If not sick, apprehensive at least. So what difference will Italian owners make to WFC? Perhaps I should begin by saying I've always had a soft spot for Italy...stylish clothes, magnificent paintings, beautiful scenery, delicious food and a climate that suits me very well. Italian football at club level has often been tedious but there have been some fine individual players in the national side over the years. I have enjoyed many fine holidays in Italy and still have a bottle or two of Chianti somewhere about the house. One thing I never bargained for however was an Italian buying my football team. Aside from the concerns about SD, about finance, about the ground, about selling players, should I be pleased or not and are we likely to witness an Italian culture developing at Vicarage Road? Light-hearted suggestions have already been made about blue shirts, draught Moretti and the team running on to the pitch to the strains of Verdi...but what are the changes you would expect to see given what we know about the Pozzo family?
Ferraris for the players, brown envelopes for the local council, an opposition change of kit at each match available to switch sides at half time if we're losing
There seem to be conflicting reports about what to expect, but that is not surprising at this stage in the game. On the one hand our acadamy has been cited as the reason the new owners are interested in the club. That has to be positive. On the other hand there is the example of Granada, which seems to be a place where the Udinese younsters can learn their trade. Having said that Granada are now in the top flight of Spanish football, a position they have not been in for many decades. There are also rumours of major changes to our coaching and managerial staff, which is not what we, as supporters, want. If the Pozzos are as good at understanding football as we have been led to believe then, hopefully, they will take WFC on its merit and keep what is good, whilst improving want needs to be improved. What we don't know is what they have promised to various parties on the success of their takeover. Nor do we know if their style of football organisation fits with some of the staff at the Vic. I'm thinking about SD here. I get the impression (which may be wrong) that team managers in English football have a much broader control of what hapens at a club than do coaches on the continent. If the intention of the new owners is to bring in a continental style of football management then SD may feel uncomfortable staying. What I think will prove to be very important is the manner in which any changes are instituted. One of Baz's main problems was PR. If the Pozzos keep us informed and explain the rationale behind them, then, perhaps, the supporters will accept people like SD leaving. That won't happen if Watford becomes a second (or third) team for Udinese.
Without wishing to appear jingoistic, foreign owners do seem to have a somewhat mixed record in terms of appreciating what local fans invest in their club.
They're already foreign owners by owning Granada or are you referring specifically to foreign owners in the British game?
My thoughts on why Watford is an attractive proposition for the Pozzo family - is that they have an extensive and expensive scouting network, and that they are possibly having to disregard talented players because they would be unsuitable for the style of play in Italy and Spain, but would be well suited to the English game. They may also be missing out on other talented youngsters because they can't offer them an education in the English language, I am thinking some African nations here. The linkup with Granada may have been because they needed the same for their spanish speaking latin american recruits.
I'd suggest we may be a different proposition than Granada. reading a bit about them, they were in a pretty bad state, so the owners came in and stabalised them, while also adding to the squad with players they already know - short term fixes! I'd like to think they have done a top to bottom study of the club. To recognise our strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats (yes, I did business at uni) and realise what is needed to progress the club. I'd say youngsters within the squad isn't an area we are short on, but if they can add a player or two of real top-class quality through a loan deal, then I am all for it! With our Academy, we are certainly a very attractive proposition... and who knows, with their wealth, they may just add the investment to make us a Category 1 Academy! Our Academy is certainly a strength, but also a threat if we cannot keep it's status - paying a fortune developing these youngsters, only for them to get poached for a low value! Hopefully they will recognise that it is the capital infrastructure that needs the most attention at this moment - that the playing and coaching staff are doing their job, but the ground/stadium isn't.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18505764 this article sort of comfirms some of our doubts about the new owners. At least they seem like football people and have a good record with the clubs that they have !!
A fairly useless but amusing bit of info from today's Guardian informs us Italians use the word biscuit for match-fixing. Attwell left the Vic with a kilo of chocolate digestives allegedly...
Granada were league 2 and are now top division and managed to stay up , Udinese do okay ,tend to be a yoyo club , all believe in encouraging youth and selling on ,all have good academys, seeing any similarities , Pozzo`s clubs are solvent , which would be nice for watford ,on other forums we are being welcomed by our hopefully new spanish and italian brothers and sisters! uhhappy about losing SD , but at the end of the day , financial stability and the doors that could be opened up for WFC , I support this wholeheartedly and believe this to be the best thing to happen to the club in years
Yeah more I think about it more it seems logical and the best way forward for the future. ACADEMY MUST STAY and we MUSTN'T BE USED as feeder club to their other teams. Only doubts.
I think talk about us becoming a nursery club is an oversimplification. The Pozzos have a good record in youth development and in making money from selling players at the right time. I'm sure they will get some things wrong, but it is not in their interests to prevent the development of future Ashley Youngs, Adrian Mariappas, Marvin Sordells and Sean Murrays. It might limit opportunities for future Dale Bennetts and Michael Bryans. But sometimes I feel that this club holds onto players like that for longer than it is in either side's interests. Rather than spend years on the fringes in the hope of one day getting a break before leaving with little experience at 22-23, surely it would be better to decide at 19 or 20 whether they are likely to be Championship players, and if not, allow them to find a level at which they can play regularly. For instance, it will be interesting to compare Baz's friend Eddie Oshodi's progress, with the progress of current Watford youngsters who go on to be released.
From what I can see they have an extensive scouting system and bring in huge numbers of players a lot of whom fail to make the grade. Out of such a large number they find their gems which they sell on at a big profit. The players who are touch and go get loaned out and given a second chance to prove themselves, while quite a lot get nothing apart from a season on fairly low wages.
