Richard White tells the story of Watford’s first European venture.
As many Watford fans are doubtless aware, the Hornets’ first-ever competitive European fixture was played at Kaiserslautern in the UEFA Cup. This was on September 14, 1983.
However, Watford’s first venture to play abroad took place nearly 50 years earlier, when a friendly match was arranged with Ajax of Amsterdam on Sunday, September 8, 1935. The Ajax trainer was Englishman Jack Reynolds, who had played 29 times as a forward for Watford in the 1907/08 season, before embarking on a coaching career that saw him lift Ajax from being just another Amsterdam team in the Dutch second division, to winning five Dutch national championships as trainer/coach with Ajax in the 1930s.