2004–05 Watford F.C. season

Watford
2004–05 season
Chairman	Graham Simpson
Manager	Ray Lewington (until 22 March); Aidy Boothroyd (from 29 March)
Stadium	Vicarage Road
Championship	18th
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Semi-finals
Top goalscorer	League: ; Heiðar Helguson (16); All: ; Heiðar Helguson (20)
Average home league attendance	14,289
	← 2003–04 2005–06 →

During the 2004–05 English football season, Watford competed in the Football League Championship.

Season summary

The 2004–05 season saw a continuation of the good form of the end of the previous season, with the club well in the upper half of the Championship at the end of September. However, a long run of poor form subsequently saw the club drop steadily towards the relegation zone. Another good cup run further eased the club's financial position, with the team reaching the semi-final of the League Cup, soundly beating Premiership sides Portsmouth and Southampton on the way, before losing narrowly to Liverpool. The club's poor league form, however, came to a head in March, with a run of terrible performances and Lewington was sacked on 22 March.^[1] His sacking was controversial, and many fans were unhappy at the loss of a man who had led the club to two cup semi-finals in three seasons, enduring considerable financial hardships.

At the age of 34, Aidy Boothroyd was appointed manager of Watford after serving at Leeds United as a coach;^[2] 70-year-old Keith Burkinshaw was recruited as his assistant. Boothroyd's inexperience raised concerns among fans, who worried that he would not be able to keep the side in the Championship. However, Watford secured enough points to ensure survival with two games to go in the season.

Final league table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
16	Cardiff City	46	13	15	18	48	51	−3	54
17	Plymouth Argyle	46	14	11	21	52	64	−12	53
18	Watford	46	12	16	18	52	59	−7	52
19	Coventry City	46	13	13	20	61	73	−12	52
20	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	13	12	21	40	65	−25	51

Updated to match(es) played on 9 December 2011. Source: Football League Tables
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Results

Watford's score comes first^[3]

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

Football League Championship

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
7 August 2004	Preston North End	A	1–2	12,208	Devlin
9 August 2004	Queens Park Rangers	H	3–0	14,737	Webber (2), Dyer
14 August 2004	Burnley	H	0–1	12,048
21 August 2004	Leicester City	A	1–0	22,478	Webber
28 August 2004	Plymouth Argyle	H	3–1	13,104	Ardley, Webber (2)
11 September 2004	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	1–1	14,148	Webber
14 September 2004	Cardiff City	A	3–0	10,606	Webber (2), Ardley
19 September 2004	Millwall	A	2–0	10,865	Webber, Helguson
25 September 2004	Reading	H	0–1	13,389
28 September 2004	Wigan Athletic	H	0–0	11,361
2 October 2004	Crewe Alexandra	A	0–3	6,382
16 October 2004	Derby County	A	2–2	23,253	Helguson (2)
19 October 2004	Sunderland	H	1–1	13,198	Ardley
23 October 2004	Ipswich Town	H	2–2	22,497	Helguson, Bouazza
30 October 2004	Nottingham Forest	A	2–1	24,473	Helguson (2)
2 November 2004	Gillingham	A	0–0	7,009
6 November 2004	Derby County	H	2–2	13,689	Helguson, Gunnarsson
13 November 2004	Sheffield United	A	1–1	18,454	Gunnarsson
20 November 2004	Rotherham United	H	0–0	17,780
24 November 2004	Leeds United	A	2–2	24,585	Dyer (2)
27 November 2004	West Ham United	A	2–3	24,541	Gunnarsson, Dyer
4 December 2004	Stoke City	H	0–1	12,169
11 December 2004	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1–1	14,605	Helguson
18 December 2004	Coventry City	A	0–1	14,493
26 December 2004	Reading	A	0–3	18,757
28 December 2004	Cardiff City	H	0–0	13,409
1 January 2005	Millwall	H	1–0	13,158	Helguson
3 January 2005	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	1–2	6,335	Helguson
15 January 2005	Crewe Alexandra	H	3–1	11,223	Helguson (2), DeMerit
22 January 2005	Wigan Athletic	A	2–2	9,008	Dyer, Webber
5 February 2005	Gillingham	H	2–0	15,188	Ashby (own goal), Eagles
12 February 2005	Sunderland	A	2–4	24,948	Dyer (2)
22 February 2005	Ipswich Town	A	2–1	23,993	DeMerit, Dyer
26 February 2005	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0–0	25,060
5 March 2005	Coventry City	H	2–3	13,794	Dyer, Webber
8 March 2005	Nottingham Forest	H	0–2	12,118
12 March 2005	Queens Park Rangers	A	1–3	16,638	Ardley
15 March 2005	Leicester City	H	2–2	11,084	DeMerit, Webber (pen)
19 March 2005	Preston North End	H	0–2	19,649
2 April 2005	Burnley	A	1–3	11,507	Blizzard
5 April 2005	Plymouth Argyle	A	0–1	15,333
9 April 2005	Leeds United	H	1–2	16,306	Helguson
16 April 2005	Rotherham United	A	1–0	5,438	Helguson
23 April 2005	Sheffield United	H	0–0	17,138
30 April 2005	Stoke City	A	1–0	15,229	Helguson
8 May 2005	West Ham United	H	1–2	19,673	Helguson

FA Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	8 January 2005	Fulham	H	1–1	14,896	Helguson (pen)
R3R	19 January 2005	Fulham	A	0–2	11,306

League Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	24 August 2004	Cambridge United	H	1–0	6,558	Ferrell
R2	21 September 2004	Reading	A	3–0	8,429	Cox (pen), Bouazza, Ingimarsson (own goal)
R3	26 October 2004	Sheffield United	A	0–0 (won 4–2 on pens)	7,689
R4	9 November 2004	Southampton	H	5–2	13,008	Dyer, Chambers (2), Helguson, Bouazza
R5	30 November 2004	Portsmouth	H	3–0	18,877	Helguson (2), Dyer
SF 1st Leg	11 January 2005	Liverpool	A	0–1	35,739
SF 2nd Leg	25 January 2005	Liverpool	H	0–1	19,797

Players

First-team squad

Squad at end of season^[4]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	ENG	Alec Chamberlain
3	DF	ENG	Paul Mayo
4	DF	ISL	Brynjar Gunnarsson
5	DF	ENG	Neil Cox
6	DF	ENG	Sean Dyche
7	FW	ENG	Bruce Dyer ^{[notes 1]}
8	MF	ENG	Gavin Mahon
9	FW	ENG	Danny Webber
10	MF	SCO	Paul Devlin^{[notes 2]}
11	MF	ENG	Andy Ferrell
14	DF	ENG	Jermaine Darlington
16	GK	ENG	Richard Lee
17	MF	ENG	Jamie Hand
18	FW	ISL	Heiðar Helguson
19	DF	ENG	James Chambers
20	DF	ENG	Lloyd Doyley^{[notes 3]}
21	DF	ENG	Jack Smith


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
22	MF	ENG	Dominic Blizzard
23	MF	ENG	Anthony McNamee
24	FW	TRI	Jason Norville
25	FW	FRA	Hameur Bouazza^{[notes 4]}
26	DF	ENG	Ben Herd
27	MF	ENG	Ashley Young
28	MF	ENG	Jamie Collins
29	DF	USA	Jay DeMerit
30	FW	ENG	Omari Coleman
31	MF	FRA	Toumani Diagouraga
32	DF	ENG	Danny Cullip (on loan from Sheffield United)
33	DF	ENG	Junior Osborne
35	GK	ENG	Reece Kirk
37	MF	SLE	Al Bangura
38	DF	ENG	Adrian Mariappa^{[notes 5]}
39	MF	ENG	Joel Grant^{[notes 6]}

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
2	MF	ENG	Neal Ardley (to Cardiff City)
12	FW	ENG	Scott Fitzgerald (to Brentford)
13	GK	WAL	Paul Jones (on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers)
15	DF	JAM	Marcus Gayle^{[notes 7]} (to Brentford)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
32	MF	ENG	Johnnie Jackson (on loan from Tottenham Hotspur)
34	MF	ENG	Chris Eagles (on loan from Manchester United)
42	GK	ENG	Kevin Hitchcock (retired)

Transfers

In

Andy Ferrell – Newcastle United, free
Jermaine Darlington – Milton Keynes Dons, free
James Chambers – West Bromwich Albion, £250,000

Out

References

^ "Watford dismiss manager Lewington". BBC Sport. 22 March 2005. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
^ "Watford appoint Boothroyd as boss". BBC Sport. 29 March 2005. Retrieved 2 November 2007.
^ "Watford 2004-2005 Home - statto.com". Archived from the original on 1 September 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
^ "FootballSquads - Watford - 2004/05".

Notes

^ Dyer was born in Redbridge, England, and represented them at U-21 level, but played a friendly game for Montserrat against Ashford Town in September 2007.
^ Devlin was born in Birmingham, England, but also qualified to represent Scotland internationally through his father and made his international debut for Scotland in October 2002.
^ Doyley was born in Tower Hamlets, England, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally and would make his international debut for Jamaica in March 2013.
^ Bouazza was born in Évry, France, but also qualified to represent Algeria internationally through his parents and would make his international debut for Algeria in February 2007.
^ Mariappa was born in Harrow, England, but also qualified to represent Fiji internationally through his father and Jamaica through his maternal grandparents and would make his international debut for Jamaica in June 2012.
^ Grant was born in Ealing, England, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally and represented Jamaica at U-23 level before making his international debut for Jamaica in May 2014.
^ Gayle was born in Hammersmith, London, and represented them at U-18 level, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally through his father and made his international debut for Jamaica in 1998.
^ Hyde was born in Newham, England, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally and made his international debut for Jamaica in 2001.

[1] "Watford dismiss manager Lewington". BBC Sport. 22 March 2005. Retrieved 26 January 2012.

[2] "Watford appoint Boothroyd as boss". BBC Sport. 29 March 2005. Retrieved 2 November 2007.

[3] "Watford 2004-2005 Home - statto.com". Archived from the original on 1 September 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2012.

[4] "FootballSquads - Watford - 2004/05".

[5] Dyer was born in Redbridge, England, and represented them at U-21 level, but played a friendly game for Montserrat against Ashford Town in September 2007.

[6] Devlin was born in Birmingham, England, but also qualified to represent Scotland internationally through his father and made his international debut for Scotland in October 2002.

[7] Doyley was born in Tower Hamlets, England, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally and would make his international debut for Jamaica in March 2013.

[8] Bouazza was born in Évry, France, but also qualified to represent Algeria internationally through his parents and would make his international debut for Algeria in February 2007.

[9] Mariappa was born in Harrow, England, but also qualified to represent Fiji internationally through his father and Jamaica through his maternal grandparents and would make his international debut for Jamaica in June 2012.

[10] Grant was born in Ealing, England, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally and represented Jamaica at U-23 level before making his international debut for Jamaica in May 2014.

[11] Gayle was born in Hammersmith, London, and represented them at U-18 level, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally through his father and made his international debut for Jamaica in 1998.

[12] Hyde was born in Newham, England, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally and made his international debut for Jamaica in 2001.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[notes 1]

[notes 2]

[notes 3]

[notes 4]

[notes 5]

[notes 6]

[notes 7]

[notes 8]