James Garrett looks at the different parts of the world where past and present Watford players and managers have originated from. This time, it's Czechoslovakia...
Juraj Kucka
Tamás Priskin
Daniel Pudil
Matěj Vydra
Technically, four players who have played for the Hornets were born in Czechoslovakia before the country’s official dissolution in 1992. However, between them they played international football for three different countries.
Tamás Priskin was only 19 years old when he signed for the club in the summer of 2006 from Hungarian side Gyori ETO. He was born in the border town of Komarno in modern day Slovakia, to Hungarian parents.
It was a tall ask for the striker, joining the club as they prepared for an unexpected season in the Premier League following a remarkable rookie campaign for manager Adrian Boothroyd.
Priskin made his debut on the first day of the season away to Everton off the bench, and despite a couple of strikes towards the end of the season, it proved to be a difficult start to his career in England.
His struggles continued into the following season, but Priskin looked every bit the Hungarian international he had become when Watford hosted Chelsea in an FA Cup fifth round match in early 2009, with thr striker putting the Hornets 1-0 up after an hour.
We only saw glimpses of Priskin’s best form as he joined fellow Championship side Ipswich in August 2009 for nearly £2 million, and went on to play over 60 times for Hungary during his career.
Juraj Kucka was also born in the Slovakian region and has gone on to have a successful playing career in Italy and for the Slovakia national team. When the Hornets signed him the summer of 2021 as a combative midfielder it looked initially like he would be a force in the Premier League.
His first performance against Aston Villa gave supporters the early belief that the team would be comfortable once again in the top tier. An imperious header away to Everton in October helped the Hornets to a famous 5-2 win but then the wheels fell off both the team and Kucka’s form.
Perhaps his age of 34 didn’t help with the extreme pace of Premier League football and he returned to Slovakia at the end of the season.
There can be no doubting the club’s greatest player from the region, and surely one of the best strikers to have played at The Vic. When Matěj Vydra signed on loan from Udinese in 2012 – at the same time as fellow Czech Republic native Daniel Pudil – he was an unknown 20-year-old, but he pretty quickly became a Watford hero and was voted Championship Player of the Year.
After scoring on his debut at Crystal Palace, he never looked back. The Czech formed one of the best strike partnerships in the club’s history with Troy Deeney. An excellent finisher who could score goals from anywhere, he was particularly deadly at making runs to get in behind defences to score.
That season, He formed one of the best strike partnerships in the club’s history with Troy Deeney. An excellent finisher who could score goals from anywhere, he was particularly deadly at making runs to get in behind defences to score.
His best goal for the club is generally forgotten in a game that is otherwise famous for that Deeney goal. ydra scored an outrageous left-footed volley from the corner of the penalty area to bring Watford level on aggregate, kickstarting the series of events that resulted in the greatest ending.
After season on loan in the Premier League with West Brom in the Premier League, he returned to The Vic on loan again at the start of the 2014/15 campaign. Despite some fantastic moments, and scoring 16 goals, he played a slightly smaller role due to new signing Odion Ighalo’s impressive partnership with Deeney.
However, he will always go back in Watford history for his wonderful strike on a glorious spring day at Brighton in the 95th minute, confirming three points a couple of hours before promotion back to the Premier League was confirmed thanks to results elsewhere.
It was slightly ironic that it was only that summer that Vydra finally signed permanently, but just a matter of weeks later agreed a year-long loan move to Reading. He then had spells at Derby and Burnley before returning last year to the Czech Republic to play for Viktoria Plzen.
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