Numerous players came and went in the 10 years after the Pozzos took over ownership of Watford FC.
First featured in last season’s matchday programme, James Garrett picks out some of those individuals who made their mark at The Vic…
Almen Abdi. The Professor. What a player.
In the summer of 2012 the Swiss midfielder signed on loan from Udinese, and everything changed. Supported by a cast of other promising talents, Abdi quickly showed his outrageous ability. He scored in the opening-day win at Crystal Palace, and my first sight of him was nonchalantly sweeping in a penalty in the second minute of the first home match against Birmingham City.
He always took the ball and went forward. It sounds easy, but there are not too many players who can, or could, do that so easily. He would then see if there was a killer pass on, and in the 2012/13 season this would usually be for Matěj Vydra or Troy Deeney.
He knew how to strike a ball, too. He scored a scorcher against Palace again in a Friday night game, and an amazing free-kick away to Wolves. Watford dropped points poorly in those games, which ultimately saw us fall agonisingly short of automatic promotion. Abdi signed permanently at the start of the 2013/14 campaign, but it was to be a desperate season for him which was affected by a mysterious foot injury that he just couldn’t shake off.
Thankfully, he was fit for the promotion season of 2014/15. It was one of the early games of the season that saw my favourite ever Abdi performance, against Huddersfield. Down to 10 men and winning 3-2, he had already scored earlier in the game, but instead of holding on in the final minute Abdi burst forward, received the ball, twisted the final defender and fired home into the corner of the net. It was a beautiful goal, and showed the team that playing on the front foot would ensure promotion.
He scored vital goals in away wins at Reading, Bolton and Nottingham Forest that season. Perhaps his most famous goal is the beauty he scored from 25 yards out against Fulham. He received the ball with his back to goal on the half turn, and he didn’t even look up before striking it into the far corner. The keeper didn’t even move.
It always seemed odd to me that he never added to his paltry number of Swiss caps while at the club, but he was to enjoy being a Premier League footballer for one season at least. Sadly, he never quite fitted into Quique Sánchez Flores’ rigid 4-4-2 system, mostly playing a wide midfield role, which just wasn’t his position. We saw glimpses of his quality, with a superb goal at Stoke and a glorious free-kick at home to Aston Villa, but he never got the chance to get into those central pockets of space to really show his worth. It is a shame, as I am sure he could have really done it in the Premier League.
Probably like you, I was surprised, and sad, to see him go. At £3 million, in the summer of 2016, it seemed Sheffield Wednesday were getting an amazing deal. However, three years on, bizarrely it didn’t. Abdi played less than 30 games for Wednesday, and is largely derided by their supporters for scoring only one competitive goal for them, being injured for a lot of the time, and generally costing them a lot of money in wages.
Abdi went home to Switzerland in 2019, and travelled the world with his girlfriend just before the pandemic. He has since settled back home in Switzerland, and has started a family. It was an understated end to his career, which he wouldn’t have minded. I’m just thankful to have seen him play at the peak of his career - I’m not sure there’s been a better midfielder to wear a Watford shirt…
