. Tamas Priskin is a good player also, and if you are playing with two upfront he should partner Rasiak. Again, if played right he could score quite a few goals. Will Hoskins is adequate backup for them, but looking at his stats he could be more suited to an attacking midfield role. Youth in this area is the strongest of all, with Theo Robinson, Liam Henderson and Lewis Young all having good stats for their ages. Like most good youngsters, try and get them out on loan to get experience. Perhaps keep Robinson in your reserves and use him as your backup player as well as sometimes in the Cups.

Youngster to watch: Lewis Young

Recommended Formation and Line Up

4-4-2

GK - Richard Lee

DR - Adrian Mariappa

DL - Mat Sadler

DC - Jay DeMerit

DC - new DC/Mike Williamson

MR - Tommy Smith

ML - Jobi McAnuff

MC - Jack Cork

MC - John Eustace

ST - Gregorz Rasiak

ST - Tamas Priskin

or

4-4-2 Diamond

GK - Richard Lee

DR - Adrian Mariappa

DL - Mat Sadler

DC - Jay DeMerit

DC - new DC/Mike Williamson

DMC - Jack Cork

MR - Tommy Smith

ML - Jobi McAnuff

AMC - Don Cowie

ST - Gregorz Rasiak

ST - Tamas Priskin

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