I guess one could argue that that was exactly what happened after our most successful long-term fix - Graham Taylor - left. But I agree - I'd hate to see the Pozzos sell up and leave. I really don't understand those who shout for them to go seemingly at every setback. I can only assume that they are of the 'Johnny-come-lately' variety who really have no idea of the club's history - or they are the type who will only attend top flight matches and come out of the woodwork after promotion is achieved. When all is said and done, the only real lasting legacy that a football club - well the vast majority of football clubs - can have is their fan base. Owners come and go, as do managers, players and backroom staff. In my time as a fan, we've had a few dips in fan numbers, but since reaching the top flight for the first time, our numbers have been surprisingly stable - never too high, but rarely very low.
I think it's easy to forget that there are fans in their early 20s who won't really remember a pre-Pozzo Watford now, in the same way I'm too young to remember a Watford whose natural state was to be in Div 3/4, and so being in League One would feel like the end of the world for me! For those people, I can forgive some frustration, but even then they should appreciate where we are now.
A clubs fan base is not the only legacy BB. The other legacy is that we have a list of legends who have played for the club - otherwise we wouldn't have posters on here with user names like Luther, Scullion, Andytoprankin and yourself - names that we can all relate to and which bind us together. Will there ever be another of these 'legends' ? The future holds a steady flow of names who never knew where Watford was until coming here who will come and go with the wind. Has any player brought in by the Pozzos claimed a special place in our hearts like those of the GT era and earlier ? Are there any of them who would be prepared to take a cut in wages as some of the past did for us ? I have always been sceptical about where the Pozzo model was leading in the long term, even during their more successfull periods, and I am not a 'Johnny-come-lately' fan but rather one who remembers when our natural rivals were Swindon. The only reason I would tend more towards holding onto the Pozzos is that some of the other owners out there are a lot worse, and better the devil you know. The problem is that the two high points of our history are in direct contradiction to each other in as much as the Pozzo model would have prevented a manager like GT from taking the helm.
Possibly so - but plenty of them buy into the 'GT' thing - and I'd be astounded if they didn't know of Blisssett, Barnes and Jenkins etc. Maybe it's just me, but I think reading up on a club's history is part and parcel of supporting a club - and it's easily done in this age of technology. When I was told that our family was moving from Edinburgh to Watford, the first thing I did was head to the library to find out if there was a football club in the town - by the time I watched my first game at The Vic I already had a reasonable knowledge of the club's good times (not that there were many of those) and bad times, and of the stand-out players from previous years.
Watford Observer have had their say. Quite damming and critical? https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/s...akes/?action=success#comments-feedback-anchor
To me that smacks of someone bitter at having been made to look a fool by the club recently - making announcements that were wrong. Has he been censured by them in some way? And, in my opinion at least, he is simply wrong. Yes, in ten years of Pozzo ownership the club have had 14 head coaches - but no-one can say that is failure, given that for half that time they have had the club in the top flight - and on top of that have revamped a crumbling stadium and created training facilities to be proud of - the envy of many other clubs. In ten short years. Contrast that with the club's previous 130 or so years of existence - lord only knows how many managers/coaches with how much success to put in their CVs? How many years spent in the lower reaches of the football league and below? And don't start me on his ridiculous assertion that departing coaches should always leave a club in a better position than they found it in - how many clubs can actually claim that to have happened? I suspect he simply doesn't know what he is talking about.
Agree with you Had they not taken us over when they did, with I believe two weeks to spare, we would probably be called Watford Town and playing St Albans or maybe Borehamwood in a ground share with Wealdstone
When we reached the FA Cup Final there was an article on the BBC Sports Website by a reporter who was not a Watford hater, in his article he indicated that it was not administration we were in danger of but extinction as Bury were a couple of years ago and Derby appear to be in danger of now Where we are now, with its apparent faults or Non League football, that is a difficult choice
Thank goodness real Watford fans talk sense. We don’t follow the media line - unless you read WFCForums! If you want to be totally exasperated, have a read of their take on things!
I think they have done well overall. Yep, we have punched above our weight for a bit. BUT, the first season we went down the investment in players was shoddy. We got lucky to come straight back up and the same issues were not addressed / have not been adressed. Now, we mght become a Championship club again, and not be as lucky to bounce straight back up. I wonder if they'd continue as owners if that happened.
It would only be wise to sell the club when it is in the Premiership. I think they’d stay for that. I hope they stay generally though.
At least the Pozzos are football people who will care about the club - a lot of owners these days aren't and won't give much of a toss to what happens on the pitch so long as they are making money.
Yes....that is in our favour....... we need to get through this and see where we are at the end of the season....I am not sure that we can expect another bounce back in a season if we go down
Glancing back at the quality of player which the Pozzos sent us in the past - Jokanovic inherited a squad with Gabrial Angella, Christian Battocchio, Fernando Forestieri, Daniel Pudil, Matej Vydra and Almen Abdi in it. But these were pre Brexit days (all of those players had EU. passports) with no restrictions on movement. Things have changed since then - could political changes have had a negative effect in as much as that we are now getting a different type of player ?
Africans and South Americans seem to proliferate in our squad these days, so possibly yes. That's not to say that all of our current crop are worse players though...
You can see that trend through out the Premier League The only exception to that are Burnley It is NOT because of Brexit but because British and European players are much more expensive to buy and to pay for playing As discussed elsewhere any decent local players in our academy get poached by "bigger" clubs The only problem is getting the right combination of our current crop of player in the right formation and PLAYING AS A TEAM, hopefully Roy and Ray can sort that out in the short term as the previous two managers were unable do that
Yes team work is the way forward......... Must be a top priority...... as a lot of these palyers are not too bad..... just need ot knit together...
Burnley aren't the only exception Duggie. In our squad for the game against Norwich we had 8 non EU, non British players - in addition 6 more were unavailable - so 14 in all. Norwich have 2 - one Turkish and one American.
