Giaretta - New Contract

I'm hearing that we have a new photocopier and water cooler that haven't been pledged as security.

 

Actually they are both second hand acquired at an auction!

 

Shhhh Macquarie don't know that.

 

At last we've found something he does - he hands out shirts for photo shoots and gives new signings a pep talk about the pressure they're under as a result.

https://twitter.com/WatfordFC/status/1695481236066607168?t=nTo0t9v-RFTGr6Kt3CzfBw&s=19

 

But he’s super tall. Even towers above Rajovic, so surely that counts for something?

 

Big interview with Giaretta by @AFWO to be published in a series of WO articles over the international break:

https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/s...interview-watford-sporting-director-giaretta/

 

Can’t wait.

 

Over the course of a series of articles that total more than 7,000 words, Giaretta will talk about:


- His playing career and then becoming a sporting director - Never played higher than Champo level mainly League One or League two.

- How he came to work for the Pozzo family - "After his impressive work at Novara, Giaretta received a call from the Pozzo family, who persuaded him to swap north-west Italy for the north-east of the country when he headed to Udinese"

- What brought him to Watford- Worked well with Gino at Udinese.....

- Why he knew all about the club before he arrived - Worked at Udinese

- Settling into the new role during a pandemic, but getting promoted - Probably watched lots of videos of us during pandemic and planned squad around that. Knew we had the squad to do it blah.

- The disastrous season back in the Premier League - Will say it shouldnt have happened, pandemic will be mentioned, blah.

- The failed appointments of Ranieri and Hodgson - How will he explain this????

- His view on whether he actually lost his job or not last summer - Should be funny.

- Why the Ben Manga experiment failed from his perspective - Interesting question.

- The changes behind the scenes this summer - ?

- What his role actually is on a day-to-day basis - Training ground spy.

- The exact part he plays in recruitment and transfers - Generic DOF or whatever it is he does answer.

- His view on Mogi Bayat - We use hiom amongst other agents, he is not exclusive etc.

- How he feels when he’s criticised for failed signings - Feels bad but these things happen answer.

- Is he a ‘Pozzo spy’ at the training ground? - We all know he is, some past managers have confirmed it.

- What can fans expect in the January transfer window? - Will just say we are exploring options or something like that.

- Why has he talked to Italian media, but never to English press before this? - English media are more probing maybe?

- The message he has for Watford fans - "Go **** yourselves, Merry Christmas".

 

Gonna be a hell of a lot of fluff in 7000 words. Just condense it to the interesting few tidbits...

 

Ah that's nice, he wished us a merry christmas.

 

This is also the entire address of the Manga situation/'why it didn't work out':



Sound familiar?

 

Pretty in depth stuff.

 

What a dud interview, didn’t extract anything particularly new or revealing. Understand AF is probably restrained in what he can ask/publish so not his fault but certainly doesn’t rebuild any trust or even truly explain what his actual day to day is.

And the things like a firing being confused for going on holiday is just clear and obvious ********, an insult to fans intelligence.

 

A pity that Andrew French did not ask Cristiano Giaretta about his transfer record while he was Sporting Director at Udinese (apart from bringing Bruno Fernandes from Novara) and at Ascoli. There appeared to be a great improvement when Pierpaolo Marino later took over as Sporting Director at Udinese. Giaretta signed players such as Adalberto Peñaranda and Jerome Sinclair on loan from Watford when he was Sporting Director at CSKA-Sofia. It would be interesting to know why Watford decided to dispense with the services of Manga rather than of Giaretta.

 

Sadly, I can’t force people to say any more than they’re prepared to say

 

I chose not to ask about butterflies - thought he’d suffered enough for that. Other than that, he answered everything - some answers were fuller than others, and when I probed a bit more in certain areas nothing much more came to the surface.
As for losing his job - I gave him the chance to put his side, that was his answer. What I wrote when it all happened (he was gone, then he was back and RE was out) is still what I stand by. Let’s be honest, you wouldn’t make it up

 

I had an hour, so stuck with largely WFC stuff (bar learning about his career pre being a sporting director).
As for the Manga v Giaretta debate, I doubt we’ll ever get to hear the Pozzo explanation. All I can add is that I’ve not yet found anyone (past or present) who feels Manga was hard done by.

 

Haha what utter bullsh@t. He must think the fans are fools.

 

That’s not surprising though. People who have been poor in their job are always going to feel threatened by a high quality incoming staff member who may shine a light on their performance or challenge poor operating models.

 

Did he elaborate on "some reasons" why Edwards didn't "work out"?

Also where he says "too many people around the team", did he mean the playing staff and their training or those higher up in the workings of the club?

 

Giaretta tried his hardest to though!

 

No, the answer on Edwards was all I got. Gave him a couple of chances.

On too many people, he meant both of those. It was something that Dean Whitehead also commented on. I think he said something like ‘people everywhere’.

 

Yes, gave him the opportunity to explain but think he made matters worse on that one.

 

You rarely get much time (until now it seems). Don’t think Manga helped himself by spending the £2m we did have on one player.

 

You're too kind!

 

Absolutely, I completely understand and am not trying to malign you in this at all; it's another sad confirmation of the wagon-circling 'party line' they've clearly decided as a little cabal to adopt in an effort to reframe what's happened over the past few seasons. And the Mogi Bayat answer in particular was both utterly unacceptable, and (to me) indisputable evidence of that. They're not treating the fans any less as fools than ever, frankly.

 

What did the clown say about Bayat?

 

Thanks - I believe I know who Reids is

 

Don’t worry, I was only making it clear I didn’t leave anything out

 

Drawer.

 

I agree with your broader point here, but can't work out what Bilic has to gain from towing the party line, about certain things

 

For me, it just seems like a broader 'I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine' kind of omerta, to be honest. He knows for a fact that the Pozzo like to shuffle about employees and often look to previous incumbents for new roles that pop up, as Giaretta even evidences in this very interview series (hah). There's no benefit for Bilic to come out swinging and publicly start a fight, and plenty of potential benefit for him not to - especially for a coach at the stage of their career at which he finds himself. Napoli are not about to come for Slaven Bilic, you know?

Not to mention, of course, I don't discount whatsoever the idea that Bilic might well very much have wanted full manager-of-yesteryear type control, and considered Manga got in the way of that/accepted him being used as a scapegoat for not getting it. And, fundamentally, Bilic did not do a very good job here. He failed. Having a particular quirk of the situation, and another person, to at least partially pin blame on, seems to serve him wonderfully, from what I can see.