Here’s the second part of the personal memories of our watfordfc correspondent androofrench who was the club’s Communications Manager at the 1999 Play-Off Final win at Wembley
Nerves, butterflies, call it what you like. Is there anyone who doesn’t experience them?
The squad and staff stayed at the Hilton in Watford the night before, and I headed over to join them for breakfast . “Some players like a soak at half-time,” said one of the Wembley staff, “and it’ll take nearly two hours to fill it.”GT caught me looking at them and said: “Just wait Frenchy, you’ll love what’s behind those.”
As someone who has loved football all his life and dreamed of playing at Wembley for my beloved Watford, I knew this was as close as I was ever going to get. It made me tremble a bit, and I remember being a bit choked up. You’ve doubtless seen people on the pitch at Wembley before big games, pointing at the stands and waving. That was me.
When we got back in the dressing room most of the laughter and banter died down. Players went into the pre-match routine. Some sat quietly reading the programme, some had a massage, others stood chatting. Then it was out into the tunnel. I was pretty much at the end of the queue so when I emerged from the dressing room all I could see was the back of the two lines of players and that same small circle of day light in the distance.
That was the cue for me and Kirk Wheeler, from the club’s Football in the Community scheme, to follow the blazer-wearing gentleman down behind the technical area, through a door, up some stairs, down a corridor and then out into the stadium through another door. As Alon Hazan was replacing Wright with three minutes to go, the Wembley official came and said he’d take us down to the technical area so we were there when the final whistle went.
I could see all my family again, even though there were 30,000-odd people in our half of the stadium now. I punched the air, they punched the air. That was my footballing moment – not as significant or involved as the players, but my few seconds of sharing joy with my immediate nearest and dearest and the wider Watford family.
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