Watford FC confirms that Nigel Pearson has left the club with immediate effect. Hayden Mullins, with Graham Stack as his assistant, will take up the position of Interim Head Coach for the Hornets’ final two Premier League fixtures of the 2019/20 season. There will be no further club comment.
I guess no comment will be made as there is legal action pending? As I say must have kicked off pretty badly for them to sack Pearson - both sides probably aren't slow in saying what they think. Is there even a thank you for you services type message at the end?
Lets be honest here How many of us were happy with any of our performances since the restart Leicester were there for the taking but it took a wonder goal from Dawson ( who most had slagged off for most of the Season) to salvage a point Burnley just had to turn up and beat us Southampton took us to the cleaners without breaking sweat as did Chelsea Norwich it, took another goal from Dawson and an even better goal from Welbeck to secure the points Newcastle were beaten for us by Craig Pawson and VAR didn't overrule him Wes Ham was possibly the worst display I have seen from us for a long long time and when we had fought our way back in Deeney and Doucoure were taken off and West Ham just had to play out the rest of the match Before lockdown Person was our best manager in the recent Premier years but since lockdown one of the worst Something was very very wrong and I hope Deeney has not crippled himself fighting for our survival I DO NOT agree with his sacking unless it was something out of control where he lost it but things did not look promising How many of you complained that Bournemouth and Villa were fighting for their survival and we were not If either of the rumours about. hitting Masina or the argument with Pozzo are true then the surprise was that he was not sacked on Friday night
Oh yes - I suspect they were looking at the poor results and performances then probably approached Pearson about it who maybe didn't take too kindly to the questions. Just seems strange to sack him when he is out of contract anyway. Are Mullins and Stack going to do any better?
OK, OK, OK. Something must have happened. Otherwise, the sacking makes even less sense than the others. Hopefully, one day the truth comes out. Until then it is all just rumours. Something happened between Pearson, players and or staff. No smoke without fire. I give us the same chance of staying up with or without him to be honest. Don't get me wrong, not ideal timing is an understatement and our club is dragged through the mud again. However, thinking about it I still give us the same chance to stay up.
The thing that annoys most will be Gary Bellend having wet dreams about us being punished for GT preventing him from beating Bobby Charlton's England goals record On a serious note something massive must have kicked off for it to happen at this time Maybe Deeney will still have a role to play on and off the pitch for the next week
I do not believe that they would have sacked him just on the results. It makes no sense at all as he would be out of contract in a weeks time, and that would have avoided any chance of him making claims against them. I also cannot believe that the club would think that Mullins and Stack would turn things around, after all they did take charge for two games before Pearson came in. I feel sure that something far more serious took place. Thursday Pearson was talking about being in charge next season, so what changed so quickly? I think that there was an altercation between either players and Pearson, or Pearson and Giraldi. I have seen comments on another forum that could be libelous, and sites have been closed in the past by unhappy club owners, so be careful not to make statements that take us down that road.
Statement from Pearson on Twitter. "I've been overwhelmed by the well-wishes I've received from Watford supporters and the football community. Thank you all for your kind messages. Although not able to finish the task I was brought in to achieve, I wish Watford all the best for their final two games. Cheers, Nige" I am sure the media will be asking him for more !
Agreed, I have thought we looked the worst of Spam, Muff ,Villa and us...... But there was a subtext in what he said in interviews that he was not happy with the preparation to return and some of the players. So maybe things had been rumbling under the surface.... Also I think tactically we have played very negatively in allthe first halves since return, playing deep etc....... and that is down to him..................
Yes that is true. The owners expressed the same doubts about such issues too. Basically he was on the way out regardless and what ever happened over the weekend accelerated it.
Exactly so. Unless we are wrong with our thinking, he accepted a position that allowed him control over team selection and tactics - and since the restart, his choices in both have been questionable, in my opinion at least. Maybe we've all been spoilt by having had the experience of GT in charge - his simple idea of utilising a system that played to the strengths of his players rather than trying to fit players into a preferred system made so much sense. For example, we arguably have three perfectly capable centre backs who could form a solid back three, but he preferred a back four and played players out of position to accommodate that - particularly Kiko who is a wing back rather than a full back. His insistence on playing Troy as a lone striker was simply odd - especially as it obviously wasn't working - and quite why he persisted with it is anyone's guess. That's not having a go a Troy - for me he is still a vital cog, but he was simply not being played to his strengths. On the subject of Troy - I've been totally gobsmacked by the number of so-called fans crawling out of the social media woodwork and blaming him for everything, from poor team selection to poor tactics to having caused Pearson's sacking. Where they get these ideas from I do not know...
I do think that it is easy to forget just how far adrift we were when he came in. If you have to play catch-up then you have to start winning games, it is probably not good enough to simply stop losing them. Yesterday as I watched Man. City being defeated by Arsenal it was obvious that the centre of the pitch was blocked off by numerous Arsenal players, and City just resorted to throwing in crosses from the wings, that were cleared by all those bodies. If Arsenal can stop them scoring at will, why haven't others tried to do the same thing I wondered? Of course to play that sort counter attacking game you have to have the right fast outlet, which is something that Watford do have in both Sarr and Deulofeu when fit, but for some reason that I haven't worked out, the ball to play them in is far too often either over or under hit, and doesn't reach them. As for Deeney I have watched his ability to lay the ball off when it is at his feet rather than the outlet ball in the air. Some days he will give the defender marking him a torrid time, out jumping him nearly every time, but some of the better ones give him nothing when he has to jump. He still has a vision though built up over the years, and some of the passes inside a full back for example can be very good. I suspect that the ball coming to him out of defence is not very clever some days. There is little point hoofing it up to him in the air when he could be far better used with the ball on the ground.
Watford Nigel Pearson was too wedded to his formation and selections at Watford While the Pozzo family have perhaps turned the club into a laughing stock, they have also turned it into one for whom relegation from the top flight is considered failure Simon Burnton In The Guardian: Nigel Pearson arrived with Watford bottom of the league with eight points after 15 games, seven away from the last safe spot. He departs with them 17th and three away from trouble. The team won 26 points during his 20 games in charge, the league’s 13th-best record between those dates, one ahead of Champions League-chasing Leicester. He has taken a team that had seemed destined for relegation and given them a very real chance of survival, as well as masterminding a victory over Liverpoolthat stands as one of the finest results and performances in the club’s history. These were the facts that led those with only a superficial knowledge of the goings-on at Vicarage Road in recent months to greet news of Pearson’s sacking with incredulity. “He’s given them spirit, he’s given belief back, he’s given the fans [and] the players revived hope of staying in the Premier League,” said Robbie Savage on BT Sport as the news broke. “If it’s true, it’s an absolute ridiculous, ridiculous decision”. But nobody who has had the misfortune to witness the team’s performances since the restart has seen a group of players performing with any degree of unity or belief. They have played seven times and conceded the first goal in every match. Very few individuals have even approached the outer fringes of their potential. If Watford survive it will be down to the abysmal form of Aston Villa and Bournemouth as much as the efforts of Pearson and their own players. In the first press conference after his appointment in December Pearson was asked why a team that had ended the previous campaign in 11th and in the FA Cup final were struggling so badly. Why could neither Javi Gracia (sacked after they took one point from their first four games, all against teams that will end the season in the bottom half of the table) nor Quique Sánchez Flores (whose ignominious second spell at the club lasted just 10 matches) inspire them to victory? “I wouldn’t say it’s clear,” he said. “I’d say there’s possibly been a drift over a period of time.” And so it remains, with Pearson presiding over a group of individuals that seven months later still seem to lack various combinations of confidence, quality, motivation and simple fitness, and more than anything a continued sensation of drift. However much Watford have a reputation for ripping through managers, with Pearson the rot seemed to set in particularly swiftly. The Hornets won four of their first six games after his appointment but only one – against Liverpool – of the next 10. They went on to beat Norwich, despite playing poorly, and Newcastle, when in the second half they played, for the first time in over four months, quite well. Yet they only took a single point from potentially winnable matches against Leicester, Burnley, Southampton and West Ham. With only Manchester City and Arsenal still to play, the last of those matches, at the London Stadium on Friday night, appeared of vital importance, but Watford played with fear in their bellies when what they needed was fire. They were 2-0 down after 10 minutes and lost 3-1. Pearson appears a man of principle, a person of moral as well as physical heft, but perhaps not so keen on nuance either in approach or tactics. Having swiftly established his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation, nothing could convince him to vary it. When games started poorly he seemed to offer nothing except for half-time rollickings; no game-changing substitutions, few changes of shape or emphasis. It seemed impossible for some players to lose their places in the starting XI, no matter how poor their form or even their fitness. But no coach has settled at Vicarage Road since the Pozzo family’s takeover in 2012, three in a single season have been deemed to have failed, and it increasingly seems that questioning the managers is to miss the point. Something about this squad, or about the environment they work in, has become unmanageable. The defence seems worse now than it was after their promotion five years ago; there is no centre-forward capable of assisting or replacing a toiling Troy Deeney; some players – the Argentinian international Roberto Pereyra the clearest example – have not looked genuinely motivated at any stage of the season. For one manager to fail so badly he has to be sacked is unfortunate; for three to do it in the space of a single season suggests the wrong people are doing the appointing, or the wrong tools are being placed at their disposal. As a result some will be unable to resist the temptation to decry the management of the club. Obviously errors have been made, but while the Pozzo’s have perhaps turned the club into a laughing stock, they have also turned Watford into a club for whom relegation from the top flight is considered failure. However this season ends it will, in terms of final league position at least, be one of the 10 greatest in Watford’s 122-year history. Grim as it might appear, theirs is a quite comely crisis.
Can you see someone of Dyche's stock wanting to join the sacking club, he does not need to blot his CV with that. I fear we are destined for another continental coach many of us will probably not heard off.
2 things to remember whilst trying to make sense of it, and endure all the criticism the club will get, which I ,weirdly, take personally ! First, GT said that WFC areand will be no more than a top 30 club. That's what we are. So currently we are punching at or above our weight. ( And a whole host of 'big' clubs hahaha would like to be in our position). Second, this season, however it finishes, will be the 10th best in the clubs history. (122 years). Copyright The guardian. Now, the main thing I ask myself is ... If we go down, and then play blistering football in the Championship ( a la GFZ) is that better than staying up, and going through another (and another) gut wrenching season hanging on. I really don't know. I do really believe we have genuinely decent football owners who want the club to succeed in as good way, but their methods try my patience !
