List of Watford F.C. managers

Last updated

Graham Taylor led Watford to their highest ever league position in 1983. Graham Taylor.jpg
Graham Taylor led Watford to their highest ever league position in 1983.

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. nine 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.

Contents

Managers

Correct as of 9 March 2024
ManagerFromToMWDLWin %Honours and achievementsNotes
John Goodall May 1903May 191025391649835.97Southern League Second Division champions, 190304
United League Champions, 190506
Harry Kent May 1910May 192648418712117638.64Southern League First Division champions, 191415
Southern League First Division runners-up, 191920
Fred Pagnam May 1926May 192913349285636.84
Neil McBain May 1929August 19373641527713541.76
Bill Findlay August 1937February 194711450253943.86 Football League Third Division South Cup, 1937
Jack Bray March 1947January 19484011101927.50
Eddie Hapgood February 1948March 19509532293433.68
Ron Gray March 1950August 19515613152823.21
Haydn Green August 1951October 19526421142932.81
Len Goulden November 1952October 195514354414837.76
Johnny Paton October 1955February 19561736817.65
Len Goulden February 1956July 19561763835.29
Neil McBain August 1956February 195913144355233.59
Ron Burgess February 1959May 196322092507841.82 Football League Fourth Division promotion, 195960
Bill McGarry July 1963October 19646829211842.65
Ken Furphy November 1964July 19713341328611639.52 Football League Third Division champions, 196869,
FA Cup semi-finalists, 1970, whilst in second flight
George Kirby August 1971May 19739721274921.65
Mike Keen June 1973April 197719673527137.24
Graham Taylor June 1977May 198752724412415946.30 Football League Fourth Division champions, 197778
Football League Third Division runners-up, 197879
Football League Second Division runners-up, 198182
Football League First Division runners-up, 198283
FA Cup runners-up, 198384
FA Cup semi-finalists, 1987
Dave Bassett May 1987January 198828781325
Steve Harrison January 1988March 199011540363934.78Watford relegated to EFL 2nd division
Colin Lee March 1990November 1990357101820
Steve Perryman November 1990July 199313244375133.33
Glenn Roeder July 1993February 199613944405531.65
Graham Taylor February 1996June 19961858527.78
Kenny Jackett June 1996June 19975520201536.40
Graham Taylor June 1997May 200120279527139.11 Football League Second Division champions, 199798
Football League First Division play-off winners, 199899
Gianluca Vialli May 2001June 20025220112138.46
Ray Lewington June 2002March 200515051396034 FA Cup semi-finalists, 2003, whilst in second flight
Aidy Boothroyd March 2005November 200817665516036.93 Football League Championship play-off winners, 200506,
FA Cup semi-finalists, 2007, whilst in second flight
[1]
Malky Mackay [2] November 2008November 2008521240
Brendan Rodgers [2] November 2008June 2009311361241.93
Malky Mackay [2] June 2009June 20119933254133.33
Sean Dyche June 2011July 20124917171534.69
Gianfranco Zola July 2012December 20137533152744
Giuseppe Sannino December 2013August 2014361591241.67
Óscar García Junyent September 2014September 2014412125
Billy McKinlay September 2014October 2014211050
Slaviša Jokanović October 2014June 2015362151058.33Runner up in the 2014–15 Football League Championship, promotion to English Premier League
Quique Sánchez Flores June 2015May 2016441691936.36Took Watford to the semi-final of the 2015–16 FA Cup
Walter Mazzarri July 2016May 2017411272229.27
Marco Silva May 2017January 201826851330.77
Javi Gracia January 2018September 20196625132837.88Took Watford to the final of the 2018–19 FA Cup
Quique Sánchez Flores September 2019December 20191224616.67
Hayden Mullins (caretaker)December 2019December 201920110
Nigel Pearson December 2019July 202022751031.82
Hayden Mullins (caretaker)July 2020July 202020020Watford relegated to EFL Championship
Vladimir Ivić August 2020December 20202298540.91
Xisco Muñoz December 2020October 2021362141158.33Watford promoted to Premier League
Claudio Ranieri October 2021January 202214211114.29
Roy Hodgson January 2022May 202218231311.10Watford relegated to EFL Championship
Rob Edwards May 2022September 2022 [3] 1135327.27
Slaven Bilić September 2022March 202325107840.01
Chris Wilder March 2023May 20231133527.27
Valérien Ismaël May 2023March 20244813161927,08
Tom Cleverley (caretaker)March 2024March 202400000,00

Playing records

Kenny Jackett spent his entire playing career at Watford Kenny Jackett.jpg
Kenny Jackett spent his entire playing career at Watford

Fourteen Watford managers played for Watford before or whilst managing them.

PlayerPositionYearsAppsGoalsNational teamNotes
John Goodall FW190319076917 Flag of England.svg England Player-manager
Harry Kent DF19091913699 NonePlayer-manager from 1910
Fred Pagnam FW1921192715774 NonePlayer-manager between 1926 and 1927
Neil McBain DF19281931945 Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland Player-manager between 1929 and 1931
Bill Findlay DF193219441376 Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland juniorPlayer-manager between 1937 and 1944
Ron Gray DF19421946294 None
Johnny Paton MF195219559117 Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland schoolboys
Ken Furphy DF196419681111 NonePlayer-manager until 1968
Mike Keen DF197219751366 NonePlayer-manager between 1973 and 1975
Steve Harrison DF197819811020 None
Glenn Roeder DF19891991863 Flag of England.svg England B
Kenny Jackett MF1980199042834 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Wales
Malky Mackay DF20052008615 Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland
Sean Dyche DF20022005780 None

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watford F.C.</span> Association football club in England

Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. They play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Saunders</span> English footballer and manager (1932–2019)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenny Jackett</span> Wales international football player, manager

Kenneth Francis Jackett is a former professional football player and manager, who is currently Director of Football at EFL League Two club Gillingham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aidy Boothroyd</span> English football manager (born 1971)

Adrian Neil Boothroyd is an English former footballer who was most recently the manager of Indian Super League club Jamshedpur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malky Mackay</span> Scottish footballer and manager

Malcolm George Mackay is a Scottish professional football coach and former player, who most recently managed Scottish Premiership club Ross County.

Neil McBain was a Scottish professional footballer and football manager. He remains the oldest player to appear in an English Football League match aged 51 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nigel Pearson</span> English association football player and manager

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Wilder</span> English association football manager (born 1967)

Christopher John Wilder is an English professional football manager who formerly played as a right-back. He is the manager of Premier League 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dean Austin</span> English footballer (born 1970)

Dean Barry Austin is an English football manager and former professional player who is currently head of recruitment at Coventry City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Watford F.C.</span>

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.

Robert McDicker Bell was a Scottish footballer who played as a right back. He played in the Scottish football league system for Falkirk and Ayr United, before spending the majority of his playing career at English Football League club Watford. He later moved into English amateur football, first as a player, and later as a coach and manager.

Keith Derek Millen is an English football manager and former player who played as a centre back. He is currently head of academy coaching at League Two side Gillingham.

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.

During the 1992–93 English football season, Watford F.C. competed in the Football League First Division.

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.

References

General

Jones, Trefor (1996). The Watford Football Club Illustrated Who's Who. T.G. Jones. ISBN   0-9527458-0-1.

Specific
  1. Adrian Boothroyd's managerial career soccerbase.com
  2. 1 2 3 "Mackay appointed Watford manager". BBC Sport. 15 June 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  3. Steinberg, Jacob (26 September 2022). "Watford sack Rob Edwards as manager and appoint Slaven Bilic to replace him". The Guardian . Retrieved 26 September 2022.