9:56am Friday 2nd July 2010
By Michael Pickard
Recollections of the 1984 FA Cup Final from then-Hornets captain Les Taylor prompted Paul Evans to contact Nostalgia.
Mr Evans, a former coach driver from Newhouse Crescent, Garston, was working on the day of the match and ended up watching the game from “one of the best seats” in the old Wembley Stadium.
He explained: “I was there and had one of the best seats in the ground. I was in the television gantry because I used to drive coaches for a living and on that particular day, I was on contract to the BBC and I went to pick up the European commentators from various hotels, took them to the Hilton in Wembley and then down to the ground.
“I had an access-all-areas pass with the BBC. It meant I could go anywhere in the ground. Where I parked was at the side of one of the old towers where there were steps up to the gantry. Then I went up there. I was up there for the whole of the match.
“On one side was the BBC and the other side was the old ITV and they both had buffet areas. I was hopping between the two. It was quite a laugh. I was talking to a few people up there – Jimmy Greaves and Dickie Davies.
“The match was quite demoralising. Everton shouldn’t have won. We were watching their second goal on monitors time and time again and the referee should have given a foul on [Watford goalkeeper] Steve Sherwood. Even a lot of the commentators said in private it should have been disallowed.
“We had chances but unfortunately Everton came out stonewalling in the second half.
“It was a brilliant occasion. You had to be there to experience it. I was up at the top so I could see it all. It was a brilliant day. We deserved to come back with the cup. They played their guts out.”
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