FA Cup Fifth Round, 15/02/03, 3.00pm
Sunderland
versus
Watford
 
A plea
By David Hart

I'm an exiled Watford fan. I have lived and worked in the North East of England for eighteen years. If anything, my love for the club has grown to new heights over this period. After ten years of hard work, I'm finally certain that my son Josh (born in Newcastle ) will be a Watford fan for life. Little tricks like making him a Junior Hornet so that he receives a card from the "nice" people at Watford and not one from the "cruel" people at Newcastle and Sunderland have helped, as have taking him to the West Brom game and watching from a gloriously packed Rookery.

Now we need your help. No one hates Watford here; we're too irrelevant to the locals. Needless to say the Mackems (Sunderland fans) are entirely dismissive of our chances in the Fifth Round, and don't expect us to bring more than a thousand quiet supporters. My son and I want to prove them wrong. Our influence can only be fairly limited on the pitch, but we can do a lot off it.

So please, come to the match, fill up your cars, persuade the part-time fans, bring ticker tape, balloons, and be prepared to sing like you have never sung before. The Mackems won't be expecting it, but most importantly it will help the team, and it will make both me and Josh walk tall.

Can you help?