Mark: Adrian Boothroyd has done an excellent job since taking over at Watford given his limited experience as a manager. Do you think that Premiership football will be back on the menu at Vicarage Road by next season?

Matt: It's a possibility, but only a possibility. We've certainly exceeded reasonable expectation this season - I fully expected us to be at the other end of the division - but the squad is still painfully thin in some areas. Our first eleven is excellent but we've done reasonably well with injuries so far and have hauled the vast majority of available points with anything close to our first team (particularly our first choice forward line) but precious little when key players have been out. Others would appear to have more adequate squads, in short.

Mark: Striker Marlon King seems to have found the scoring form of his Gillingham and Barnet days this season and many clubs had been monitoring his progress this winter so how much of a releif was it when he finally agreed on a permanent contract with Watford?

Matt: Certainly a relief. Having said which, after the problems he'd had recently, and having obviously rediscovered his drive and form under Betty, there always looked to be a reasonable chance of him staying. Helpfully, we'd negotiated a transfer fee (should we wish to take it up) at the start of the season BEFORE he smacked twelve goals. He's looked awesome.

Mark: Watford are currently on the back of a fine win over their arch rivals Luton Town so will that second half performance at Kenilworth Road be the ideal boost going into this weekend's cup game against Bolton?

Matt: Beating your local rivals is never a bad thing, obviously, but missing players or not I'd expect Bolton to give us a stiffer test than Luton did. We defended extremely proficiently, but Luton were poor and rarely stretched us, even with a man advantage.

Mark: Since the match ups between Bolton and Watford in the old Division One five years ago there has been a lot happening at your club. Can you give an update as to how times have changed since the two sides last met in December 2000.?

Matt: Ha. How long have you got?

Graham Taylor "retired" with suitable fanfare at the end of that season... a season in which we'd started well but tailed off badly and finished anonymously upper-mid-table. Having preached prudence in the Premiership season we then blew all that on probably the worst decision ever taken at Watford, the appointment of Luca Vialli with associated freedom of chequebook and, in particular, freedom to offer long-term contracts.

Vialli's heart was in the right place, but his inexperience in this sort of job was painfully evident; the side only rarely justified the money that had been spent on it. Many of his recruits did very little to endear themselves; Patrick Blondeau openly admitted that he'd come for the money, Ramon Vega, Stephen Hughes and Pierre Issa all demonstrated similar attitudes in their (lack of) actions. Filippo Galli gave good value for a season, Stephen Glass and Marcus Gayle were also more successful... but essentially the money had been spent in anticipation of immediate promotion. When that didn't happen there was no plan B, and with ITV Digital an unneeded kick in the teeth we were left with a £13m hole in the budget and a distinct lack of enthusiasm from most of the board.

Vialli left, many of his mercenaries were paid off. Ray Lewington came in and did a sterling job of botching together a squad from the detritus that was left for three years, keeping us up for two years and reaching two cup semi finals into the bargain (FA Cup in 2003, League Cup last season). Not sure even now that enough Hornets fans appreciate his achievement really.

Off the pitch, we scratched together enough money to see us through via share issues, sale of the ground (repurchased, mercifully, last year with help from an Elton John concert) and a lot of cost-cutting.

Last season, with form having disappeared and the team plummeting, Lewington was sacked, a decision that rankled with many, myself included, despite the side's recent form. Enter Betty Boothroyd - and, it should be noted, slightly more freedom with transfer spending than one might have expected. Not really sure where the money to spend close to £1m on our forward line has suddenly come from...

Mark: There is a lot of good young players in the Watford squad but who do you feel is the best of the bunch on current form?

Matt: Ashley Young will be a star, but had been out for a month and will be suspended on Saturday having been red-carded at Luton. In the very recent past Al Bangura, a seventeen year old midfielder from Sierra Leone, has arguably been the star of the Christmas period but went off injured on Monday, not sure if he's available. If he's fit, with Matthew Spring also suspended, he's likely to start.

Walking Down The Manny Road would like to thank Matt for his assistance with this interview and we urge any Hornets fans to take a look at the long standing fanzine Blind, Stupid and Desperate which can be found at www.bsad.org.

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