Cardiff City business decision benefitted Watford massively: View | OneFootball

In early 2015, Watford were a club chasing down promotion to the Premier League.

Having lost in the 2012/13 play-off final at Wembley, and finished a dismal 13th in 2013/14, the 2014/15 campaign was going well under Slavisa Jokanovic, with the Hornets sitting just inside the top six at the turn of the year.

A strong run early in the new year then meant Watford climbed into serious automatic promotion contention, and by early March, Watford sat fourth in the standings.

That month, the club would make a pivotal acquisition that would no doubt go on to benefit them greatly as they eventually secured a spot in the top two and promotion to the top-flight.

Watford sign Matthew Connolly

That acquisition was bringing Cardiff City defender Mathew Connolly to the club.

In mid-March, the Bluebirds defender signed for the Hornets on an emergency loan deal until the end of the season, with Watford having been short at the back since January, when Sebastian Bassong had returned to Norwich City.

In fact, Connolly himself would later go on to reveal that Watford had tried to bring him to the club during the January window, but to no success.

Given that the 26-year-old had started 22 games for Cardiff City that season, it felt like an odd deal for the Bluebirds to sanction when they did.

However, Bluebirds boss Russell Slade soon explained the logic behind the move.

Slade: Connolly loan a business decision

Speaking after the deal had been done, Slade revealed that the deal was motivated by finances, and purely a business transaction.

"He'll come back, he's still a Cardiff City player. It's not for a footballing reason he's gone," Slade explained, via BBC Sport.

"We don't look like we are going to make the play-offs and it also looks like we are not going to get relegated.

"We're in the middle of the table so a business decision was made for the football club.

"He knows the reasons for it [loan move] to be granted."

As it turned out, the so called business decision made by Cardiff City massively benefitted Watford as they sought promotion.

Connolly's Watford debut came in a 12-minute substitute appearance away at Derby County in a 2-2 draw, but from then on in, despite being an emergency loan, Slavisa Jokanovic used him as a starter.

He would go on to start five of the club's last six league matches for example, only missing out on Watford's Easter Monday fixture against Birmingham City due to a tight hamstring.

Crucially, Connolly never suffered a defeat as a Hornet, winning four of the six matches he featured in as a Watford player, putting in some very reliable performances and even managing to get on the scoresheet in a 3-1 victory over Nottingham Forest.

Of course, Connolly was not the sole reason for those results, but his addition had certainly helped, and there is surely no doubt the experiences he had would have benefited the dressing room, too.

Connolly had won promotion from the Championship on three previous occasions, firstly at QPR, followed by Reading and then Cardiff City.

Adding a player with those experiences that was capable of starting and performing well in matches at the crunch end of the season proved a great bit of business from Watford.

Whereas it was a business decision for Cardiff City to allow him to join the Hornets, it was an arguably a greater one for Watford to snap him up, given his arrival no doubt aided the club, to whatever extent, in their push for promotion and the Premier League finances that come with it.

As a result, even though his total performances totalled just six in a Watford shirt, and he would return to Cardiff that summer, Matthew Connolly will be a name fondly remembered by supporters at Vicarage Road.