1993–94 Watford F.C. season

During the 1993–94 English football season, Watford F.C. competed in the Football League First Division.

Watford

1993–94 season
Chairman	Jack Petchey
Manager	Glenn Roeder
Stadium	Vicarage Road
First Division	19th
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Second round
Top goalscorer	League: Paul Furlong (18) All: Paul Furlong (19)
Average home league attendance	7,907
← 1992–93 1994–95 →

Season summary

In July 1993, after Steve Perryman left to join Tottenham Hotspur, Roeder was hired as Watford's new manager at the start of the 1993–94 season. However, Watford were fined £10,000 for an illegal approach, and ordered to pay Gillingham a further £30,000 in compensation.^[1]

Watford endured a poor season and came nowhere near to mounting a serious promotion challenge which at one stage produced just 4 wins from 20 league games, picking up just 16 points out of 60 during that run which also included 7 defeats in 8 games. As a result of their poor form, they were involved in a relegation battle and at that stage just ahead of the relegation zone on goals scored, and their form didn't improve heading to the closing stages of the season and again lost 7 from 8 games between 5 February and 19 March which saw the Hornets in the relegation zone and looked set for the drop but their final 10 games saw Watford win six to secure survival for another season in Division One.

Final league table

Main article: 1993–94 Football League § First Division

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
17	Portsmouth	46	15	13	18	52	58	−6	58
18	Barnsley	46	16	7	23	55	67	−12	55
19	Watford	46	15	9	22	66	80	−14	54
20	Luton Town	46	14	11	21	56	60	−4	53
21	West Bromwich Albion	46	13	12	21	60	69	−9	51

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goals scored; 3) Goal difference

Results

Watford's score comes first^[2]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
14 August 1993	Luton Town	A	1–2	9,149	Furlong
21 August 1993	Barnsley	H	0–2	5,937
28 August 1993	Oxford United	A	3–2	5,159	Charlery, Porter, Alsford
4 September 1993	Charlton Athletic	H	2–2	6,925	Porter, Inglethorpe
7 September 1993	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1–0	7,870	Venus (own goal)
11 September 1993	Grimsby Town	A	2–2	4,783	Nogan, Porter
18 September 1993	Notts County	H	3–1	6,959	Furlong (2), Lavin
25 September 1993	Sunderland	H	1–1	7,694	Ashby
2 October 1993	Millwall	A	1–4	7,707	Nogan
10 October 1993	Middlesbrough	H	2–0	7,582	Furlong, Dyer
16 October 1993	Birmingham City	A	0–1	12,823
23 October 1993	Bolton Wanderers	H	4–3	7,492	Porter (3), Charlery
30 October 1993	West Bromwich Albion	A	1–4	15,299	Soloman
3 November 1993	Southend United	A	0–3	4,584
6 November 1993	Stoke City	H	1–3	7,767	Dyer
20 November 1993	Bristol City	H	1–1	6,045	Soloman
28 November 1993	Crystal Palace	H	1–3	7,485	Nogan
4 December 1993	Stoke City	A	0–2	13,465
7 December 1993	Portsmouth	A	0–2	8,242
11 December 1993	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0–2	17,460
19 December 1993	Luton Town	H	2–2	7,567	Dyer (2)
27 December 1993	Leicester City	A	4–4	21,744	Furlong (2), Dyer (2)
28 December 1993	Peterborough United	H	2–1	7,155	Furlong (2)
1 January 1994	Tranmere Rovers	A	1–2	8,271	Furlong
3 January 1994	Nottingham Forest	H	1–2	14,539	Cooper (own goal)
15 January 1994	Birmingham City	H	5–2	7,636	Hessenthaler, Furlong (3), Porter
22 January 1994	Middlesbrough	A	1–1	8,089	Furlong
29 January 1994	Derby County	A	2–1	15,308	Soloman, Furlong
5 February 1994	Bolton Wanderers	A	1–3	10,150	Inglethorpe
12 February 1994	West Bromwich Albion	H	0–1	10,087
19 February 1994	Derby County	H	3–4	8,277	Ashby, Furlong, Bazeley
26 February 1994	Charlton Athletic	A	1–2	7,546	Porter
5 March 1994	Oxford United	H	2–1	7,049	Hessenthaler, Ford (own goal)
12 March 1994	Notts County	A	0–1	6,378
15 March 1994	Grimsby Town	H	0–3	5,109
19 March 1994	Sunderland	A	0–2	16,479
26 March 1994	Millwall	H	2–0	9,036	Lavin, Hessenthaler
30 March 1994	Nottingham Forest	A	1–2	23,044	Porter
2 April 1994	Leicester City	H	1–1	8,645	Bailey
5 April 1994	Peterborough United	A	4–3	7,734	Furlong, Bailey, Dublin, Lavin
9 April 1994	Tranmere Rovers	H	1–2	7,347	Bailey
12 April 1994	Barnsley	A	1–0	4,380	Furlong
16 April 1994	Southend United	H	3–0	7,694	Bailey, Mooney, Foster
23 April 1994	Bristol City	A	1–1	8,324	Furlong
30 April 1994	Portsmouth	H	1–0	10,141	Hessenthaler
8 May 1994	Crystal Palace	A	2–0	28,749	Hessenthaler, Mooney

FA Cup

Main article: 1993–94 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	8 January 1994	West Ham United	A	1–2	19,802	Porter (pen)

League Cup

Main article: 1993–94 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 1st leg	17 August 1993	Brentford	A	2–2	4,297	Dyer, Furlong
R1 2nd leg	24 August 1993	Brentford	H	3–1 (won 5–3 on agg)	4,938	Holdsworth, Soloman, Dyer
R2 1st leg	21 September 1993	Millwall	H	0–0	5,954
R2 2nd leg	6 October 1993	Millwall	H	3–4 (lost 3–4 on agg)	5,381	Hessenthaler, Porter, Nogan

Anglo-Italian Cup

Main article: 1993–94 Anglo-Italian Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
Group 6	31 August 1993	Luton Town	H	2–1	2,854	Dyer, Inglethorpe
Group 6	15 September 1993	Southend United	A	0–3	1,881

Players

First-team squad

Squad at end of season^[3]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ENG Perry Digweed — GK  ENG Simon Sheppard — GK  ENG Perry Suckling — DF  ENG Julian Alsford — DF  ENG David Barnes — DF  ENG Darren Bazeley — DF  ENG Jason Drysdale — DF  ENG Keith Dublin — DF  ENG Colin Foster — DF  ENG David Holdsworth — DF  ENG Keith Millen — DF  ENG Jason Soloman — DF  WAL Alan McCarthy[notes 1]

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  WAL Rob Page — DF  SCO Gerard Lavin[notes 2] — DF  CAN Mark Watson — MF  ENG Paul Harding (on loan from Notts County) — MF  ENG Andy Hessenthaler — MF  ENG Gary Porter — MF  ENG Craig Ramage — MF  AUS Richard Johnson — FW  ENG Dennis Bailey — FW  ENG Paul Furlong — FW  ENG Alex Inglethorpe — FW  ENG Tommy Mooney (on loan from Southend United) — FW  WAL Lee Nogan

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  ENG Barry Ashby (to Brentford) — MF  ENG Roger Willis (to Birmingham City)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  ENG Bruce Dyer[notes 3] (to Crystal Palace) — FW  LCA Ken Charlery[notes 4] (to Peterborough United)

References

1. Jones, Trefor (1996). The Watford Football Club Illustrated Who's Who. p. 277. ISBN 0-9527458-0-1.
2. "Watford 1993-1994 Home - statto.com". Archived from the original on 27 March 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
3. "1993-94 Squad". www.hornethistory.com. Archived from the original on 4 December 2008. Retrieved 12 January 2022.

Notes

1. McCarthy was born in Wandsworth, England, but also qualified to represent Wales internationally and represented them at U-21 level.
2. Lavin was born in Corby, England, but also qualified to represent Scotland internationally and represented them at U-21 level.
3. Dyer was born in Redbridge, England, and represented them at U-21 level, but played a friendly game for Montserrat against Ashford Town in September 2007.
4. Charlery was born in Tower Hamlets, but also qualified to represent Saint Lucia internationally.