Watford fan here not wanting a row about managers, backroom staff and out of contract players! Of the posts between Cardiff and Watford fans i can assure all Cardiff fan's we do not (or at least I do not) hate Cardiff but just feel very dissapointed at what Malky has done having painted himself as a loyal bloke with Watford in his heart for the last two years. I was proud to call the MAN our manager but now my respect for him is that he is a good manager. I'm sure he will do well for you as will Cowie just don't come back for anymore of our players. Boxing day will be very tasty i can guarantee that! It is so disheartening for our fans to constantly see teams built and then dismantled because of the financial situation. Hopefully we can defy the odds again and have a decent season. Please ignore all of the welsh b*******s posts they are just upset and can't believe what has happened to us this summer. Good luck this season (although I would like to see you start slowly MM get sacked and then see you do well) your club and fans are nice it's just the manager we have problems with. From a sensible hornets fan.
Good post Chris, thanks. It isn't nice when your club gets raped and pillaged. We've lost a lot of good players over the last 7-8 seasons, many on frees or for peanuts. Often when you lose a manager a number of backroom staff go with him. However, when the man who makes you competative and a couple of key players disappear in one go, it gets your season off to a bad start. Hope things straighten out for you.
hi Chris. Even our local press (and believe me, that's being kind) have said as recently as today that everyone hates us so it's not a problem We've had our fair share of tough times and have seen players sold on. It does p*ss you off at the time and, from a fans perspective, emotions can sometimes cloud judgement but it's the nature of this business. The Malky factor coupled now with Cowie has just added fuel to the fire. I agree though, Boxing Day should be lively. The 90 minute mutual appreciation society should be in full voice Personally, I haven't seen any anti-Welsh stuff and usually just put it down to ignorance if I do but you can understand if others respond to it accordingly. KTF Hornet.
Chris! Thanks for your post m8.Surprised more didn't comment.I think most level headed Bluebirds will understand the fall out from Hornets fans against us.Malky is a promising young manager who has taken the heart out of Watford we would probably feel exactly the same if it were the other way around.I believe Sean Dyche is strong enough to rebuild given time and patience. Good luck.
Surely Malky and Cardiff can't be blamed for Graham going to the Jacks and the winger (sorry can't remember his name) going to Brighton? I think. Okay so Cowie and Malky's support team have come to us but, correct me if I'm wrong, wasn't Cowie out of contract and a free agent in the same way we have lost Bothroyd, Burke and Matthews, and Ledley last year. Watford have always been a selling club, as have we in recent years, and that my friends is football. Good to see a reasonable post from a Watford fan though and, being fair, Watford are a club, like Peterboro, with whom we have had a good relationship in recent years. It would be a shame to spoil that although Boxing Day "banter" will be inevitable.
May i also appologise for my outburst, i would like to assure you that i feel no animousity towards any of you guys and girls. I was simply angry with the way MM seems to be raiding the club he supposedly loved. I have to say that most of you guys have been great to chat to and there has been some great banter between us. 26/12/11 will be D-day for MM and im sure there will be no trouble, only a lot of verbal from us towards him and WFC will do the talking on the pitch as im sure with CCFC. Bring it on!
It is true that Cowie was out of contract but I would like to think he may well have stayed at Watford if Malky hadn't got in his ear about going to Cardiff.
Hi Chris. Thanks for your peacemaking post. Understand all your feelings. This sort of thing almost puts you off football. Yeah Don Cowie was out of contract. You guys had triggered a clause in his contract to extend by a year. Reading between the lines, I would chance a guess that you offered him reduced wages and he declined. Although MM has taken a lot with him, I don't think Cowie's move away was some long term plan to come to Cardiff. MM coming here was relatively spontaneous. I just can't imagine we tapped up Malky when we were still in the playoffs and therefore Malky would not have tapped up Don Cowie through all his contract wranglings (which stretch back months). It seems he was going to leave you anyway and not necessarily for us. One last point. I really hope we don't poach your goalkeeping coach. I think MM and Cardiff need to show some respect and stay away from recruiting any more Watford personnel after Graham Taylor's public comments. I'm not just saying that to appease you lot, I just think it makes us look like a discourteous, disrespectful club in the football community. Not worth it for a goalkeeping coach and I'm sure there's other fine GK coaches out there.
Double-Dragon - The reason we are unhappy is because of the Cowie contract. We actually offered him an improved contract on the best possible money we could afford and he turned it down. What really did annoy us was the fact Malky has clearly used his detailed inside knowledge of our players contracts to get him. No other club spoke to him which would indicate no other club or even our fans knew about the contract situation so i would say it is unlikely Cardiff would have signed him without Malky's inside knowledge of our players contracts. That is what gets my goat. In other businesses in the city and stock exchange you are not allowed to use your inside knowledge of previous companies and employees etc to your advantage for the first 6 months of working in your new company. The fact football doesn't have this clause is unfar IMO (although I would say that given our current sitaution)
Yeah Chirs, I gathered that your fans are shocked and surprised about the contract expiring. But it seems your board (on the Cowie issue only) are being manipulative and are distracting from the facts on DC. Cowie was stalling on his contract for months - with MM as your mananger. It seems as if he was destined to leave you anyway. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with insider knowledge - He had become a free agent as of July 1st and was no longer a player contracted to Watford. I think Graham Taylor's comments regarding MM and DC about "a manager taking insider knowledge on contracts with him..." is totally misleading. There is NO CONTRACT to have insider knowledge on. If I were a Watford fan I'd be directing more of my anger at your own board rather than ex-employees and ask the questions why a team like Cardiff can take away managing staff from an ex-Premiership club?
I've no knowledge of any arrangements with Watford, but to claim that Cowie came to Cardiff because of some "insider" info is ludicrous. Even if Malky was aware (and he probably was) of any offer made to Cowie, do you think Cowie's agent wouldn't have had full knowledge as well and told Cardiff what they ahd to do to get him. If you think any otherwise, you are completely deluded.
It's not ludicrous at all Oldsparky. Mackay knew that Cowie was stalling and delaying signing a new contract from his dealings with the matter and he knew the fact that he was a free agent as of the first. This is insider knowledge in the same way that if you knew your company was due to take over a company and you use the knowledge to make money on the stock market. Doing the latter is illegal and in my honest opinion there needs to be rules in place to protect small clubs like WFC from being poached for their best players.
As MM was only an employee, not a company director or shareholder, he cannot be accused of insider dealing. It's just business. When you move to a new job you can't be expected to forget everything you have learned in the old one, on or off the field. Get over it, accept he's gone and move on.
babyhornetdan - are you trying to say that MM was deliberately urging Cowie not to sign the renewed contract offer with Watford because he knewn he was going to manage somewhere else (Cardiff)? If so, I sympathise with you completely. If this is a guess rather than fact, I suggest you take some reality pills.
I'm not saying that at all. I am simply saying that he used the knowledge that DC's contract ran out and that he was reluctant to sign a new one to get him on cheap and on the sly.
Fair enough really, Watfords fans should really be asking why he was allowed to run his contract down.
I think its clear he wanted to leave, we will never know why and we accept that. It may be that he got too big for his boots or he just wanted a new challenge.
babyhornetdan, I got no problem with Watford, far from it actually and I do sympathise with your situation but it doesnt sound like he wanted to be there much so your probably best rid rather than have an uncommitted player.
I'm sorry, I feel for Watford fans, but it's clear that Don Cowie's intention was always to run his contract down long before MM was appointed at cardiff. Come July 1st, this puts him in a great position to renegotiate a contract with Watford or find a new employer. The later is more likely in modern day football. Chris Burke left Cardiff this summer without a pip of descent from CCFC fans. Why? - Because him leaving seemed inevetable. The Watford board have ALL to answer for in regard to their fans disappointment. For two reasons: 1. They allowed Watford fans to believe that Don Cowie had already signed a year's extention some months ago. 2. Graham Taylor came out and publicly blamed MM's "insider knowledge" as to why DC was leaving the club. This is total nonsense. All free transfers (once they become so) are now public knowledge in the age of the internet. And as Sparky points out above, his agent would've been touting DC around long before July the 1st had Cowie been seeking football elsewhere. Ask questions of your board Watford fans.
