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With the 2022 centenary of Watford’s move to Vicarage Road approaching, writers from The Watford Treasury magazine look back at players who performed great feats on home soil.

Today, David Harrison writes about the star player in Watford’s first win over higher-division opponents at The Vic, who went on to manage the club twice.

There will be Watford fans today who followed the club during Neil McBain’s second spell in the Vicarage Road managerial seat. However it’s unlikely many people alive would have witnessed McBain’s first spell in the hot seat, while if you were lucky enough to see the big man actually playing for the club, you’re likely to have a telegram from the Queen stashed away at home.

McBain joined Watford for £1,000 from Liverpool in 1928, already a seasoned Scottish international. He was 33 and had collected three caps, the first of which saw a memorable 1-0 win over England. As a player McBain was unquestionably the real deal.

‘A composed, consistent, intelligent, tenacious and tactically versatile player with excellent technique and distribution.’ Well, actually that’s an internet description of Filippo Galli, but not a bad parallel in terms of experience and pedigree, despite the Italian arriving here 73 years later.

McBain became player-manager in the summer of 1929, before hanging up his boots in 1932. His first managerial spell lasted until 1937, and the board made the extraordinary decision to reappoint him no less than 19 years later. Neither managerial stint could be termed a great success, but as a player McBain had been a class act. In fact, he must have stuck out like a sore thumb in Division 3 (South).

He had arrived at Vicarage Road with little fanfare, and slotted quietly into the half-back line. McBain joined during our ninth Football League season, the seventh at Vicarage Road. Despite high expectations, things were not going well, with a succession of bottom-half finishes. However, the 1928/29 FA Cup campaign offered a welcome break from league action and represented an opportunity for some giant-killing.

Having edged past non-league Leyton and lowly-league rivals Merthyr Town, Watford were handed a plum third-round home tie against the mighty Preston North End, previous winners of the competition and boasting the legendary Alex James in their side. The great Tommy Barnett scored the game’s only goal that day, in front of 18,344 at Vicarage Road, to earn Watford’s greatest scalp to date as a Football League club. Frank Smith kept James under control throughout but it was McBain’s display that caught the eye.

The club programme was rarely given to effusive praise but on this occasion didn’t hold back. ‘They all played wonderfully well and if there was a player who stood out in the twenty-two, it was Neil McBain. He was simply wonderful and gave the PNE halves an exhibition and object lesson of how half-backs should play, especially how to keep the ball on the ground and feed the forwards. It was pretty to see McBain bring the ball under control on the hard going so quickly and glide his passes just at the right moment. Well played McBain!’

McBain lived a full and noteworthy life. He served in the Great War, in both the Royal Navy and Black Watch. In his playing career he represented the unprecedented trio of Manchester United, Liverpool and Everton. Every bit as remarkable, certainly in these parts, he somehow managed both Watford and Luton Town, as well as an eye-catching spell in charge of the world-famous Argentinian club, Estudiantes de la Plata.

He also holds two Football League records unlikely ever to be broken. In March 1947, while managing Division 3 (North) New Brighton, McBain was forced to appear in goal when transport difficulties precluded his regular keeper from reaching an away game at Hartlepool. By then McBain was 51 years old, distinctly bulky and hadn’t played a Football League game for 16 years. He was also 5ft 8ins and, as a half-back during his playing career, not the obvious choice for an emergency goalkeeping slot.

That appearance made McBain the oldest man ever to play in the Football League, as well as achieving the longest playing career, 32 years elapsing between his first and last appearances. He was not a great manager, and by the end of his second spell had become a marginal figure at the club, but that 1929 display against Preston remains the stuff of legends and made Neil McBain a legitimate Home Ground Hero.