It seems ironic now, but after Elton John first met the then chairman Jim Bonser, he felt the necessity to explain: “I am here to help, not to sponge”.

He left the Watford boardroom that first time in August 1973, with tiepins, scarves and ties and seemed genuinely grateful and touched by the gift of this regalia.

What Bonser made of Elton’s platform shoes and bright mauve dashes of colouring in his hair, we can only guess. The club secretary, Ron Rollitt, waiting to greet the star earlier, asked in passing: “What sort of music does he play?” – a clear indication the club knew very little about the man they were meeting.

Elton embarked on a ten-week tour of the States after that meeting but promised to be back for the Aldershot home game and he duly appeared. The following week, he travelled up to Rochdale with the players and myself and was grateful to be shown round the Spotland Supporters’ Club, noting this humble Lancashire club boasted better social facilities than the fans enjoyed at Vicarage Road.

During his formative years, Elton had lived in Pinner and Croxley Green. His parents were divorced but he had a football connection through his uncle, Roy Dwight, who opened the scoring but broke his leg in the 1959 FA Cup Final, playing for the triumphant Nottingham Forest against Luton. The rock star had also spent many hours on The Bend at Vicarage Road, enjoying the likes of Freddie Bunce and particularly Cliff Holton. “He has to be my all-time favourite player,” he said at the time.

He also named Sammy Chung as a player he enjoyed watching and admitted to Ron Rollitt, he had run on the pitch with the rest, despite the secretary’s order over the Tannoy system: “Get off that pitch.”

“I was also a fan of Dennis Bond and Duncan Welbourne, who I am pleased to see are still here,” said Elton, who along with Vic Lewis, turned down the offer of honorary vice presidency and insisted on paying.

Lewis, his European manager, requested two copies of the club’s balance sheet and said, if the chairman was agreeable, he would make an appointment for financial advisers to talk to the club to arrange the possibility of a concert.

“They can see how we can try to help the club get back into Division 2. I won’t be at the meeting. Those sort of things bore me,” said the man who was then rated as “near millionaire”.

To the average Watford fan, Elton was a “quirky and welcome addition” to the club, giving them a dash of showbusiness limelight. Oddly enough, Elton was a Buddy Holly fan at school and took to wearing glasses like the rock star.

“It really played havoc with my eyesight,” he was to admit but Holly, breaking in 1957, had, by his success, proved that you did not have to look like a teenage Rock Hudson or Paul Newman to become a rock star: talent could get you there and sustain you, even if you looked a geek. Similarly, Elton was not a cheesecake star, but his talent plus an ability to sell Liberace-style Hollywood back to the Yanks, established him very quickly as a multi-millionaire. But in England in 73-74, he had yet to reach the superstar bracket.

Locally, his credibility accelerated when he hosted a pop concert in May 1974, at the ground, attracting 31,000 fans as he performed in front of the Shrodells Stand, supported by Nazareth – with a cameo appearance from Rod Stewart.

Perhaps he had received more exposure to the genuine Watford fans a few weeks earlier when he appeared for the first 20 minutes against Wolves, when former boss Bill McGarry brought his side down to help celebrate Duncan Welbourne’s testimonial before 5,728 fans. McGarry had signed Duncan to the Hornets, back in 1963, on the day President John F Kennedy was assassinated.

Elton revelled in the evening and played in attack, achieving a life-time ambition, performing in the Watford kit, although in his young days, they played in blue and white not yellow and black.

Then Duncan, after his testimonial game at Vicarage Road, admitted to being “gobsmacked”. The reason was, while Duncan was hosting a few guests in the VP Suite (later the 81 club), Elton came to join us and presented the player with his gold disc for Goodbye Yellow Brick Road which, along with a few Watford shirts and a video or two, remains the old player’s prize possession.

It was an extremely generous gesture and indicative of the strength of the feeling the rock star had for the club and personnel.

Elton also gave a testimonial concert for old warhorse Duncan (and one the following year for Johnny Williams) at the Top Rank, Watford, performing with just a piano. It was a staggering solo performance.

Later he was to donate the proceeds of a concert at Watford Town Hall to Ross Jenkins’ Testimonial Fund, similarly having also raised money for Ron Rollitt, the long-serving secretary who was awarded a testimonial.

It was odd he should raise money for a very appreciative Ron. Some years earlier, I had spotted a paragraph in the New Musical Express that contended Elton John was a Watford fan, and had wanted them to beat Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final back in 1970.

I mentioned this tit-bit of information to Ron, who looked at me questioningly. “Who the hell is he?” he asked. Ron was to find out one morning in 1973, when Elton arrived and shook his hand outside Vicarage Road, towering on platform shoes. He was also to discover “what sort of music” Elton played, at his testimonial.