Thursday, July 11, 2002

Erstwhile reserve-team boss Ray Lewington was confirmed as Watford's new manager in succession to Gianluca Vialli.

He inherited an extraordinarily challenging situation, with the club hamstrung by the financial consequences of both over-committing to the previous manager's unsuccessful tenure and the collapse of the Football League's television deal with ITV Digital.

His achievements, in keeping the club afloat in the second tier and reaching two cup semi-finals whilst having little control over the timing of player departures and almost no money to spend in the transfer market, compare favourably with those of the majority of his predecessors.

Reproduced by kind permission of Matt Rowson from his book, Watford FC On This Day