Editing Watford F.C. (section)

==Managers==
{{Main|List of Watford F.C. managers}}

[[File:Graham Taylor.jpg|thumb|right|175px|[[Graham Taylor]] took Watford from the Fourth Division to the First, between 1977 and 1982.]]Watford's team was selected by committee until 1903, when former [[England national football team|England]] international [[John Goodall]] was appointed [[player-coach|player-manager]]. The impact was immediate, as Watford secured promotion to the Southern League First Division in 1903–04. Goodall retired as a player in 1907, and left the club in 1910. He was replaced by his former captain, [[Harry Kent (footballer)|Harry Kent]], who become known for his financial management of the club; under Kent, Watford frequently made a profit in the transfer market.<ref>Phillips 1991, pp. 38–41.</ref> Kent led the club to the Southern League title in [[1914–15 Watford F.C. season|1914–15]], and missed out on a second title in [[1919–20 Watford F.C. season|1919–20]] on [[goal average]], before resigning in 1926. His three immediate successors – [[Fred Pagnam]], [[Neil McBain]] and [[Bill Findlay (footballer)|Bill Findlay]] – all played for Watford before and during the early part of their managerial tenures. None were able to lead the team to promotion from the [[Football League Third Division South|Third Division South]], although Findlay did lead Watford to a [[Football League Third Division South Cup|Third Division South Cup]] win in 1937.

Up until Findlay's departure in 1947, Watford had been managed by five managers in 44 years, all of whom played for the team. By contrast, six men managed the club between 1947 and 1956, only two of whom were former Watford players.<ref name="managers">Jones 1996, pp. 267–274.</ref> After a further three years under McBain between 1956 and 1959, Watford's following three managers presided over improved teams. [[Ron Burgess (footballer)|Ron Burgess]] led Watford to promotion from the [[Football League Fourth Division|Fourth Division]] in 1959–60. [[Bill McGarry]] was only in charge for one full season (1963–64), but Watford recorded a finish of third in the [[Football League Third Division|Third Division]], the club's highest Football League finish until that point. His successor [[Ken Furphy]] matched that achievement in 1966–67, and led Watford to the Third Division title in 1969, before taking the club to its first [[FA Cup]] semi-final in 1970. Following Furphy's departure in 1971, Watford entered a period of decline, experiencing relegation under subsequent managers [[George Kirby (footballer)|George Kirby]] and [[Mike Keen]].<ref name="managers" />

Graham Taylor took charge of Watford in 1977. He led the club to promotion to the Third Division in 1978, the Second Division in 1979, and the [[Football League First Division|First Division]] for the first time in Watford's history in 1982. After a second-placed finish in the First Division in 1983, Watford competed in European competition for the first time in 1983–84, as well as reaching the [[1984 FA Cup final]]. Taylor left the club at the end of 1986–87. Under the six subsequent permanent managers ([[Dave Bassett]], [[Steve Harrison (footballer)|Steve Harrison]], [[Colin Lee]], [[Steve Perryman]], [[Glenn Roeder]] and [[Kenny Jackett]]), Watford slid from 9th in the top tier in 1987, to 13th in the third tier in 1997. Taylor returned as manager for the start of the 1997–98 season. He led the club to consecutive promotions, but could not prevent relegation from the [[Premier League]] in [[1999–2000 Watford F.C. season|1999–2000]]. Since Taylor's retirement in 2001, Watford have had twelve managers. Of these, [[Aidy Boothroyd]] took Watford back to the Premier League in 2006, but Watford were relegated in 2007, and Boothroyd departed in 2008.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/watford/7707054.stm "Boothroyd & Watford part company"]. BBC Sport. 3 November 2008. Retrieved 14 July 2012.</ref>

Following Watford's takeover by the Pozzo family, [[Gianfranco Zola]] was appointed head coach, replacing former centre back [[Sean Dyche]] in July 2012,.<ref name="managers2" /> Zola took Watford to third position in the Championship in 2012–13 but resigned on 16 December 2013. He was replaced by fellow Italian [[Giuseppe Sannino|Beppe Sannino]] in December 2013. Sannino guided the team to a final league position of 13th.

Despite winning four of the first five league matches of the 2014–15 season, and with Watford sitting in 2nd place, Sannino's position had become the subject of much speculation following rumours of dressing-room unrest and some players taking a dislike to his style of management.{{cn|date=May 2025}} Sannino resigned from his position as head coach on 31 August 2014 after just over eight months in charge. His final game in charge was a 4–2 win at home to [[Huddersfield Town A.F.C.|Huddersfield Town]] the day before.

Sannino's departure initiated a bizarre sequence of events which led to Watford having three further head coaches in little more than a month. On 2 September, Watford confirmed the appointment of former [[Brighton & Hove Albion F.C.|Brighton & Hove Albion]] head coach [[Óscar García Junyent|Óscar García]] as the successor to Sannino. García, however, resigned from his position on 29 September 2014 for health reasons, having been admitted to hospital with chest pains a couple of weeks prior. [[Billy McKinlay]], who had only been appointed first team coach on 26 September 2014, was appointed as his immediate successor on the same day – his first position in management.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11686/9549731/billy-mckinlay-is-still-bemused-after-a-short-spell-at-watford/|title=Bill McKinlay left bemused following his spell at Watford|work=Sky Sports|date=4 November 2014|access-date=5 June 2018}}</ref> A week later, McKinlay was released by mutual consent and former [[FK Partizan|Partizan]] coach [[Slaviša Jokanović]] appointed in his place, apparently because the club favoured a head coach with greater experience.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/11522881.COMMENT__Must_be_more_to_Watford_s_disgraceful_treatment_of_McKinlay/?ref=mrs |title=Must be more to Watford's disgraceful - yet brave - decision to replace Billy McKinlay |work=Watford Observer |first=Frank |last=Smith |date=8 October 2014 |access-date=2 November 2019}}</ref>

On 4 June 2015, [[Quique Sánchez Flores]] was announced as the new head coach as the replacement to Jokanović,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/13315768.Flores_is_Hornets__new_boss/ |title=Former Atletico Madrid boss Quique Sanchez Flores is Watford's new head coach |work=Watford Observer |first=Anthony |last=Matthews|date=4 June 2015 |access-date=2 November 2019 }}</ref> who had failed to agree contract terms. Despite going on to lead the newly promoted Watford to a comfortable mid-table position in the Premier League and the semi-final of the FA Cup, it was announced on 13 May 2016 that Sánchez Flores would be leaving the club at the end of the season.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Burnton|first1=Simon|title=Quique Sánchez Flores was no longer the answer to Watford's question|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/may/14/quique-sanchez-flores-watford-departure-explained|access-date=14 May 2016|work=The Guardian|date=14 May 2016}}</ref>

Following Sánchez Flores's departure, Walter Mazzarri was announced as Watford's head coach starting on 1 July 2016.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.watfordfc.com/news/article/walter-mazzarri-watford-fc-head-coach-premier-league-3121237.aspx |title=Walter Mazzarri Appointed Head Coach At Watford |work=Watford F.C. |date=21 May 2016 |access-date=2 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603161817/http://www.watfordfc.com/news/article/walter-mazzarri-watford-fc-head-coach-premier-league-3121237.aspx |archive-date=3 June 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Mazzari's tenure as manager was terminated at the end of the season. On 27 May 2017 [[Marco Silva]] was appointed head coach.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.watfordfc.com/club/silva-named-hornets-head-coach |title=Silva Named Hornets' Head Coach |work=Watford F.C. |date=27 May 2017 |access-date=2 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230220215/https://www.watfordfc.com/club/silva-named-hornets-head-coach |archive-date=30 December 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref> On 21 January 2018, [[Javi Gracia]] was appointed as head coach following Silva's departure.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.watfordfc.com/club/official-gracia-named-hornets-head-coach |title=Gracia Named Hornets' Head Coach |work=Watford F.C. |date=27 January 2018 |access-date=2 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180307093127/https://www.watfordfc.com/club/official-gracia-named-hornets-head-coach |archive-date=7 March 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Gracia guided the club to a successful 2018–19 Premier League campaign which saw Watford finish with their highest ever points tally in English Premier League football.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

Since around 2019, the club have gained notoriety for an excessive number of managerial sackings and a lack of time given to managers, instead sacking them very quickly after a poor run of form. After a disappointing start to the 2019–20 season, Javi Gracia was dismissed and replaced by previous manager Quique Sánchez Flores. Then Quique Sánchez Flores was dismissed again after a 2–1 loss to Southampton on 1 December. On 6 December 2019, [[Nigel Pearson]] agreed to take manager's job, with Craig Shakespeare as his assistant, on a short-term contract to the end of the season.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/dec/06/watford-nigel-pearson-manager-talks-end-of-season|title=Nigel Pearson agrees to take Watford manager's job till end of season|work=The Guardian|date=6 December 2019|access-date=6 December 2019}}</ref> He was sacked on 19 July 2020 with two games to go with Hayden Mullins appointed as interim coach until the end of the season.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.watfordfc.com/news/club/club-statement-nigel-pearson |title=Pearson sacked after 3–1 defeat against West Ham |work=Watford F.C. |date=20 June 2020 |access-date=19 June 2020 }}</ref>

In the 2020–21 season, there were two more coaches, beginning with [[Vladimir Ivic]], and followed by [[Xisco Munoz]], who ultimately steered Watford towards promotion to the Premier League. Xisco continued to coach the team for the 2021–22 Premier League campaign until October 2021, and was subsequently followed by [[Claudio Ranieri]] from October 2021 to January 2022. Former England manager [[Roy Hodgson]] took hold of the reigns from February 2022 until the season's end, where Watford finished in 19th place and were relegated from the Premier League.

[[Rob Edwards (footballer, born 1982)|Rob Edwards]] was announced as the new manager for the [[2022–23 EFL Championship|2022–23]] season, but was released by the club in September 2022 after 11 games in charge.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.watfordfc.com/news/club-statement-edwards-departs-hornets | title=Club Statement: Edwards Departs Hornets }}</ref> [[Slaven Bilić]] was announced as his replacement on an 18-month contract.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.watfordfc.com/news/official-bilic-appointed-hornets-head-coach | title=Official: Bilić Appointed Hornets' Head Coach }}</ref> Bilic was subsequently sacked on 7 March 2023 and replaced by [[Chris Wilder]] on a short-term contract until the end of the season, making it the third time in four seasons the club has had three head coaches in one season.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-03-07 |title=Watford sack Slaven Bilic and appoint Chris Wilder as new manager |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/mar/07/watford-sack-manager-slaven-bilic-to-re-energise-championship-push |access-date=2023-03-07 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> On 10 May 2023, French coach [[Valérien Ismaël]] was appointed head coach ahead of the 2023–24 Championship season.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Official: Ismaël Appointed Head Coach |url=https://www.watfordfc.com/news/official-ismael-appointed-head-coach |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=www.watfordfc.com |language=en}}</ref> Following the dismissal of Valérien Ismaël on 9 March 2024, Tom Cleverley was named as interim head coach.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024-03-09 |title=Watford: Tom Cleverley named interim boss after Valerien Ismael sacked |url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/66680954 |access-date=2025-05-06 |work=BBC Sport |language=en-GB}}</ref> On 24 April 2024, Cleverley was given the head coach role on a permanent basis having lost only once in his seven matches in interim charge.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Association |first=Press |date=2025-05-06 |title=Watford sack yet another manager |url=https://www.the42.ie/tom-cleverley-6696845-May2025/ |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=The 42 |language=en}}</ref>In May 2025, he was dismissed from his role as manager of Watford.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-05-06 |title=Tom Cleverley: Watford sack head coach after falling short of play-offs |url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c983w3d6w7jo |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=BBC Sport |language=en-GB}}</ref>