A total of 24 teams competed in the
Football League Championship in the 2009–10 season. Each team played 46 matches; two against every other team, one match at each club's stadium. Three points were awarded for each win, one point per draw, and none for defeats. At the end of the season the top two teams would gain promotion to the
Premier League. The bottom three would be relegated to
Football League One. The teams that finished 3rd–6th competed in the
play-offs, with the winner earning the third and final promotion place. The provisional fixture list was released on 17 June 2009, but was subject to change in the event of clashes with other competitions, inclement weather, or matches being selected for television coverage. and his first game was as a substitute against
Leicester City. With Watford trailing 2–0 at half time, Mackay changed from a 4–5–1 formation to a 4–4–2, with striker Helguson replacing attacking midfielder
Henri Lansbury. Helguson's impact was immediate. He set up Graham for Watford's opening goal, before scoring twice to put Watford into a 3–2 lead. However, Helguson suffered an injury shortly before the end of the match, and Ellington replaced him for the final ten minutes. Leicester subsequently equalised, and the match ended 3–3. A total of 3,389 Watford fans attended the away match against Reading, who were managed by ex-Watford manager
Brendan Rodgers. Former Watford player
Grzegorz Rasiak scored Reading's goal, in a match that also saw
Jobi McAnuff and
Brynjar Gunnarsson facing their former club. Graham equalised for Watford, and despite a
red card for Ellington, the match finished as a draw. Preparation for Watford's game against
Coventry City was affected by a virus affecting six first-team players.
Will Hoskins scored his first goal of the season, but Coventry scored three goals to inflict Watford's first home defeat of the season. Four days later
Cardiff City defeated Watford 4–0; Watford's heaviest home league defeat since January 2004. Upon the resumption of club football, Watford recorded an away win at
Middlesbrough, who had just been relegated from the
Premier League. Three days later, Ipswich led Watford 1–0 at the end of standard time at
Portman Road, but
Nathan Ellington equalised in the last minute to deny Ipswich their first league win of 2009–10. Watford's game against
Sheffield Wednesday was their third in seven days, and first goals of the season for Lansbury,
Adrian Mariappa and
Jon Harley ensured Watford's second win in that time. Eight days later Watford travelled to fourth-placed
West Bromwich Albion. Watford were defeated 5–0—their heaviest defeat of the season and biggest ever defeat against West Brom. They responded with a home win over Preston in their next match, with Cleverley scoring to join Danny Graham as the club's leading goalscorer of the season. After a break for the last international fixtures of 2009, Watford resumed the season with a 3–0 home win over
Scunthorpe United. Helguson scored two goals, meaning that at that point he was averaging more than a goal per game in 2009–10. Watford suffered consecutive defeats away to
Crystal Palace and
Newcastle, failing to score in either match. The Newcastle match was followed by a home game against
Queens Park Rangers two days later, due to television coverage.
Lloyd Doyley scored his first ever goal in professional football to equalise before half-time, and Watford eventually won 3–1. This marked Watford's fourth consecutive home win, and took them into a playoff position. Such was the surprise at Doyley's goal, that the club released a commemorative T-shirt, with the slogan "
I was there when Lloyd scored!" However, Watford's sequence of home wins ended with a 1–0 loss to
Derby County, and was followed by a defeat at the league's then bottom side,
Peterborough United—their first win since sacking manager
Darren Ferguson. The team finished 2009 with consecutive draws against
Nottingham Forest and
Bristol City.
2010 Watford's start to 2010 was impacted by the
unusually cold winter, which caused the postponement of two home matches in January. Consequently, they played only two matches that month: 2–1 and 3–2 defeats away to
Doncaster Rovers and
Blackpool respectively. They recorded two wins and a defeat from their first three matches of February, before again suffering a postponement, this time due to a waterlogged pitch at
Loftus Road. A 2–2 draw against
Scunthorpe United on 20 February left Watford 13th in the Championship on 39 points, having played the fewest matches of any club in the division. Mackay later remarked that fixture congestion in March and April caught up on his relatively small squad. Between 20 February and 20 April, Watford played fifteen matches, winning two (against
Plymouth Argyle and
Ipswich Town), drawing four and losing nine. Although they never entered the relegation zone, with five games remaining they were separated from it only on goal difference. However, wins against Plymouth, Reading and
Coventry City ensured that Watford remained in the Championship for the
2010–11 season.
Results Summary From their 3rd game until their 31st, Watford found themselves in a mid-table position; seldom in the top six, but several points clear of the relegation zone. A series of fixture postponements meant that, as of their 30th fixture, Watford had played fewer matches than any other Championship team. The postponements were followed by a run of one win in 12 games between February and April, leading to Watford slipping close to the relegation places. With five matches to play, they were 21st, ahead of
Sheffield Wednesday only on
goal difference. Survival was sealed in the penultimate match with a 3–0 win against Reading. A subsequent victory at Coventry elevated Watford to a final position of 16th, their highest place in the table for two months. The team finished with 54 points – 16 fewer than Blackpool in the final playoff position, and 7 more than Sheffield Wednesday, the highest placed of the three relegated teams. ;Key ==League Cup==