Biggest Mistake Of The Pozzo Era

Discussion in 'The Hornets' Nest - Watford Chat' started by pleaseenterthenamebywh, Jan 15, 2021.

  1. Burnsy

    Burnsy First Team

    Well you said 'very comfortable'....

    Also, I remember the pages on this forum and the wider attitude of the fanbase over the back end of many of those seasons. It certainly wasn't an atmosphere of believing we were 'comfortable'.
     
  2. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    On the face of it yes, a terrible waste of money. But ultimately it was just Pozzo book balancing.
     
  3. WillisWasTheWorst

    WillisWasTheWorst Its making less grammar mistake's thats important

    Presumably a mishit attempted backheel flick which deflects in off a defender?
     
  4. Manatleisure

    Manatleisure Squad Player

    Agree with the opening sentence. Not selling Troy Deeney to Leicester for all that money. Every mistake after that, that people have been coming up with, may not have happened because the course of history would've changed after this bit of business.
     
  5. Chumlax

    Chumlax Squad Player

    In that case, I am entirely sympathetic.
     
  6. Knight GT

    Knight GT Predictor extraordinaire 2013/14

    I remember HB1 during the Mazarri season I think but I thought most felt we were always pretty much fine. I still thought we would be fine last season so shows how much I know
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2021
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  7. WatfordTalk

    WatfordTalk First Team

    If it was so easy to achieve promotion and 5 seasons in the PL, why have clubs like Derby and Forest failed, despite being much bigger? And why have Brentford and Norwich failed, despite having models that this forum (myself included) that make more logical sense than ours?

    Gino has made dozens of mistakes, some more costly than others, and made dozens of crap signings, but the last 8 years weren't a fluke. He's clearly made more good decisions than bad.

    Our lowest league finish since 2012 is 13th in the Championship. That would have been a pretty decent season in the 5 years prior to the takeover. I know we like to be melodramatic on here worrying about successive relegations and maybe I'm overly optimistic but I don't think we'll ever finish much lower than that under this ownership.
     
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  8. LutherB

    LutherB Academy Graduate

    Biggest mistake was the lack of recruitment which led to relegation.
    That is all.
     
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  9. WatfordTalk

    WatfordTalk First Team

    But, on the subject on the thread and without mentioning the ones already covered, I think sacking Pearson when he did and replacing him with Mullins and Stack for the biggest 2 league games in about 10 years.

    Either keep Nige and bin him off whatever happens at the end of the season, or bring in someone like Big Sam on a (very) short term deal. Mullins seems like a nice bloke but looked a Sunday League manager on the touchline.
     
  10. Jumbolina

    Jumbolina First Team

    How can it be irrefutable when you don’t know the post relegation finances?? If you were a rich bloke buying us now and when Pozzo did which would you prefer.

    Better ground now. A couple of players left with significant resale value verses none when they took over. A couple of years parachute payments to come.

    But against that very high external debt now compared to before. Also some unsellable players on either high or long contracts.

    To say it’s irrefutable is a nonsense without knowing the full financial picture. I really wouldn’t be surprised if we are in worse shape now, unless we stumble to promotion somehow.
     
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  11. wfcmoog

    wfcmoog Tinpot

    This also helped erode our reputation, or whatever was left of it, as a club.

    We might not have been pushed to recruiting YTS managers from the Georgian league if we had an ounce of credibility left.
     
  12. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    Given he was only contracted for a week it really did seem a bit strange sacking him and I can only presume it was a heat of the moment thing.

    Maybe Duxbury was so angry he'd been shown up by his former employees?

    Let's be honest Mullins was never going to make much difference v Man City so it really did seem a bit pointless.
     
  13. hornetboy1

    hornetboy1 First Team Captain

    That Mazarri season we only stayed up because Hull failed. We lost our final 6 games and were sitting ducks. We were no way comfortable that season and had to rely on Hull failing in their final 3 games (two easy fixtures) which enabled us to stay up by 6 points. They lost to an already relegated Sunderland at home and away to a poor Palace side, but before that they were on a great run of form beating the likes of Liverpool along the way. We got lucky and were in no way comfortable until the unexpected choke from Hull at the final hurdle.

    We were only safe with one game to go and finished 17th. It's a forum myth to claim anything else for that particular season.
     
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  14. Knight GT

    Knight GT Predictor extraordinaire 2013/14

    Not going to get in to this again but it is not a myth, it's your opinion
     
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  15. Jumbolina

    Jumbolina First Team

    We had 40 points by 15th April and surprise surprise stayed up.
     
  16. Arakel

    Arakel First Team

    This is very clearly the winner, and by a substantial distance.

    The only reason his first season went as well as it did was Ighalo went on a ludicrous once-in-a-career purple patch where everything he did came off. That was nothing to do with tactics and was never going to be sustainable.

    Almost as baffling as the club's decision was the fact that it seemed like half of our fans wanted him back too!
     
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  17. hornetboy1

    hornetboy1 First Team Captain

    Thanks to the failings of Hull.
     
  18. Shakespearo

    Shakespearo Reservist

    Hiring Jay DeMerit instead of Tony Meola to lead the push into the North American market.
     
  19. pleaseenterthenamebywh

    pleaseenterthenamebywh Academy Graduate

    Exactly. It was a changing of the guard within our squad that we needed to move forward. They made the harsh yet correct decisions to dispense of the reliable players who help take and keep us up like Ighalo, Abdi and Watson. Deeney should have gone in the same manner. If he had I'm sure we could have a found a striker the level of Capoue/Doucoure/Richarlison/Deulofeu who would have taken us to another level, but instead we were stuck with 100K Troy and that idiot from Luton.
     
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  20. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    I don’t think selling our top scorer after promotion would have gone down too well.

    Agree about the big contract and maybe at the end of the Cup final season or one before if we had a replacement but reckon they were hoping Success would come good .
     
  21. Jumbolina

    Jumbolina First Team

    Thanks to probability.
     
  22. HornetMan

    HornetMan Academy Graduate

    I agree. I said at the time re-hiring QSF was a mistake that would prove costly (I think even Stevie Wonder could have seen that) and boy was it costly. Why on Earth we re-hired someone we sacked three years earlier for not being the right manager for us I will never know. Last season there were a few decisions that were questionable- bringing in Dawson who had been relegated two seasons prior and was relegated again, and Welbeck who is still useful at the top level but whose legs are made of paper - but this one was the worst

    I'm 100% convinced if we had appointed Nigel Pearson as Gracia's successor, we'd still be a Premier League club. Pearson steadied the ship for a bit, but it was 10 games too late. 8 and a half of those we were utterly hopeless- only the 2nd half against Arsenal and away at Norwich did we show a bit of fight and quality.
     
  23. HornetMan

    HornetMan Academy Graduate

    Correct. In the Premier League especially, it is no good being solid defensively if you don't score more than your opponent. I know Deeney etc chipped in but the only real threat we had was Ighalo. Defenders were terrified of him, and he'd always be in the right place at the right time. I'll never forget him chopping John Stones and putting him on his backside in that opening game back in the PL. Even then though, once the opposition wised up and devoted their games against us to stopping him, his goals dried up and he was sold.

    The Pozzo's very clearly panicked at our descent after Javi, and just chose the easiest option, and that is what got us relegated
     
  24. Carpster

    Carpster Squad Player

    Not offering my the coaching position.. I would of gone in and caused a riot. Banned the first lot for breaking covid regulations with strict warnings that they would have their contracts terminated if caught again. (Gray problem solved) equating in money for a new striker.
    Then going with an all out attacking 4-2-4 . Lose all my matches and sacked within a month for putting my key down Deeneys fleet of cars, curling a turd in his boots and taking Fosters go-pro to a local swingers club uploading directly it to YouTube. Handsome cheque for a months work though.
     
  25. hornetboy1

    hornetboy1 First Team Captain

    Thanks to Marco Silva
     
  26. SkylaRose

    SkylaRose Administrator Staff Member

    As much as I love how stunning the Vic looks now, (and the upgrade was needed especially in certain areas) - some of that money could of been spent on side improvements. This is
    not a mistake of the Pozzo's, just a personal insight.

    I agree with all comments in this thread, and QSF part 2 was a huge error. He was hired to improve our defense, and Man City aside he more or less did that. However, we sacrificed any
    real attacking intent - and winning games is scoring goals. Pearson was a breathe of fresh air, and even though we lost his first game (Liverpool), there were signs of an improvement. Btw, had
    we scored some of our chances we could of been the only side to do the double over the Kloppites.

    Letting go of strikers and players who never kicked a ball for the first team, bringing in Dawson and Murray - there are many small mistakes which have snowballed into what and where we are right now.
    Mistakes can be rectified, but how many coaches do we have to go through before we find one the Player's respect? Should we just make Deeney manager? Would his ego be the thing we need to improve
    most of what has happened?
     
    GoingDown likes this.
  27. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    We wouldn't be the first team to do that - I guess they have to progress off the pitch too but I have noticed a few clubs improve their ground or even move grounds but then left themselves short in terms of spending money for new players.

    A good example is Arsenal after they moved to the "library" - Wenger had hardly anything to go shopping with (by Arsenal standards) and it really did stunt their progress. so fans got frustrated.

    Of course most of it was to add cooperate areas which even if this was a normal season probably wouldn't be used as much in the Championship!
     
    SkylaRose likes this.
  28. Chumlax

    Chumlax Squad Player

    No.
     
  29. CarlosKickaballs

    CarlosKickaballs Forum Picarso

    Building the 40,000 seat stadium we could never fill
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
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  30. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    Good job it hasn't been built yet!
     
  31. Arakel

    Arakel First Team

    Quite.

    Not to mention that QSF sold Vydra in his first tenure, a player I think would likely still be at the club (and exactly what we need right now) if he had stayed. Instead, QSF shoved him out of the door to make way for Oulare and Ibarbo!
     
  32. ITK platypus

    ITK platypus Squad Player

    Ah right we must be on the brink of administration then? Like before they took over?

    No we are not. It’s irrefutable, whether that fits your Pozzo hating narrative or not.
     
    Knight GT likes this.
  33. Moosegasm

    Moosegasm Reservist

    Biggest mistake: Dawson. If we'd signed a decent centre back we'dve stayed up.
    Biggest failure: In 8.5 years the Pozzos havent bought us a goalscoring striker. The only 2 we got (Iggy and Vydra) were already on their books. 8.5 years, not one signed!! Hopefully Pedro will be the first one. It's been a long time coming.
     
  34. Jumbolina

    Jumbolina First Team

    Man who has no idea of the current state of the balance sheet says it irrefutable we aren’t in financial trouble. Hard to debate with someone of that mentality really.
     
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  35. WatfordTalk

    WatfordTalk First Team

    I guess we're in a better position either way, as Gino has money, even if it's not a lot in football terms, and Bas didn't have a pot to piss in. So while Gino stays, we're in a less perilous state. But if the accounts come out and they're as bad as Jumbo is predicting, then Gino decides to jump ship....
     

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