Must say I don't interpret it as jealousy. As Watford fans we're obviously going to defend our club and we will keep saying we've broken no rules but I have to admit that intrinisically it doesn't look right. I'm pretty sure that I'd have a similar opinion were the shoe on the other foot. I think what riles us is the misreporting from the media. You're all still going to disagree with what we're doing and that's absolutely fine but when allegedly respected news broadcasters keep churning out half truths - more through not being bothered to gen up on little Watford rather than anything more sinister i'm sure - we're going to react. As said before though it's refreshing to be able to keep it civil after some of the bile we've been seeing from others but then to be fair I wouldn't expect any different from you lads.
It's up in the air Guru. Udinese say they want him to replace their star striker in 2 years or so and they've spoken about him coming back to us but there's also a chance he may go to Swansea. Still, it's being talked about so that's got to be a positive!
Guru, The "loophole" was there only to facilitate the transfer of the players in the fallout of the Bassini/Bazini/whatever he chooses to call himself this week affair. It didn't really help Watford in any other way. The rules were changed when the football league clubs' representatives had their jolly in Portugal a few weeks ago and voted (presumably based on ignorance, since it was quite clear it would have no effect on Watford) to change the rules. It's nothing to do with the FA, just a bunch of club chief executives in a bad mood due to sunburn. The Pozzo's business model appears to be based on developing scouting & player development networks (e.g. academies) and getting the benefit of these assets, either in playing terms or financially. They're are now utilising (with Granada and Watford) the opportunity to fit the players into the team/league that best fits the players experience and development. Currently, of course, the infrastructure is much more developed in Italy and Spain. I would think it would make business sense to continue to develop this with Watford in England - This is what the precedent suggests. In the future it is likely that English/British players (if they're good enough ha ha) will be given the opportunity to hone their skills abroad as the Watford signings are doing now. So those people interested in the English National team should be happy! That's just where we are at the moment, early on in the process. Do us Watford fans (oh, I've given away my bias) think we're a Udinese reserve team? Well I can't speak for them, but not me - Can I understand why others may think this way? Of course. Is it unfair? Well I guess so at one level. But then is it unfair that Chelsea/Man City have seemingly unlimited access to funds/players? Yes. Is it unfair that Man Utd have had the best manager of the last 30 years (yes, only one can team can have this manager so of course it's not fair). It's not "fair" that Man Utd can fund their players just because they have more supporters than anybody else! Unfairness abounds in football and many other sports. What's the way out, a salary cap? All the good players move to Italy/Spain/Germany/Russia then. If Financial Fair Play really meant that, then Man Utd should give a huge chunk of their wealth to Macclesfield. It's about financial sustainability. Whether Chelsea will be financiallly sustainable when Abramovic gets bored is debatable - Any "sugar daddy"-type involvement is unlikely to be sustainable in the long term. The Pozzos have shown their model to be sustainable in the long term (they acquired Udinese in 1986). Surely this is a good thing?
I hope he does as well. I don't want to have any players at Watford who spend half the season thinking they can do better than us and stop putting in the effort. I'd rather have players like Forestieri who actually want to be at Watford.
Dan just leave these fools to think what they want, it's pure jealously mixed with lots of ignorance. They moaned last year when we had players on loan, now they're moaning that we've signed them on permanent deals. I've never been as excited as this for the start of a season, even if we don't get promoted we're still going to play awesome football again. And ****ty old Ipswich are stuck with Mick 'muppet eyebrows' Mcarthy...
I'll be glad when the season starts and we are all more concerned about what happens on the pitch rather than off it. We are talking about the Championship, where anything can happen. Good luck to Ipswich. I hope you do better than you expect.
I wouldn't class people as fools because they have a different opinion, or jealous because they think its wrong! Although I do agree there certainly is a lot of ignorance, but then what would you expect as most that can be read on the subject (by paid professionals) is also laden with ignorance. Unfortunately for Watford they were bought out too late in the day. If they had been bought a couple of months earlier none of this would probably have surfaced as all the players would have been transferred on a perm deal and Holloway would have had nothing to rant about as there would not have been nine loan players in the starting line up. The fact that there was not enough time to negotiate contracts and get the paper work in place they were left with little choice (anyway nothing wrong with try before you buy). This has now been blown up bigger than Ben Hur due to the "transfer embargo" and the fact that those players have now signed permanent. Which, by the way was always going to happen from the day they put pen to paper on the loan agreement. This was made very clear at the time and well before the FL had the vote on the loan player business. So why didn't they close the so called 'NEW' loop hole, back then? Not being a lawyer, I cant confirm but I would imagine it would be illegal (restriction of trade) and they would be in court quick smart!! So, what's the answer? Go find a 'sugar daddy' or someone with another club and half decent players they don't want. Anyone, who thinks owning two clubs is a new thing is obviously not that old or has a bad memory, Maxwell did it back in the 80's. Abramovich had two clubs at one point, probably still does. You may see a few other clubs go down this track in the future (Napoli have expressed an interest) especially EPL teams if it helps them avoid FFP. On another note (and speaking of fairness), was what Palace did fair to all the other clubs? Sell a player for 15Mill, loan him back and have the cash to go strengthen your squad? Just food for thought!! Anyway, good luck in the new campaign, its going to be another tight year with highs and lows all round!!!
Very well said. I see you're also a victory fan HDU - do you follow the AFL as well? i'm a North melbourne fan mainly due to having familty down there.
Yes mate member (season ticket holder) at the Victory but the heart is still at Watford, yellow through and through.
In my humble opinion Watford played the most attractive football last season and derserved to go up....
Unfortunately you only deserve to go up if you get the points on the board or win the "end of season lottery" AKA playoffs, Watford did neither. The sooner they put an end to the playoffs and promote the best three teams over the course of the season the better. Palace will struggle big time having lost two of their better players and their leading scorer out for best part of the year. The money will come in useful for them as long as they don't panic buy in January and get relegated with a large wage bill. Hopefully Watford can produce the same standard of free flowing football this season and also get the required amount of points on the board.
