I think the events happening at Crystal Palace, Southampton and West Ham should all serve to remind us all of how fragile and precarious all teams from 6/7 down can be. These are 3 teams that were doing relatively ok for the past 2 seasons, Southampton and West Ham in Europe and knocking on the doors of the Champions league at one point, albeit a door made of almost solid rock. But it does only take your owners to sell up to a clueless buyer, a series of bad managerial appointments or a summer of selling off all your best players and bringing in weak replacements to tip the fine balance between flying high or fighting at the bottom and ultimate demotion. We are, at any single point season by season, only a shard away from relegation. We will almost undoubtedly eventually one day be relegated again whether that been sooner or later. One of the things I love about supporting a club like Watford is that there is such a dramatic shift between the lows and the highs that you wouldn’t get supporting one of the big clubs of the English football league. Your current typical Manu, Chelsea or Tottenham fan suffers the pain of just missing out on Champions league, a cup final or losing a decent player to Real Madrid vs winning the cup or finishing higher within their little 6 team league. This is incomparable to the huge degrees of each end of the scale for a team such as Watford, Crystal Palace, or Sunderland who face the vast array of emotions from premier league survival, the heady heights of a top 10 finish, or a decent cup run vs the threat of relegation or even administration on occasion, relegation being the case for the latter. Without the deep lows of championship, league 2 or even administration, how can you possibly appreciate the maximum highs that we are currently experiencing? 5 months ago we were starting to look shakily down the barrel of the championship. We are currently 4th in the Premier League and on a high and long may it continue, however we should all occasionally take a moment at times like this; a step back and a brief pause for thought to reflect on where we are, in life as well as in football, and just appreciate the moment for what it is. This time next season, we may well be in their position.
I understand the sentiments of your excellent post and can agree somewhat, but personally I can enjoy a degree of success without the extreme highs and lows that we have experienced over our history. I think I am in a minority, but my enjoyment of football comes out of our performances, rather than whether we win the cup or promotion, etc. That is why I have so detested the majority of our last two seasons. As a footballing experience, it was much better watching a battling performance in the 4th or 3rd Division under GT than anything I saw in the last few months of last season. The rewards (in terms of actual trophies and better league position) will come out of the better performances, the 100% effort, the endeavour, the enterprise and everything else that comes out of a squad with belief. The good thing about enjoying the performance rather than success means that I can enjoy it wherever we are - top, middle or bottom. Of course, my attitude as described is a general one. Life is a compromise, and on occasions, the result is more important than the performance to me as much as anyone else.
Yeah I agree about entertainment value of playing at a lower level. This post was more about the continued success of where we are right now. I've said before that some of my more memorable seasons were the years we went down to division 2 in the late 90's.
Its a great time to be a Watford fan. I hope there is more to come from the Pozzo era and they will go down as our greatest owners.
Meh! and Topsy both make good points, but I think thete's a lot of fun watching well-coached players at a lower level making the most of what they've got. It took me time to adjust from watching second tier Norwich to Southern League Cambridge Utd, but once I had, I really enjoyed the U's rise to the dizzy heights of tier 4 after doing the Southern League and Cup double
Same as the GT era, when the Pozzos sell up we'll drop back down the league/s. Sure as eggs is eggs. Enjoy it while you can, this is the late 70s/early 80s MkII.
I hope the Pozzos stick with us for the amount of years they have Udinese. We could have a whole generation or 2 of good years.
Was absolutely certain that this would be the obligatory 'Ain't the Pozzos fab?' post, due during any period of good form.
It looks like Wessex Fives is the original format, with the Eton, Harrow & Winchester variations being inspired by it. In my day, Wolverhampton Grammar were noted for a fine blend of skill & violence.
Clinging to our status in the first 2 years of Div 2 under GT felt like we were standing on top of Everest. Now good starts in the prem seem like London buses.
Probably off topic but I just heard a reporter at the Barnsley v Derby League Cup tie read a segment from the Barnsley owner's programme notes. He has terminal cancer and hopes to see out the season but doesn't expect to. It was very touching and brought a tear to my eye. Best wishes to him and his family.
The one think we should never take for granted is three points, it's harder the higher division you are in,at times it is extremely hard to obtain three points ala the last 6 games of last season. The day we take a win for granted is the day we don't deserve it! Let's enjoy it while we have it!
