The ugly side of the win over SC Paderborn

A minority of Watford fans have been critisised for their behaviour at the Benteler-Arena on Sunday and for “giving the club a bad name.”

One long-standing supporter contacted WD Sport to express his utter disgust at some obscene chanting by a very small section of Hornets fans who had made their way to Paderborn to support Watford in their final friendly of their pre-season tour of Germany. Others spoke to us last night at Dortmund airport and were equally appalled.

“The support started off very good and mainly supportive to our team but after about 10 mins I heard a comment come from my right from a group of about 10 so-called Watford fans that absolutely disgusted and offended me,” wrote Daniel Hyde in an email to us. “I thought I’d leave saying anything as it may have just slipped out. However to my utter disbelief this lad shouted the obscenity again and I couldn’t leave it and had to say something.”

Hyde, who is from English and German descent, was born and raised in Guetersloh until the age of 16 years before moving to Watford. After 24 years he decided to return to the place of his birth. He attended the game with SC Verl on Wednesday and took one of the members of the youth team he coaches to Sunday’s game.

“I do not believe in any way, shape or form it is acceptable to shout (you Kraut ****) at anyone, be it an opposing fan or player as I am German myself and had my 16 year old player from my local team with me,” he added. “I certainly took offence and was not going to let those irresponsible few give me or my club a bad name. After expressing my dissatisfaction and asking the person responsible to have some respect and to behave while abroad and while representing our club as a supporter I was verbally abused.

“These so called supporters call themselves the Watford Youth and I would advise our club to maintain a close eye on these irresponsible, immature low life as I do not want to be associated with them. They have no shame and continued to shout this racial abuse for the remainder of the game, yelling it at least another 3/4 times. I expect get another rise out of me but I was not going to give them that satisfaction.

“I feel very strongly about this incident and there were witnesses who heard the whole thing. I would hope that they also agree that this is something that needs to be dealt with or our once so very proud family club title will be irreparably damaged and that surely is nothing any of us want.”

Watford FC declined to comment and are understood to be looking further into the matter.

There were also some unsavoury scenes at the end of the game as some fans, already upset at the late cancellation of the Eintracht Braunschweig on Friday at the 11th hour, expressed their dissatisfaction at the way the players were whisked onto the coach for the mad dash to the airport without stopping.

“It takes 30 secs to say thank u, for the fans that travel! Anyone that was there will say the same! What a disgrace!!!!!” wrote Kevin Harbour on Facebook.

A female member of Watford’s staff was visibly shaken after being verbally abused while Quique Sanchez Flores also attracted their ire as he made his way onto the bus. He stopped to apologise, stressed the importance of the fans and said, according to an eye witness, his desire for the team to connect with the supporters.

“Why on earth were people abusing Emma [Saunders]?” wrote Daniel Lingham on Facebook. “Her and Jon [Marks] have worked tirelessly whilst they have been out here to ensure the fans are kept up to date with all the developments and are given access to all the highlights on Hornets Player. They deserve your thanks, not abuse.”

Added Adrian Evans: “We have some terrible fans. Even if the players came over and gave them a grand they’d still complain. Those same people are probably thinking we should replace Quique with Neil Warnock (yes, I have actually heard that).”

While the lack of opportunity for a meet and greet after the game, which has divided opinion on social media, can be attributed to less than ideal team travel arrangements, the fans could be justifiable in groaning about the half-hearted applause from the halfway line of the majority of the players at the final whistle.

The club publicly thanked the fans via social media.

A big thank you once again to all the #watfordfc fans who have travelled to support us here in Germany. Have a safe journey home. — Watford FC (@WatfordFC) July 19, 2015

Troy Deeney, totally unprompted, gave these words to us at the end of a post-match interview. “Can I just say thanks to everyone who came out. It was a long old trip and we appreciate it. Hopefully they are going to see some really good football in the next couple of weeks.”

The vast majority of the travelling supporters were impeccably behaved and touchingly paid tribute to Chris Dyer, the fan who was tragically killed in the terror attack in Tunisia, with a round of applause on the 32-minute mark. Dyer was 32 when he died.

More Watford related news