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BLIND, STUPID AND DESPERATE
 
Editorials:
Going places
By Sam Rudnick
 
I was born in 1987. "Bennie and the Jets" and "Pinball Wizard" had long since faded from our lifetime soundtracks. Watford's "Golden Years" were about to end and the club were about to enter into a turbulent few years without the guidance of two key players of past success: Elton John and Graham Taylor.

I always wondered what life was like at Vicarage Road during the seventies and eighties, of which Elton John played a major role. The concert on Saturday night was as much about the future as it was about rekindling past glory. Around the yellow-covered Vicarage Road were Watford fans young and old, season ticket holders, past season ticket holders, those who hold great affection for the club...all of whom also hold great affection for Elton John.

What was always special about having Elton John as our chairman was his acceptance that he didn't always hold all the answers. He never pretended to be the one who knew how to balance the books, nor be the one who knew how to run the business. He cared about the club and cared for its success. He simply wanted success for the club he supported and with success would bring stability and growth. The fact that under his helm Watford went places never witnessed before disproves the idea that a football club is a business, which should be run by businessmen.

Here was a supporter who ran the club; there was no lack of transparency, no false pretensions, he simply wanted what we all did, yet he seemed to have the magic touch of making everything work out just how he had imagined. I'm sure when he set out his European ambitions in the late seventies many eyebrows would have been raised and the same could be said for his statement in May 1996, in which he outlined his Premiership ambitions. The man had a magic touch of making things happen; not only that, he meant what he said, he was trustworthy and in football there are not many people who fall into that category.

When he said on Saturday night that "this club is gonna go places", you knew he meant it. His statement gave me a great deal of hope that Watford can go places, despite the club going anything but places in the past few months. If lessons are to be learnt from the past, one is that you underestimate Elton John at your peril, the man is a Watford fan and the club means a hell of a lot to him.

His modesty can also not go unnoticed. He hasn't just handed cash from his pocket, he's shown Watford why we have got that money and where it's come from. It was a joint effort from the supporters and the man himself. He's not going to bale us out like Roman Abramovich has done at Chelsea. There are many Watford fans who have doubted his commitment to the club over the past few seasons. Elton kept quiet at the time over the signing of Paul Devlin, and does not look to score brownie points or earn propaganda success in the eyes of the supporters like some others. The man is a great ambassador for Watford Football Club and on Saturday night made me realise how lucky we are to have him as part of our club. I am very proud and when he wants to contribute or raise a million, he'll do it with the supporters, which will once again be the case in 2007.

This is a man who could just sign a cheque and send it off to the board; however, he relishes tangible effects for the club. He wants to see every supporter smile, he wants to see Watford in the big time and he believes Watford can get to the big time.

There aren't many supporters who still believe this....

(22/06/05)