On behalf of the Watford fans who gave Aidy such a rough ride early on, I would personally like to apologise to the great man. It's incredible to think that in such a short space of time, he has already created the second most exciting Watford team of all time. It's also incredible to compare his tactical reading of the game to 'Ron Manager' types like Curbishley and Allardyce who are seriously being considered as international management material, I assume by the same people who were looking forward to seeing Lewington take our club back whence it came. If these people are his competition for the title of best English manager, it won't be long, believe me.

I'm personally delirious about what is currently going on at the Vic. I urge Watford fans not to forget how crap we normally are - desperately clogging our way into trouble. This is so so different - playing with speed, flair and movement to clever, flexible tactical plans that work. Clearly, it's going get harder for us to win away - teams are going to start to realise that 'charge of the light brigade' tactics will be ruthlessly punished by us and, as we keep reminding ourselves, we have a small squad. But really, how weak is our squad? We won at Derby without Mahon and Henderson - and still had first team quality players on the bench.

The quality of your squad depends so much on the quality of your manager and we have an absolute gem. So far this season, Aidy and the team have performed miracles on the pitch, dragging this club forward at breakneck speed to a level way beyond what fans could legitimately expect. The manager and the team have come up with the goods and some, and on Tuesday night it seemed like the fans were starting to do the same.

Success in football is always based on a special bond - the unity of manager, team and fans, all pulling their weight, all giving everything they've got, and more, to their club. At the beginning of the season, the spotlight and the pressure was on Aidy. Now it's on us: Aidy and the team have come up with the goods. Now it's the responsibility of the fans to give the team what they deserve in return.

We need to go to the Vic in larger numbers, to shout louder, encourage more and to prove that we actually deserve this great team. In terms of true support, I think this season started against Norwich on Tuesday night, when the fans really did the team justice for the first time this season. Let's keep it up and sing our hearts out for every single game this season.

We've got the team, we've got the manager. Now, let's give everything we can to win this team as many extra points as we can this season.

(16/09/05)