Mazzarri is the new head coach. http://www.watfordfc.com/news/artic...ord-fc-head-coach-premier-league-3121237.aspx 3 year deal - lets hope he sees out most of it as it would mean we're doing well!
Decidedly underwhelmed by this one. Apparently someone who has never managed (or played) outside of Italy is preferable to what we have had already ! However, I will support anyone who is Watford manager. It does get me wondering though how we can use expressions like 'stubborn' and 'no plan B' over Flores but not over the Pozzo's and their way of working.
Well I guess that their way of working has proven to be successful in Italy, successful in a small way in Spain, and now reasonably successful in England - so when you have a winning formula, why change it? And I really do think that QSF was stubborn - in the same way that Boothroyd was stubborn. Both achieved success that later turned to near-failure - neither appeared able to come up with, and implement, alternative tactics to halt alarming slumps.
I don't disagree BB. The Pozzo's saved us from a near catastrophe. Have taken us into the Premiership, and have increased the value of the club immensely. But there is also a down side.....where has the 'soul' of the club gone ? Where has the continuity gone ? Will there ever be another 'Lloyd Doyley' at the club.......or the ecstasy when he actually scored ? These are the things which make up the history of a club, and make legends which fans talk about for years to come. My fear is that our club is no longer the club which I decided to support when I was younger - were I now the same age as then I do not know if I would support us. My main concern is that although the Pozzo's want to make their money out of the English premier league they appear to hold English football in very low esteam at the same time - and I wonder if this can be successfull in the longer term. Would we have been so 'all supportive`and 'all accepting`if they had taken over directly from Elton John ? I very much doubt it.
I have been watching WFC for over 50 years and I can tell you the Pozzo era is as exciting (apart from the last few months) as any time previously. Watching my team hoofing it in the old 4th Div in the pouring rain was not much fun. The Pozzo's do not hold English football in low esteem they are just averse from paying over the odds for English players. The owners have proved their continuing success over 25 years, I'm not sure what makes you think it will suddenly be gone?
I am saying that their success model is based on Italian and Spanish football and I am questioning whether that model can be transported to England over a longer term - one reason for this is that most clubs in those leagues have a reserve team playing in the lower divisions and can keep large squads of players match fit through these means. Players who are not in the first team are going backwards at Watford. Also SH. success is not everything - if I had wanted that as a youth I could just as easily have hopped on the train to Chelsea, Arsenal or Spurs, but I didn't because Watford were my home town club. Also the quality of football is not everything - I do not want to have to adapt to about 10 new players coming and going every year (players who never even knew where Watford was before coming) however good the football is. You say that you can justify the Pozzo's bringing in foreign talent in bulk because they are cheaper than local products - yet how does this equate with your other views on immigration ?
I do not agree that there is no soul at the club now - soul is very subjective but largely consists of the rapport between club and fans (who are after all the only continuous link over time apart from the ground). There has been more soul at the ground over the last couple of seasons than in the preceding 30 years since GT. There is already a "Lloyd Doyley-esq" player at the club - Troy - not the same as having a player graduating through the ranks admittedly but still likely to become a legend when he departs. Continuity is a myth - player turnover has always been high - when it isn't, the football suffers. Having watched Watford through all the so-called history of the club, give me today's situation any day. We have a stadium that creates and holds atmosphere - something I longed for when singing my heart out at the back of the Rookery only for someone standing on the Vicarage Road terraces to say that they could scarcely hear us. We have players now that are light-years away from some of the dross that I have endured - Tony Geidmintis, Eric Bristow, Tommy Anderson anyone? The main reason that the Pozzos do not appoint English managers is that in the culture of our football, there is little place for a head coach position rather than manager. Few established English managers want to work in this way - although that is slowly changing.. I don't think that the Pozzos hold English (or more properly British) football or footballers in such low esteem, rather it is that pound for pound they are more expensive than their foreign counterpart. As for the Pozzos wanting to make money out of the club - great! I watched Jim Bonser slowly strangle the club 40 years ago not to mention Jack Petchey and Baz with the hat. More power to the Pozzos collective elbows. I just wish that it had been the Pozzos that bought the club from SEJ and not Petchey. As for wondering whether the Pozzos' model will work in the longer term - who knows but I would take the equivalent of Udinese's last 30 years progress for Watford. I'm sorry but I just cannot understand your viewpoint cologne.
Vic. I'm just one of those dinosaurs that remembers when all footballers were called Stan, Bert or Alf. One of the problems with the present system is outlined in my last post, namely that it is a hit or miss system. We are sent dozens of players and the manager (or head coach if you like) takes the pick of them and has to form a 'team' for the year - as long as that is working everything is ok. but there is no real backup if things start to go wrong ie. there is no regular reserve team football ensuring that the whole squad is match fit. Most Italian or Spanish clubs have a 'B' team competing in a lower division. Great clubs are made by keeping good managers in place for long enough to be able to form a vision for the future - how long would GT. have been manager under the Pozzo's ? You say that large player turnovers are part and parcel of football but this is not true - can you name one single club which has won anything notable over the last few years which was not playing with the nucleus taken over from the previous season ?
Lets hope the guy is a success but what is the least the Pozzos will expect from next season? After all whilst the 2nd half of this season was rubbish and cost Flores his job we did more than a solid job up till Christmas..
If Flores has lost 3 more games before Christmas and won 3 more after he would still be in a job it was the down hill slide that he could not stop that cost him his job. Walter could get less points and say 15th and still keep his job
The days of going down to the club to pick up cup tickets from Ron Rollitt was over the day the Pozzos took over . They know that the club is the fans and until now they have done everything they can to keep us happy and make the club grow . i will back them every step of the way even if we end up as a jojo club or they sell us for 500mill because they cant take us to the next step (wake me up someone )
Unfortunately the Premier League is a global phenomenon, while at the same time it is what supporters of small clubs aspire to. In the 1980s who would have thought that Leicester's triumph would have been wildly celebrated in Thailand? I understand what you are saying, Cologne, but I don't think that the changes at Watford are the fault of the Pozzos. It is football that has changed.
With respect Cologne I do not think you can have the same affinity with the players as some of us foolhardy souls who turn up for every home game and many away trips in recent seasons. When I lived in SW France for 5 years I certainly missed a great deal of involvement. My views on immigration are constant, the UK should be in a position to choose those required, it is up to football clubs to justify why a foreign player should qualify for a permit. There were always many youngsters in Hertfordshire who chose one of the more fashionable clubs over Watford, that will not change. Notwithstanding with the Sky money and switched on owners we can now compete with the richer clubs for players, I call that a double win, home town club but with huge potential. I really cannot see any negatives but agree no group should be beyond scrutiny.
Interest debate..... I very much enjoyed the 'old' days of the lower leagues, the pies, the cold, roughshod players etc..... I also am enjoying this season. I do hope that the Pozzos share a long term vision and attachment to WFC ... and we arent sold, fleeced, and end up languishing in the lower reaches of the Championship. or worse, in five years time....
Speaking of being sold - I see that Villa have been sold to a Chinese 'millionaire'. Apparently there's a worry that he's 'not a fit and proper' person. How many times have we heard that phrase...
The Pozzo's make money from football and invest most of that in their clubs and teams - hence the ground redevelopment at both Watford and Udine. They are savvy hard nosed business men and will not kill the golden egg laying goose for a quick Pound/Euro. No matter how much we look back at the past through our rose tinted specs, the world of football in England is massively different to what is was 10, 20 and 30 years ago. Yes we had great days under GT, but remember standing in the pouring rain in the open Vic Road end and those disgusting bogs? Lloyd Doyley was a great servant of our club, but technically he was a very poor footballer Div 2 (Championship) was about the highest we could ever really compete in - if we really think we can complete with players at that level, we are deluded. This is a completely different world and if we want our club to complete at this level, we have to accept that. For me, that recent article in The Guardian (yeah, yeah I know) says it all. The King is dead, long live The King!
Obviously we don't know what this bloke is like but i'm feeling far more positive than i did when Flores arrived so i'm going to take that as a good sign and keep my fingers crossed! The Pozzos don't do 3 year deals so i suspect the too are feeling positive about him. From what i understand, his target is Europa league, sooner rather than later but i guess he has 3 years to do it maybe?
