I keep reading that now Watford have owners who know a bit about football, who have resources of money and footballers, a definate target for the club and do not need to sell players cheaply. So far a lot of new footballers have come to the club for free transfers, many of them from Granada CF and Udinese. Even last season no money was paid out on transfer fees, except a fee for the borrowing of Nathaniel Cahlobah perhaps. In this summer we have lost John Eustace, Chris Iwelumo, Carl Dickinson and some others. All left for no tansfer fee. Now Jonathan Hogg has gone, and the reasons for this do not matter here. He was a player who was becoming very useful for the team and the club has said it regrets him leaving. I hope the club received some money for him as we are turning from a need to sell to survive club into a giving away club. I think when there is dead wood it needs to be removed but if some gain can be made the club should take the benefit and specially when the player is not dead wood.
I heard Hogg was sold for £300k plus add-ons. I think we could have got more for him, but he wanted to go, so we wasn't in such a big position of power plus I think he had 1 year left on his contract. We have always been a selling club, and I doubt that will change. The only difference over recent seasons is that we don't need to sell. We will only sell if it is right for Watford FC and their owners. We don't have to accept under-valuations of a player just to pay the bills. When the owners think it is right for a player to move on, they will sell and replace with the next up-and-comer!
£300K?! We've just 'decided' on the other thread that it must've been £500-750K! Shows how much we know!
I don't know how true it is - just read it somewhere last night and sounded like it could be right. They have got a steal for that price. I just think the owners have been very kind to Hogg letting him go at a lower value, just so he can be with his family.
I think we have to redefine our understanding of the term 'selling club'. So many players have left on free transfers or minimal fees because they simply weren't good enough for the market which the Pozzos may want to concentrate upon - the Premiership & its European equivalents. That's where 'the money' is and to be successful in that market, our shop window product simply has to be of a higher calibre than what we have had in the past. Much as I liked Hogg - I still had reservations about his ability to compete at a higher level. Mind you, I said the same about Les Taylor, so what do I know...
Some that have left were out of contract, so a free transfer for their new club then. The others we would never have been able to get a reasonable price for as other clubs would not have been willing to pay more than a minimal fee, better to get these guys off the wage bill than keep them here not playing out of principal because we couldn't get the required fee's for them. The wages free'd up/saved by these guys leaving has/is helping us get all these quality new signings!! As for the selling club part, lets see...... 08/09 Tommy Smith is voted our player of the season. August 2009 he joins Portsmouth. Jobi McAnuff joins Reading 10/11 Super Danny Graham is voted our player of the season. July 2011 he joins Swansea. Don Cowie joins Cardiff, Will Buckley joins Brighton Jan 2012 current top goal scorer Marvin Sordell joins Bolton. 11/12 Adrian Mariappa is voted our player of the season. July 2012 he joins Reading. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CUE THE POZZO'S TAKEOVER 12/13 Loanee Almen Abdi is voted our player of the season. July 2013 he joins us on a 3 year deal. 12/13 Troy Deeney gets 20 league goals and 10 assists. He's still with us and is not going anywhere.
Fair points made there Mitch. From my point of view, I'm a football romantic and I want to have hero's that stick around. Whatever you think of Hogg (I really liked him as an unsung hero) he has gone and whatever you think of the long term signings we have made, remember they can be loaned back to where they came from - that rule wasn't closed. You have to accept that we will remain a selling club just in a different way and you have to expect (as an example) Abdi to either be sold, loaned back to Italy or stay with us for one season in the Prem and that goes for all of them. None of the players signed or not, can be considered 'Watford' - that is a fact.
doubt it was 300K, we bought him for that - maybe that is where that figure came from. I would be immensly dissapointed if he did go for 300k, as that is a pittance for a key player from a side that finished 3rd in the league last season.
Some very valid points, however it should be remembered that the Pozzo's main aim is to get us in the Premier League. Once they are there I can not see them wanting to be a mid to lower table league team (or even worse, coming straight back down), the higher the position the higher the return. Surely once in the Premiership Watford becomes their 'flagship' as the returns from the Premier League are/would be considerably higher than Serie A?. If that being the case wouldn't they only sell if the price was right and if the club was not going to be disadvantaged or the price was just too good!
That's why I stated "main aim to get us there" and "once" there. Although I have a $100 on us winning the league I certainly don't believe it will be a walk over. That's why I have another $100 on a top 6 finish to edge my bet.
I think it's quite clear now that the Udinese and Granada managers do not rate the players we have recently signed, so why would they want them loaned back?? They came here for first team football as they were only squad/reserve players beforehand. Players are sold and signed at all clubs in every transfer window, thats football.
Well Mitch, are you trying to claim the signings we have are rubbish? No-one on here will buy that one, the fact is they are gifted technically and have increased the playing standard immeasurably. We may well end up being the more well off brother/sister of the three clubs in time due to our results - but you have got to see surely that there will be movement both ways as this project moves into years 3 to 5. The proof can be seen from recent history already with Granada and let's face it, the aim of the Group is to maximise their potential and their players potential value so whatever it takes to do that they will do which includes loaning players and Watford will not be exempt.
I am beginning to think that the managers do not always have a say in who goes where. The Pozzos have an overview of all three clubs, set their priorities, and send players to whichever club they think will gain most.
I think OFH has a voice of reason there, probably. Maybe, we are the most 'needy' of the Pozzo's 3 kids right now.
