Watford Football Club Watford Football Club is a professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. The club competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The team played at several grounds in their early history, includi ...

is an English

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club based in

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. Formed on 15 April 1898 as a result of the amalgamation of two strong local clubs, Watford St. Mary's and West Herts. West Herts began life as Watford Rovers in 1881, and renamed West Herts in 1891, the team joined the Southern League in 1896. West Herts amalgamated with local rivals Watford St. Mary's for the start of the 1898–99 season, to form a new club, Watford Football Club. Between 1898 and 1920, Watford competed in the Southern League, winning the championship in 1914–15. The Southern League was suspended for the next four seasons due to the First World War. On the league's resumption in 1919–20, Watford finished as runners up on

goal average A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to ...

. At the start of 1920–21, Watford joined the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

Third Division, and transferred to the

Third Division South The Third Division South of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

when the league was reorganised the following season. They have played in the Football League ever since, with the exception of 1939–1946, when competitive football was suspended due to the Second World War, and the 1999–2000 and 2006–07 seasons, when they competed in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. In addition to the latter two seasons, the club also competed in the top division of

English football Football is the most popular sport in England. Widely regarded as the birthplace of modern football, the first official rules of the game were established in England in 1863. The country is home to the world's first football league, the oldest ...

between 1982 and 1988, achieving their highest league placing of second in the 1982–83 season. Many of Watford's individual records are held by former

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

Luther Blissett Luther Loide Blissett (born 1 February 1958) is a former professional association football, footballer and coach (sport), manager who played for the England national football team, England national team during the 1980s. Born in Jamaica, Bliss ...

. He has made more Watford appearances (503, including substitute appearances) and scored more goals for the club (186) than anyone else. His corresponding totals in the Football League (415 appearances and 148 goals) are also Watford records.

Cliff Holton Clifford Charles Holton (29 April 1929 – 31 May 1996) was an English footballer. Born in Oxford, Holton played as a full back for non-league Oxford City as a youth, before joining Arsenal in October 1947 at the age of 18. He spent three sea ...

has scored the most goals for Watford in a single season; 48 in all competitions in the 1959–60 season, including 42 in the Football League.Jones, ''The Watford Football Clubs Illustrated Who's Who''. p. 123.

Eddie Mummery Albert Edward Pilkerton Mummery (18 August 1897 – 31 January 1937) was an English professional footballer, who played as an inside forward or a wing half. Early life Born in Norwich, Mummery played for amateur clubs Lichfield and Yarmouth, ...

's five-goal haul against Newport County on 5 January 1924 is the club record for goals scored by a player in a Football League match. Watford's most-used goalkeeper is

Skilly Williams Reginald George "Skilly" Williams (4 January 1890 – 19 June 1959) was an English association footballer. Born in Watford, he played primarily as a striker during his amateur career, but later switched to become a goalkeeper. After playing for ...

, who played for the club 341 times between 1913 and 1926.

John Barnes John Charles Bryan Barnes (born 7 November 1963) is a former professional football player and manager. Often considered one of the greatest England players of all time and one of Liverpool's greatest ever players, Barnes currently works as an ...

and

Kenny Jackett Kenneth Francis Jackett (born 5 January 1962) is an English football manager and former player who played for Watford. He was most recently director of football at club Gillingham. A skilful left-footed player, able to play in defence or midf ...

share the record for the most international caps won while playing for Watford. Barnes made his first 31

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

appearances before transferring from Watford to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in 1987. Jackett, a one-club man, made the same number of appearances for

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. Seven people have played competitively for the club while managing them:

John Goodall John Goodall (19 June 1863 – 20 May 1942) was an English professional footballer who rose to fame as a centre forward for England and for Preston North End at the time of the development of the Football League, and also became Watford's first ...

, Harry Kent,

Fred Pagnam Fred Pagnam (4 September 1891 – 1 March 1962) was an English footballer and manager. Pagnam played as a forward in the Football League for clubs Huddersfield Town, Blackpool, Liverpool, Arsenal, Cardiff City and Watford, and in non-league footb ...

Neil McBain Neil McBain (15 November 1895 – 13 May 1974) was a Scottish professional football player and coach. He remains the oldest player to appear in an English Football League match aged 51 years. Playing career Club McBain, a wing half, began ...

Bill Findlay William Findlay may refer to: *William Findlay (governor) William Findlay (June 20, 1768November 12, 1846) was an American farmer, lawyer, and politician. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, he served as the fourth governor of Pennsylv ...

Ken Furphy Kenneth Furphy (28 May 1931 – 17 January 2015) was an English football player and manager. Despite being on the books at Everton between 1950 and 1951, Furphy was a lower league player with Runcorn (1951–53) Darlington (1953–62) and the ...

, and most recently Mike Keen between 1973 and 1975.Jones, ''The Watford Football Club Illustrated Who's Who.'' pp. 267–274.

Key

This list contains players who have made 50 or more competitive appearances for Watford, since the amalgamation of West Herts and Watford St Mary's. Non-professional players (or any player who has not signed a first team contract) or any other academy player(s) are not on the list. It includes appearances and goals in the

Southern Football League The Southern League is a football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from East Anglia, the South and Midlands of England, and South Wales. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven a ...

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

Full Members Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. T ...

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

and

Anglo-Italian Cup The Anglo-Italian Cup (, also known as the Anglo-Italian Inter-League Clubs Competition and from 1976 to 1986 as the Alitalia Challenge Cup, Talbot Challenge Cup or Gigi Peronace Memorial) was a European football competition. The competition was ...

. Appearances and goals in other competitions or non-competitive matches are not included. The table does not include appearances and goals from 1939–40; the season was abandoned after three matches due to the Second World War, and playing records from those matches were annulled.Jones, ''Watford Season by Season''. p. 209.

Players

''Current players' statistics correct at the end of the 2023–24 season.''

Notes

References

;Bibliography * * *
Watford Football Club archive 1881-2017
;General * Positions, playing statistics and career spans from 1898–99 to 1997–98 sourced to: Jones, ''Watford Season by Season.'' pp. 225–241. Players with multiple spells at the club are cited individually. * Positions, playing statistics and career spans from 1998–99 onwards sourced to: Career spans for players with multiple spells at the club are cited individually. * International representation up to and including May 1996 sourced to: Jones, ''The Watford Football Club Illustrated Who's Who.'' pp. 279–284. Players who made their international debut after May 1996 are cited individually. * Players of the Season up to

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

sourced to: Subsequent winners are cited individually. ;Specific {{featured list Players

Association football player non-biographical articles