Eric Roy - Sporting Director

Eric Roy has been employed as the new Sporting Director

https://www.watfordfc.com/teams/first-team/news-sporting-director-appointment-confirmed

 

Giraldi still in the loop though.

 

**** Giraldi

 

Can't find any info on this guy. Classic Pozzo.

 

Utterly ridiculous.

 

Well, that sounds... pointless.

 

During his spell in England with Sunderland, he scored once, in a 5–0 win over Walsall in the League Cup

 

What, the Eric Roy.

...the one who scored against Walsall in 1999.

Surely not!

 

We have the chance to get Steve Walsh in, complete the trio of Pearson and Shakespeare and what do we do, hire someone useless. Classic watford.

 

Spanish waiter called Manuel also joining under Giraldi.

 

Got to admit, I saw that corner flag and assumed that Pearson had already been sacked.

 

He played against us in the famous Xavier Gravelaine red card 3-2 defeat to them in the GT season.

 

What a waste of time and money. He won't be needed in the Championship

 

L’Equipe reckons his deal only runs until the summer:

https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Eric-roy-signe-a-watford/1089489#xtor=RSS-1

Expect the plan is tap into a load of French league signings in January.

 

'Reporting directly to Fillipo Giraldi'.

Fu*k off.

 

From Nice I think.

 

He played against us in the famous Xavier Gravelaine red card 3-2 defeat to them in the GT season.[/QUOTE]

Gravelaine was better than Zlatan.

 

Why?

 

His last role was the Sporting Director at RC Lens.

RC Lens have a right-back called Doucouré.

You all know what's coming next.

 

Because (and like always, it’s only my opinion) it gives me the impression the club have looked at some of our issues and thought ‘Giraldi has too much on his plate’, rather than seeing him as a constant factor under each coach that’s been fired. Just when it seems they’ve gone for Pearson to simplify things, they bring in a Sporting Director to work under a Technical Director.

To me it’s layers of management that is unnecessary. a change the club doesn’t need to make at this point given the circumstances. And even if it is needed, when they hired Andy Scott, them emphasised it was because they wanted to source young British players - Éric Roy who’s last job was Ligue 2 Lens hardly follows that theory. Just more muddled thinking IMO.

 

So maybe they explore whether taking some responsibility away from him resolves the problem or not before going for a more fundamental change?

 

Didn't they do that with Andy Scott?

 

Fair point.

 

Am I right in thinking there were rumors he ultimately left because of a reluctance to pursue targets he recommended?

 

So they would be rumours that the club chose not pursue the suggestions he was asked to bring and gets sacked for it? Yet Giraldi remains fireproof.... You see my point I’m sure.

Just seems another sign it muddled thinking to me.

 

This is my issue - what does Giraldi do?

• Sort out transfers - Lives and dies on the myth that we sign brilliant youngsters.
• Oversees Training and tactics - Undermines the coach and we tail off every season and looked doomed this year.
  
• Gino’s confidante - How’s that worked out?
  
• Technical Director - Of what?

Farcical. Get the man out of the club.

 

I like to think this is the beginning of the end for Giraldi, but he’s in Gino’s pocket so highly doubtful.

 

There are some gems in the Championnat and Ligue2.
Don't bank on the up and coming stars signing for Watford. Those on the way down and looking for a final payday perhaps.
The French leagues are nowhere near as competitive as the Premier league, Championship or Leagues 1 and 2.

 

Did Roy think we were still called Watford Rovers?

 

I can see it now: 'Roy of the Watford'

 

An interview with Eric Roy in SoFoot.com today.

Interesting to see he barely had a chance to plan anything for the long term as everyone at the club appears to have been focused on avoiding relegation.

https://www.sofoot.com/eric-roy-j-a...=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1598328724

ERIC ROY: "I LOVE PUTTING HANDS IN THE CAMBOUIS"

Watford's sporting director for seven months, the former Lensois leader knew he was heading for a situation close to the quagmire. Containment has gone through there, the season has resumed, but the club in the London suburbs has climbed the scaffold of relegation. We take a look back at a unique parenthesis where a few close to OM even came to probe him to join La Canebière.

Eric, you didn’t go easy by opting for Watford last December, stuck in the relegation zone (3 wins after 19 days). And finally, after confinement, the championship resumes and you go down to the Championship for a point. What will you have left of these seven months across the Channel?:

I had the experience of one of the biggest championships in the world. It was a real pleasure to go to these stadiums, with these atmospheres, well during the first months. When I arrived, the situation was dire. Watford was in big trouble with very few points and little confidence. Football is also a group, dynamics which are sometimes good and others very bad. It was necessary to identify which levers to operate to reverse the trend. It’s not easy, but it was really interesting. This is the first time that I have come to practice abroad as an executive. Doing this job in France, as I did after my career where everyone knows you, is one thing. You have a background, a reputation. But there, I was starting a little from zero. It was necessary to understand where I set foot, to understand my environment, to tame the language a little more.

What about your role as sports director?:

Depending on each club, things change, the decision-making bodies and processes are not the same. My job as sporting director at Lens (2017-2019, N.D.L.R.) was very different from that at Watford. It had to do with the club structure and the sporting situation. Coming to England, Watford had 12 points in 18 games and had only won his first game on Matchday 12. My work was much more focused on the players and the team, in collaboration with the coach, the staff. In Lens, we were on that, but also on rebuilding a team with a long-term vision. There, I was in the immediate, in the emergency. If I had stayed at Watford after the end of this season, I could have found what I did at Lens.

Do you come out frustrated?:

Yes and no. Getting an offer from a Premier League club couldn't be denied. Someone had mentioned my name to owner Gino Pozzo, and I went to Watford to meet him. We talked a lot about the project, the problem of the season, and he felt that I could help them. He is a great president, he still managed three clubs recently. He does this all day. In France, you can say that Jean-Michel Aulas is a great president, it's obvious over the last 30 years, but before that he had his company. There, Gino Pozzo's only business is his club from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. I knew the task would be complicated. But I have proven during my career that I am not afraid. When I found myself sporting director of OGC Nice with a lot of deficit, we were able to build a team. Then I became a coach when the Gym was relegated. I did not walk away. In Lens, when I arrive, the club are almost relegation. Going into complicated projects has never been a problem. I still get frustrated because there is sports sanction and we had a great dynamic until the pandemic.

Precisely, you bring in João Pedro and Ignacio Pussetto, you type Liverpool 3-0 in February, and the virus comes to stop everything:

When we stop, we’re out of the relegation zone, we had caught 10 or 12 points on Bournemouth. At one point, we thought we were going to get there and that we would achieve this feat. Intrinsically, Watford had the means to maintain himself. We did the hard part, but failed to drive home the point. At the restart, the team was not the same at all. We played nine games in a month, and straight away, it doesn't fit together well. Playing every third day, it was impossible to turn around and pull levers again to reverse the trend.

You lived in confinement in France and when you return to the London suburbs, the group is not the same:

The team mismanaged this new environment after containment. Especially behind closed doors which do not favor the smallest teams. When you host Manchester City at home you can always have a good five minutes with an audience that pushes you and gives you positive momentum. There, when you get the ball, you run after it and there's nobody to cheer you on, it's complicated. From an athletic standpoint, we picked up a little later that some teams, some players did not want to come back, because they feared for their families. And then the technical director was in Italy, the owner in Spain, me in France, the players in England. The performance continued to send drills, but you are tied to the individual responsibility of the players. I do not think that the leaders and the players knew how to manage this period as well as possible. We had three weeks of training before the championship resumed, it was very short. I disembarked four days before the first game. We found ourselves at the level of what the team was at the start of the season when it didn't work. Containment blew our momentum.

Result, you take 7 points in 9 games:

The recovery against Leicester is correct (1-1). But then we have a string of poor performances at Burnley (0-1), against Southampton (1-3), and the climax is West Ham (1-3, July 17th). When you play for survival and you take 3-0 after 35 minutes, that's not a good message. Even though we were ultimately in the game until the end. But we couldn't sound the alarm bells given the context, so you try to convince yourself that it's going to do it and you're positive. But in the last three games, we made 0 points.

If Watford had held on, would you have stayed?:

We hadn't talked about it. I was thinking about how to rewrite the project. These are personal thoughts that were not discussed. I knew very well that if I did not manage to maintain the feat, the project would necessarily be different. I was at the end of my contract, it was obvious that when you go downstairs, you think more about saving money than about recruiting people.

So, you came back to Nice?:

I take advantage of my family, who I haven't seen much for the past eight months. I spoke with a few clubs in France during the lockdown, but I was not available because I was in Watford. We'll see what happens in the next few months. And then I keep in touch with the president of Watford, it's not totally crazy to think that one day I'll be working there again. Football is an eternal restart.

Do you still have a touch of regret to see Lens join Ligue 1 knowing that you also contributed?:

I am very happy for this club which deserves it and for its supporters. Knowing the work I did there, I sure think I could have been part of this adventure. But the problem was extra-sporting. At one point, it was decided to make a social plan, I was not ready to continue under the new conditions that we wanted to put in place. The second season I'm there, we just fail in play-offs. This social plan, with which we live throughout the season, has inevitably had an impact. I still speak very often with Joseph (Oughourlian, President of Racing, N.D.L.R.), we saw each other in London. I was supposed to invite him to Watford, but the pandemic postponed it. Now the hard part begins for Lens. It's in its DNA to be in Ligue 1, it's up to them to stay at this level from now on.

Even if the season was not over with Watford, Marseille would have come knocking on your door before Pablo Longoria was recruited:

There was no contact. I still have some acquaintances in the club, it is true that people called me saying that I should apply. At that point, I had only Watford in mind. OM meant a lot to me, and I always have it in the back of my mind. Of course, this is not a project that would leave me indifferent. But if OM leaders want me, they know where to find me.

Anyway, are you still looking for a job in the industry?:

I want to work in football no matter what. But for that to happen, it's a story of meeting, of project. When we come to pick you up, it's not because everything is rolling, it's that there is a need for a new lease of life. But I love getting my hands dirty, it never bothered me.

And the Ineos project in Nice, could that interest you or your complicated departure with the current management puts an end to the discussion?

It was I who brought in the leaders who are still there. If we had had to continue working together, we would never have separated. There is no debate on this.

 

Seems like a big waste of time for everyone involved then.