A rare 127-year-old football programme is expected to fetch as much as £20,000 when it goes to auction next month.
The single sheet programme was produced for the 1889 FA Cup final between Preston North End and Wolverhampton Wanderers played at the Kennington Oval, and is valued at £15,000 to £20,000.
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The focal point of the Preston attack was prolific and colourful centre forward John Goodall, who went on to become Watford’s first manager.
Unusually, he was often spotted around the town taking his pet fox for a walk.
Mr Goodall, who also played for England, died in Watford in 1942 and is buried in an unmarked grave in Watford North Cemetery.
He, his wife Sarah and six of their children lived at 105 Gladstone Road, Watford.
The Goodalls’ daughter, Mary Jane, was a dressmaker. Their son Richard was a bricklayer. Watford FC was a non league club in 1903 when Goodall became the Hornets’ first manager for three pounds ten shillings a week (or £3.50p in modern money).
In 1904-1905 with Mr Goodall in charge, the club was in the Southern League along with Spurs, who were also a non league club in those days.
Watford were then playing at Cassio Road as it would not be until 1922 that they moved to their gleaming new stadium at Vicarage Road.
John Goodall made his name with Preston North End in 1889 when the Lancashire club became the first club to win the Double – the Football League title and the FA Cup - and did it by not losing one league or cup match in that 1888-1889 season.
As a result, that Preston team has been known ever since as The Invincibles.
Goodall was PNE’s top scorer in that historic 1888-1889 season with 21 goals.
He also played for England fourteen times, so it was a coup for non league Watford to bring such an illustrious footballer to Hertfordshire.
Goodall made an immediate impact at Watford. In Mr Goodall’s first season in charge,1903-1904, the Hornets won the Southern League Division Two title and went through that season undefeated.
At Graham Budd Auctions in London on Tuesday (November 8) a rare single sheet Preston North End versus Wolverhampton Wanderers FA Cup final programme, prominently featuring John Goodall’s name is expected to fetch between £15,000 and £20,000.
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