Is it just me?

[Hornet-Fez]

Never a dull moment these days! Of all the happenings between coaching staff, sponsors, players to-ing and fro-ing only TD is the major surprise. The others things are all par for the course when new owners come in. Worried? About success on the pitch? Nah, not really... that will come.

Whether the club will keep its soul remains to be seen.

 

[oldfrenchhorn]

Does this answer a few of the questions? Certainly sounds as if the hand to mouth existence could be from the past if it works.

http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/9828050.Duxbury___Players_won_t_be_sold_to_pay_bills_/

 

[Roger68]

Duxbury is being very clear--confirms how we thought the Pozzo model would work, and makes clear that we are in a new ball-game. This is very different from the idea that "nothing has changed , Watford have always been a selling club...."

Of course the other side of it is that players will be moved on not just when they are "at the top of their value" ...but also when it becomes clear (in the judgement of Duxbury and co) that they do not in fact have much future value....and for the same reason.. to make way for younger players who might be expected to increase in value. So a bit more pressure on the established players and our Academy players.I think a high turnover of players will be the order of the day in this model. Not much room for your Gibbs, Porter, Doyley in tne Pozzo set-up.

Interesting suggestion that Bas stopped paying the bills when he knew he was leaving. Let someone else pick up the tab. Nice one Bas.

I would still like to know what GT thinks of all this. Why does the WO not ask him?

 

[Chris 13]

Is it just me or are there others beginning to seriously worry about what is happening in the club? QUOTE]

Well possibly but i'm not sure if it's in the same way as I think we will certainly be successful sooner rather than later.

Where I know I will have difficulty is in accepting New Watford - it is a clear change from the typical English town football club with a good history compared to many who have since the '70's had a tradition that you can see and read about daily. This appears to be dying - it's just a question of when the funeral is and whether it will be a happy Wake. I for one will mourn that passing.

It's true that the club will attract many rumours now and that they shouldn't reply to them - I have no issue there with their silence. My issues are with staff changes that are witheld for weeks so that we are drip fed the news - 8 new members of staff - all of which have been planned in advance and in place for weeks who are mostly Italian - coaches and backroom staff have left but no confirmation till many weeks later; now Wilson. Truly the information given to the media is of a more polished PR nature where timing is important. Watford was never polished and maybe I'm dreaming of a different Era but I always felt the club was in it together with everyone and I just can't see that senario being the future.

Playerwise, there is a real worry that our home grown talent will be watered down and replaced by young players from around the world in the Academy. As for the first team squad, I was already dissapointed at the overuse of the loan system in previous seasons to block those emerging stars of ours and I believe that this will continue. Duxbury has said more on that today I believe that can be infered how their model will be going forward.

I would still like to know what GT thinks of all this. Why does the WO not ask him? QUOTE]

I really don't think he is in any position to say how he feels right now. He clearly knew what was going to happen when he left. We may only know if he writes his memoirs after he turns 80! Or after the official secrets act is repealed
I'd like to think he is sad to see the family club go but pleased that it may have found a future in the more corporate world that English football now is.

For me, I will look forward to 'New Watford' being successful with the fans likely to be more critical as there will be less of a tie with players & the club and vice versa.

 

[oldfrenchhorn]

Nicely written piece Chris a great deal of which I agree with.

It is interesting to see you use the term "New Watford" in the same way that Tony Blair used the "New Labour" idea. In his case he knew that the traditional party was out dated, clinging to ideals that were no longer fit for the modern country that people hoped to see.

I think that the tie between fans and players was broken generally at the time that the minimum wage was abolished, and players stopped travelling to games on the same bus as the fans. GT could see that there was a danger of this disconnection, so introduced the opportunity for the two groups to meet up at fans forums and players doing things in the community.

So far the noises coming out of the club suggest that this interaction is something that has been noticed and should be continued. If it actually happens in this way so much to the good, but however things progress there is little that we as mere fans can do except hope and enjoy what looks like being a new chapter in the thriller that is WFC.

 

[Bolton's Boots]

with the fans likely to be more critical as there will be less of a tie with players & the club and vice versa.

I wonder if that was the catalyst for Scott Loach's move to Ipswich? Having had first hand experience of our critical fans who had ties with the club, he wasn't going to hang around for the New Watford version...........

 

[NZHorn]

The big difference between the New Watford and the old watford where player were sold to kee the club alive is economies of scale. The network trawling for new players is much larger because it is working for three clubs. This makes it more efficient because if Watford don't need a right mid-fielder, say, then Udinese of Granada may.

Increased reveues make it more affordable to bring in more expensive players who can still make the club a profit from a greater fee out than in. I think this is probably one of the goals with whichever new goalkeeper we get. They will be expensive in terms of wages but if we can showcase them then we may get a profit from them.

Economies of scale also allow players to be loaned at no real cost to the organisation. They can be loaned within the organisation. In addittion it wouldn't surprise me if we develop a relationship with a club lower down the food chain in the same way that Granada were/are linked with Cadiz.

As for the soul of the club; this could gp either way. We could be a Lamborghini within the Audi group, or an MG within British Leyland.

 

[oldfrenchhorn]

Your economics are fair enough NZ, but at the end of the day will the Watford fans buy into what is put before them? When we were in the PL our average attendance was somewhere around 17,500- 18,000, I forget the exact numbers. To increase the numbers above that will take some doing, in fact it would keep the question of do we need an East Stand still up for debate. In these hard times people will only go for entertainment if they can afford to do so, families rightly should come first.

Of course we have seen that in Italy and Spain, two countries hardly riding on economic booms, successful clubs getting the support they need, with enlarged grounds and football that is attracting the fans. I am hopeful from what I read that we can embark on an era when we can not only progress, but stay as a self financing club, run without getting into the mess as others have done, and create a vibrant atmosphere at all of our home games.

 

[North North Watford]

I think a high turnover of players will be the order of the day in this model. Not much room for your Gibbs, Porter, Doyley in tne Pozzo set-up.

Nothing has changed as far as the Doyley scenario is concerned. We always try to sign someone better, he always outplays them. The only difference is that we will in theory be signing better players.

 

[Roger68]

North--what I mean here is that in the Pozzo set-up it will be unlikely that any player will stay with the club long enough to rack up the hundreds of appearances that players like Gibbs, Porter, Doyley etc have. Players like that are very much the heartbeat of the club, the ones we have a special affection for, but we are not likely to see such as them in future. Players now will be moved on "at the top of their value" , or if unlikely to make much value, moved on for a new prospect, more likely to be an appreciating asset (from the viewpoint of the Pozzo "family" of clubs).

So yes, we are in an era of "New Watford" and the comparison with " New Labour" is quite apt. A new type of football business in a world of globalisation of scouting, development and marketing of players for profit.