Beagries column on the Sky Sports website answered a question from a Watford fan and was refreshingly positive for a change... HORNETS' ZEST Hi Peter, My club Watford had an indifferent start to the season and are now starting to gel after all the changes in personnel. Do you think they are ready to challenge for promotion or is it a season too soon? Steven Vigar (Watford fan) BEAGS SAYS: After putting Sheffield Wednesday to the sword 4-1 in midweek to take their unbeaten run to six games and playing equally exciting football at home and away, it would be easy for Watford to get carried away. The Hornets have registered five away wins, scoring 10 goals in their last two, and that speaks volumes for the organisation, spirit and application that Gianfranco Zola has instilled, while there is no doubting the ability that Watford's foreign influx has brought. Watford flirted with the upper echelons of the division last year but fell away, mainly due to a lack of options, and I don't think Sean Dyche, one of the managers of the season if not THE manager of the season, should have lost his job, but Gianfranco, because of the foreign invasion from Udinese and Granada, was the right man to succeed Sean and club owner Giampaolo Pozzo will feel justified for the managerial change if Zola takes the Hornets to higher than their 11th-placed finish of last season. Can Watford make the play-offs? Yes. Will they? I don't think so, but they are certainly punching above their weight and entertaining us all, which after their recent financial problems is refreshing to see. Agree almost word for word, think we'll make the playoffs though.
Agree with almost all of that, except that I don't think we're punching above our weight. For the size of the town and of our fanbase perhaps, but in terms of the quality of players we have available to us we're exactly where I'd expect us to be.
WARNING!! SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT!!! I dont know if any of you were listening to 3CR after the match, but I called in and spoke to Euan Duncan and he asked the question, can Watford fans dream of promotion? I said we can dream, but I honestly think we have a chance to make the playoffs. We have started playing attractive football in a formation that other teams are so unused to that it gives us a little edge.
that's well said, but yep, (points deduction not withstanding) i am sure we can make the playoffs. Good point too NNW
No we haven't - I tend to turn off from sports writers/commentators who make basic errors such as that.
I think he means we scored a total of 10 goals in our last two away wins. Its worded badly a bit like this reply, but thats what I think.
Don't really agree on the foreign influx as such as we still have good players of our "own" but its true that has helped.
We CAN make the playoffs... I ma sure of that now.... and with this squad we have enough in the mix to keep it up all season and not tire at season end.... On current form we should certainly be in the top 10.... and a win or loss in a couple of games will decide...
I can see it now, the nightmare scenario. We manage to get promoted and then get hit with a points deduction for 2013-14, so competing from a financially poorer position than the Premiership clubs we might finish the season with negative points, because the FA/FL will enact something really vindictive; this isn't the transfer tribunal again, but something which could be far worse.
Can the PL doing anything about something the FL is charging us with? They are seperate bodies. I think if the FL wanted to punish up with a points deduction, I expect they would want to do it this season! Hopefully it won't come to that though. I know the FL are hardly the most competant and do like to make examples of a football club, but they may see it has Bas taking the money for his own benefit rather than that of the clubs, and with the large debt owed to the club (which he is trying to deny he owes), maybe they weill see that the football club has also been the victim. I think it might simply come down to; did the football club benefit from these undeclared loans, or did Bas?
I think we will finish 2nd. Big squad (no team has the depth we have), good amount of talent/ability, team getting better and better as the season goes on (as opposed to peaking too early), plenty of goals in the side, confidence is high players seem happy and enjoying their football.
Crickey Mitch that is very optimistic for you! Good to see the club get some good comments in the media. I am still unsure as to where we will finish, i think top 10 but not top 6, but who knows in what I see as a poor division in terms of quality.
At the start of the season Zola was giving the rubbish players a chance. After Derby smashed us 5-1 Zola stopped playing the rubbish players and since then we have been doing well. The advantage of haveing players on season long loans is that we dont have to worry about player X being sold in Jan. The fact that our captain and experienced leader cant get a look in shoes how good a squad we have. 4 strikers who can and do all score goals, when was the last time we had that??? Decent players in Lee Hodson and Dale Bennett out on loan - that too shows how much quality we have in this squad. I thought we might find it hard to win when Abdi dislocated his shoulder, nope, 7 points in our last 3 games without him. We dont rely on 1 player to get us out of jail either, goals all over the side as opposed to only 1 player getting all the goals. All points to one thing, WFC in the Prem next season.
You seem to have overlooked the fact that our captain can't get a look in because he has been recovering from a back operation! As to pinpointing the Derby match as the catalyst for change - check back through the teamsheets for that and prior matches. There's not a lot of difference apart from Dickinson & Iwelumo - so I assume you are lumping the blame onto them?
One final reason why we are going up 99 Promoted to the Prem 06 promoted to the Prem Thats a 7 year gap yes. So that means............... It's fate!!
