Tales From The Vicarage: Ian Bolton looks back on a tough start to life in Division Two for Watford

Here, Oliver Phillips and Bolton look back on the Hornets' difficulties with adapting to life in the second tier.

Watford limped on in the 1979-80 season with Jenkins out injured for three months and Blissett missing his partner.

Knocked out of the League Cup in the first round by Colchester, Watford were now a scalp for the lower-division clubs and the Hornets had a fright in the FA Cup when they only overcame non-league Harlow 4-3 at Vicarage Road after falling behind.

“What a scare that was,” Bolton said. “We could have lost that game; instead we went on to beat Wolves 3-0 at their place. They had Andy Gray, John Richards and Emlyn Hughes. They were in the top flight.”

Watford bowed out 2-1 at home to Arsenal in the quarter-finals but four victories in their last six games put the outside threat of relegation behind them.

“Then Pat Rice came the next season,” he added. “He was an unbelievable player to bring in. He had that experience: been there, done that, and Pat was old enough to realise what the Gaffer wanted. Not the quickest of full-backs, they said, but no one ever got the better of him.”

Watford had tasted success in the second tier but, said Bolton: “I think we realised the next step that we were looking to take would be a lot more difficult than we had been used to.”

As well as Rice, Gerry Armstrong and “Little Legs” Les Taylor were added to the squad.

“I just thought Les was superb,” Bolton said. “Hard-working, enthusiastic, never shirked a tackle and I thought he and subsequently Jan Lohman were superb together.

“Jan had a lot more skill and ability than he was given credit for. With his moustache he might have looked like Adolf Hitler, but Jan and Les were the sort you wanted in the trenches alongside you.

“But Les was like he was on Duracell. In today’s game you see them count the miles or kilometres covered. How many did Les cover?

“Another midfielder, Kenny Jackett, typified the extra quality we took on board as we progressed through the divisions. You are trying to improve the quality of those players but retain the combativeness and add the little bit of skill.

“Kenny came through the ranks so he absolutely knew what was required of him. He had a tremendous left peg. It was really sweet and he was certainly not afraid to tackle.”

Taylor was pleased with his two signings but it was the third, Armstrong, who really upped the manager’s expectations.

Bolton understood the sentiment: “Gerry obviously was a renowned name. It was synonymous with what Graham was trying to do with the team: improving the quality.

“He was meeting the higher expectations of the fans who were expecting progress. I think it reflected the club’s ambitions. He was a tremendous signing and had the capabilities to help the club improve.

“Ross went through a difficult time with injury and went over to Washington. We stayed with him for six weeks in the summer. I thought it was only natural Ross went. Gerry had massive shoes to fill. Very much a confident, impact player, Gerry was wholehearted and an absolute beast. He was a fighter, which is what you needed in the squad. Gerry would physically beat you up. You could never expect that from Roscoe.”

Bolton saw the clash of personalities between Taylor and Jenkins as understandable: ‘The Gaffer got most things right but he was wrong there. He was looking to replace Ross and put him on the list. It proved to be a mistake.”

It was not the happiest season for Bolton, however. He was to be out for four months when his back problem flared up again. “I had one disc in the lower back that was worn, the next was knackered and the third was worn,” he said.

“I went to Harley Street and they recommended a then-revolutionary procedure which they had never tried on a sportsman before – they injected dynamite in my spine. Sounds bizarre but the discs disintegrated and the rest fused with my spine.

“I had scored in my last game before the op in October and I scored on my first match back, 28 games later. They said they were effectively injecting me with arthritis, but all I wanted was to get back. Now I know what they meant about arthritis but it is not bad and I manage it.”

Bolton’s return coincided with Watford’s run of eight wins and three draws from their last 15 games to finish ninth in the second-tier table – then the highest position the Hornets had ever achieved in the club’s history.

As a result, there was a growing confidence about putting the struggling days in Division Two behind them. But when Taylor announced before the first match, ‘It is time we were moving on,’ did he really mean promotion to the top flight? Clearly he did and – with Callaghan blooded and Barnes proving to be a stellar youth signing – Watford began to make real progress.

“I think every season you start off with general positivity,” Bolton said. “Maybe we needed a season or two to get used to the type of players, the better players you are coming up against and also the better managers.

“I think as a team we were quite quick learners. Looking back, we destroyed them and the more you get used to playing against them, the more we learned what we really had to do.”

Taylor encouraged and cajoled and occasionally lost his temper.

“His rollickings could be fearsome. We walked into the dressing room, and if the vein in his neck was throbbing that was a tell-tale sign.

“On one occasion he swiped the table with tea on it. Everything came off. It has gone all over me and I said: ‘Have you got any sugar?’

“He was always thrown by such comments. He pointed his finger at me and said: ‘Sugar. You want sugar.’ He was lost for a retort. But you also knew when he did compliment you, it meant so much. Generally, he was right when he lost it.”

Bolton remembers the promotion season well. “It took us a little bit longer to settle and realise that, once again, we deserved to be where we were and were part and parcel of that division,” he remembered.

“We started to really believe it just after Christmas. You have played every team once and generally you know you can beat them again.

“The belief was there and people had taken the pattern of play on board. It takes time. With some players it was like trying to teach a left-handed man to write right-handed.

“But we had Ross back, with Luther and Gerry weighing in as well. We were a force in the division.”

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