The Watford Observer has again teamed up with its friends at The Watford Treasury to share stories from its book, Coming Home.

David Harrison looks back on the career of a player whose all too brief time at Vicarage Road still looms large.

Once in a while a blazing star bursts onto the local football scene, burns brightly for all too brief a period before, as quickly as it arrived, disappearing from view.

I asked Treasury colleagues for examples of what I believed to be a comparatively rare Watford phenomenon, certainly within our respective lifetimes. Namely players with us for not much more than a year, if that, but leaving behind an enduring impression.

A few obvious candidates jump from the pages of the club history, although the definition of ‘blazing star’ will always be subject to personal interpretation. With all due respect, the admirable John Stirk, solid though his contribution to the 1978/79 promotion campaign may have been, was not really what I had in mind.

However Odion Ighalo, Pat Jennings, Bruce Dyer, Charlie Livesey, Mo Johnston, Richarlison, Kevin Phillips and Barry Dyson all possessed claims sufficiently valid to set me thinking. The suggestion of Xavier Gravelaine also set me thinking, but not in a good way.

Ken Charlery, Harry Willis, Rick Holden, Will Buckley and, rather oddly, Paul Mayo all had their advocates although, on further investigation, the last of those appeared to serve merely as a vehicle for the fan in question to implore whoever was in charge of supervising dead ball delivery to “put Mayo on it” whenever the side won a free-kick within range.

Nevertheless having heard all the suggestions I remain comfortable with my man, certainly in terms of his short-term impact.

Watford Observer:

By the summer of 1967, manager Ken Furphy was well on the way to building what would become the first Watford squad ever to reach Division Two. The spine of Furphy’s promotion team was in place and this wide-eyed 14 year-old was not alone in believing that the 1967/68 season would finally see local dreams come true. But the season started badly for Watford. The football was good but early results poor, with the club’s away form dreadful. Furphy urgently needed to kick-start a season in danger of ending before it began. He turned to the untried Tony Currie, with spectacular results.

Currie’s arrival at Vicarage Road, despite his youth and fairly local upbringing, had not been entirely straightforward. He attended Whitefield Secondary Modern in Cricklewood, where he represented Hendon Boys before signing amateur forms with QPR. Tony took up an apprenticeship with Chelsea but was soon spotted by Watford and signed for the club in May 1967, still aged just 17.

A natural finisher, Tony was an instant success. He scored six goals in his first four starts, including two during a memorable home debut against Bristol Rovers, followed by a stunning hat-trick against Peterborough, which caused the football world to sit up and take note. With that latter game taking place in midweek, some serious Fleet Street players were drawn to Vicarage Road. The influential David Miller, writing in the Telegraph, observed that, “Not every international player’s professional career begins in celebrated surroundings, and the thought occurred last night that Watford might have such a player in the making.” Given that the Posh game was only Tony’s third first-team appearance, that was an observation of some merit.

Attendances soared, but the trouble remained away from home. By year-end Watford had scored 34 at home, but just seven on the road. And Tony Currie, for all his precocious ability, could do nothing to help address that weakness. In fact he never scored an away goal for the club.

Tony’s final Watford goals comprised another hat-trick, this time as part of a 7-1 thrashing of Grimsby Town whose hapless full-back Graham Taylor was too busy being run ragged by Scullion to get anywhere near Currie. But Furphy’s frustration was all too apparent and by November he was only selecting Tony to play in home games.

The talent was obvious but his pragmatic manager remained unconvinced that TC could do the necessary job with consistency. Scouts were soon circling and it came as no great surprise when struggling Sheffield United, already rebuffed during the season with an approach for Stewart Scullion, pounced to sign Tony. Chairman Jim Bonser sanctioned the deal for a sum of £26,500, shortly after Currie’s 18th birthday.

Watford Observer:

Tony Currie has a stand named after him at Bramall Lane. Picture: Action Images

The Blades gave Tony time to settle but he made his first-team debut in February 1968, scoring with a superb header against Tottenham. His popularity at Bramall Lane was never in doubt but impending hero status was confirmed when he scored, both home and away, against Liverpool over Easter. He couldn’t help the Blades avoid relegation but Alf Ramsey was sufficiently impressed that Tony won the first of his 17 full England caps, still aged just 22. Unfortunately, in retrospect at least, Tony’s international debut was made alongside fellow maverick Rodney Marsh, the combination providing a neat illustration of the expression, ‘Too Much of a Good Thing.’

Meanwhile the Watford presence at Bramall Lane grew ever stronger. Tony had been joined at various times by Keith Eddy, Stewart Scullion, Terry Garbett and Colin Franks, together eventually with Furphy, who took over as manager late in 1973. However Currie was reportedly unsettled by an approach from Leeds and Blades fans were distraught when he moved to Elland Road for £245,000 following another relegation.

Once again he became enormously popular with the fans (a status he retains to this day, remarkably at both clubs) and remained a virtual ever-present in the England squad. However his wife never fully settled in Yorkshire and in 1979 they moved back to London where Tony joined QPR for £400,000.

He helped Rangers to the 1982 FA Cup Final but serious knee injuries took their toll and a glittering career rather petered out, following spells with Toronto, Chesham, Southend, Torquay, Tranmere, Dunstable, Hendon and Goole Town. Probably a few others too.

With his shaggy, long blond hair Tony looked like a 70s glam rocker but alongside strength, tenacity and deceptive speed, he possessed that precious ability to find a teammate from any distance, while making the ball do whatever he chose. Once established at Bramall Lane, Tony dropped back to orchestrate their attack. These days he would be described as a quarterback, calling the plays from midfield.

Tony featured in what became a classic 1970s football image. Playing for Sheffield United in 1975 he collided with Leicester’s Alan Birchenall. As the pair sat on the ground they puckered up and kissed in a shot that catapulted both men into national prominence, while apparently establishing TC as something of an unwitting gay icon.

Despite racking up well over 500 top-flight appearances, together with those 17 precious international caps, Currie would probably be regarded as something of an under-achiever. But he was unquestionably one of the great entertainers, having begun a hugely eventful and high-profile career with us, at Vicarage Road.

Home Tied was a short-lived fanzine produced by The Watford Treasury through the spring and summer of 2020, sold to a small, but enthusiastic, readership by mail order only. Mutating in YBR! (Yellow Black & Red!) later that year, an anthology of articles entitled Coming Home was produced, featuring the best of Home Tied, and available through the Hornets Shop, as well as Watford Museum.

YBR! is available at: www.thewatfordtreasury.co.uk/ybr.html