Watford Football Club has played at just two grounds since formation way back in 1881.
Originally playing at Cassio Road during their non-league days, a need for a larger ground became apparent when the club joined the Football League in 1920.
Fortunately Benskins, a prominent local brewing firm at the time, managed to purchase the Vicarage Road site for £2, 300 in 1921, initially handing the land to the football club on a 21-year lease.
The ground was constructed within a year and officially opened by Col. Charles Healey of Benskins for the Third Division South visit of Millwall on Wednesday 30 August 1922.
Below we take a look back at the history of the stands that help make the Stadium what it is today.
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The Rous Stand, complete with two tiers, executive boxes and club lounge accommodation now offers the modern day football spectator all of the creature comforts one expects of a football stadia, whilst allowing Watford FC to commercially compete at the highest level.
However, that has not always been the case and the first ever game staged at Vicarage Road saw spectators on this side of the stadium viewing the action from the Union Stand, which had been transported and reconstructed from the old Cassio Road ground.
By the 1930's the club began revamping the ground and commissioned the building of the Shrodells Stand.
This construction was to witness many memorable matches for the next 50 years or so, and while the original structure had been extended in 1979, with the installation of a further 2, 200 seats to replace the standing enclosure in front of the stand, by the mid eighties and, in the aftermath of the Taylor findings into the Bradford and Hillsborough tragedies, modernisation was deemed necessary.
The club decided on the building of a new stand, and a £3 million development, being partly-funded via a loan from Elton John was erected and named after Sir Stanley Rous.
With the Upper tier and Executive boxes complete, a First Division visit of Oxford United on Saturday 23 August 1986 heralded the opening of the new stand,
Temporary seats forming a lower-tier were added later, and a further improvement saw around 4000 permanent seats fitted in time for the visit of
The building of the club lounge executive facilities completed the structure.
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When
The Supporters' Club eventually raised sufficient funds to enable the Rookery End to feature concrete terracing under cover and this aim was realised in 1959.
However, by the early nineties spectator standing was becoming a thing of the past in the higher echelons of English Football and the club decided to build a new all-seat stand which would take just under a season to construct.
The bulldozers began demolition work on the old Rookery covered terrace in July 1994 and the whole development project was executed by Costain Building and Civil Engineering Ltd, who had also built the Rous Stand eight years previously. Costing £1.6 million, approximately £300,000 of this figure was contributed by the Football Trust, with the rest having to be financed by Watford Football Club.
The new stand was used by Watford supporters for the first time in a League Division One fixture against
Currently the newest part of Vicarage Road, the Rookery “Home” End Stand can seat 6, 960 spectators and, unlike the stand at the opposite end of the ground, has facilities on two levels.
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Also known as the Main Stand - The older section of the main stand on the Occupation Road side of the ground is the one part of the stadium still remaining from it's inception in 1922.
The stand was included as part of the stadium constructed with the financial help of Benskins' breweries, and the structure featured 3, 500 seats, plus a standing enclosure which cost around £7,000 to build at the time.
By 1953 floodlights had been installed on the roof of the stand, replaced seven years later by four pylons in the corners of the ground.
In 1969 a new extension to the main stand was added, increasing capacity by approximately 1700 seats to this side of the ground.
Seats were then added to the terrace in front of the original main stand in 1982 to create the club's family enclosure, with the addition of uncovered seats towards the Vicarage Road end of the stadium around the same time.
The East stand is in the design phase of a new state of the art facility, and further details are expected to be announced soon following the club's return to the Premiership.
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When the ground opened in 1922 the "terracing" at this end of the ground consisted of little more than an earth bank.
Ground improvements through the years saw concrete replacing railway sleepers, and crush barriers were also added as health and safety became ever more prevalent at football grounds.
An electronic scoreboard erected in 1978 heralded the Graham Taylor glory years, but by the early nineties spectator standing was becoming a thing of the past as mentioned above.
The last game featuring open terracing at this end of the ground took place on Saturday 8 May 1993 with Oxford United again the visitors in a League Division One fixture, although on this occasion they spoilt the party, winning by the game's only goal.
The new £2.3 million construction, complete with new floodlights mounted on the roof, was officially opened for the visit of
Now seating up to 5, 800 spectators the stand is regularly used by visiting fans, although current manager, Aidy Boothroyd made sure it was used exclusively by home supporters for a Play-off Semi-Final Second Leg victory over Crystal Palace at the end of the 2005/06 season.