Watford FC celebrate victory.
Picture: Press Association
I, like 34,000 other Hornets fans, will be at Wembley on Monday afternoon to see Watford FC take on Crystal Palace in one of the most anticipated football matches of the year.
It will be difficult to watch – and yet at the same time I won’t be able to look away. Football fans will understand the strange combination of feelings that a big match provokes, equal parts anticipation and anxiety.
To say it’s a high stakes game is an understatement – it will be one of the biggest games in football this year.
So much so that the play-off match has been labelled the “£120 million game” because that is how much it will be worth to the winner.
The victor will get a place in the Premiership, along with bundles of exposure and cash (even if the winning team lasts only a year in the top league it will benefit from parachute payments).
The loser will face another year slogging it out in the Championship league schlepping to places like Bournemouth and Yeovil.
I would love to see Watford do it. Not just for the money (although obviously that would be great and might mean the East Stand is finally replaced) but because it would be wonderful for the town.
Making it into the Premiership would mean so much to so many Watford fans and give the town a much-needed boost.
Watford boss Gianfranco Zola recently admitted that he “lost it” when his side scored a late winner in the championship play-off semi against Leicester. I can relate as something similar happened to me at the same match.
When the Hornets scored their late goal I leapt up and hugged a group of total strangers (football really does bring people together, eh). After a couple of other aggressive bear hugs I wound up two rows in front of my original seat and still have the scrape on my leg to prove it. The whole thing was fantastic.
I am hoping for more bear hugs on Monday. Fingers and toes crossed. Come on you Horns, you can do it.
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