Was reading this article about the Pozzo family and whether fans will see them as a positive/negative for the club, I was quite surprised to see that some were against it as personally I think it can only be beneficial to the club. http://www.football-lad.com/watford-fc-little-italy/ They have benefited other clubs in the past, you can get decent players on loan and Zola might have more of a pull in the market due to who he is, when you look at teams like Cardiff who have sacrificed tradition for the future I think they'd be more than happy to have a foreign family take over the club like this, wanted to gather the general thoughts of Watford fans from the board, what do you guys reckon?
I think it is very much a wait-and-see, but there are positive signs and we are hopeful. We want to make sure we do not lose our identity and the great work of our Academy is doing, in favour of loan players from their other 2 teams. So far, it looks like the players brought over are not just youngsters we are giving experience to, but actual quality to improve the squad. I guess their biggest problem was the great work Dyche did last season, so most fans were disappointed to lose him and wanted to give him a chance... it almost set them off on the wrong footing. Most fans realise though that it is 'their' club, so are entitled to bring in their own men! I would say the future is bright.... but just hope the players they bring in compliment our academy players, not replace them, while adding needed quality!
The one positive should, of course outweigh any negatives. The club was on its knees and they've pretty much saved it. Fantastic - how can we moan about it? The negatives are there of course - what happened to Dyche was dreadful and I cannot be the only one who still wakes up with cold sweats about the performances of Vialli's team and there's every danger we could end up going back to a side that has no appreciation of the unique quality of the Championship and what it takes to get out of it. However, the season hasn't started, the only transfer news is gossip which has linked us with every Italian superstar including Totti, Inzaghi, Maldini, Bettega, Gianni Rivera and even Sophia Lorenn and we haven't actually bought anyone yet and Zola hasn't been given the chance to show what he can do yet. For me it's more trepidation than anything more serious and it's based on the past and also this idea that i hate us in the spotlight. It's much nicer to be in the background where you can ambush people. Anyway - bring it on!
Compared to previous owners, there's no way these guys will let us down. They have experience with building teams up and making them a successful, financially self-supportive club. They have the financial backing to wipe our debts and help us along with improved scouting, more funding for the youth academy, perhaps higher wages and more room to buy players... though it seems that this window it will mostly be free players and loanees from Udinese/Granada. I don't particularly mind that some of the players we have won't be ours, as a lot of teams in this division loan a good amount of players in as well, we're one of those teams who have made the most of the loan market anyway so it's not too different. It may be that the owners and Zola can secure us the kind of players that we would never get otherwise. I only see it as a good thing..... I think that any perceived "cons" are completely countered and outweighed by all the positives.
Much more likely to be 20million Euros, inflate the market value, they own all the teams remember, there's no benefit giving a load of cash to the Italian government.
People have wondered if we have a transfer embargo on us hence the lack of signings but then that would surely be made public via the Football lesgue?
Transfer embargo? I seriously doubt it - it would have come to light when approaches were made to sign 'One Size'. As to the lack of signings - although yet to be officially announced, it appears that we have actually signed Almunia on a permanent basis, and our new owners have loaned us Pudil, Vydra and Abdi for the season - as well as possibly Anya and Beleck. That's enough transfer business in 2-3 weeks for any club IMO.
I agree BB, we have signed quite a lot of players, but just on loan most of them. Funny how we had no confirmation on almunia signing.
I've been away,so may have missed some discussin. However, I have 4 questions for all the Pozzo enthusiasts, Bassini naysayers... 1) What happened the last time we had a'great player' as manager - and italian at that. 2) When was the last time a 'great player' became a half decent manager 3) Are you aware of Zola's complete record managing a club in UK 4) have you noticed the contribution of Scott Duxbury to integrkity in football. That will do for now.
1. We have yet to be managed in a competitive game by a great Italian player. That will change in a couple of weeks. 2. Pep Guardiola. 3. Took a poor team to the top half of the table, had his best players sold over his head, and then kept up a team that Gold, Sullivan, Brady and Grant went on to get relegated. Few West Ham fans are critical of Zola himself even now, they blame those above him. 4. He isn't the one that signed the Tevez/Mascherano deal, and he isn't the one who tried to get rid of Zola at West Ham. At West Ham, Curbishley was unequivocal in his insistence that he was manager and he alone controlled transfer policy, whereas Duxbury and Nani wanted a head coach. No dishonesty there at all, just open disagreement and two years' worth of face-saving. Even with Dyche, the question is not with Duxbury's integrity (he had no obligation to Dyche at all), but with his judgement (Dyche is a proven head coach, and had little input into transfer policy in the first place).
"We have yet to be managed in a competitive game by a great Italian player." While I agree with all you said in your other responses to JT Bodbo's post NNW, and while the point he asked about "What happened the last time we had a'great player' as manager - and italian at that." was totally irrelevant to how well Zola will or will not do, Vialli was a great player, irrespective of the mis-management of Watford.
He did reasonably well at top-level clubs. So did Teddy Sheringham. Both are players who deserve to be remembered for what they did, but neither fit into my definition of "great". Zola on the other hand took my breath away when I watched him play, and I will continue to say that even if he goes on to make Vialli look like a good manager.
