At Our Place

Duxbury came across a bit weak to be honest, face doesn't fill me with trust if that makes any sense? Bit shifty.

 

None of the real questions answered - scott blaming covid as a contributing factor in our relegation as if it affected us more than other teams.

“We made mistakes - I won’t go into specifics and we have daily meetings to sort out the technical issues“ surely it’s bloody obvious what the issues are and Giraldi is one, crap recruitment is another.

Scott even tried to say we had some good defenders ..... yes for league 1 .... not for the premier league.

...... complete waste of an hour

 

Shouldn't be surprised that Duxbury doesn't answer financial or sacking-related questions.

Cant imagine any CEO saying that the company is in imminent financial peril and Karen from accounts was sacked for calling Sharon a ****.

 

We are all Simon

 

Wasn't too enlightening with plenty of soft questions.

Glad someone asked about the stadium, and at least we know that's still a thing and hasn't been shelved completely.

So the club did mess up over Mapps, and forgot to do a farewell message.......

I'm afraid SD did come across a bit evasive and squirmy tonight. It did make me laugh when he said he thought he had communicated to the fans plenty of times. Made me think he's totally detached with the general feeling of fans and he didn't like that question at all.

Going back to youth and that's the "mistakes" he was alluding to if the end of season statement.

Ivic likes all Elton John songs........and that's about it.

 

And while I’m at it ..... how hard is it to sign 1 bloody left back !!!!!

 

Missed it but not overly disappointed at doing so based on the comments on here

 

The most revealing thing to me was that Scott seemed totally wrong footed by Julie.

He genuinely seemed to think that the club have been great at communicating and seemed to genuinely resent the criticism.

I guess he thought today would be a chance to take a lap and milk the applause, like Remi Verji or whatever his name used to do, but somehow, even our lightweight media department allowed a couple of reasonable questions through, which he dodged with zero finesse.

I accept that certain matters can't be discussed in public, but I certainly don't get the impression from that little fireside chat, that the club has learned the lessons most of us hope they've learned over the past 18 months.

 

Know what you mean. I quite like Scott but did come off a little like your stereotypical businessman. A lot of bluster, not too much substance.

 

He also looked like he had taken 2 Berocca just to be able to sit through it.

 

It's not hard to sign a left back.

I imagine it's quite hard to sign a left back who is better than what we already have, when we have been relegated, and have no money to spend.

 

"football without fans is not football, Simon"

 

I liked the sentiment about bringing more young players through to the first team. It’s been a while.
However, I would say it’s a whole lot easier to do when you’re in the Championship, rather than the PL.

Disappointed no-one asked when we’re going to see Pape Gueye in the team.

 

Was somewhat disappointed by what I saw . Duxbury could have set the record straight on a few things but didn’t really answer much .

i think clappers and bedwetters alike agree communication with fans could have been better so a bit surprising to hear him say he thought communication was good. Although he compared to other clubs so maybe that’s just standard in football ?

Still doesn’t bother me too much as I believe the club is in good hands but obviously some on here don’t feel that way

 

Highlight of the evening was.......Simon

 

I reckon Julie went off piste from her pre-approved question and that flummoxed him. Surely he can't think that belatedly explaining that two players put in transfer requests after they'd already missed multiple games is some sort of great, unprecedented for a Chairman type of communication?

 

We don’t have a left back who is fit until the end of January..... I get the financial constraints but surely we could of got one in on loan

 

I'd feel a lot more reassured if Julie, Isla and Simon/Roberto were on the board.

 

My wife is a science teacher and got annoyed that Duxberry kept going on about DNA.

My daughter asked why he was blaming everything on Covid and said that he was laying it on thick about no fans.

Duxberry seemed to say that centre back was never a problem, thank you very much.

Vlad came across well, seemed slightly bemused by it all. Probably thinking what it would be like if he was taking questions off PAOK Ultras.

I may be wrong but was Duxberry's nemesis Julie our very own "I Blame Bassett"?

 

Massive respect to Roberto for sitting there in total silence when they got his name wrong even though he must've known he was on the screen. Most people would've cracked and just asked the question under the wrong name or possibly corrected the young Alan Partridge chap, but not Roberto.

 

Simon looks like the sort of chap I’d definitely want to give Dux a kicking by proxy. Serious looking fellow. What did he ask?

 

If Scott thought that he had got the communication from the club right, then he is obviously the problem in that respect. He was poor with most of his answers too as we didn't really learn anything interesting - too much the politician for my liking.

And it was the final straw when he completely blanked Moog's question asking how much Glen Murray raised doing 100 laps of his garden.

 

Nothing......he just sat there.

 

"Bedwetter or COG?"

 

Good enough. It’s clear what he thinks.

 

The fact that he was taken by surprise by that question is ironically perfect proof that the club aren’t communicative or in sync with the thoughts of the fans

 

I thought the most interesting response was the question about developing youngsters, Success, Penaranda, + 1 other I think. Dux just basically said some work out some don't, lets not just focus on the failures. I would have expected him to say, young players still developing, previous injuries, loans to help them improve etc...... but he basically just agreed that they hadn't worked out. Excellent.

I get he can't/won't go into financial detail but would it really have killed him to respond to to the financial questioned with £x reduction in prize/Sky money, £x lost for each game with no fans in a broad, it's big bucks but we're on it kind of way??

 

The presenter is a pound shop Jake Humphrey.

 

So I'm only reporting here, not giving opinions about whether these questions were answered properly or not (I'll leave that to you). The only opinion I have is I love Ivic and how he says happy just like how Joka says it. Loads of repeating questions that were essentially answered in the same way.

• Last game- Ivic said that we were a better team, worked hard and deserved the victory
• Clean sheets, his philosophy and Ivic's adapting to the challenge- there are things to improve but is confident the performance will improve as well. Notes it is not easy to join a club that has just got relegated, but it's important to have a healthy group that understands the aims for this season
• On 27/7/20, Duxbury talked about lessons needing to be learnt and that efforts surrounding the team weren't good enough, what did he mean by this?- Talked about VAR, COVID and having a relegation battle without supporters not being good. Stressed that these weren't excuses and acknowledged there were mistakes that they are trying to sort out (did not elaborate on these). Stressed the joint venture with Watford General Hospital during the first lock-down and that the club is still growing and the aim is to get back up
• Satisfaction with balance of squad- Ivic reported about some financial problems and that some players from last season won't be involved this season. He is generally satisfied but still thinks there are 1/2 positions that needs to be filled. Duxbury said that keeping what we had was the aim of this transfer window and that Deeney and Sarr wants to be here. He's impressed with Ngakia, Quina, Dele-Bashiru. Duxbury believes the squad is strong enough for promotion.
• Ivic's preferred formation and style of play- Noted that during the season, he will need to change some stuff, but we have the squad and ability to do this. Notes as well that it will be easier when all the injured players are back. If not, then he will continue with the current system and stressed using players who want to be here. Ivic later said 4-3-3 is his preferred formation and the lack of a proper left back is restricting him, possibly need to dip into transfer market in January. He would also rather win 1-0 than lose 4-3.
• Financial impact of COVID and relegation on the club and the stability of the club- Duxbury emphasised the philosophical point that it's not football without supporters and not about financial necessities. If the worst-case scenario happens and fans can't come back for a long time, the club have a strategic business plan in place and will not be financially affected by this. Duxbury also said that the budgets don't need to be balanced and that the onus is on Ivic and the squad to do well. They will address needs in January, but there are no pressing needs to address currently
• Communication with the club- Duxbury surprised by the comment that there was "radio silence" after the one message following relegation, thought that the communication was ok through all channels (highlighting point about disclosing why players are out e.g. transfer request). He acknowledged that he has failed if this is the opinion of a fan and talked about togetherness
• Troy Deeney- Ivic said they're taking him day-by-day, he is in training but he sees him coming back fully in a couple of weeks
• FPPP, Sancho etc.- Duxbury said it's challenging for a club like ours to run an academy, that EPPP is a flawed system and better protection is needed for clubs like ours.
• Masina- will be back likely end of January
• Watford Ladies- Ivic would like to watch a Ladies game; Duxbury pointed out an objective of unifying the mens' and women's teams as a whole; hopefully the Ladies team will have a game at the Vic
• Ivic's ambitions at Watford and long-term- he's happy here, wants to stay here, knows it's dependent on results. First goal is promotion, second goal is to promote new young players
• Ivic and Maccabi Tel Aviv- loved it, his first proper managerial job (though that's not true, he had PAOK before)
• Pozzo model- Duxbury said this has always been a good scouting network, to develop and sell players at the right time. Admits that they have lost that way with young players recently either due to blocked pathways or not finding the right players. The objective this year is to "win every game" and "get promotion", but that it is also important to note the club is also growing its roots in the community. Notes it is one of the best environments for young players to succeed in and thought a question that highlighted certain "failed" players like Success as "not helpful".
• Striker situation- Ivic said Murray is an experienced player, works hard every day and he will give him (as well as Deeney and Gray when they come back) their time to show quality
• COVID and training- been difficult and is not easy
• Project Big Picture- Duxbury believes relegation should be a competitive disappointment, not a financial burden and that the project would worsen this and is not the solution. Something needs to be done to solve the disparity between the leagues
• New stadium plan updates- Duxbury believes we have the fanbase to fill a new stadium and notes if it makes commercial sense to go to a new stadium, then they'll do it. Dialogue is still continuing regarding this and will advance this if it makes sense. He is however not actively driving this, is pleased with the Vic and is currently in discussion with the council about extending and developing the Vic
• Centre-back situation- Notes recruitment of this has been alright (e.g. Cathcart) and that some worked out better than others. Last season they had recruited centre-backs and that it is not fair to pick out successes and failures
• Pozzo commitment- long-term; relegation does not diminish this nor has the commitment from Gino Pozzo faltered because of this
• Transfer policy rationale- Duxbury is not happy with transfer window being so long, notes that we have generally done our business early on and disagrees that business is generally done very late and at the end of the window at our club. He noted that negotiations with some players (e.g. Sarr) took longer, but that is generally not our strategy
• Championship refereeing- Ivic says they all try to do the best they can, sometimes mistakes happen, it's not on purpose
• Disciplinary clauses- a question initially to Duxbury that was batted to Ivic who answered it. It seems that there are disciplinary clauses (or at least fines) for players who decide they don't want to play any more
• Udinese links and possible expansion of family- Duxbury stated they don't want to use the links further than they already are, it's more about doing what is best economically for the club (e.g. sharing the same scouting network). Agents are the ones who dictate who wants to leave; the only advantage with our links is that we find out slightly earlier than other clubs if it happens with Udinese and vice versa. There is no plan to expand the family currently from Watford's point of view
• Estupiñan and Suarez- Duxbury didn't go into specifics but said they want players who are committed to the club and want to play here; if they don't, then they're off. It's worth noting the question was about how the club sold the players to the fans as the future, only for them to be sold- why was this the case.
• Does having players with longer contracts than the head coaches undermine them?- a question that was initially to Duxbury, who batted it to Ivic who then passed it back to Duxbury to answer. He said no, if they want to be here and they fit, then it's fine.
• Mariappa- Duxbury acknowledges it was a mistake to not announce this. They had a long negotiation to keep Mapps at the club which eventually failed. The club needs to recognise his contribution to the club and that he's always welcome back; Duxbury hopes that this in some way helps with that.
• Pearson's sacking, the truth behind this and how this was the first disagreement between fans and Pozzo- Duxbury thanked Pearson on behalf of Pozzo and understands the fans' "concerns and bemusement". He unfortunately cannot go into detail now behind this (noted he did with the sacking of McKinlay with a Fans' Forum the day after). Also said that what they do is always in the best interests of the club, they won't jeopardise this by doing trivial things
• Duxbury's sign off- Notes it's a difficult time with fans not being here and acknowledges he has been slightly difficult with fans but all of us need to stay together and that we need to focus on the club

 

As ever, the only thing this is good for is laughing at the bizarre questions from our bizarre fans. Can someone provide a list?

 

So something did happen with Pearson then?

 

He seemed like a bit of a wet wipe tbh

 

Weasly?

 

Who on earth are these Pohzoes? They sound really dodgy.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk