Afternoon fellow Hornets, Just thought i should establish a threat where we can write our thoughts about what has been a turbulent season for the club. Squad and manager had both changed in the summer, and we were not sure what to expect. It was a pretty poor start, with a low point coming from us blowing a 1-0 and 2-1 lead at Hull in October to put us in the relegation zone after 13 games. Numerous players received a lot of criticism (Loach, Dickinson, Forsyth, Yeates, Iwelumo in particular), and a lot of people on this message board were calling for Dyche's head (not me just for the record!!). The biggest result of our season was the next game, where we beat Peterborough 3-2 at home. From there, bar a small blip over New Year which was turned around with a fine performance against Spurs in the FA Cup, we haven't really looked back. The squad has seemed unaffected with Sordell leaving, Nosworthy has been an able stand-in for Taylor and Mariappa when injured, Kightly, Kuszczak and Kacaniklic (our very own loanee KKK- ok scrap that acronym) all performed brilliantly for the club with a certain quality that really boosts a club in the Championship, certain players like Deeney and Iwelumo found their feet, and we discovered a very special young talent in Sean Murray. We've shown a lot of fighting spirit in games, often going behind or being pegged back but then going on to win. Dyche has created a deep, balanced squad on a small budget, he's blended the team and got them motivated and the guy deserves a huge amount of credit because he took a lot of stick at the beginning of the season. The prospects look good for next season. The majority of the squad who featured prominently this season will be here next year, bar probably Mariappa, and we can even afford to let a few fringe players leave. Hopefully Bas will free up a bit of money so Dyche can make 1 or 2 good-quality signings (surely £1-1.5m can be spared for that job with the income from Sordell and expected income from Mariappa) . With that, we should again make mid-table. The best statistic for me is that we finish the season with the same points as Leicester...who would have thought that at the beginning of the season??? Another great season with everyone on 606/not606, not long till we get going in August! COYH!!!!!
Yes... beyond expectations.... and I for one was very pessimistic about Dyche. Still basking in todays win
I havent posted on these boards for a while, i just thought id pop in and say that overall its been a fantastic season - a slow start, yes, but its to be expected with such a massive overhaul of management and playing staff. Even then we never looked like we were going to be drawn into a relegation battle, and over the second half of the season we developed into one of the most difficult teams in the division to beat (we lost 3 of the last 19; 1 of the last 13). An 11th place finish is beyond what most sensible Watford fans could have expected at the start of the season, and if we can keep the nucleus of the team together, supplemented with 2 or 3 good signings, it bodes very well for next year. COYH!!!
All things considered we have vastly over achieved again some of it wasnt pretty but has been proved to be effective , you can only do so much with certain tools Mr Dyche has been proved to be a skilled craftsman
It is good to see that we didn't trail off towards the end off the season, like we have been used to over the past 3 or 4 seasons. This was the main thing Dyche said he was going to focus on this season, and he has certainly managed this. Brilliant season, and I can't wait for next. I am already beginning to feel depressed now the season is over. At least we have Euro 2012 and the Olympics to curb these awful thoughts.
It's certainly a season that has been a step in the right direction - let's hope it continues. According to the FL website, the fixtures are out on Monday 18th June.
I don't think anyone could have any complaints on our form since November. Think its only about 4 defeats since then!
GINGER POWER !! We are looking good for next season. If we are honest it couldn't have gone better given our start !!! YELLOWS !!!
It has been far better than any of us had a right to expect. Dyche has stamped his mark on Watford, something that GT suggested would happen. Three inspired loan signings, the emergence of young Murray, Deeney showing that he does know where the goal is despite early doubts, even the contribution of late by Iwelumo. I had doubts about the Hogg Eustace combination, but with them working together it has produced a certain amount of steel in mid-field. Our defence has been steady most of the time and when needed Tiny and NN seem to have formed a decent enough partnership. Now we come to the crunch bit when off the field finances come into play. Can we afford to get a bit more quality into the side and build on what we have? That remains to be seen, but it could be the start of a year on year improvement, or a period when the attitude of lets just repeat this season is thought to be good enough. Spending huge amounts on players and their contracts doesn't always work, look around, but at the very least I think that the players could be rewarded for their efforts.
We lost the league's best striker, the club's two best wingers, a manager who for all his faults led us to a pair of blinding starts, and then half way through this season lost our own top scorer. Despite that, we had our best season since the 2008 playoff stumble, and for me this was easily the best-feeling season since 2005/06. I could go on about how fantastic newbies to the first team such as Hogg, Murray and Nosworthy have been, emphasise just how incredible it is to improve despite the losses, gloatingly point out "I told you so" about Dyche's transfer policy, point out how good the second half of this season was vs the two under Malky, grin from ear to ear about some of the loanees (where in fairness I called it wrong) and take this opportunity to reinforce how much Mapps deserves to be player of the season, and so on. But the paragraph above covers all of that really.
Mr Bassini gave me a huge smile today and said "it's been a good season, hasn't it"...and that, my friends...sums it up! I know i said at the beginning of the season that we'd finish 12th, and i know, after the first couple of matches, i firmly believed it, but when it all started going horribly wrong, i wasn't as convinced as i had been. It's been a good season. Not great, because for the first part of it we were finding our feet, and gelling the team. Not great because as Norway says, it hasn't always been pretty...but pretty near great, and i've loved almost every match i've been to, with, in the last few months, very few exceptions. It's my record away season...11 matches..not sure i'll manage as many next season, but if it goes half as well as i suspect it will, i'll try my darndest! I'm so looking forward to the coming season...pre-season starts on 17 July...i can't wait!
Job done, proud of the lads. This should have been our trickiest season with next year giving us a wider higher quality (more developed) player base to call on, I expect to see more fruits of the academy getting more game time. It being the championship nothings a given but good cause for optimism. Who if any will be sold? Is 2012-13 the season for Mr Bassinis promotion push to sell WFC as a prem team? Methinks could be and wouldn't bet against us. Big question this summer is what do we do about the No1 shirt?
We have had an excellent season - if you look at our early start when SD was thrown into the deep end (moving up to number one from effectively number 3 only a short while earlier) he had to learn - but he learned fast. We got only 10 points from our first 13 games ( a better record as it happens than we got from MM's last 13) Then have have got 54 points from 33 games - that translates to over 1.6 points per game and on a 46 game season equals 75 points - which would have put us in the play offs. I know you can always lie with statistics but the facts are there - for three quarters of SD's rookie season with major player losses we performed like a play off club. We do not have to do a lot to improve on that for next year. Well done to SD and his team of excellent players and support staff. For the first time in a long time I am confident that next season we will be looking upwards positively.
I think you have to ask the FA or FL if we can retire a shirt number - I don't think they'll let us do that.
