So loved by Watford fans that they followed him to his next club.
The fee Watford paid for Cliff Holton in 1958 was a club record. He was a proven First Division player coming to play in the Fourth Division.
But in his first 40 games, he scored only 10 goals. He wasn’t looking great value.
Then it changed. In his next 40 games, he scored 37.
In his next 56 games, he scored 44.
He took Watford from mid-table in Division Four to a 4th place finish in Division Three, delivering the club’s first-ever Football League promotion.
Then, bewilderingly, the club sold him.
He was so clearly the main man at the club that he made the manager feel weak. The manager sold him.
Watford fans were so devastated when he signed for Northampton that many went to watch Northampton instead. They saw Cliff score a hat-trick on his debut.
Watford fans who stuck with the club saw Cliff score a hat-trick AGAINST the Hornets at Vicarage Road.
By popular demand, Watford brought Cliff back to the club a few years later – in 1965/66. He was our top scorer that season too, of course.
Now he’s in Hornet Heaven – where he’s a loved and respected presence.
Graham Taylor said about Cliff: “Every time I met him, I was aware that here was a complete person. I always felt, when I had left his company, that he had given me positive thoughts, a positive impression.”
Cliff Holton stars in the first episode of Series 22 of Hornet Heaven: ‘Field of Dreams’. Find out more about the series here.
Read about other ‘Deceased Players of The Month’ here.
HORNET HEAVEN 