Heurelho Gomes does not recall his first Watford encounter with any great affection. ‘Horrible,’ he winced, referencing an empty, condemned stand and a dressing room not big enough to accommodate his Tottenham team-mates as they prepared for a League Cup tie in 2008.
‘Eleven had to change and then move out to make space for the others, it was tiny, horrible. And the pitch was horrible. And now it’s unbelievable; you can see the stadium, the facilities, the pitch — pitches like this one.’
Gomes stands on a sharp new artificial 3G surface, opened by the Watford FC Community Sports and Education Trust with the help of a £250,000 grant from the Premier League and the FA Facilities Fund, opened in the town to support grassroots football.