Watford manager Adrian Boothroyd today finally bowed to the inevitable and admitted for the first time that his team are in a relegation battle. Although the Hornets are bottom of the Barclays Premiership and have won only one of their first 17 matches, Boothroyd has steadfastly refused to accept that his team are in a fight for survival. But with Watford six points adrift of safety ahead of Saturday's trip to Liverpool, Boothroyd at last conceded that remaining in the top division was the limit of his club's ambitions. "I set our sights high, but I know we are in a relegation battle," said the 35-year-old Vicarage Road chief. "We need to add new players in January, but I am convinced we can go on a little run. "But even so, I am not a realist - I refuse to be. When you believe in conventional wisdom, you have a problem. "We are bottom of the league, and we need to fight for everything we can. I know what we have to do, and I believe we will do it." Watford will be without defender James Chambers for the trip to Anfield. The former West Brom player suffered a gashed ankle in last weekend's 2-1 defeat at Newcastle, and Boothroyd admitted he was likely to be out for four to six weeks. The only two occasions on which Watford have been beaten convincingly this season were at Arsenal and Chelsea, where they were defeated 3-0 and 4-0 respectively. Liverpool have similarly high-profile players to the two London giants, but Boothroyd is convinced his team will give a better account of themselves against Rafael Benitez's team than they did at either Stamford Bridge or the Emirates Stadium. Boothroyd continued: "The more games we play, the more experience we will gain. So we hope we have improved from playing those games. "We have played in big arenas and played against big teams, and I believe we are better for it. "I would say that playing at Stamford Bridge and the Emirates was a shock to the system, because both teams have superb players. "But I am pretty sure we are over that now." Reading and Sheffield United were also promoted from the Coca-Cola Championship last term, but, unlike Watford, they have adapted to the top flight relatively well. Their achievements have placed Watford's difficulties under even greater scrutiny, but Boothroyd insisted that both clubs were better equipped to cope with the Premiership than his own. Boothroyd claimed: "Sheffield United and Reading came up from the Championship having been on big budgets for that division. "On the other hand, we got through that season by the skin of our teeth, and that is only just possible in the Championship. "This league is all about the best players, and a club like ours need to fight hard and rely on a bit of luck here and there. "Things have not always gone our way this season, but we are looking for that spark that will ignite us."
Couple of wins and he'll be aiming for Europe again! To be fair I think he really knew we were in a battle to stay up but had not gone public.
COMON!!! Finally aidy has said that we are going to be fighting releagtion, which we are, however its good to see his optimmism. We CAN stay up, but it will be a struggle
Now he realises we're in a relegation battle the players will start to listen to him more, and respect his honesty, hopefully.
I'm still hoping Middlesborough, Charlton and Sheffield United will go down, and that we’ll stay up in a West Brom fashion! I also think Reading will struggle more in the seccnd half of the season, but they are probably safe by now.
he IS a realist he said we'd go up last season and we did. he says we'll stay up this season and we will.
Face it chaps, we're going back to the championship, which is no bad thing. The club can get rid of the ridiculous membership scheme and I can maybe get a ticket in the Rookery again. I can't wait.
