Jackett knew Taylor could make Watford successful

But what about if you were a player AND a fan?!

Kenny Jackett was born and bred in Watford, a supporter of the club and, in June 1977, was preparing for a new season with the club’s youth team.

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Little did he know then that the arrival of Taylor at Vicarage Road under the chairmanship of Sir Elton John was going to catapult the club, players and fans to levels not experienced before.

And that as well as playing for Taylor, Jackett would end up managing the team while he was Director of Football before coaching alongside the former England manager as he guided Watford to the Premier League for the first time.

As a 15-year-old, there was no way Jackett could have known how the arrival of Taylor at Vicarage Road was going to shape his career.

“Yeah, I was a schoolboy when Graham joined, but I definitely remember him joining the club,” recalled the Welsh international.

“I was training with Tom Walley in the youth team, and I was also a supporter being a local lad. I had a double interest really.

“I spent my school holidays down there training with Tom, and I had half an ‘in’ because of being in and around the place.

“It was a fantastic time to be around the club. The chairman was already in place, and they brought in a young manager and had a clear idea of where they were going.”

Pensive faces in the Watford dug-out (Image: Action Images)

When asked what impact Taylor had on the club, Jackett used a great phrase.

“He stood the club on its head,” he said.

“When Elton appointed him, Graham came in and totally stood the club on its head, he really did. He sort of drove it forward because he had an energy about him that took people along with him.

“The pre-seasons we had under GT were the longest and hardest that you could ever imagine, and it produced a very fit group who played exciting football.

“Watford had finished seventh the season before, so it wasn’t like they were dreadful. But Graham came in and improved players and they went on to play a part in the club progressing: Ross Jenkins, Luther Blissett, Roger Joslyn, Keith Mercer, Alan Garner, Keith Pritchett.

“He then added in very solid players like Sam Ellis and Dennis Booth, but he had the basis of a good side already.

“But in terms of the club as a whole, he came in like a whirlwind and the club didn’t look back. Him and the chairman was a great partnership.”

As someone who played for, managed for and coached for Taylor, Jackett knows him as well as anyone.

“He was very charismatic,” he said.

“As a player, whatever he said, you believed him. And the reason players believed in him was because you always felt he would be successful, and you wanted to be a part of that.

“Ultimately, you knew he could make you successful and that’s why you got the big buy-in from all the players.

“He was a tough manager and it was a hard regime physically, but as a player you felt Watford was a club that was going places.

“If you got on board, became a part of what he was doing and got his attention and focus on you, you had a chance of being successful yourself.

“He was direct, very much to the point, but you could never say you didn’t know where you stood with him, put it that way.”

Jackett during the season he managed Watford. (Image: Action Images)

It was often levelled at Taylor’s team that rose through the divisions in the late 70s and early 80s that they played ‘hoofball’ – the midfielders were merely spectators as the ball was thumped down the pitch from defence to attack.

Naturally, Jackett explained it was far more considered and nuanced than that.

“The best players in the team in the early 80s were the four forwards, “ he said, “and Graham had the common sense to say from day one that we needed to get the ball to those four forwards as many times as possible, and ideally as quickly as possible.

“It developed from there, but it was common sense to give your best players the ball for as much of a game as you could.

“The midfield played its role. Did we play as big a role as John Barnes and Luther Blissett? No we didn’t.”

Jackett was an established and senior first-team player when Taylor left Watford for Aston Villa in 1997.

“We’d probably plateaued a bit and we had become a regular mid-table side in the top division. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that at all,” he said.

“I don’t know whether Elton was having doubts at that period, but Graham decided to leave and then within a year or two it felt like Elton was looking to go as well.

“Perhaps Graham got a sense of that, or maybe he felt after a long period he needed a change.

“Dave Bassett then came into the club at the wrong time, as following Graham was nearly impossible and we’d recently lost John Barnes as well.”

One thing Jackett didn’t foresee was that Taylor would return to the club less than a decade later.

“I didn’t expect him to come back in 1996, no. I was working with Jimmy Gilligan at the time, and he said to me ‘I think he’s coming back’.

“I said ‘no, I can’t believe that’ – and then three days later he walked in!

“I didn’t see that coming, but I know Elton played a big part in getting him back. Their partnership was different then and Elton wasn’t as involved the second time around, but he was instrumental in getting Graham to come back.

“I’ve got to say that was a really exciting time again for the whole town. For him to come back and get his career going again was something special.”

Of course, people change over time and Jackett said Taylor was different in his second spell at Vicarage Road.

“He was definitely different, yeah,” recalled Jackett.

“His flexibility tactically was fantastic, he knew just when to change from one system to another. He was brilliant at knowing when to use a certain player in a certain game: remember him bringing in Tony Daley for an away game at Birmingham and he scored with a header?

“He knew when the time was right to sign a couple of players, and when to stay with what you had.

“That second time around was the peak of his managerial career for me, in his early 50s and getting to the Premier League.

“He was very set on playing 4-4-2 the first time around, second time he had been in international football and had total flexibility in formation and the way we played.”

Getting the band back together again: Graham Taylor had Jackett and Luther Blissett alongside him when he returned in 1996. (Image: Action Images)

In Jackett’s view, GT 1996-2001 was a step up from GT 1977-1987.

“I thought his achievement second time around was even better than the first time.

“The first time he had longer to build things up, and I don’t want to be disrespectful to the lads at the club in 1996, but the first time around we had really, really good players.

“Just look at our forward line. Barnes was the best player in the country, Blissett was playing for England and at the top of the goalscoring charts all the time, Callaghan was as good as anyone but didn’t get the recognition.

“We had really great players all over the place. When we played an 11-a-side first team v reserves match in training, you did well to get a game.

“The second time he had less time and we didn’t have those outstanding individuals. But he had more experience as a manager then, and that really showed.

“His observation of the game was fantastic. He could read a room, read a game, read players quicker than I’ve ever seen. That was such an important skill.

“When he was here second time he had learned how to cover up his thoughts with humour, but he still saw everything and remembered it all. He didn’t miss a trick.”

After leaving Watford, Jackett had an 18-year stint in management, taking the reins at the likes of Swansea, Millwall, Wolves and Portsmouth – and he went into each job armed with plenty he had seen and heard from Taylor.

“I did take a lot of what I saw him do, from his first and second spell at Watford, with me as a manager,” he said.

“I never felt I could be as flexible as him: he could do things off a gut feeling, whereas I’m more through planning and preparation.

“I also realised, and I mean no disrespect, I’m not him either. That can be as a big a thing as anything, the acceptance you have to go and be yourself and find what works for you.

“That second time round was great to be part of, simply because it was such a fantastic achievement. It was a shame we couldn’t stay up in the Premier League, but it was a step too far.

“But the two years that got us there were incredible and were achieved without any unbelievable budget either.”

Like many, many others, Jackett said that Taylor was always keen to stay in contact, take a call and be there for help or advice.

“He was definitely someone I always felt I could pick a phone up to.

“Later on, when he was working on the radio and I was working at Wolves, I’d always go and say hello before or after the game, and he was always very encouraging.

“I might want to talk about that day’s game, and get his opinions, but he was always more about the bigger picture and trying to encourage me generally.

“If we’d lost on a Tuesday, I might get a text saying ‘all that matters Ken is the next game, think about Saturday now’.

“He was someone I knew was always at the end of the phone, someone I kept in touch with and he was very good at managing the emotion of a manager, which obviously he knew a lot about.”

Jackett during his time as Leyton Orient manager. (Image: Action Images)

After leaving Leyton Orient last year, Jackett is now Director of Football at League Two side Gillingham.

“It’s a recruitment based role,” he explained, “and I’m working with new American owners and running the football side of things.

“I’m doing all I can to support the manager, Neil Harris, and then also to find and develop talent. We’re just starting an Under-21 team to build up the talent internally.”

And he’s not the only ex-Hornet on the staff at The Priestfield Stadium.

“Andy Hessenthaler is head of recruitment here, so we’ve got the core of a good Watford midfield. Although he left us, I’ll get round to forgiving him for that somewhere along the line!

“We’re actually not far from a decent ex-Watford five-a-side team here, as Keith Millen works in our Academy.”