Match Day Thread ¡Hornets v Magpies!

Players come, players go, owners come & owners go ( thankfully in some cases ). But a true fan of its club stays for life regardless of whatever path his club takes both good or bad. That illusive thing whatever triggers devoution in the first place is a seed that grows within us and maybe is something which we do not have total control over when it germinates.

 

Slightly different, but when was z cars first used at the ground?

 

I do feel just a bit sad that English youngsters will probably feel there is very little chance of making the grade , largely because clubs are bringing in so many overseas players .
English football has a fine tradition .. For English players , opportunities appear to be in terminal decline ...the problem is compounded by the fact that so few English players are playing in other lands .
A quota system for English born players would be an answer . Noted yesterday , Charlie Austin and Sam Byram had good debuts .
Are we physically , socially , mentally inferior ? ..I don't think so , perhaps soft , easy lives and computer games etc are at the root of the problem . In general todays youngsters do seem softer than previous generations . ( I'm a dad of 3 now grown children and a former junior sports coach ) .
I'm as excited as anyone by the prospect of seeing talented overseas players arriving at the Vic .... The summer could see some excellent players arriving with the extra dosh splashing around . Trouble is every club are also buying quality players , so they tend to cancel out one another .

 

Apparently started in the 1963-64 season when Z Cars was at it’s height on television. It was a favourite programme of the then Manager Bill McGarry and he asked that it be played at Vicarage Road.
It always gets the juices flowing .

 

yes it is a great shame..... and changing the nature of the Uk game.... plus of course our national team

 

My 'feelings' about this may be...controversial, but...

I don't really care what nationality our players are. But then I really don't have any interest any more in the national team. I certainly don't watch them any more and the only reason I would is if a Watford player were selected.

It makes me laugh, but Deeney is having an excellent season, having proved he can step up. Yet, Carroll scores one goal and speculation starts about an England re-call. I know this is the media, but it just makes me want to switch off even more. All I am interested in is Watford tbh, to the point that I rarely watch other teams on match of the day (it's what catch up to was invented for).

I have also come to despise Sky TV and BT the way they manipulate the fixture list at will. Yet I would not now want Watford to be playing anywhere else. Maybe this is what was behind some peoples fear of being dragged into the relegation battle. I used to love being in the Championship. Now I see the difference in skill levels needed to compete in the Prem.

So, for me this season has been a bitter sweet experience, but one I am enjoying. But I can't help wishing Sky and BT would just do one.

 

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i always harp back to the 'good old days' but sadly football as many other sports has been ruled by money....

But yes.. great to see us doing so well......

 

For me it does matter. I am not saying that players should necessarily have been born in England - more that I do not have such a good feeling knowing that our players first had to look on the map to find out where Watford is before coming here. If it really is so that only we, (the fans) have a connection to the town then why is the club allowed to use the town`s name ? It is legends that make a football club (not just success on the pitch) people like Luther, Ross Jenkins, Kenny Jackett, Tommy Mooney, Lloyd Doyley etc. etc. where is the next one coming from ? (Or is Troy Deeney going to be the last ?).

 

But Deeney and many other English players had no connection with the town, so it's a spurious argument.

 

I reckon that as with so many things we cannot put the clock back. Back in the early days of my connection to Watford there were still players like Micky Benning who worked in Sun printers, got on his bike to cycle up to the ground before a game. Freddie Bunce, Bobby Howfield were local lads who made it into the first team, and Big Cliff was only ever a part time player. Players were tied to clubs and if a chairman thought he had an asset worth something he could refuse to pay the player until someone came up with a large enough fee. So many things changed when the Bosman ruling came into effect. Players had the whiphand, and still do, rather than the clubs. Players today will move where they can earn a contract and the best one for them and their families. Looking at the league 2 here in France, clubs are full of players from African countries all hoping that first of all they will make the grade here, then be good enough to move on to where the money is. The result is a very poor standard of football, lots of running, but little skill. Most of the clubs are multi-sports, with the grounds owned by the local council. There are a few where there has been a rich backer come in, but this has led to a two-tier system of clubs as in England, between the Prem and the rest. The balance between the haves and the have nots is wrong. Small clubs used to survive by selling their best players for what seemed like large amounts. Today they often have to sell them for an under value fee just to survive.

 

Most clubs in Germany are also multi sports clubs Frenchie - including Bayern Munich (there are 'Bayern Munich' teams in many other sports). In most cases in Germany the town or city has a stake in the local football team. In addition there is a 51% ruling whereby no individual or grouping can come in and buy more than 49% of a club which has 'association' status - this prevents millionaires from investing into German football, which in turn ensures some kind of economic parity (ok. Bayern stretch this a little). It also ensures that Germany is not riddled by clubs going bankrupt or living beyond their means. It also ensures a kind of fan power which is largely lost in England (and the largest crowds in Europe). Although I am gratefull to the Pozzos for saving my club from the unimaginable, nonetheless the Pozzo model of ownership would be impossible in Germany and I actually wish that were the case in England. Maybe English football needs to redefine what exactly a 'club' is.

 

Many of the above points highlight the issue but.....

1: We live in a society where there is freedom of movement and employment (EEC) . To implement restrictions to allow home grown talent more opputunity would contravine employment laws & would disciminate against those it effected. And that is not politically correct

2: The days when small clubs sold on to survive have also been effected by player power. Once a player wants to move for what ever reason he can now almost always get his wish as the contract is to heavily based on his wishes/rights.

3: To have more home grown talent playing would also require a stabilization of values. Home grown players are over valued financially and over paid accordingly and in many cases do not have the skill factor to match their cheaper continental cousins. Many of us can recall our parents/grandparents buying british as it was suposed to be best but as the British car industry found out in the '70's cheaper better quality Japenese imports became availble and all to soon the car industry crumbled as it could not compete.

For the purists in you for many, many reasons for which we will not be able to change enough of to get your home grown wishes this is the 21st century like it or not and there is always Sunday morning soccer if you wish to see majority home grown players in action.

 

.it's a Faustian pact made with sky.. ...........

 

Or i guess we can hope time travel gets invented PDQ

 

I am not sure exactly how employment laws stand on this because you also have such things as 'quotas' eg. for women, for disabled, and also for people from so called ethnic origins. I think that if any other type of business or firm were drawing all of their staff from somewhere outside of the town or area then there would be more opposition to this. The other question is whether so called 'free market' rules really apply to football, to clubs and to associations. The relationship between a football club and its location is a very complex one - which cuts both ways. In Germany they see football more as a 'Kulturgut' (rather than a business) ie. as a cultural asset. So, Hamburg is richer through having SV. Hamburg there - but the club also profits from its location. All people in possession of match day tickets would be guaranteed free public transport to and from the match (at least within the state of Hamburg) just the same as if they had theatre tickets. I do not necessarily think that we should start with quota systems - but rather begin with the issue of ownership within English football (how many English clubs are actually owned by Englishmen ?).

 

Anyway - back to the game and The True Geordie is not a happy bunny. Arf.

 

The True Geordie, you almost feel sorry for him!

 

If "almost" means "not in any way shape or form" then I agree with you!

 

He mentioned having to do it for the subscribers. People actually subscribe to that? 2 minutes 59 seconds of nothing, not even remotely funny or witty.

Feel sorry for him? Never in a million years.

PYGMIES 3 giants 0!