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…
Joel Ekstrand’s loan move from Udinese in the summer of 2012 went very much under the radar during a busy time when the entire Watford squad was refreshed and some players came into the team and hit the ground running.
However, within a few months, Ekstrand’s name was one of the first you would want on the team sheet every match due to his high level of consistency and calmness in the Hornets’ defence.
Ekstrand had to wait patiently for his chance though. It was October when he made his Watford debut in the 75th minute against Charlton at right-back; the team was on its way to an unlikely 2-1 win, playing the whole of the second half with 10 men after Fernando Forestieri’s sending off.
Having passed the initial test, the Swede swiftly became a first-team regular at centre-back from early winter onwards, being part of a Watford side that quickly became the most eye-catching footballing team in the Championship.
He became a permanent signing in the summer of 2013 and carried on with his good form in the heart of the defence, in what proved to be a difficult season when injuries and a loss of form hit the team and Gianfranco Zola was replaced by Beppe Sannino as Head Coach.
It was in his third season that the assured and well-liked defender played his best football in a Hornets shirt though; he even scored a vital goal in a 4-3 away win at Bolton in February which set the Hornets up nicely for a shot at automatic promotion. And then a horror injury struck when he went to close down the ball in a match against Ipswich.
Without any contact, his knee gave way and Ekstrand knew he had a bad injury immediately. It ended up being not only torn knee ligaments but also a fracture in his knee bone. It was a difficult 10-month recovery for Ekstrand as he watched the Hornets get promoted while he was recovering in Sweden and returned to spend months of rehab at London Colney while watching his teammates adjust well to life in the Premier League.
Despite nearly recovering fully, smaller injuries continued to hamper any progress he made and he reached the end of his contract in the summer of 2016 having not played for 16 months.
Ekstrand then nearly signed for Leeds United before short spells trying to re-ignite his career at Bristol City and Rotherham United. In January 2018 he went back home to Sweden, having plenty of clubs interested in his signature. He decided to play for AIK in Stockholm but another serious injury proved to be final and forced him to retire in 2019 at the age of 30.
It is a sad reminder that not all footballers get to hang up their boots on their own terms. In his time at Watford, Ekstrand proved he was an accomplished centre-back and no doubt would have had much to offer the team in the Premier League had he not suffered that career-defining injury in the spring of 2015.
