A self-confessed football anorak has attempted to document Watford FC's history in a unique way – by fitting the club's 128-year existence into a single year.

Matt Rowson, a life-long Hornets fan, set about the gigantic task of formulating the club's history in October last year.

Almost one year later, his book, Watford – On This Day, charts the club's fortunes in a “higgledy-piggledy way”, starting in January and progressing through a single calendar year.

A former writer on the Blind, Stupid and Desperate fans' website, Matt said: “The publishers have released a book for several different clubs and it was a matter of them finding someone with the wit and the energy to do it.

“The book starts on January 1 and then has entries for every day.

“Writing football is always something that I have enjoyed doing anyway and it was through that writing that I was approached by the publishing company and I thought it was something I could do.”

For the past year, Matt has spent most of his free time either in Watford Museum or the library trawling through miles of microfilm searching old copies of the Watford Observer.

He says he started his task with the obvious highlights of promotions, relegations and cup finals, but says he has discovered much he did not know from the club's distant past.

However, the 36-year-old admits it was a struggle not to simply write a book about the recent managers he had seen, the scandals he had witnessed and the games he has been to.

“I am certainly interested in Watford's past but I was born in 1973 so I have no memory of Watford's promotion in 1959, for example.

“So that doesn't make me gush like Watford beating Arsenal at Highbury in 1987.

“Although I had heard of people like Tommy Barnett, Cliff Holton and Skilly Williams, I couldn't have placed them in history or told you anything more about them other than they played for Watford.”

He also says he the book contains some interesting stories the common Watford fan might not know.

He said: “There was a story from 1900 or 1901 when there was an accident in the English Channel when a boat hit some rocks near the Channel Islands.

“The first working ship on the scene had the Watford reserve team on it, because they were on their way to play a practice match in Jersey.

”The players were commended for their efforts in rescuing and looking after the survivors.”

A father-of-two, Matt now lives in Bedfordshire but still has a season ticket at Vicarage Road.

The demands of a young family means he cannot make every home match, but he says he does not regret any of the time he spent researching his book.

He said: “I am a Watford anorak, it placed demands on my time and it tested the patience of my wife but I have no regrets at all – I thoroughly enjoyed doing it.”

Matt's book, Watford – On This Day, will be available in the Watford FC shop from Friday and will be on sale in the town's bookshops in the next few weeks.