The departure of Lee Johnson from Watford, although sad for anyone leaving their first place of professional work, cannot really be mourned as anything other than an inevitability. The diminutive midfielder was unfortunate in that, for many, his adoption onto professional forms was nothing more than nepotism, as Lee's father Gary directed the Youth Academy at the same time. Personally, I thought that, while Lee was worthy of professional forms, the exclusion of Stuart Maynard, also a central midfielder and youth team captain for 1998-99, suggested that the cries of nepotism from the dark were in a way justified.

With no further increase to his 5' 6" frame, Lee was unable to assert himself in the reserves during the terrible season of 1999-2000, when the reserves failed to win even a tiny proportion of the games they might have expected to. And the rest, as they say, was inevitable. With the Hornets showing more ambition in the transfer market after the inception of a new board during last term, it was clear that the time allowed to develop was up, and the P45 was issued.

Always a lovely chap, Lee is wished well by all who met him. Possibly the only person I would wish to have taken steroids from an early age!

Pete Fincham