Jon Harley ( Burnley , free)

Watford looked a good bet for promotion last season and were almost certainties to run away with the league by November. Aidy Boothroyd’s men played a direct style that few sides could cope with. The likes of Shittu and Mahon gave them a solid base whilst Marlon King and Darius Henderson was getting the goals up front.

They looked great for promotion under they made changes. Dany Shittu was dropped, Mahon was sold to QPR and King was sold to Wigan and results began to drop.

It didn’t seem to matter how often they lost they were still in the top four but they won just once in ten home games and the rot was setting in. They ended up losing their last four home games and couldn’t get any sort of momentum going. Quite how they ended up in the playoffs after their second half of the season form is anyone’s guess.

They managed it though and faced Hull City but were thrashed 6-1 on aggregate and looked pretty hopeless.

Watford look like a side heading down rather than up. They really needed to go up last year with the parachute payments up this year and are starting to cut their cloth accordingly getting rid of the high wage earners. Nathan Ellington, Jordan Stewart, Darius Henderson and Danny Shittu have all gone and the squad they have left looks pretty weak.

Boothroyd has said he wants to change the clubs style of play but that won’t be easy after losing so many good players. He will have to rely on a lot of the clubs youth team players and he has some quality coming through but not enough to mount a serious bid for promotion.

The likes of Job McAnuff and Tama Priskin will make sure Watford don’t struggle but this will be a season of rebuilding for Aidy Boothroyd with the plan to consolidate and have a real push for promotion in a years time. I think they’ll struggle at times but will comfortably finish in mid table.

PREDICTION: 14th in the Championship

I asked Watford fans on an unofficial message board for their thoughts on the new season and here is what they had to say.

How do you think Watford will fare this season?

Playoffs

Who are your players to watch out for?

Gareth Williams

Is your Manager the right man for the job?

Yes, he's worked wonders so far

Which three teams will be promoted this season?

Birmingham, Reading and Watford

Which teams will be relegated?

Blackpool,Southampton and Swansea

How do you think QPR will fare this season?

Mid Table

Rangers and Watford have shared many players in recent years. After our relegation in 2001 to Division two we almost became a Watford cast off eleven. The Watford cast offs included Chris Day, Steve Palmer and Alex Bonnot.

Day was a quality keeper for us and made two of the best saves I’ve veer seen. One was at Wrexham and was Gordon banks 1970 World cup good and the other was in the final minute of the playoff semi final in 2003 when Fitz hall looked certain to score and Day made an outrageous save to send us to Cardiff .

Steve Palmer was Rangers captain after his move to Loftus Road and was an excellent player for both Rangers and Watford always giving his best and a model professional both on and off the pitch.

Clarke Carlisle had a spell at Watford in recent years after his years at QPR and he teamed up with Dan Shittu at both clubs. Shittu left QPR to join Watford’s premiership side in 2006 and he did well for them during his two years at Vicarage Road before his recent move to Bolton .

Another famous player to play for both clubs is David Bardsley. The bard was a quality right back for Watford in the mid 1980’s and moved to QPR in 1989 and is regarded as the second best right back to ever play for Queens Park Rangers

Rangers have faced Watford several times since this web site started and results haven't gone our way that often.

In the 1998/99 season legend has it that Vinnie Jones decided to motivate the players before the game at Watford by trying to have a fight with Mike Sheron. It didn’t work and Watford beat us 2-1 at Vicarage Road as Ray Harford's dire managerial spell came to an end. Steve Slade scored for Rangers as the fans sang for Gerry Francis.

Francis was in charge when the two sides met again but the result was the same with Gavin Peacock scoring for Rangers but Watford were too strong and were eventually promoted.

We met again in the 2000/01 season and things hardly got better. Watford murdered us 3-1 early in the season as fans began to fear relegation.

By the time we met again we had another new manager with Ian Holloway now in charge. This was Holloway’s second game in charge and he swapped things around to play a 4-4-2. It was a good performance by the team which showed plenty of heart and we got a 1-1 draw out of it.

In 2004 we travelled to Vicarage Road for our first away game of the season and the Sky cameras were there to record it. Once again we were rubbish and Watford thrashed us 3-0 with Rangers lucky to get nil.

The return game was a very different affair. Rangers dominated from the start, Kevin Gallen missed a penalty but with Rowlands impressing in central midfield we eventually ran away with as Furlong opened the scoring before Gallen added two more either side of half time.

In 2005/06 season Watford did the double on us. They thrashed us 3-1 in the away game and the game back at Loftus Road saw Georges Santos sign off his QPR career with a comedy own goal.

Last season was better for Rangers. Stefan Moore scored in a much needed 1-1 draw at Loftus Road and the return game was a stormer as we thrashed them 4-2

Click on the match for a report of the game from this web site.