In May 1999 Richard Johnson stitched his name indelibly into Watford folklore by helping the club end an 11-year top-flight exile courtesy of a 2-0 win over Bolton at Wembley in the play-off final.

After the final whistle the Australian midfielder knew that, whatever he achieved from there, nothing would eclipse that "emotional" day because it was the culmination of many years of efforts on his and his parents’ behalf.

Mention the year ‘1999’ to Johnson even now and one memory is most prominent. “Mum and Dad came to Wembley”, he said as he looks back on that time with pride.

“My parents were in Australia and they invested a lot of time and money to make my career happen for me. Then to share those special moments with mum and dad was pretty special. My dad flew over for the Birmingham semi-final and it was good to have him over.

“Then, when we made it to the final, my mum also came over. For me Wembley is a special place because my parents were Englishmen who immigrated to Australia, where we were allowed to stay up until two in the morning to watch the FA Cup final when we were kids. For that reason, to play at Wembley was just an absolute dream come true. Although it wasn’t an FA Cup final, it was still fantastic and a memorable experience in 1999.

“It was my second promotion in two years but for me personally there is nothing that will compare to playing at Wembley and being promoted to the Premier League although the 1997-1998 season, when we won the Second Division, was probably my best season with the club.

“I suffered a bit with injuries through my whole career but that season for me was my best because I was injury-free and I played over 40-odd games, scoring a few decent goals, like the one against Fulham on the last day of the season which won us the title.

“In a footballer’s career moments like that don’t happen to everybody and I was very fortunate and privileged to experience it, that’s for sure."

The final itself was a slow burner as the lack of quality left a lot to be desired. The fear of getting exposed on the break meant that both teams played with the handbrake on and there was nothing to separate Watford and Bolton until the 38th minute when the Hornets finally got their noses in front thanks to an overhead kick by Nick Wright, which sent the fans into raptures.

After the interval Bolton laid siege to goalkeeper Alec Chamberlain’s goal in an attempt to pull level, but a strong collective team performance by the Hornets helped withstand the onslaught before Allan Smart put both the game and promotion to bed after 89 minutes.

Johnson believes that the occasion got to the 22 players on the Wembley pitch that day, as he reminisced about Watford’s run-in and unlikely route to the playoffs.

“I have to be honest”, he said.

“The final was a bit of a blow, definitely. The occasion was massive, but I think that the process to get to Wembley, it sort of goes back towards the season as long as the last 11 games. A moment which stands out for me because we were in mid-table but then we went on a run and won the last ten out of the 11 and I think Tommy Mooney scored nine goals or something like that in that final period which allowed us to get to the Premier League.”

Despite the following Premier League campaign being blighted by a gruesome knee injury and relegation heartache, Johnson reiterated that he harbours no regrets at all.

Instead, he prefers to remember the positive things from that ill-fated campaign as he prides himself on scoring against Manchester United, who had just won an historic treble the season before.

“You know what? I am not a person who looks back or dwells, I am not like that," he said.

“It was just something that happened and injuries happen to all footballers. Obviously I would have liked to have had a bit more of an influence and play a few more games but it’s just one of those things that you have to live with as a professional sportsman. Injuries are part and parcel of a career. It’s just a shame that injury happened early on in the season when we beat Liverpool at Anfield with Mooney scoring the goal and we ended up winning 1-0.

“But that knee ligament injury was there for quite a while and then it’s always difficult to catch up fitness-wise. The pace and the different level of the Premier League, it was always going to be difficult to make that up. But listen, I was proud of the achievement and that I got to experience playing Premier League football.

“There’s not many kids that grow up from a small country town in Australia and get to experience that.

“Although it would have been nice to have an injury-free season and you never know what could have happened after that.

“ Scoring at Old Trafford was a great experience. They had a midfield four of Giggs, Scholes, Keane and Beckham, pretty daunting.

“It was great to score at Old Trafford even if I could not really celebrate because we were 4-0 down at the time but it was definitely a dream come true to play and score there. And at least I gave the Watford fans something to cheer about."