I think I might have started a thread along these lines before, but I can't find it. I've been wondering: ignoring Vialli, when was the last time you feel a Watford chairman actually made a blunder in their choice of manager? Think carefully about it. I'm not simply asking "who was the last bad manager we had": in my opinion it's possible for a board can make a sound decision which ultimately didn't work out. In my opinion the main candidates from recent years (Roeder for taking us down, Jackett for keeping us there, Rodgers in spite of his on-pitch success for the instability he created even before the Reading question came up) were all perfectly logical choices, but others may disagree. Would it be one of the people I named above? Could it even be Boothroyd? (for me the thing that removes him from consideration isn't the promotion season, but keeping us up previously) Or do we have to go back all the way to the late 80s or early 90s?
We finished mid table in the third tier under Jacket, that season (96/97) has been our worst season in the last 34 years IMO
It was a poor season, and perhaps worse still it was a boring season. But assuming that under no circumstances would GT have agreed to actually manage us that season, wouldn't Kenny + GT upstairs count as a logical pair of appointments? I guess what I'm looking for are managers where at the time some Hornets were thinking "what on earth is the chairman playing at?", and they were later proven right.
I was about to mention George Kirby, but then his efforts at Halifax made him a logical appointment at the time. I think you may have to enter the dark recesses of OFH's memory to find what you're looking for..........
Slightly off track I know, but which Watford manager never saw the team play a game? To try and answer your question though in my opinion you have to go back a very long time to Neil McBain who was appointed for a second time. His first spell at the club had been quite good, but when he was brought back there were plenty of rumours that he was well past it due to his drink problem. Looking at some of the others since who did not last due to poor results there was a certain logic in their appointment, and being used to survival over success we always hoped and gave the new man the benefit of any doubt.
On the other side it was interesting to find that Steve Harrison was nearly as successful for win percentage statistically as Graham Taylor.
I think the manager who did not see Watford play was John Ward, he must have been a caretaker in a period when some games were postponed.
I think it's Nigel Gibbs - he was Ray Lewington's assistant in 2004/5. We had 2 weeks gap at the end of March 2005, and during that time Aidy was appointed.
Call that a clue? Have been scratching my head trying to think of a player-manager - who would never have seen the team play because he was in it - but can't think of one. This is obviously an evil trick question IMO.
