Steve Sherwood still has to pinch himself to remind him that Watford’s glorious ascension from the doldrums of the Fourth Division to a runners-up spot in the top flight and the UEFA Cuo wasn’t just a dream - and that he was part of it.

Sherwood, now 63, was back in his adopted town on Sunday night as one of four Rocket Men on stage at the Palace Theatre, to help launch the book of the same name which chronicles stories from their time with the Hornets and celebrate the managerial wizardry of Graham Taylor.

The timing of the show was poignant after Taylor’s death in January, but there was no hint of gloom about proceedings as the quartet regaled tales of the great man, their journey together and even recreated the famous exploding wall once used to disguise rocketing Ian Bolton free-kicks.

“We don’t get much of a chance to talk any more,” said Sherwood, a mainstay of the early Taylor years in between the sticks.

“I’m in Lincolnshire, Ross is in Spain – we were all saying this could be the last time we’re all together. 

“They were magical times, I’ve been to other clubs but the dressing room has never been anything like it was here.

“It was nice for us to get together, and the success we had and camaraderie it’s lovely to get together and chat about it and have the appreciation of the audience too.

“It was nice to express our feelings of what he (Taylor) did for our lives, not just as a footballer but as people as well. He instilled conduct into us which most of us have taken on into our normal lives.

“He could be as hard as any man but if you worked and did what he asked, he was one of the fairest too.”

Sherwood and Bolton were joined by deadly striking duo Ross Jenkins and Luther Blissett, in an always entertaining two hours of conversation with host and Sky Sports News presenter Adam Leventhal.

They shared their memories of just what went so right under the great man - and all under the watchful eye of Rita Taylor, the guest of honour for the latest iteration of the show.

Sherwood added: “The players who he bought to the club, he knew they wouldn’t be a problem and would gel everyone else together. They were such strong characters and really good football people – I still want to pinch myself and think ‘did it really happen?’

“I love Watford – it’s in my blood. It’s the only result I really look for. I’ve been at Grimsby and I look at theirs, but I’m not as bothered about them as Watford. I hated leaving here. 

“I walk down the High Street, I used to go to Sainsbury’s because I didn’t used to drive, I’d get my shopping and walk to Howard Close with all of it. You wouldn’t see a player doing that these days.”

The group’s affection for one another was clear throughout and they joked from start to finish - everything from Bolton’s apparent inability to run in training to Steve Harrison’s interesting dress sense.

“Supporters can’t relate to characters like they did at Watford all those years,” Sherwood lamented.

“Seeing them trying their hardest week-in, week-out and staying loyal.”

Order Rocket Men here or the complete Tales from the Vicarage series as a gift set here.