Lately i have noticed a fair deal of negativity and i have to get a few things off my chest. I am not having a go at people specificaly its just a few general points i have seen. First of all there are a few of you still slating Lawrence Bassini and the board. FFS guys!! Bassini has done nothing wrong as of yet!! He bought a club with a rather large debt which has to be paid back sooner rather than later. In normal business this is suicide and you would not see it done. He is not taking a salary and wont do untill he pays off the debt or he has to pay the whole lot back there and then. With regard to player sales, we all knew that Graham would leave, and 3.5million is realistic!! Dont forget, he only had one outstanding season and one good seson in the championship, he is unproven in the premiership and could end up being a flop. Also when you compare the 3.5million we got for DG to the sales of the last few top scorers you see we got a very good deal. Buckley was out of favour with MM so 1million cash there and then is a good offer, we made a profit on him and we have almost replaced him with Forsythe. He may not have invested anything yet, but he is working at reducing the debt we owe, which is more can be said the the Russos, Ashcroft and Simpson. They are the ones who have demanded their money back which nearly put us in administration!! He is very open about decisions and what is happening and about the shortcommings and things which need work. He is looking at improving the ground, PA system and pitch which need doing and is likely to come out of his own pocket. Furthermore he did not let MM go, MM asked to leave and there was not a lot Bassini could do about that. Its useless having a manager who does not want to be at the club, or will just resign if you dont let him talk, this way we got maximum compensation. Sean dyche is a good appointment as he knows the club inside and out, he knows the players and how to get them to work well. Some of you would not be happy even if we brought in Sir Alex Furgason cos he would be too expensive, but someone like Hughton might shake things up too much!! Some are impossible to please and judge with out reason. Our squad has some real promise and some quality there, and dont forget that we have a vast crop of new talent to harvest in years to come. So what if this year is not our year, but there is always next year!! Lets get behind our club and show the support they need. Come On You Horns!!!
I agree. I think there would be little negativity towards Baz if nobody knew of his past. As soon as people found out about his business failures, they understandably questioned him. However, I agree that he has done nothing wrong as of yet, so we should get behind the team! COYH
Ok BHD you got me onside ,although I am very dubious of his motives! Good post! 5 stars CMON DYCHES HORNS! Malky Who?
I think some feel Bassini is "pocketing" the money raised so far but I doubt this is true otherwise somebody would have said (a creditor like Lord Ashcroft) in public who we owe money to. Its been rather unfortunate we've had "negative" news (depending on your personal stance) but lets hope with the new signing and manager the club can be stable and able to improve the squad. I think Graham would have gone whoever was taking over/in charge and Malky probably gave the green light to sell Buckley. Ok CEO Winter going was a shock as it may have suggested a board room split from those looking in... IF we sell more players and bring no-one in then that would be a reason for futher concern and maybe put people off wanting the job but I doubt even Dyche would take the job if that happened as it would undermine his own ambitions (afterall the guy doesn't want rock bottom on his CV as a first job!)
Bang on, I say. We do need to draw a line under the past few weeks. To be honest we are not really in too much of a different position from where we all expected to be at this stage. The club has a bit of stability now so we can properly plan for the coming season.
Although I might question one or two details in your article BHD, I agree entirely with your sentiments. At the moment Mr.B is still to show why he thinks that Watford is the club for him, but he does seem to be prepared to take advice and that has to be good.
I guess it's just been a tough couple of weeks losing so many people in such a short space of time, so I think some people wanted a 'name' to get things back on track! I'm more than happy with SD. He knows the club, he knows the players, he knows the 'Watford way'. He won't come in with his own big ideas and upset the apple cart. Hopefully he'll would have learnt the best bits from Aidy, Brendan and Malky but also noticed where they were going wrong and try not to make the same mistakes! As for Bas - his PR needed a lot of work, but he's getting there. He is learning the trade as so many others before him have! As long as he keeps his promises, gives SD some money to work with and rejects any bids for our current players, then I think his start would have been a bit dodgy, but he is certainly going in the right direction!!
Although still dubious of his motives, I do agree Kev. been an awful couple of weeks, the only way now is up ! COYH lets get more players in, get em watford fit and get SD a good no 2
Yes his motives do need confirming.... maybe it is just an ego boost of owning a football club (wouldn't we all love that if we could), where he hopes he can steady the ship and maybe make a little cash out of it in 5 years time (or sooner if we go up). If we are debt free, still in the Championship, still competitive while still producing a conveyor belt of our own youngsters in 5 years, then I won't begrudge him taking a 'wage'
Feel free to question things guys, i just had to get these things off my chest. thanks for the comments.
I'm sure I'll never be described as a happy clapper, on these boards or to my face, but even I can at least see some positives going in to the new season. 1) We sold Graham (disappointing but totally expected) and Buckley (unexpected but not entirely disappointing) for £4.5m (of which we'll see c. £3.7m). At least this should cover immediate outgoings, augment working capital and, hopefully, leave enough to bring in solid reinforcements. 2) Ellington and Sadler are finally off the wage bill. This is fantastic news and perhaps we should be shouting louder about it. A real weight has been lifted (literally as well as metaphorically, in Ellington's case!) 3) Mackay is gone and that's a negative but at least, if we're 100% honest with ourselves, we have all criticised him to varying extents in the past. He did a decent job with us, keeping us in the division on the tightest of budgets while playing entertaining football, for the most part. But he did nothing in his time with us to indicate that he is irreplaceable. 4) Dyche wasn't my first choice but I'm fully behind him, as is Graham Taylor (backing doesn't get better than that at Watford) and all the fans will be united (cf. imagine if we'd appointed Wise...) He knows the players and the set-up, plus he'll have the whole pre-season to introduce the changes he wants. It's good that we appointed him quickly. 5) We've made one signing already in Forsyth and others will surely follow. There is reason to hope that, given our record of buying good players on the cheap in recent years, these new signings will hit the ground running. 6) The young players can, to use a cliche, only get better. Now, if a pessimist like me can produce a list like that, while taking on board all the positives that Dan and the rest of you have mentioned, then perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel after all.
Make that number 7 on the list, Suffolk. It had completely slipped my mind, but it's about time we benefited from a sell-on clause rather than having to surrender money because of them!
There we go, if OLM can be happy with where we are, maybe we all can. Onwards and upwards YELLOW ARMY!!
