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…
“Oh Forestieri...” We remember the song. ‘Fessi,’ the nickname too. Okay, he wasn’t really as good as Lionel Messi, but on his day he was one of the best players in the Championship. Born in the same city in Argentina, Rosario, as perhaps the best footballer in the world, Forestieri’s parents were Italian, meaning that once he started to develop into a young, promising footballer, more options in Europe became possible for him.
At the age of 16, the Forestieris returned to Italy and Fernando left Boca Juniors to join Genoa. Following a couple of loan spells in Italy where he developed his skills in first-team football, he joined Udinese on loan before more loan spells with Malaga, Empoli and Bari. In the summer of 2012, it was the perfect time for the 22-year-old forward to join Watford on loan following the Pozzo takeover.
And it was hard not to like him; he was skilful, tenacious and his enthusiasm was infectious; you could see he loved playing for the Hornets too. He lived locally and like some of the other new players, was spotted around Watford, always happy to say hello to the supporters; he even broke the course record at a local Footgolf venue! But on the pitch, there were moments of magic and he probably should have scored more goals in his three years at the club.
Fessi joined the Hornets permanently in January 2013 and was seen crying with tears of happiness after scoring a brace in a 2-1 win against Sheffield Wednesday in March. As much as we enjoyed watching him, Forestieri was always on the edges of being that type of luxury player; he was also a little unlucky as he was often kept out of the side by the form of Troy Deeney and Matěj Vydra in the first season, and Deeney and Odion Ighalo in his third season.
He probably played some of his more consistent football in his second season, but the team just never really got going in 2013/14. He also had his moments; some critics (most opposition fans) claimed he went down too easily, which in the rough and tumble of the Championship wasn’t always well received by referees. It did cause him some trouble, and probably stopped his progress to the highest level.
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An early match against Charlton Athletic springs to mind; having been booked for a dive, he then received a second yellow for encroaching a free-kick being taken. On occasions, when things were not going his way you could see his body language was poor, sometimes not even celebrating a goal with a teammate if he felt he should have been passed the ball.
But let’s not forget too about his contribution towards THAT goal, as he picked up Ikechi Anya’s pass and drove towards the line before chipping a perfect cross over to Jonathan Hogg. By the time Watford were promoted in 2015, Fessi was 25 and in need of consistent first-team football, and it was clear he wasn’t going to achieve that in the Premier League with us.
He signed a deal with Sheffield Wednesday and there too became a fan favourite for five years before re-joining Udinese for a season during the Covid pandemic. He is now playing for Malaysian Super League side Johur Darul Ta’zim and once again appears to be loved by their supporters and scoring regularly. It looks like he still loves playing the game, which is certainly my abiding memory of him performing, at times, so well for us.
