Life in Division II
1969-70 was the year when reality returned. Watford found
themselves in a more rarefied atmosphere with no new major investment
in the playing staff. As a consequence life was very much tougher. A
reflection of the playing-staff situation is that the team used only 18
players in its complete league campaign that season, an all-time low
number for the club. However, the league that year was dwarfed by a
monumental Cup run which almost took Watford to Wembley. The
quarter-final draw pitted us against Liverpool at the Vic, and I can
still feel the agony as the lads defended a one-goal lead, while the
referee seemed to play an hour of injury time! Then came heartbreak in
the mud of White Hart Lane. Stewart and the team played their socks
off, and equalised an early Chelsea goal, but it couldn't last.
Ultimately, it was a 5-1 defeat, but this was tempered by the fact that
we were there at all. Since the Holton Glory Years, we fans had been
slowly realising that Watford could and should be there among the best
in the country.
All that season Scully was a ray of sunshine in often grim team
performances, and his greatest contribution came in the game at Norwich
which completed the campaign. It was his goal that drew the match, and
made sure that Watford would compete in Division II again in the
autumn.
During 1969-70 more bids came in for Stewart, and though he
stuck by Watford, we fans wondered how long it would be before a big
club would win his signature. Watford began 1970-71 well, but faded
badly finishing the season just two places away from relegation. Behind
the scenes, and in the boardroom, these were difficult days. Now,
Scully was transfer-listed, along with Barry Endean, John Williams and
Ray Lugg. This marked the near bankruptcy of the club rather than any
lack of utility to the club of the four. Under-currents became clearer
when Stewart was dropped for young John Farley. Now, Sheffield Utd
swooped again, paying 27,500 pounds for the winger's services. He left
the club with the observation that Watford had become too
defensive-minded.