Billy McKinlay - Ex Manager

Sannino-oh!

 

My view on this is that we planned to nurture mckinlay into a future successor to og, when og resigned through ill health they followed through with the plan . But having thought about it, maybe with comment from senior staff they decided that it was not a plan they valued that highly. Could have been avoided with appointing mckinlay as caretaker for a week, which is what most clubs do to avoid embarrassing themselves. That's the error Mr Pozzo made.

 

Even if Billy had been caretaker or remained first team coach I'm sure he'd have resigned from his position with northern Ireland. Still reckon he'll end up at Fulham and everyone will be happy

 

The way the Pozzos require a manager/coach to take a step back to fit their 'model' and the level of involvement Pulis would want are completely diametrically opposed.

 

Well it might have for us but Bill Kenwright (Everton), Dave Whelan (Wigan), Delia (Norwich) ...?

 

I agree that we still have a community department - don't all clubs nowadays? - and ours may still be better than most for all I know. What I mean is not the social aspect of the club's community activities but the all-pulling-together we had under GT, where the fans felt involved, the Junior Hornets were really active and so on. Now the powers-that-be (and how much attention do they pay to the community programme?) treat the fans with as much contempt as they treat the Head Coach du jour.

 

Oh come on, I'd say that our club and the players do more in the community than a lot of other clubs.

 

Our reckon the club have done Mckinlay a favour, he is probably the most successful manager available looking for work

 

I think they've earned the right for us to blindly follow every decision without any sort of scrutiny

 

You didn't read what I wrote. I said that our social activities in the community may be better thna most for all I know, but that the fans certainly aren't part of any Watford FC community. That's a different matter altogether.

 

That would seem to sum it up. I do get the sense that there was some ill feeling on the part of one or both parties, and this is why there was no good luck message from the club. There is also a compensation arrangement to be dealt with. All in all a somewhat embarrassing and costly misjudgement on the Pozzo's part, albeit following the sudden departure of Garcia.

 

I love it when people say we need to have a look at ourselves for sacking Mckinlay. People said that when we played a load of foreigners at the expense of local youth. I actually get a certain sense of satisfaction when people say that.

 

I am not going to wade though 27 pages of $hite to find that someone else has already said this but my reading is
- he had been with us 10 mins when Garcia got sick
- he wanted the Assistant job in the first place
- he was offered the head coach job and a pay rise
- Pozzos found someone they wanted so said to BM - you can keep your pay rise but back to the job you had a week back and wanted i am afraid
- BM too proud to take it so he said no

I am honestly struggling to work out the problem - clearly the Pozzos in hindsight should have made him "acting manager" rather than jump as fast as they did to promote him but retaining his T&Cs for a better job than he applied for and presumably wanted feels like a reasonable way of handling it??

 

Half a league, half a league, half a league onward

 

If we win against Sheffield Wednesday this will all be forgotten about.

 

I think you need to have a look at yourself for this post

 

I can't stop looking at myself. I'm well gorge.

 

Sorry I disagree, I look after the supporters group from East Anglia and the club are extremely helpful and try to involve us wherever possible, you have the Watford Internet Football Team as well. I don't think the Italian scene is like ours in the UK and the team are kept away from the supporters, from what I see they involve themselves well within the local community.

 

So Oscar didn't manage a home game, and Billy didn't get an away one while permanent?

 

So will the new manager get to do both?...

Or neither?

 

Glad to hear it. But again, I think we're talking about different things. I'm sure there are people on the Watford staff who are as helpful as they've ever been, but the top-level Pozzo approach to the fans, and indeed to their Head Coaches, is "here you are, take it or leave it."

 

I think the 1881 would be better placed than me to refute this, because I'm sure I remember the club being very accommodating to their plans, maybe even donating money towards flags etc.

 

The fact our owners don't see themselves as Vincent Tan-esque international superstars doesn't mean they are treating fans with contempt.

They're clearly comfortable with staying out of the limelight and I'm perfectly fine with that.

 

Not trying to sound like an arse but I think your problem is more with modern football than the Pozzos.

 

Mr Bunny - they own the club. They pay the wages. They are funding everything without selling off parts of the ground to housing. It is their right to do as they want. I expect the owner to make the tough decisions needed to progress the business, and that is exactly what Watford FC is...a business

 

I've yet to see owners who consult club fans on such appointments. Although many have sacked managers and coaches through fans pressure after an appalling run of results. Would we want to wait for that?

It would have been great to hear more on the reasons for getting rid, but if it was because the general impression was that he wasn't good enough, would Billy have thanked them for making it public?

As it stands, the Pozzo's have decided to let themselves look bad rather than criticise others. That is (sort of) commendable.

...but damn frustrating!

 

Gino made a mistake, rectified it, McKinlay got a big pay off and it sounds like at the very least he'll get a job back working with N. Ireland. Time to move on.

 

That is not true, I have managed to get to many hundreds of home games since 1959!

,

 

Think he was referring to Oscar Garcia m8

 

Of course fans aren't and shouldn't be consulted. I never thought much of the Ebbsfleet experiment.

The thing is, supporting a football club is an emotional attachment. I enjoy concerts and opera as much as football, and cinema and theatre nearly as much, but I go to at least 35 football matches a season, which is far more than all the other things put together. I wouldn't dream of missing a match 'between a Watford team with its best players unavailable playing a relegation-threatened side bound to park the bus, even though rationally there are far better ways to spend the price of admission. That's because following a football team is like following a soap opera where you can't bear to miss an episode.

Do the Pozzos think like that? Has a Pozzo, or the phantom chairman, ever been to a match? Maybe they come all the time, sitting in the directors' box wearing dark glasses and false noses, or skulking at the back of the 1881. Are they really involved, other than financially? Since they have absolutely no interest in engaging with the fans, I guess they're not but I may be wrong. After all, I know nothing about them, nor am I likely to. But they don't identify with us, and I don't identify with them.

OK, the Pozzos are better than Bas, Petchey and the warring salad boys and travel agent - but at least Simpson and the Russos were interested in what happens on the pitch, rather than just the numbers.

 

Are you kidding me? You've never seen the Pozzos at a game? And obviously Gino doesn't give a **** what happens on the pitch, he just secured the signings of Vydra and Tozser for a laugh. You have to be a troll, you're complaining that the Pozzos have made us financially sound and aren't like Simpson and the Russos?

 

Elton doesn't come to games either

 

*******s. The Pozzos made those signings because they're good for business. And where did you find me saying that the Pozzos haven't improved Watford FC as a business? My point is that they don't seem to be particularly interested in football, as opposed to the football business,and they certainly aren't interested in connecting with the fans.

As I wrote earlier, if I were coming new to this area, and didn't have a long-standing emotional investment in Watford, I'd go to Arsenal. Arsenal is another soulless football corporation, but better at it.

And Aberystwyth, Elton used to come to games until work commitments and his partner's antipathy towards football stopped him. Did you see the pix of Elton in tears at the 1984 CupFinal?

 

I disagreed with you to begin with, but after seeing the news that the Pozzos have cancelled all future 'At Your Place' events, I can see where you're coming from. Very disappointing.

http://www.watfordfc.com/news/article/141016-at-your-place-watford-fc-2014-15-2008667.aspx