Elton John 'upset and disappointed' by Watford's recent slump

WHAT HAPPENED
Former Watford owner and lifelong supporter Elton John said he was "upset and disappointed at the decline over the past few weeks" after the Hornets' 4-0 home loss to 22nd-placed Burnley. His comment appeared in a response to a club Instagram post but has since been deleted.

MATCH AND TABLE CONTEXT
Watford sit 20th in the Championship having lost three straight league games and five of their past six. Against Burnley they were 3-0 down inside 25 minutes and went on to lose 4-0. Since the start of the season they have only picked up points in one of their subsequent fixtures, a 2-1 home win over Preston last month.

MANAGERIAL AND RECENT FORM DETAILS
Alessio Dionisi was appointed as Watford manager in June on a two-year contract. He is the club's 12th head coach, not including interim bosses, since the end of the 2020-21 season. Watford had earlier in the campaign beaten Southampton at Vicarage Road and drawn away at Wrexham and at home to West Ham.

BURLEY'S RECENT RECORD (AS REPORTED)
Burnley, who had previously won one league match in 2026 — against Crystal Palace in the Premier League in February — had not won away in almost a year prior to this result.

ELTON JOHN AND WATFORD — A BRIEF HISTORY
John, 79, is a childhood Watford fan who had two spells as the club's owner. He oversaw the club's rise from the fourth tier to a second-placed finish in Division One and European football under Graham Taylor in the 1970s and 1980s, returned in the mid-1990s to reappoint Taylor and saw successive promotions into the Premier League in 1999, and relinquished control in 2002. He released a book, Watford Forever, in 2024 and has a stand named after him at Vicarage Road; he has also performed concerts at the ground.