I must say I am astonished by the anti-Watford vitriol being spouted by supporters of other clubs for example in the comments to the bbc article below: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22800755 I could half understand the Leicester and leeds supporters what with the playoff defeats they suffered previously to us (sad but understandable given their distinct lack of success despite significant investment). However, why Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea fans should have so much hatred and anger towards us is nothing short of remarkable. In 1 season we have gone from one of the most loved 'second clubs' for supporters of other teams to perhaps the most hated - "I was happy Watfraud didn't go up" "would have been terrible for Watfudinese to go up" etc etc. The question is - why? Is it jealousy? If so - why would they be jealous of us? We have a 3 sided stadium and our yardstick for success is getting to a few semi finals and a couple of seasons in the top flight in the last 20 odd years. For me it is simply that we are an easy target. Little old Watford. Why should they have any success? That and Holloways 'charisma' (I know that is not the right word but for some reason people still find him amusing/interesting/annoying - whatever they find him, they listen to him). Whatever the reason for the anti-Watford sentiment I find it all amusing rather than hurtful. True, we don't know the Pozzos full intentions for Watford but why on earth would they have cleared our debts and talked up their hopes for the club if they didn't believe in the project - certainly they have a good track record! The choice between these knowledgable and successful football men and that poor excuse for a man Bassini and almost inevitable administration meant that for me last season, bar the final 90 mins was like a beautiful dream. Nevertheless for all of the bravado of some supporters regarding all of the signings we are destined to make and for our guaranteed future success I still feel that it will not be that easy particularly if we go for a similar recruitment process - as teams will have that extra incentive to beat us. Indeed, I think it was clear for everyone to see that tactically Zola is far from the finished article. Having said all of this I still think that we are in a strong position and if we play anywhere near as well as we did for most of last season we will take a lot of stopping. I'm not really a betting man but will be placing a few quid on us going up if the odds some people have quoted (16-1) are true. I have supported Watford for over 20 years and am more excited than I have been for a very long time. Its easy to say this now but I don't think I would be as excited to see the Premier league fixtures as I will be 2 weeks today when the championship fixtures come out then its only 6 weeks after that before our first game.....and you know what....I CANT WAIT!!!! COYH!
Dan, who can say what goes through the mind of some ill-informed fans of another club? Some of them, even when the system is explained to them, showing that neither Watford FC, nor the Pozzos have broken any rule, they still refer to it as a "loophole" or even cheating! Dan, you carry on loving your lovely club and don't even listen to the morons, you are way ahead of them!
It's comments like this that get on my nerves the most. This past season, has been more than a success! Whenever we played on Sky, and played well, the board would be inundated with comments from fans of other clubs, lauding our perfect passing game, with intricate flair, masterminded by the genius that is Zola. Has everyone forgot about this? Has everyone forgotten we finished third? That we reached the play-off final? That we were the leagues top scorers? That some of our academy graduates are proving to be a huge success? That we have an incredibly motivated and dedicated team? The steady increase in supporters? The proven track record of the Pozzo family? The prudent use of the clubs money? The clubs consultation with fans? Cristian Battocchio's goal against Huddersfield? The optimistic style of play? Are these not a good barometer of success?
To be honest, asome fans from the 'top' teams haven't got a clue of anything that goes on outside the Premiership, so they'll pick up on a few comments and take it as gospel, and just turn into mini-Holloways! They mainly think that he is a funny guy who makes nice little sound bites, rather than the whinger he is now! I suspect many of them though are actually armchair fans who live in the towns and cities of teams that play against us, so although they 'support' the Man Utd's, Liverpool's, Chelsea's, they probably feel threatened that little old Watford might beat their local team!
This past season, has been more than a success! Whenever we played on Sky, and played well, the board would be inundated with comments from fans of other clubs, lauding our perfect passing game, with intricate flair, masterminded by the genius that is Zola. Has everyone forgot about this? Has everyone forgotten we finished third? That we reached the play-off final? That we were the leagues top scorers? That some of our academy graduates are proving to be a huge success? That we have an incredibly motivated and dedicated team? The steady increase in supporters? The proven track record of the Pozzo family? The prudent use of the clubs money? The clubs consultation with fans? Cristian Battocchio's goal against Huddersfield? The optimistic style of play? Are these not a good barometer of success?[/QUOTE] Spot on Wooter, we should just carry on being a good community based club doint our best to support and entertain the local population and let that do the talking. If the new owners can provide the resources to be better at all this, that will be great. This season was brilliant start.
All this ill-informed moronic spouting by people who have no idea what is going on at Watford now, reminds me of the hate campaign waged by the media and "established" clubs 30 years ago against the supposed "long-ball" tactics of GT. Now, as then, we should not rise to the bait, ignore the criticism and just get on with supporting the club we love. It is obvious from the tripe spouted by many so-called football fans, that they do not have the intelligence to listen to our arguments. So just let them fester. If the Football League changes the loan rules, then so be it - the Pozzos will still find a way to build the club within whatever regulations are in place next season.
It's funny really - you speak to supporters of other sides who used to go to the games in those days and they'll often mention one of our players turning a full back inside out or a goal keeper having an absolute stormer against them. They'll also mention sticking 4 past us or whatever as well but hey!
Ha, ha... http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sp...rule_changes_will_have_no_impact_on_Watford_/ As I said **** 'em
It says the vote was unanimous in bringing it in, which implies we voted for it too! Great stuff - means no-one else can use the rule to their advantage! I assume that the domestic and foreign loans count towards the quota as a whole rather than treated seperately, so the 5 loans in a matchday squad are all loans rather than say 5 deomestic and 5 foreign!
Negative comments from fans of the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United/City, Arsenal, Liverpool etc are all a bit strange because in a way, their financial superiority over every other Club in the English League is relatively similar to Watford being able to have many many loan players. Is it not? It's using your Club's differences to your advantage which in a way suggests that having a hell of a lot more money than everyone else and signing players that we couldn't have a hope of signing is basically the same as Watford signing various players on loan. Hard to explain, but I hope you get my point. In a way, you can see why people are against it. In some cases it's jealousy, but in others they point out a rather obvious means of exploitation within a loop-hole in the system. Who can blame Watford for doing it? If anybody else was to be owned by a group who own a couple of other foreign Clubs, they would soon change their tone and be quite happy to have a team of loan players. I, for one am quite glad it's getting resolved, because in a way, it stops everybody moaning. Besides, I think owners shouldn't own more than one football Club, because, should you purchase a player from Granada or Udinese, it's almost like you wouldn't be paying anything because the money would be going to your owners. It's almost like you'd get them for free (unless I've misunderstood the whole situation here, correct me if I'm completely wrong and just off on a tangent). One question though, do you think it will put you at a disadvantage this Season, or do you think you will still be perfectly fine and muster another Promotion challenge?
To answer your question, we will be perfectly fine, because as explained on the official Watford FC website, the loan system was used largely because the Pozzos did not have enough time before the start of the season (after their purchase of the club) to organise permanent transfers. This is not the case this close season and whatever players are brought in will be either permanent transfers or loans within the new FL rules. Your point about "owners shouldn't own more than one football Club" seems valid on the surface but would be extremely difficult to police/enforce. In a trivial example, what if Pozzo Snr owned Udinese, Pozzo Jnr owner Watford, and Pozzo's wife owned Granada?
Who gives a damn. We are Watford, we are beautiful and even Holloway admired our use of the system, stuff the ignorant armchair experts....
Exactly. If anything, 'closing the loophole (sic)' will affect other clubs more so than us now. After all - it was an option for any of them to form a 'strategic partnership' with an overseas club as well. That option is now gone and we can still get good players in on freebies from the Pozzo Pool. Maybe that is why we also voted in favour of the change ?
That is pure class - our rep may as well have walked into the room and stuck his toungue out at everyone
Watford's chief executive Scott Duxbury says he won’t lose sleep if any of the loanees do not want to sign for the club permanently because the Pozzos will find replacements who “are as good if not better”.
