Watford Trophies & Titles

There is something curious about Watford, insomuch as the club has often been the bridesmaid but rarely the bride. The Hornets have finished as runners-up in the First Division, which later became the Premier League, as well as in the Second Division, which is now known as the Championship, but the club hasn’t won either league. That isn’t to say that the club has never won anything, but they also came close to winning the FA Cup whilst ultimately missing out in both 1984 and 2019. It is a side that has teased the top but not quite been able to deliver anywhere near as much as the supporters would’ve liked them to.

Some older supporters of the club would doubtless be quick to point out that the Hornets haven’t spent a huge amount of the club’s history at the top end of the sport, bar a brief spell in the 1980s, a similar one in the 1990s and a period in 2010s; certainly not long enough to gather any kind of cup-winning momentum. The truth of the matter is that most of Watford’s silverware has been located in the lower leagues rather than the upper echelons of football, but that doesn’t mean that they mean any less to the club’s fans than the likes of the FA Cup would mean to Arsenal supporters, for example.

League Titles

When it comes to the English top-flight, it is largely a case of ‘also rans’ for Watford. Having finished second in the Second Division in 1982, the Hornets then finished second in the First Division the year after, missing out on the title by nine points to eventual winners Liverpool. It is in the lower divisions where the club has had a touch more success, albeit less fortune than many others will have enjoyed during the same period. More often than not, Watford have been promoted thanks to finishing second or winning the play-offs, which is just as good in terms of promotion but lacks the excitement fans often look out for.

Second Division / First Division / Championship

Originally known as the Second Division, the second tier of football in England was renamed as the First Division when the Premier League came into being. This caused all many of confusion for many, resulting in it eventually being rebranded to become the Championship. Watford have been unlucky in it regardless of what it was known as, coming second at the end of the 1981-1982 season, repeating that trick in the 2014-2015 campaign and doing so again in 2020-2021. The good news for the Hornets is that they have won the Play-Offs more than once, giving them silverware to lift, promotion to enjoy and something to celebrate.

Here is a look at how they got on when winning the Play-Offs, alongside the team that they defeated in the play-off final and the score:

Year of Play-Off Final	Opposition	Score
1999	Bolton Wanderers	2-0
2006	Leeds United	3-0

Third Division / Second Division / League One

It will always and forever be one of the most confusing things about English football that the invention of the Premier League sent the Football League a little bit crazy for a time. As a result, the second tier of the English game became the First Division, whilst the third tier was made into the Second Division. People eventually realised, however, and renamed it as League One. Sure, that’s a little bit confusing in its own right but still less so than in previous years. In terms of Watford and the club’s success in the third tier of the game, they have managed to add a couple of titles to the cabinet as well as a runners-up spot.

Here is a look at the years they won it, complete with how many points they achieved, the team that finished second and the points total of the second place team, in order to offer some context:

Season	Points	Second Place	Second Place Points
1968-1969	64	Swindon Town	64*
1997-1998	88	Bristol City	85

*Watford and Swindon Town finished on the same number of points at the end of the 1968-1969 season, at which point the Goal Average was used to separate them. Watford’s GA of 2.176 was superior to Swindon Town’s 2.029.

Fourth Division

If you’ve been paying attention then you will no doubt already sense that the Fourth Division has also undergone some name changes over the years, becoming the Third Division when all of the leagues shuffled up one after the Premier League came into existence. Nowadays it is known as League Two, but it has always been the fourth tier of the English game. If you want to be extremely technical then you could say that the Fourth Division actually ceased to exist in 1992, but it is essentially the same league as the one that we call League Two so we’re treating it as such rather than making things unnecessarily complex.

Here is a look at when Watford won it, once again including the information about the team that finished second as well as the points totals of both sides:

Season	Points	Second Place	Second Place Points
1977-1978	71	Southend United	60

Southern Football League

It is fair to say that Watford haven’t always competed in the upper echelons of the sport. For numerous years the Hornets played in non-league competitions, with the Southern Football League being a good example of this. Founded in 1894, it was split into four divisions of Premier Central, Premier South, Division One Central and Division One South and has sat at levels seven and eight of the English Football League pyramid. It was created in order to give Southern clubs a chance to play in a more professional environment, given the fact that the professional game developed more slowly in the South than the North.

Here is a look at the time that Watford won it, bearing in mind that they finished as runners-up at the end of the 1919-1920 campaign:

Season	Points	Second Place	Second Place Points
1914-1915	52	Reading	49

Lesser Leagues

The truth about life in the lower leagues is that the titles won down there aren’t really considered to be all that serious by those that spend the majority of their existence in the likes of the Premier League. Yet in terms of Watford’s history there is little question that the titles that the won during the club’s more formative years definitely helped them grow into the side that they are today. We will find similar things when it comes to cup competitions. In terms of their league performances, here is a look at how they got on, with information about the league where it is available:

Cups & Trophies

In the long history of Watford Football Club, the number of trophies won is limited. Although they have played in historic competitions such as the Associate Members Cup, the Anglo-Italian Cup and the Full Members Cup, to say nothing of the likes of the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup, the number of times that they’ve actually been fortune enough to win one of them stands at zero. The closest that they’ve come is twice being the losing finalist in the FA Cup, missing out to Everton in 1984 and Manchester City in 2019. Even the likes of the Southern Floodlit Cup managed to evade the Watford trophy cabinet.

Football League Third Division South Cup

Perhaps nothing is able to sum up Watford’s history with silverware quite like the Football League Third Division South Cup. Founded in 1933, the competition was run as a knockout tournament and was only open to teams that found themselves in the Football League Third Division South at the time. Watford made it to the final at the end of the 1936-1937 season, going up against Millwall. Played over two legs, the first game finished 2-2 and the second 1-1. As a result, the trophy was shared, meaning that even in a competition as niche as this one, Watford didn’t properly get to celebrate a victory.

Herts Senior Cup

For the majority of teams we would simply ignore a competition like the Herts Senior Cup, or offer it little more than a passing mention. When it comes to Watford, however, it would’ve felt sly not to give it a proper mention, owing to the fact that it is the trophy that the club has won more than any other. The Hertfordshire County Football Association Senior Challenge Cup, known as the Herts Senior Cup, still exists today and is the oldest County-based competition. Launched in 1886 for clubs that play their games in Hertfordshire, it tends to involve around 22 teams each season, with that number going up and down.

Here is a look at the times that Watford won the trophy, as well as the team that they defeated to do so and the final score:

Year of Final	Opposition	Score
1888-1889	Hoddesdon	2-0*
1890-1891	St Albans	6-2*
1891-1892	Hoddesdon	5-2*
1977-1978	Tring Town	2-1
1978-1979	St Albans City	3-2 After Extra-Time
1980-1981	Barnet	5-0
1981-1982	Hertford Town	3-0
1982-1983	Boreham Wood	1-0
1983-1984	Hertford Town	1-0
1984-1985	Barnet	5-2
1987-1988	Boreham Wood	4-1
1988-1989	Bishop’s Stortford	5-1
1993-1994	Stevenage Borough	3-1
1994-1995	St Albans City	4-0
1997-1998	Boreham Wood	1-0
2003-2004	Boreham Wood	4-2

*During these years the club was known as Watford Rovers, which remained the case until a merger with Watford St Mary’s, with the club becoming simply ‘Watford Football Club’ in 1898.