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Watford Rovers were formed in 1881.  In 1890, they merged with the West Hertfordshire Rangers.  West Herts Rangers joined the Southern League, Second Division in 1896, and turned professional the next year.  In 1898,  West Hertfordshire Rangers merged with Watford St. Mary’s, to become Watford FC.

Watford FC won the Southern League, Second Division in 1900, and were promoted to the Southern League, First Division.  Four years later (1904), Watford won that divison’s title (there was no promotion to the League, back then).  The club won their second Southern League title in 1915.

Watford joined the English Football League in 1921, when the League expanded.  The entire Southern League, First Division  joined the League, en masse, as the Third Division, South.  The following year (1922), Watford moved from their Cassio Road ground to Vicarage Road, where they have played ever since {see this entry, from Wikipedia}.

Watford would spend 31 seasons (1921-1958) in the third tier of English football.  Their best finish would be in 4th place, which was achieved 3 straight seasons in the late 1930′s;  and in 1954.  They were almost relegated out of the League, in 1951, when they finished in 23rd place, but the club was successfully re-elected to the League (there was no Fourth Division then;  it was created in 1958 {see this}). 

Watford were relegated to the newly created Fourth Division in 1958, after a 16th place finish (12 of the 24 clubs in both the Third Division, South, and the Third Division, North were relegated to fill the new Fourth Division).   The club bounced back to the Third Division two seasons later (1959-60),  the same season they changed from blue and white, to yellow and black kits.  At this time, their nickname of the Hornets came into currency.

Watford spent the next 9 seasons in the Third Division,  and were finally promoted to the Second Division in 1969, when they finished in first.  Their stay in the second tier would last just 3 seasons, though, and by 1975, the club was back in the 4th level.  But this nondescript little club from the northern suburbs of London was about to go through its greatest period. 

In 1976, international pop/rock star Elton John became involved with Watford FC, the club he had supported as a child.  He became chairman of the club in ’77, and his hiring of Lincoln City manager Graham Taylor, along with his substantial cash investments, resulted in Watford’s successive promotions in 1978 (to the Third Division) and 1979 (to the Second Division).  Once in the Second Division, the club consolidated with finishes of 18th, then 9th place.  In the summer of 1981, Watford signed 17-year old Jamaican-born midfielder John Barnes {see this}.  He swiftly established himself in the squad, and along with Watford-born midfielder Kenny Jackett {see this, from an independant Watford FC site} and mainstay winger Wilf Rostron {see this}, they provided an effective complement to striker Luther Blissett (also from Jamaica) {see this, from the FA website}.  In the 1981-82 season, the squad began playing a more fluid brand of football that belied their reputation as a long-ball, “Route 1″ team, and Watford marched up the table.   

In the spring of 1982, for the first time in the club’s history, Watford were promoted to the First Division.  The club had finished in 2nd place in the Second Division, behind bitter local rivals Luton Town.  And once in the first level, the squad did not let up.  In September of 1983, in their seventh game in the top flight, Watford made their presence known in an emphatic manner:  a 8-0 annihilation of Sunderland.   {See this account of the eight-goal slaughter, from the Blind, Stupid and Desperate website}. 

Amazingly, Watford finished their First Division debut season in second place, 11 points behind Liverpool, and 1 point ahead of 3rd place Manchester United.  Luther Blissett led the league with 27 goals.  Europe beckoned.

The following season, Watford finished in 11th place.  But this was not a let-down, as the club had fine cup runs, in both domestic and European competitions.  The club had sold Luther Blissett to AC Milan for 1 million pounds (he would return back to Watford the following season, after a disappointing showing in the Italian Serie A).  This did not seem to affect their cup performances, though, even when more than half their starting squad was injured.

In the UEFA Cup competition, Watford first visited the German club Kaiserslautern, in September 1983, and promptly dug themselves a hole, as they went down 1-3.  To be fair, the squad was injury-depleted, with 7 starters out.  But in the second leg of the match, at Vicarage Road, Watford ran rampant, stunning Kaiserslautern 3-0, with a brace of goals by the diminutive Ian Richardson, in his first-team debut.  Watford advanced on a 4-3 aggregate score.  {To see some colorful accounts of both the Watford v. Kaiserslautern matches, from the B,S&D site, click on the following: {first leg- http://www.bsad.org/defeat/kaisersa.html}.              {2nd Leg (Vicarage Road).}

**{Click here, for the video highlights of Watford 3-0 Kaiseslautern; 24-9-1984 (via youtube).}

The Hornets next UEFA Cup opponent was Levski Spartak Sofia.  Watford only managed a draw in the 1st leg, at home, 1-1.  The 2nd leg presented a huge challenge to the Watford traveling faithful: a 6-day,  3,000 mile journey into the Iron Curtain.   Nevertheless, a busload made it to the Bulgarian capital.  And they were rewarded with a surprising 1-3 Watford victory, in AET.  In the 3rd Round, Watford were matched with Sparta Prague, and this is where they ran out of steam, going down 7-2, aggregate.  But their ’83-’84 UEFA Cup run was still an unqualified successs.  After all, Watford had never even been in the first division before 1982.

The club’s FA Cup run that season was also successful.  After making it all the way to the Semi-Finals, they beat Plymouth Argyle 1-0, at Villa Park.  This meant a trip to Wembley Stadium, for the 1984 FA Cup Final, versus Everton.  Watford came up short, though, conceding a goal on each side of halftime, and falling to a strong Everton side that would go on to win the League the following season.

The Watford FC of the 1980s would go on to have a 6 season stay in the top flight, but they only finished once more in the top ten: 9th place, in 1987.   In the summer of’ 87, Graham Taylor left to manage Aston Villa, and Watford was unable to fill his shoes.  They were relegated the following May.

Since that time, Watford have spent 2 seasons in the 1st Level (on two different occasions: 1999-2000, and 2006-07);  16 seasons in the 2nd Level;  and 2 seasons in the 3rd Level.   Taylor had returned to Watford in 1996, as general manager, after Elton John had bought Watford FC for the second time.  In the interim, Taylor had led Aston Villa back to the top flight in 1988, guiding Villa to 2nd place there, in ’90;  then he had had a tumultuous three years as coach of the English National team {see this}.

After Watford were relegated to the 3rd Level, in 1996, he appointed himself manager, and was able to once again engineer back-to-back promotions for the club.  For the second time, Graham Taylor had brought the small club from Herfordshire up to the top flight.

However, their second stay in the first division lasted just one season.  This was also the case with Watford’s rather surprising promotion to the Premiereship in 2006.  There were other parallels between these two Watford teams.  Both Graham Taylor, and Watford’s current manager, Adrian Boothroyd {see this}, have utilized an uninspiring form of long-ball play that, while effective in creating scoring chances, is frankly not a joy to watch.

Longball tactics don’t translate well to the Premier League: Aidy Boothroyd’s squad looked overwhelmed in the top flight, and Watford were relegated in May 2007.  However, the club started off the 2007’08 season in the League Championship very strongly, and looked like a solid bet to return to the top tier.  The wheels started coming off around the Holidays, though, and lately, the club is stuck in the rut of drawing most of their games (recent form: 1 loss, preceded by 7 draws).  They have hung around just below the automatic promotion places, though, and it would be foolish to count them out of the promotion race, even after they sold one of their main scoring threats, Marlon King, to Wigan.   Their leading scorer is Darius Henderson {see this}, with 12 league goals.  Watford are in 5th place in the League Championship, 5 points , and two places, above the playoff spots.  They play struggling Coventry City at home on Saturday.

Aidy Boothroyd was able to get Watford promoted last season, with limited resources, and in the face of initial opposition from many Watford supporters (their thinking was that he was too young and inexperienced to lead a club in such a precarious position).  This, when many experts were picking Watford to be relegated, not promoted.  So  Watford could still salvage their bright start, and come through in the playoffs.  
 
[Note: this is the last of my series of 2nd Level English Promotion Candidates.  I profiled 12 clubs, and the whole dozen of them still have viable chances of making it to the Premier League next season.  The teams I profiled are sitting in 1st through 12th places.  {Click here for the League Championship table.}  Its pretty amazing that with about 85% of the season gone, half the league still has a chance at promotion.  It is a reflection of how competitive the 2nd Level of English football is. 

Thanks to (historicalkits[dot]co[dot]uk): the 5 older kits on the chart, and the 2 kits on the first illustrated gallery, are copyright Historical football Kits, and are reproduced by permission.   Thanks to (colours-of-football[dot]com):  for the newer kits on the chart.   Thanks to: (journeymanpro[dot]co[dot]uk) for the 1983-’84 Watford UEFA Cup gallery illustration;  to (watfordpremiumtv[dot]co[dot]uk);   to (footballgroundsguide[dot]com);  to (viewimages[dot]com);  and especially to the Blind, Stupid, and Dumb site (bsad[dot]org), for their valiant effort to keep alive the glory days of Watford.  Also, thanks to the Tim’s 92 site, which features excellent panaoramic views of English Football Stadiums.  I just added it to my blogroll.

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Formed in 1877, as the football team of the St. Luke’s school, in Blakenhall (a ward of Wolverhampton), the club merged with a local cricket club called the Wanderers, in 1879, to become Wolverhampton Wanderers FC.  In 1886, the club moved into their new grounds, Molineux, which has remained their home to this day.  Wolverhampton Wanderers became one of 12 founding members of the (English) Football League, in 1888.  They finished a respectable 3rd place in the inaugural season of the League (1888-’89), as well as making it all the way to the 1889 FA Cup Final, where they lost to Preston North End, 0-3 (Preston becoming the first winners of the League and Cup Double, that season).

Four years later (1893), Wolverhampton won their first FA Cup, with a 1-0 victory over Everton.  The goal was scored by Harry Allen, in the 60th minute.

The club made it to the FA Cup Final again, three years later, in 1896,  but lost to Sheffield Wednesday 1-2, at London’s old Crystal Palace.  In 1898, Wolves finished 3rd.  But by 1901, the club had slipped to 13th place, and in 1906, they were relegated to the Second Division.  Nevertheless, two seasons later, Wolverhampton defied the odds by winning the 1908 FA Cup, while in the second tier.  They beat Newcastle United 3-1, at Crystal Palace, with goals by Kenneth Hunt {see this}, George Hedley {see this}, and Billy Harrison.

Wolverhampton was unable to capitalize on their Cup success, and push for promotion in the following seasons.  The war (now known as World War I) interrupted play for 4 seasons (1915-1919), just as Wolves seemed on the brink of promotion (with a 4th place finish in 1915).   But Wolverhampton began their post-War play with poor results, finishing in 19th place in 1920.  The following season (1920-’21) saw a slight improvement, to 15th, and another great Cup run.  This time, the second division underdogs lost, 0-1, to Tottenham Hotspur, at Stamford Bridge.  More dissapointment was to follow, as Wolverhampton were relegated to the Third Division (North), 2 years later (1923).

The Wanderers bounced right back the next season though (1923-’24), narrowly beating out Rochdale, to win the third tier, and gain promotion back to the second level.  In the first two seasons back, Wolves seemed poised for a return to the top flight, with finishes of 6th, then 4th.  But in the 1926-’27 season, the club fell to 15th place.  In July, 1927, the club hired Frank Buckley {see this} as manager.  Major Frank Buckley (as he was known) was ahead of his time, in that he combined the factors that define the successful football manager today: establishment of a good youth system;  shrewd transfer deals;  creation of a solid scouting network; and an ability to manipulate the media for the club’s benefit.

Initially, Buckley’s squad showed no improvement.  But by his fourth season in charge (1930-’31), Wolves finished 4th.  And the next year (1932), Wolverhampton won the Second Division, and were promoted.  The club had finally returned to the top flight, after 22 seasons.

Back in the top tier, Wolves struggled, with a 20th place finish in 1933.  15th, 17th, and 15th place finishes followed.  During this period, a young defender named Stan Cullis emerged as the leader of the squad.  Debuting in 1934, a year later he was captain at just 19 years of age; he became skipper of the English team at 22.  Cullis would make 122 appearances for Wolves, retiring in 1947 to become assistant manager.

In the 1936-’37 season, the squad finally gelled, and finished in 4th.  The following season, the Title was theirs to win, but they lost 1-0 at Sunderland on the final day, conceding the crown to Arsenal.  The next spring brought more dashed hopes for the Wolverhampton faithful, as the club lost the 1939 FA Cup Final, 1-3, to Portsmouth, at Wembley.  Wolves repeated as runners-up in the league that season, the last one before the onset of World War II.

Frank Buckley stepped down as manager, during the War, and was replaced by Frank Vizard.  When play resumed after WW II, in 1946-’47, Wolverhampton suffered another crushing last-day letdown, losing at home to Liverpool, and conceding the title to the Reds.  Wolves finished 3rd.  The next year brought about a drop to 5th, and Vizard was sacked, and replaced by Stan Cullis {see this article, from Wolves’ official site}.

In his first season in charge, Cullis led the Wolves to the 1949 FA Cup Final, where they defeated Leicester City 3-1, with goals by Jesse Pye (a brace), and Sammy Smythe.  It was Wolverhampton’s first major trophy in 41 years.

Wolves finished in second place, once again, the following season (1949-’50), losing out to Portsmouth by the narrowest of margins: a goal average difference of just 0.4.  The next two seasons were disasters, with 14th and 16th place finishes.  But by 1952, Cullis had led his squad back up the table, and Wolves finished in 3rd place in ’53.

Stan Cullis was a stern disciplinarian who simplified the team’s approach to the game, scrapping the overly complicated tactics.  Detractors dubbed his Wolves sides “kick and run merchants,” and “cloggers,” but their longball tactics proved effective.   Central defender and captain Billy Wright {see this}, and wingers Johnny Hancocks and Jimmy Mullen were the key players, as Wolverhampton went on to win their first National Title in 1954, beating out arch-rivals West Bromwich Albion by 4 points.

Finishes of 2nd and 3rd place followed, and by the mid-1950′s, Cullis was rebuilding the squad around Wright.  After a 6th place finish in 1957, the re-tooled Wolves won their second Title in 1958, finishing 5 points clear of Preston North End.  [This season was overshadowed by the Munich Air Disaster, which claimed the lives of 8 Manchester United players.]  The following season, Wolves ran riot, dominating the league, and winning their third (and last) Title by 14 points over the re-building Manchester United.

The next season (1959-’60) saw the club revert to an old role of heart-breaking also-rans, as they lost the Title to Burnley by 1 point, on the last day of the season.  But the squad made up for it by winning the 1960 FA Cup, 3-0 over Blackburn.   Winger Victor Deeley {see this} was man of the match, as his brace of goals, plus a Rovers own-goal, was the tally. 

Wolves finished 3rd the following year, and slid to 15th place in 1962.  The club’s Golden Age was over.  In September, 1964, after a disasterous start, Stan Cullis was sacked, and Wolves were relegated the following spring.  In 12 seasons, from 1948 to 1960, the Wolverhampton Wanderers had won 3 English Titles, and 2 FA Cups.

Since that time (1965), Wolverhampton has spent just 16 of 43 seasons in the 1st Level, with 23 seasons in the 2nd Level, 2 seasons in the 3rd Level, and 2 seasons in the 4th Level.  The club’s low point was the three successive relegations, from 1984-’86, which landed them in the Fourth Division for a 2 year spell.  Wolverhampton won the League Cup twice, in 1974, and 1980.  Wolves have spent one season in the Premier League, in 2003-’04, when, after a last place finish, they returned to the second division (the League Championship), which has been their home for 18 of the last 19 seasons.

Mick McCarthy took over as manager of Wolves in July, 2006, replacing Glen Hoddle.  The club had just undergone a wholesale clearance, halving their wage bill with the departure of 12 senior players.  In spite of this, McCarthy was able to assemble a squad that made it to the playoffs, with a 5th place finish.  They lost to rivals West Bromwich in the 1st Round.  In August, 2007, property developer Steve Morgan {see this} bought the club. 

This season, Wolverhampton was picked by many for automatic promotion, but inconsistent form has kept them adrift of the top 6.  In the January transfer window they picked up prolific striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake from Plymouth (11 league goals at Plymouth; 7 at Wolves).   The squad is led by striker/wing Andy Keough {see this}, an Ireland international, with 7 league goals.  The club has struggled without injured playmaker Michael Kightly {see this} and goalkeeper Matt Murray {see this}, who was voted player of the year last spring by Wolves fans.  Both are expected back by late April, Kightly perhaps earlier.  These two players returns could be the crucial factor in Wolverhampton’s promotion push.  The club has been playing well, with 4 wins, 3 draws, and 1 loss in their last 8.  Last Saturday, it took a brace from Andy Keough, the second goal in extra-time, to grab a draw from the surging Queens Park Rangers.  Wolves sit two points below the playoff places, in 9th place, with a game in hand.

Click here, for the League Championship table.

Wolves FAQ:  Why is their ground named Molineux ?   Click here, for the answer.

Thanks to (historicalkits[dot]co[dot]uk): the 5 older kits on the chart, and the 2 kits in the first photo gallery are copyright Historical Football kits, and areeproduced by permission.  Thanks to (colours-of-football[dot]com): for the newer kits on the chart.  Thanks to: (viewimages[dot]com);  (webbaviation[dot]co[dot]uk;  (wolvespremiuntv[dot]co[dot]uk);  (media[dot]rivals[dot]net);  and (freewebs[dot]com/tims92/panoramics) for the great wide-angle shot of Molineux.