Tommy heading south, Leeds fan interaction and south Wales disappointment are all covered in this week's diary
As feared we see Tommy depart Vicarage Road but more positives signs on the pitch.
It’s been on the cards for a while now but nevertheless it was still tough to see Tommy go. The valuation was finally matched and I’m sure there’ll be a few of us tuning in today to watch Tom make his debut against Man City.
He has been fantastic over the past couple of seasons and has conducted himself incredibly well too; if we do get the opportunity to face him in the coming years I’m sure he’ll get a rapturous reception and it wouldn’t surprise me if we were to see him back in a Watford shirt before his time is up. It’s a nice thought anyway.
There was also the departure of Jobi. This happened with much less speculation and barely got a mention on Sky Sports News, but again a key player to us who will be missed.
On the field it has been another eventful week, the disappointment of departing the cup and then the heartache of last-minute drama at Swansea.
The Leeds game was a great one for the neutral I’m sure, chances at both ends with two good teams fighting it out. It was great to get another game and was pleasing to be able to put in a good performance.
I’ve played at Elland Road once before and remember loving the occasion then, there’s something about that ground and their fans that really gives you a buzz.
I remember playing there last time and, when running towards the home fans, I could see them applauding, so thinking it was a nice gesture decided to return the compliment: wrong move!
They then abused me for much of the match. That certainly taught me a lesson, so this time I managed to avoid that pitfall but still had plenty of interaction with the fans thanks to the mascot! It was a lot of fun despite the groundsman being one of the rudest people I’ve encountered for some time and then having the cheek to report me to the FA! But despite that I really enjoyed the experience and was just gutted that we couldn’t at least hold on for penalties.
The Swansea game again had plenty of positives and up till the last 10 minutes actually looked pretty comfortable. We then sat back a bit and Swansea created chances which Scott did well to deal with on a couple of occasions before being beaten at the death and meaning we went home with only the one point rather than the three.
So six points from the first five games; not terrible but we are aware it could’ve been so much more. We now have the break for internationals but when we return we know we have a great chance of accumulating some points so we'll be training hard towards that.
There’s still a couple more days until the transfer deadline so I wouldn’t be surprised if I have more activity to speak about next week but hopefully it’s of players arriving rather than departing!
Best wishes.