Am I correct in stating our long term objective has been to become a consistent top 30 club? If so at this point sitting in 34th place, on a decent run and very little pressure for te rest of the season I'm thinking we're pretty close. Three seasons as mid table champ team through one of the rockiest financial periods in the clubs history, 3 good young managers, hoping Dychey sticks around a bit longer than the last two but who knows, is this now the springboard for us to become a yoyo champ prem club with the thrills and heartaches of promotion and relegation being ever present? I'm thinking yes as long as bazzer sticks to leaving enough money in the club to get the yoyo yoyoing......
You need to take into consideration that we have played 2 more games than some of the teams around us, Ipswich for example. If we finish 12th then that would be an excellent (and surprising) season IMO If we finish 15th/16th then that would be decent season IMO Im personally not really that bothered about being top 30 in England, I couldn't care less about the Prem.
Regardless of the ex-Watford contingents at the respective clubs, Cardiff and Swansea are utterly irrelevant. As things stand we're one point and one goal away from our objective, although we need to be mindful of the fact that several teams around us have games in hand.
I think that we are very close to a short term objective of stability that has resulted in us being where we are in terms of league position. But I am not so sure in terms of where we are getting to the longer term objective of growing the club to a position that we are less impacted by short term issues - for that we need a period of managerial stability and the redevelopment of The Vic. Get these in place and with a strong pipeline of players coming through the academy, we will be a position to challenge for promotion and the world of the Yo-Yo...like Mitch, I have little time for the Prem, but we will need it's money sometime soon - let's hope we have people in place that this time will cherish that revenue and not piss it up the wall!
Watford are already an English top thirty club. Why worry. The Premier League does not count any more as it is made up of corporate teams with only one or two local players in their match squads. Manchester Blue International Wanderers - North London Red and White Francophiles or Chelski - Manchester American Owned Red Stars there are few Englishmen there. Even at the bottom you will not find many Englishmen, Wigan and QPR are good examples.
A good post Aberdeen but surely to be able to answer this we should look back at what our aims were at the start of the season, The don't Give Up Thread makes a good read on how we felt then
Personally, I always felt like this was where we were going to finish this season, and maybe better if we got some luck. Was in disbelief at the majority "I'll be happy to take 21st place" mentality. Obviously, survival is great....but I think 21st position would be a really bad season for us, full of lots of bad results and underachievement. Despite whoever we sell, we bounce back from it! Our team is quite new this season, but it's a good team. Nothing wrong with youth either. Whatever happens in the Summer, I think we should look up, not down or across our shoulders. Why not? We've proven that we can match other teams, the best in this division, we just need to stamp out those mistakes. So for me...objective wise......I think a guideline is to finish mid table, that should be the expectation and anything worse would be underachievement. But, without any pressure, we should look to have a go at the play offs. Without any further signings it can't be an expectation, only a chance that we could take with some luck, but still something to aim for! I think if you aim for survival, you're doomed from the start. If you aim for mid table, you're being unambitious. If you aim for promotion, then you've got something to play for.
For me, with all the changes, I think we would have been satisfied with survival, but happy with mid-table. We had another summer of uncertainty and many changes, with a new owner everyone was unsure of. Most people are still unsure of him, but he is talking a good game, so now it is time to see if he delivers (so when is the Red Lion reopening?) For this season, I would say we have hit our objectives. After a poor start, we have stabalised. We are safe with many games left. We are managing to introduce some youngsters in and around the first team. If we lose a couple of players to injury, we are able to replace them with good quality. We have built a squad, not just a first team with youngsters to cover. Our objectives for next season should be to continue with this stability. The least amount of disruption possible to the on and off the field staff. To make progress with the infrastructure - SW Corner and hopefully a start to the East (GT) Stand. A new pitch. A 1 team-only pitch. Another year's experience for the manager. I'd happily take another mid-table finish next season if it still meant developing the playing staff as well as the ground! We will find it tough to compete with the top 6 or so as they are generally teams coming down with the parachute payments, or teams with a good financial backing. This club is a long-term project; slow and steady rather than just throwing money in the hope we will succeed!
Agreed, staduim is a must it is a bit embarassing to be honest only having 3 stands !! Would we ever fill it though? Although we might want to sample the prem it is without doubt that the Championship is the best league globally.
I think we could. We used to fill it before it closed and with performances on the up i can imagine that people would be willing to watch.
At the time your talking about Dan we were on a roll and chasing promotion. I'm sure if the team keep improving the way they have been next season and get on a roll again the fair weather supporters will return and start filling the seats.
Which puts us currently 15th if the teams with games in hand produce their average points from those games, realistically we're in a real 14th 15th at the moment and any talk of relegation is as likely as automatic promotion so I'll enjoy the lack of pressure because I'm sure it will not last. I think it matters to the club to have an objective and its been stated in the past by Lord GT and others that the top 30 is the place to be.It makes sense financially, the reality is that if we don't flirt in that area we'll be flirting and fluctuating south which isn't so much fun..
I consider that survival this season was a difficult objective. We lost a manager in the build up to the season and he took good people from us - SD was 3rd tier only a dogwatch ago so to ask him to step up as he has done is nothing short of a fantastic achievement. To secure mid table safety with 8 games to go is superb and for the first time in a while (BR excepted) our second half season has not gone pear shaped. Add to this our financial position and you have to say we have achieved one hellluva lot in this last year or two. Relegation from the Prem threatened our very existence whereas now we are as "safe" financially as any club is these days. Well done not only to SD - but to those around him - not least the man I never trusted - Baz
How much money, if any is there in finishing a few positions higher in this division? A lack of incentive shouldn't be a reason not to try as hard as we can, I'm just curious.
That is a good question NNW and I cannot find an answer. I doubt that it is a great amount as the prize money that I have been able to find out about is peanuts.
I agree with you 100% Leo, but I am afraid that I still am not at all sure about Baz. You read all of the time that he has done nothing wrong, yet my distant view says that he has done a lot of tinkering around the edges, and not really grasped some of the bigger things that have to be tackled. In business I am naturally cautious and would not want to commit to things that could not be afforded. Yet he goes out and spends a couple of million on a building that in all probability will never show a profit, when for the same money he could have done the SW corner which does have to be done and could provide some income. The monies to pay off the bondholders this month was lodged when he took over, but next year and the year after far larger sums have to be found. I will still not say that he should not be here, he was probably the only genuine option, but until I see more of his talk being transformed into reality, I reserve my judgement.
Can't disagree with any of that Frenchie. However I suspect GT and others are good guiding influences. I have always believed Baz has only one real objective and that is to get Watford to a state where he can sell it on.
I agree with most of your comments OFH and we know you have always been sceptic where Baz is concerned, but to say refurbishing the Red Lion and rebuilding the SW Corner would come to the same amount. I know things in France are expensive but to do the RedLion will cost no more than £500,000 where on Earth the couple of Million quote comes from amazes me.
The cost of doing up the Red Lion was looked at by the Russos. It was part of their plans until Vince Russo reckoned that it could cost that sort of money and could not be afforded.
Even after tonight's football has finished, Burnley, Ipswich and Palace will all still have 1 game in hand over us. Ispwich are winning by the way (which is bad for us)
