What is it like to lead your team out at Wembley and what is it like to miss out on the honour? In our latest serialisation of Captains, the seventh volume from Tales from the Vicarage, we hear from three men who have all been there, or thereabouts.

The 1984 FA Cup Final, while ending in an agonising 2-0 defeat to Everton, is arguably one of the biggest days in the history of Watford.

For Les Taylor the game represented the chance to lift the famous trophy at the home of English football.

Taylor, though, planned to send the suspended Wilf Rostron up the steps to collect the trophy if Watford won.

“I wouldn’t have let him do it,” says Rostron, even though his exclusion from the biggest day of his football life still rankles as much with Hornets supporters as Andy Gray’s foul on Steve Sherwood and the defeat itself.

Although he would prefer to erase the incident from his mind, Rostron admits he has ‘total’ recall of it. “I don’t know what their lad [Paul Elliott] had eaten for breakfast, but some of his tackles were ridiculous,” says the Watford legend.

“When the ref blew, I thought the worst I could get was a booking because it wasn’t even a foul, really. I had a word with the ref about the way he had been letting Elliott carry on and conducting himself because it must have been his fifth foul, and I said, ‘How many more is he going to commit and you let him off?’ I don’t know if my remark wound him up, but he brought out the red card and sent us both off. I couldn’t believe it.”

Pat Rice was an option to replace Rostron, but reflects on the Graham Taylor’s decision to leave him out as the correct call.

Rice said: “Graham always wondered if he made a mistake by not playing me in the final. He called me into his office and asked me what I thought about playing at Wembley, because I was such an influence on the team.

“Of course it’s nice to be held in such a high regard, but I told him, ‘If you think I’m going to say I should play in the FA Cup Final, I’m not going to do it. I’ve gone through just about every emotion it’s possible to experience in Wembley finals – but some of these lads may never get the chance to play in another one. Sorry, gaffer, I ain’t going to make that decision. It’s your call.

“As manager, Graham was the one who had to live with it – and, quite rightly, he didn’t play me. If I had been in his position, I would have come to the same conclusion.”

Step forward Taylor, who has this to say about the experience: “I was always a talker on the pitch and I thought of myself as a decent motivator of people around me, but when Graham asked me to stand in for Wilf, I must admit I let my mind wander. What would I do if we won it?

“Plan A was to push Wilf up the steps to lift the cup because he deserved it. He was our captain, and even if he couldn’t play, I wanted him to have the honour.

“Plan B was to let Elton lift the cup. Along with Graham he did so much for the club, and in many ways our success on the pitch was his dream coming true.

“If Wilf wasn’t allowed up those steps, we thought it would be the perfect gesture if Elton – or maybe Elton and Graham Taylor together – did the honours.”

Captains retails at £10 and can be ordered here.