Well the other clubs could get at least 5 domestic loan players which would roughly be about the same as we could start with (ok maybe a couple extra on the bench) Mind you Mahon is a footballer - they are hardly known for thinking before talking... Anyway we haven't exactly romped home with league which would be a more valid case for Mahon's point of view. Millwall for example have kept 2 clean sheets against us and we've lost at POSH,Bristol City and Barnsley..unlike last season when we had none of the overseas guys.
This doesn't make good reading. It's usual Daily Mail tittle tattle, right? http://www.footballcourier.com/news...players-in-the-premier-league/full_story.html
It is factually inaccurate. WFC has to seek FA approval for any players it wishes to register, until the end of the next transfer window. There is no ban on transfers. I would guess that the objective is to make sure all deals are legitimate.
I also think that when the dispute with LNOC is settled the restrictions will be lifted. I am not sure what the club are trying to achieve, unless it is to shift the debt straight onto the sagging shoulders of Baz.
I always thought the FA had to vent any transfer anyway! I am pretty sure if it was an out-right ban the club would have started an appeal and all sorts. The sad thing is if we get promoted every interview and story will be along these lines - it could sound like the most negative reaction to a promotion ever!" Well since the last time we went up when the media hated our style of football and wanted Leeds to win.
In practise what the "embargo" means is that we need to get our business finished a week before the deadline to be on the safe side.
Don't know if it is news as I don't know if the source has actually had a quote from him. http://www.talksport.co.uk/sports-n...-says-watford-could-keep-chelsea-starlet-if-c
I think he said it Frenchie.... and it is in speech marks... so he should have done ! Mind you it doesn't mean anything really.....
Just read this piece on Zola which is an interesting good read: http://forzaitalianfootball.com/2013/05/watfords-gianfranco-zola-the-man-the-player-and-the-manager/ Watfordâs Gianfranco Zola: The man, the player and the manager: After making a huge impression on English football as a player, Italian Gianfranco Zola is doing likewise as a manger. âWhen we play a football match we are not going to war, we are entertainersâ is a quote that perfectly sums up Zolaâs outlook on football and life in general. Zola was brought up on the Italian island of Sardinia, but gained his big break in football, when he moved to Napoli in 1989. He was part of Italyâs golden age of fantasisti during the early 1990s, with Roberto Baggio, Roberto Mancini and a young Alessandro Del Piero all competing for the number 10 position in the national side. The phrase âembarrassment of richesâ adequately describes such a pool of talent, and the competition was such that Zola managed only 13 minutes in the 1994 World Cup in the USA. Carlo Ancelotti has admitted that he forced Zola into a move to England by his failure to find a place for the forward in the Parma team when the now PSG boss was coach there in 1996. âIn that period, when there was a discussion, Chelsea offered him a good contract and he decided to go. I think it was a mistake. It was my first experience in Serie A [as a coach] and I was not able to change the system. He would probably not have gone to Chelsea if I had changed the system,â Ancelotti later said. Perhaps undervalued in his home country, Zola was welcomed with open arms by English football. Footballer of the Year in his first, incomplete season, he was later voted Chelseaâs greatest ever player in a fan vote and even awarded an OBE in 2004. His mixture of brilliant performances on the pitch and humility off it made Zola one of the most popular foreign players in English Premier League history. Zola then honoured a commitment to end his playing career with Cagliari, a decision that led Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea, to consider purchasing the Sardinian club in the hope of enticing its figurehead back to west London. In his second season back in Serie A, he won the Pallone dâArgento or Silver Ball, which is awarded to the player who has the best sporting talent, correctness and morality. Zola in his pomp at Chelsea. It is difficult to imagine any top-class footballer who presented a better image than Zola. He showed respect for his managers, teammates and the game as a whole. He sat on the bench and never complained and he refused to cash in on his celebrated status. It said much about his attitude that, for all his success, very little was known about his life off the field. This remarkable character can be seen in his short managerial career so far. Zola became West Ham Unitedâs first foreign manager in September 2008. The pressure on the small shoulders of the Italian, who stands at only 5ft 6 in, was heightened by the fact this was to be his first managerial post, after having previously been assistant to Pierluigi Casiraghi with the Italian Under-21 side. However, Zola embraced this new found pressure and the famous call from the Upton Park faithful for the Hammers to play attractive football. He installed a new mentality at the club and took the league by storm. West Hamâs movement often confounded opponents, while their work ethic meant that they rarely left gaps in defence. With additions to the squad such as Italian Davide Di Michele, Zola guided West Ham to a top 10 finish in the Premier League. Despite this impressive start to his managerial career, Zola struggled in his first full season at West Ham. The Italian maintained throughout this difficult campaign that an inability to put the ball in the net undermined West Hamâs otherwise fine play. They finished fourth from bottom, five points above the relegation zone, and Zola was sacked two days after a year of infighting between himself and the West Ham owners over transfer policy and player contracts. After he was treated so badly at West Ham United, the little Italian retreated from football. A brilliant player, and one of the Premier Leagueâs most cherished players, his managerial debut had been a painful saga. There was the suspicion that the Italian was too nice for the cut-throat world of top-level management. âI learnt many lessons from some tough experiences. One of the biggest was that no matter what happens you need to hold on to your beliefs. And you must stay humble,â Zola admitted. But after visiting the training camps of AC Milan and Barcelona the coach rediscovered his love of the game, and was now ready to re-enter the madness of 21st century football. Watford Football Club was bought in June of last year by the Pozzo family â the Italians who own Udinese, and the Spanish club Granada. They wanted a man to oversee a project, and Zola fit the bill perfectly. âMy philosophy is to play attacking football and to make it enjoyable,â the Italian claimed. Watford have taken advantage of a loophole in the English loan system, that loan players from clubs in other countries must sign until the end of a season, so are officially classed as permanent transfers. Watford under the Pozzos have brought in 14 loan players: nine from Udinese (until Fernando Forestieri signed permanently); including top scorer Matej Vydra. âIt was a very big challenge, to have so many players, 37 or 38, and so many foreign players, to mould them into a team and train them also.â Zola also faced the problem of Tory Deeney. The striker was sent to prison for his involvement in an attack on students in Birmingham in June 2012. Following his release, the playerâs life was at a crossroads. Thanks to the man management of Zola, however, Deeney turned his career and life around, becoming a vital part of the new-look Watford outfit. This season in the words of Zola, was to be transitional, yet it has been anything but. Watford only missed out on automatic promotion to the Premier League on the final day of the regular season. After this huge disappointment, Zola picked up his men and they subsequently beat Leicester City over two legs in the Championship semifinal playoffs, with the late winner being scored by Deeney. Now, only a date with Crystal Palace at Wembley on 27th May stands in the way of the Italian and a famous return to the Premier League. Football is about spirit and human values of respect and kindness, insists Zola, a philosophy that is at odds with modern football. Yet Zola has got in right. He advocates a simple and beautiful game, a game that many, including myself, have and hope to continue to fall in love with. Although small in stature, Gianfranco Zola transcended the game as a player and is continuing to do so in his new profession. By Richard Hinman on Twitter: @RichardHinman For FORZA Italian Football
Anyone remember when he was manager of wet sham, how, when the reporters were camped outside his house, he took them all out teas and coffees. Also, a little known fact is that he is a very very good pianist.
http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/watfordfc/watfordfcnews/10425668._/ Little warning from Almunia for Vydra - work harder or you won't fulfill your potential? Sounds like somebody talking from experience having been at Arsenal training with truely world class talent..and some wasted ones.
