Watford
City: Watford
Stadium: Vicarage Road
Founded: 1881
Nickname: The Hornets, The Golden Boys, Yellow Army, The 'Orns
Watford Football Club is a football club based in Hertfordshire, England, which plays in the Premier League, the highest level of English football. Founded in 1881 as Watford Rovers, the club entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1886, and the Southern League a decade later. After finishing the 1914–15 season as Southern League champions under the management of Harry Kent, Watford joined the Football League in 1920. The club played at several grounds in its early history, before moving to a permanent location at Vicarage Road in 1922, where it remains to this day. Watford spent most of the following half century in the lower divisions of The Football League, changing colours and crest on multiple occasions.
England manager Graham Taylor's tenure at the club saw Watford scale new heights. Between Taylor's appointment in 1977 and departure in 1987, Watford rose from the Fourth Division to the First Division. The team finished second in the First Division in the 1982–83 season, competed in the UEFA Cup in 1983–84, and also reached the 1984 FA Cup Final. Watford experienced a decade of decline between 1987 and 1997, before Taylor returned as full-time manager, leading the team to successive promotions from the renamed Second Division[a] to the Premier League for one season in 1999-2000. The club experienced a further one season stint in the top division of English football during the 2006–07 season, under Aidy Boothroyd's management. After eight years, Watford are once again competing in the Premier League 2015–16 season, after clinching promotion from the Football League Championship in the 2014–15 season.
Watford is currently owned by the Pozzo family, which also owns Udinese Calcio in Italy and Granada CF in Spain. Sir Elton John, who owned Watford during both of Graham Taylor's successful periods as manager, served alongside Taylor as the club's joint Honorary Life President, until 2008, only to later resume the role which he now shares alongside Graham Taylor.
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