Been At Both: Five Who Have Played For The Hornets And The Tigers

Watford will be looking to build on Tuesday night’s thrilling 3-2 win over Norwich City when they travel north to the MKM Stadium to face Hull City this weekend (Saturday December 2, 3pm KO).

As the countdown to kick-off continues, we pick out five former Hornets who also represented the East-Yorkshire outfit during their playing days…

A sturdy defensive half-back who helped Watford reach the Second Division for the first time and made a substitute appearance in the 1969/70 FA Cup semi-finals, Brian Garvey kickstarted his playing career at hometown club Hull City in the early 1950s.

With his father having played rugby league for Hull FC in the 1920s, Garvey joined the Tigers on apprentice terms in 1953, before turning professional five years later. After making over 250 appearances in black and amber Garvey left for then Division Three side Watford in 1965, going on to serve in the Hornets’ backline until the turn of the new decade.

While at Vicarage Road Garvey played a key role in sealing promotion to the Second Division in 1968/69, and with 201 games under his belt he departed for Colchester United where he played a part in their famous FA Cup victory over Leeds United in 1971.

A trusted companion of Graham Taylor, midfielder Dennis Booth was lured to Vicarage Road from Lincoln City by the great man soon after the pair had steered the Imps to a top-10 finish in Division Three, a year after their Fourth-Division triumph.

Booth featured prominently as Watford secured successive promotions to the Second Division, and having contributed two goals in 117 appearances he moved North-East after three seasons, where he again helped inspire a progression through the divisions.

After playing league football for nearly two decades, and having figured regularly in five promotions and just one relegation, Booth was elevated to assistant manager at Hull in 1985, and he later reunited with GT as a coach at Aston Villa.

Centre-half Steve Terry came through the ranks at Watford in the early 1980s alongside the likes of Kenny Jackett and Nigel Callaghan, making his debut in a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Sunderland aged just 17. Despite that tricky introduction to the first-team, he would go on to establish himself as a key man under Graham Taylor, enjoying much of the club’s success and featuring in the 1984 FA Cup final.

Having made over 200 appearances in yellow – including three in the UEFA Cup – the Clapton-born man left for Hull in the summer of 1988, as part of Eddie Gray’s squad rebuilding exercise. Two years and 69 games later Terry signed terms at Northampton Town, before closing out a successful career in non-league.

Richard Jobson was merely a teenager with a dream when Watford boss Graham Taylor was first made aware of his burgeoning potential, the latter ultimately offering him the opportunity to swap non-league Burton Albion for a shot at the First Division in the autumn of 1982.

After leaving behind a civil engineering degree he was partway through - that he had been balancing with his part-time playing commitments - the jump up to the big time didn’t appear to faze defender Jobson, and after making his debut against Reading in December he went on to amass 13 league appearances as the Hornets finished second in the top-tier.

With first-team opportunities increasingly hard to come by the Hull-born man left for his hometown in February 1985, helping the Tigers secure immediate promotion from the Third Division under Brian Horton. Five years and over 200 appearances in the North East preceded high-profile stints at Oldham Athletic and Leeds United, before Jobson briefly returned to The Vic on loan in 2000 in between stints at Southend, Manchester City, Tranmere and Rochdale at the tail end of his career.

Norway international forward Joshua King was starting to make waves at Premier League giants Manchester United when he linked up with Hull City on a temporary basis in the second half of the 2011/12 season, after joining the Red Devils as a 16-year-old.

The now 31-year-old had already shown flashes of his potential during stints at Preston North End and Borussia Mönchengladbach, before playing an important supporting role for Nick Barmby’s Tigers with one goal in 18 Championship games.

After another loan at Blackburn - that was eventually made permanent - and spells at AFC Bournemouth and Everton, King joined the Hornets in the summer of 2021. After five goals in 32 games in the Premier League - including a hat-trick at Goodison Park - King departed ahead of the 2022/23 campaign.