 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(October 2022) |
 |
Watford Football Club are an English association football club, based in Watford, Hertfordshire. As of 2022, the team competes in the EFL Championship, the second-highest level of the English football league system. Three people – Len Goulden, Neil McBain and Quique Sánchez Flores – have taken charge of the club on two occasions, while Graham Taylor had three stints as manager of the club.
| Manager | From | To | M | W | D | L | Win % | Honours and achievements | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Goodall | May 1903 | May 1910 | 253 | 91 | 64 | 98 | 35.97 | Southern League Second Division champions, 1903–04 United League Champions, 1905–06 | |
| Harry Kent | May 1910 | May 1926 | 484 | 187 | 121 | 176 | 38.64 | Southern League First Division champions, 1914–15 Southern League First Division runners-up, 1919–20 | |
| Fred Pagnam | May 1926 | May 1929 | 133 | 49 | 28 | 56 | 36.84 | — | |
| Neil McBain | May 1929 | August 1937 | 364 | 152 | 77 | 135 | 41.76 | — | |
| Bill Findlay | August 1937 | February 1947 | 114 | 50 | 25 | 39 | 43.86 | Football League Third Division South Cup, 1937 | |
| Jack Bray | March 1947 | January 1948 | 40 | 11 | 10 | 19 | 27.50 | — | |
| Eddie Hapgood | February 1948 | March 1950 | 95 | 32 | 29 | 34 | 33.68 | — | |
| Ron Gray | March 1950 | August 1951 | 56 | 13 | 15 | 28 | 23.21 | — | |
| Haydn Green | August 1951 | October 1952 | 64 | 21 | 14 | 29 | 32.81 | — | |
| Len Goulden | November 1952 | October 1955 | 143 | 54 | 41 | 48 | 37.76 | — | |
| Johnny Paton | October 1955 | February 1956 | 17 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 17.65 | — | |
| Len Goulden | February 1956 | July 1956 | 17 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 35.29 | — | |
| Neil McBain | August 1956 | February 1959 | 131 | 44 | 35 | 52 | 33.59 | — | |
| Ron Burgess | February 1959 | May 1963 | 220 | 92 | 50 | 78 | 41.82 | Football League Fourth Division promotion, 1959–60 | |
| Bill McGarry | July 1963 | October 1964 | 68 | 29 | 21 | 18 | 42.65 | — | |
| Ken Furphy | November 1964 | July 1971 | 334 | 132 | 86 | 116 | 39.52 | Football League Third Division champions, 1968–69, FA Cup semi-finalists, 1970, whilst in second flight | |
| George Kirby | August 1971 | May 1973 | 97 | 21 | 27 | 49 | 21.65 | — | |
| Mike Keen | June 1973 | April 1977 | 196 | 73 | 52 | 71 | 37.24 | — | |
| Graham Taylor | June 1977 | May 1987 | 527 | 244 | 124 | 159 | 46.30 | Football League Fourth Division champions, 1977–78 Football League Third Division runners-up, 1978–79 Football League Second Division runners-up, 1981–82 Football League First Division runners-up, 1982–83 FA Cup runners-up, 1983–84 FA Cup semi-finalists, 1987 | |
| Dave Bassett | May 1987 | January 1988 | 28 | 7 | 8 | 13 | 25 | — | |
| Steve Harrison | January 1988 | March 1990 | 115 | 40 | 36 | 39 | 34.78 | Watford relegated to EFL 2nd division | |
| Colin Lee | March 1990 | November 1990 | 35 | 7 | 10 | 18 | 20 | — | |
| Steve Perryman | November 1990 | July 1993 | 132 | 44 | 37 | 51 | 33.33 | — | |
| Glenn Roeder | July 1993 | February 1996 | 139 | 44 | 40 | 55 | 31.65 | — | |
| Graham Taylor | February 1996 | June 1996 | 18 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 27.78 | — | |
| Kenny Jackett | June 1996 | June 1997 | 55 | 20 | 20 | 15 | 36.40 | — | |
| Graham Taylor | June 1997 | May 2001 | 202 | 79 | 52 | 71 | 39.11 | Football League Second Division champions, 1997–98 Football League First Division play-off winners, 1998–99 | |
| Gianluca Vialli | May 2001 | June 2002 | 52 | 20 | 11 | 21 | 38.46 | — | |
| Ray Lewington | June 2002 | March 2005 | 150 | 51 | 39 | 60 | 34 | FA Cup semi-finalists, 2003, whilst in second flight | |
| Aidy Boothroyd | March 2005 | November 2008 | 176 | 65 | 51 | 60 | 36.93 | Football League Championship play-off winners, 2005–06, FA Cup semi-finalists, 2007, whilst in second flight | [1] |
| Malky Mackay (caretaker) [2] | November 2008 | November 2008 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 40 | — | |
| Brendan Rodgers [2] | November 2008 | June 2009 | 31 | 13 | 6 | 12 | 41.93 | — | |
| Malky Mackay [2] | June 2009 | June 2011 | 99 | 33 | 25 | 41 | 33.33 | — | |
| Sean Dyche | June 2011 | July 2012 | 49 | 17 | 17 | 15 | 34.69 | — | — |
| Gianfranco Zola | July 2012 | December 2013 | 75 | 33 | 15 | 27 | 44 | — | — |
| Giuseppe Sannino | December 2013 | August 2014 | 36 | 15 | 9 | 12 | 41.67 | — | — |
| Óscar García Junyent | September 2014 | September 2014 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 25 | — | — |
| Billy McKinlay | September 2014 | October 2014 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50 | — | — |
| Slaviša Jokanović | October 2014 | June 2015 | 36 | 21 | 5 | 10 | 58.33 | Runner up in the 2014–15 Football League Championship, promotion to English Premier League | — |
| Quique Sánchez Flores | June 2015 | May 2016 | 44 | 16 | 9 | 19 | 36.36 | Took Watford to the semi-final of the 2015–16 FA Cup | — |
| Walter Mazzarri | July 2016 | May 2017 | 41 | 12 | 7 | 22 | 29.27 | — | — |
| Marco Silva | May 2017 | January 2018 | 26 | 8 | 5 | 13 | 30.77 | — | |
| Javi Gracia | January 2018 | September 2019 | 66 | 25 | 13 | 28 | 37.88 | Took Watford to the final of the 2018–19 FA Cup | — |
| Quique Sánchez Flores | September 2019 | December 2019 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 16.67 | — | |
| Hayden Mullins (caretaker) | December 2019 | December 2019 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | — |
| Nigel Pearson | December 2019 | July 2020 | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 31.82 | — | — |
| Hayden Mullins (caretaker) | July 2020 | July 2020 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Watford relegated to EFL Championship | — |
| Vladimir Ivić | August 2020 | December 2020 | 22 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 40.91 | — | — |
| Xisco Muñoz | December 2020 | October 2021 | 36 | 21 | 4 | 11 | 58.33 | Watford promoted to Premier League | — |
| Claudio Ranieri | October 2021 | January 2022 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 14.29 | — | — |
| Roy Hodgson | January 2022 | May 2022 | 18 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 11.10 | Watford relegated to EFL Championship | — |
| Rob Edwards | May 2022 | September 2022 [3] | 11 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 27.27 | — | — |
| Slaven Bilić | September 2022 | March 2023 | 25 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 40.01 | — | — |
| Chris Wilder | March 2023 | May 2023 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 27.27 | — | — |
| Valérien Ismaël | May 2023 | March 2024 | 48 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 27.08 | — | — |
| Tom Cleverley | March 2024 | Present 11 Jan 2025 | 28 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 42.86 | — | — |
Fifteen Watford managers played for Watford before or whilst managing them.
| Player | Position | Years | Apps | Goals | National team | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Goodall | FW | 1903–1907 | 69 | 17 |  England | Player-manager |
| Harry Kent | DF | 1909–1913 | 69 | 9 | None | Player-manager from 1910 |
| Fred Pagnam | FW | 1921–1927 | 157 | 74 | None | Player-manager between 1926 and 1927 |
| Neil McBain | DF | 1928–1931 | 94 | 5 |  Scotland | Player-manager between 1929 and 1931 |
| Bill Findlay | DF | 1932–1944 | 137 | 6 | Scotland junior | Player-manager between 1937 and 1944 |
| Ron Gray | DF | 1942–1946 | 29 | 4 | None | — |
| Johnny Paton | MF | 1952–1955 | 91 | 17 | Scotland schoolboys | — |
| Ken Furphy | DF | 1964–1968 | 111 | 1 | None | Player-manager until 1968 |
| Mike Keen | DF | 1972–1975 | 136 | 6 | None | Player-manager between 1973 and 1975 |
| Steve Harrison | DF | 1978–1981 | 102 | 0 | None | — |
| Glenn Roeder | DF | 1989–1991 | 86 | 3 | England B | — |
| Kenny Jackett | MF | 1980–1990 | 428 | 34 |  Wales | — |
| Malky Mackay | DF | 2005–2008 | 61 | 5 | Scotland | — |
| Sean Dyche | DF | 2002–2005 | 78 | 0 | None|— | |
| Malky Mackay | DF | 2005–2008 | 61 | 5 | Scotland | — |
| Sean Dyche | DF | 2002–2005 | 78 | 0 | None | — |
| Tom Cleverley | MF | 2009–2010 and 2017–2023 | 187 | 19 | England | — |
Watford Football Club is a professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. The club competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football.
Ronald Saunders was an English football player and manager. He played for Everton, Tonbridge Angels, Gillingham, Portsmouth, Watford and Charlton Athletic during a 16-year playing career, before moving into management. He managed seven clubs in 20 years, and he was the first manager to have taken charge of Aston Villa, Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion, the three rival clubs based in and around the city of Birmingham.
Kenneth Francis Jackett is an English football manager and former player who played for Watford. He was most recently director of football at EFL League Two club Gillingham.
Adrian Neil Boothroyd is an English former footballer who was most recently the manager of Indian Super League club Jamshedpur.
Malcolm George Mackay is a Scottish professional football coach and former player, who is the sporting director at Scottish Premiership club Hibernian.
Neil McBain was a Scottish professional football player and coach. He remains the oldest player to appear in an English Football League match aged 51 years.
Nigel Graham Pearson is an English football manager and former professional player. He was most recently the manager of Championship club Bristol City. During his playing career, he was a defender and played for Shrewsbury Town, Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough. As a coach he has taken charge of Hull City, Southampton, Carlisle United, Leicester City, Derby County, OH Leuven, and Watford; and was assistant manager for England Under-21s and Newcastle United.
Steven John Harrison is an English former professional footballer, manager and coach.
Christopher John Wilder is an English professional football manager who formerly played as a right-back. He is the manager of EFL Championship club Sheffield United.
Barry John Ashby is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-half. He played for Watford, Brentford and Gillingham during a 17-year professional career.
David Gary Holdsworth is an English former professional footballer turned manager.
Colin West is an English former footballer. He played as a forward and scored 158 goals in 555 league and cup games in the English Football League, Conference and the Scottish Football League.
Dean Barry Austin is an English football manager and former professional player who is currently head of recruitment at Coventry City.
Watford Football Club is an English association football club from Watford, Hertfordshire. Formed as Watford Rovers in 1881, the club entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1886. In the same year, they also entered the county-wide Herts Senior Cup, reaching the final six times over the next ten years. Watford Rovers became West Hertfordshire in 1893, and joined the Southern League for the 1896–97 season. The team started to change from one entirely of amateurs, to one including paid professionals. In 1898, West Hertfordshire merged with Watford St Mary's to form Watford Football Club.
Keith Derek Millen is an English football manager and former player who played as a centre back. He is currently manager of Isthmian League South East Division club AFC Croydon Athletic.
Anthony Norman Collins was an English football player, manager and scout, who played as a left winger. He managed Rochdale between 1960 and 1967, becoming the first black manager in the Football League and leading them to the 1962 Football League Cup Final, their only major final appearance.
Robert David Downes is an English former footballer, coach and manager. He started his playing career as a left-back, later becoming a left-winger. After starting his career at West Bromwich Albion, Downes played 470 games in the Football League for Peterborough United, Rochdale, Watford, Barnsley and Blackpool. He won the Fourth Division title with Watford in 1977–78. He later worked as a coach at Blackpool, Aston Villa, Port Vale, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Watford, and Blackburn Rovers, before being appointed Head of Recruitment at Nottingham Forest in February 2013.
The 2022–23 EFL Championship was the 7th season of the EFL Championship under its current title and the 31st season under its current league division format.
Jones, Trefor (1996). The Watford Football Club Illustrated Who's Who. T.G. Jones. ISBN 0-9527458-0-1.