Dreadful Stoke should feel embarrassed to be top of the pile this morning after the hollow triumph of a point against 10 men.
Steeped in tradition, from Stanley Matthews to Gordon Banks and George Eastham, the Potters' heritage would be a welcome addition to the Premier League if promotion was based on nostalgia alone.
But if this timid sterility is the best they can muster, they needn't bother going up.
Seldom, if ever, has a team reached the Championship summit with a dismal performance where hermits would have put their sense of adventure to shame.
Despite playing for 68 minutes with an extra man, after the harsh dismissal of former Stoke captain John Eustace, they were terrified to cross the halfway line.
Lone striker Ricardo Fuller spent a more cloistered afternoon than a monk, and the service was lousier than the queue for KFC at a motorway service station on a Bank Holiday weekend.
Stoke manager Tony Pulis and his players lined up to commiserate with the inconsolable Eustace afterwards, but it was just an expedient camouflage for their woeful display.
But never mind Eustace, let's talk about Useless. Normally we could deal with wretched referee Rob Styles, who clearly wanted everyone to know that a bigcheese Premier League ref was in town, in short measure.
Since he was determined to be the centre of attention, however, let's grant his wish and devote his execrable performance the scrutiny it richly deserves.
Nothing personal, mate, but stop looking so impossibly smug and get your coat.
Just for the record, Styles was wrong to send off Eustace for a foul on Richard Cresswell, gave Watford a soft penalty by way of redemption and bottled obvious Harlem Globetrotters handiwork by Ryan Shawcross in the last minute. Needless to say, Styles - whose crimesheet this season includes Chelsea's phantom penalty equaliser at Anfield - refused to explain his decisions afterwards.
Potters skipper Andy Griffin, whose wrongful dismissal at QPR last month was quashed on appeal, said: "It was a foul, possibly a yellow card, but a red card? No way.
"A couple of weeks ago I was on the end of a straight red myself, which was overturned later, and referees wonder why players sometimes get a bit cross with them.
"Hopefully Styles will look at it and it will be rescinded. I know it's not our prerogative to appeal on John's behalf, but I would like to see justice done and hopefully it will prevail."
Griffin conceded the penalty from which Watford's batteringram striker Darius Henderson missed his second spot-kick in four days.
Dismayed Eustace said: "There was definitely no intent to hurt anyone, and why would I want to kick people who were my team-mates six weeks ago?
"I've been through some bad injuries in my career, but that's the lowest I've ever felt on a football pitch because I had been looking forward to this game so much and the ref has seen something that wasn't there.
"I have been sent off once before, four or five years ago, but I'm not a dirty player and the last thing I would want to do is hurt Richard and the whole of the Stoke team couldn't believe it, either."
As Eustace was talking, Cresswell wandered past and turned to offer his own verdict: "It was never a sending off." There you go, Mr Styles - straight from the horse's mouth. Let's see if you are big enough to reconsider it.