Английская Википедия:2008–09 Watford F.C. season

Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Use British English Шаблон:Use dmy dates Шаблон:Infobox football club season Watford Football Club are an association football team from the county of Hertfordshire, England. Waford has played in the Championship since being relegated from the Premier League in 2006–07. The club finished the season in 13th position out of 24 Championship teams. The club went through four managers during the season.

Background, review and events

The 2008–09 season was their second consecutive one in the Football League Championship, following relegation from the Premier League in 2006–07.^[1]

They reached the fifth round of both the League Cup and FA Cup, where they were eliminated by Premier League sides Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea respectively. Both teams went on to reach the finals of the corresponding competitions, with Chelsea going on to win the 2009 FA Cup Final.^[2]

Off the pitch, there were a series of personnel changes through the course of the season. Chairman Graham Simpson and chief executive Mark Ashton resigned, and were replaced by Jimmy Russo and Julian Winter respectively. Following a decline in form throughout 2008, manager Aidy Boothroyd left the club by mutual consent, and was replaced by Brendan Rodgers. In turn, Rodgers controversially left the club a few weeks after the last game of the season, having previously suggested that rumours linking him to Reading were "questioning his integrity".^[3] His replacement was first team coach and former player Malky Mackay.^[4]

The season is perhaps best remembered for the "ghost goal" incident, which occurred in a league match against Reading on 20 September 2008. Following a corner from Reading player Stephen Hunt, John Eustace kicked the ball across the line, level with the six-yard box. Initially, linesman Nigel Bannister seemed to signal for a goal kick, and players from both sides ran away from the penalty area, waiting for goalkeeper Scott Loach to take it. However, Bannister walked over to referee Stuart Attwell, and after a brief discussion, Attwell awarded Reading a goal. The match eventually finished 2–2. The match also marked Loach's debut; the "ghost goal" was the first goal he conceded in his Watford career.^[5]^[6]

Match results

League Championship

League results

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1	Sat 9 August	Selhurst Park	London	Crystal Palace	0–0	15,614
2	Sat 16 August	Vicarage Road	Watford	Charlton Athletic	1–0	14,413	Smith, T.W.
3	Sat 23 August	City Ground	Nottingham	Nottingham Forest	2–3	20,005	Smith, T.W. (2)
4	Sat 30 August	Vicarage Road	Watford	Ipswich Town	2–1	16,345	Eustace, J.M., O'Toole, J.J.
5	Sat 13 September	Hillsborough	Sheffield	Sheffield Wednesday	0–2	17,066
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Results summary

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Final league table

2008–09 Football League Championship

FA Cup

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3	3 January 2009	Vicarage Road	Watford	Scunthorpe United	1–0	8,690	Rasiak Шаблон:Goal	—	^{[MR 1]}
4	24 January 2009	Vicarage Road	Watford	Crystal Palace	4–3	10,006	DeMerit Шаблон:Goal Cork Шаблон:Goal Hoskins Шаблон:Goal Rasiak Шаблон:Goal	Hill Шаблон:Goal Ifill Шаблон:Goal	^{[MR 2]}
5	14 February 2009	Vicarage Road	Watford	Chelsea	1–3	16,851	Priskin Шаблон:Goal	Anelka Шаблон:Goal	^{[MR 3]}

League Cup

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1	12 August 2008	Vicarage Road	Watford	Bristol Rovers	1–0	5,574	Hoskins Шаблон:Goal	—	^{[MR 4]}
2	28 August 2008	Vicarage Road	Watford	Darlington	2–1	5,236	Francis Шаблон:Goal O'Toole Шаблон:Goal	Blundell Шаблон:Goal	^{[MR 5]}
3	23 September 2008	Vicarage Road	Watford	West Ham United	1–0	12,914	Mullins Шаблон:Goal	—	^{[MR 6]}
4	11 November 2008	Liberty Stadium	Swansea, Wales	Swansea City	1–0	9,549	Williamson Шаблон:Goal	—	^{[MR 7]}
5	3 December 2008	Vicarage Road	Watford	Tottenham Hotspur	1–2	16,501	Priskin Шаблон:Goal	Pavlyuchenko Шаблон:Goal Bent Шаблон:Goal	^{[MR 8]}

Player information

First-team squad

Squad at end of season^[7]

Left club during season

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Transfers

In


Date	Nationality	Position	Name	Club From	Fee	Reference
18 July 2008	Шаблон:Flag icon	DF	Jon Harley	Burnley	Free	^[8]
26 January 2009	Шаблон:Flag icon	DF	Mike Williamson	Wycombe Wanderers	Undisclosed	^[9]

Out

Date	Nationality	Position	Name	Club To	Fee	Reference
30 May 2008	Шаблон:Flag icon	MF	Jordan Stewart	Derby County	Free	^[10]
8 July 2008	Шаблон:Flag icon	MF	Toumani Diagouraga	Hereford United	Undiclosed	^[11]
22 July 2008	Шаблон:Flag icon	FW	Darius Henderson	Sheffield United	£2,000,000	^[12]
6 August 2008	Шаблон:Flag icon	DF	Danny Shittu	Bolton Wanderers	Undiclosed	^[13]

Loan In

Date	Nationality	Position	Name	Club From	Length	Reference
30 May 2008	Шаблон:Flag icon	FW	Nathan Ellington	Derby County	Full-Season	^[10]
15 August 2008	Шаблон:Flag icon	FW	Grzegorz Rasiak	Southampton	Full-Season	^[14]

Loan Out

Date	Nationality	Position	Name	Club To	Length	Reference

Squad, appearances and goals

Bookings

References

Match reports

Шаблон:Reflist

Other references