This is much more of a trend by us Duggie. In comparison Spurs have 6 non EU players, Arsenal 7, Chelsea 4, West Ham 4 and Crystal Palace 5. As I said in my last post we have 14. Little wonder then that integration and team building have become a problem at the club. It doesn't take too much brain to understand that it's harder to settle in England if you come from Ecuador or Colombia than if you come from France, Italy or Germany. Of course we're not alone in this - Shahktar Donetsk have 13 non European players in their squad but 12 of those are from Brazil meaning they can help each other to adapt. We don't even do this policy - 14 players for us means nearly 14 different nationalities. As far as I'm aware we are the only club in the Premiership (or in English football) owned by owners from the EU (or can you think of another ?) - the decline in the Pozzos management of our club recruitment coincides with the development of Brexit.
Not owned outright, but Leeds majority shareholder, Andrea Radrizzani is Italian - and 80% of Southampton is owned by a Serbian, Dragan Solak (strictly speaking, not yet EU members, but have their application in).
The majority of the Premier League clubs are owned by American or Middle Eastern billionaires, Chelsea owned by a Russian billionaire
Certainly not call them names and making some potentially libellous allegations (“dictator”/“despot”) and comments as they do on that WFC forum . The club I presume don’t read such sites or they would say something . There is valid criticism and discussion with is justified and I am sure everyone at the club will know that after the last game then there abuse and calling out players with personal insults and even other fans just because they might not go along with their views - some have started on a young chap who is on Twitter and was on Sky sports giving a balanced outlook on the club. Same with the Podcasts (also it's not easy to just start mouthing off about things like you can privately behind a screen) If this is how they react when we are just having a a tough time (as expected surely ?) then god help them if we don’t perform well in the Championship etc if we do go down ! Last thing we want is division in the fans base and people starting to get cross with each other at a time when the team needs support at least even if people don't think some of the players are good enough or the recruitment of players hasn't been right.
Well what is their future now? - will they see the criticism (some far I guess along with the usual hyperbole) and consider their future or feel they can ride the storm out. Maybe Duxbury will move on as surely he won't like the comments made about him online which cannot be healthy in terms of building a good relationship between the club and fans. Never seen it so toxic tbh - people really think they are running us into the ground and have no interest in improving the team or building something long term. Quite sad really in a way - only 2/3 seasons they were being lauded and praised for helping the club progress. Maybe like most things it has just got stale? One set of management changes too many and too many average players in the squad now.
I always remember one of GT's sayings... " Watford are a top 30 club". Well, the Pozzo's and Duxbury have maintained that. Nuff said !
