Deeney as an assistant coach, good cop bad cop In all fairness after today there was no future for him but is Cleverly toooooooo nice to be a Head Coach, Assistant Coach yes
I wonder which unknown who is relaxing on the proceeds of his last sacking will be getting a phone call in the next day or two?
I do wonder what drives some of the mangers who step on and off the merry-go-round of football appointments. Most of them in the top two divisions in England will have been well paid, and could catch up on the time lost with their families. Something though, keeps drawing them back, believing that this time will be different. I can only think it is ego.
Warnock ?! Well guess the people who wanted Ismael out will be happy till the next guy has a bad run then it will get him out too.
It is not unusual for a club that has just dismissed a manager, to appoint as an interim measure the manager of the U21 team. The fact that they have gone to the U18 side for Tom, suggests that they have more faith in him. Nothing seems very stable currently.
I found this on Facebook. For anyone who hasn’t read it this is a brilliant article by Andrew French which beautifully explains the situation. Tom Cleverley is an excellent appointment, and now is the time for all of us to play our role as supporters. Of course the discussions on ownership etc will continue but for the moment we all need to support Tom and the team. We will get through this and Tom Cleverley is exactly the right person to bring the best out of the players. I think the article referred to is; https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/24174605.watford-call-time-ismael-amid-bad-run/
"Ismael ended up being hung by his own petard." That is the view of Andrew French in another excellent piece for the WO. https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/24174901.ismaels-watford-fate-decided-january-decisions/ I have wondered just what did go on with the departure of Rob Edwards. Another coach who was promised much more of a free hand, and a long contract to give him time to shape a team as he wanted. The only comment I remember was he wasn't playing the way the club hoped for, yet in the article above it shows he had a better record than Val. I just hope that the fans give Tom not only a fair crack of the whip, but also huge backing home and away. His coaching experience is limited, and it is a big step up from dealing with a group of young players, trying to impress, and a bunch of professionals who will have their hang-ups on careers that have not been as successful as the one time England International.
The step up difficulty can be compounded when the change also means moving from being a teammate to a boss. Fortunately, not too many of the first team regulars were teammates - can only think of Bachmann, Sierralta, Sema and Ngakia off the top of my head...
Just a thought - don't TC's juniors have a cup final date against Fleetwood? He seems to have brought out the best in them, so I wonder how they will react without him in charge.
Not the same circumstances I know but GT was a manager at 27 after retiring due to injury and was 32 when he took over at Watford Tom Cleverley is more Watford than any other Manager/Head Coach for the last 50 years or more, he knows what our club is and stands for, I hope the players react to him and the fans support him and he gets to the end of the season before any long term decisions are made A good comparison is Neil Harris at Millwall, retired as a player became Head Coach at a difficult time and improved Millwalls fortunes until a falling out with the owners, another bad spell for Millwall and he is back once again improving things As a club we need to be back where we have Watford Academy as the backbone of our club and the club only signs players where there is an obvious gap which cannot be filled from within the club We need 5 points to reach the Championship plimsole line and safety, anything more than that is a bonus, Tom will need an older head as his righthand man just as Munez did but was not given hopefully a lesson learnt I hope We have to trust Gino not to just sell every player that has a value otherwise we will be playing the entire under 21 team next year
I am sure that having spent the day pouring over the comments on the WO site, Gino was close to putting the club up for sale on eBay in the morning. However duggie has put up an alternative that he might find more attractive. The academy isn't cheap to run, and it probably only produces one or two youngsters each season, who come through to play at Championship level. It would however bring the players and fans closer together. We have seen the reaction to Andrews having a decent game, while I do not detect much love for Lewis as an example. It took GT time to get up and running at Watford despite having experience at Lincoln. The club really didn't take off until Bertie Mee arrived on the scene, but how many people like him, are prepared to keep in the background, but use their vast experience to help a young manager? I don't see it happening, but Gino really needs a decent PR person to create a line of contact between him and fans. As they say often, the silence is deafening.
With the run of games we have coming up any Cleverley or any new manager will do very well to be a success . Leeds WBA Saints Preston Ipswich Hull Sunderland Boro Argh! Good luck !
Possible head coach for the future? https://the72.co.uk/2024/03/11/watf...me-championship-promotion-winner-as-new-boss/
Don't forget Birmingham this weekend - a point there and 7 from the rest I reckon. Mind you, my tipping ability is notoriously bad...