Marco Silva Sacked

Regards Silva going else where. If he challenges the legality of the sacking, he may not be able to take up a new position as he will have to show that he is being loyal to the contract (not working else where in the same role) a la Walter's gardening leave. Not sure about this, but think it is a possibility.

 

He is decent defensively. I reckon he could work in the 4. Please give the kid a rest for the cup game though ffs.

 

Can we kill this 4-4-2 campaign off now please? There is a reason why few coaches employ it. If you want two up front its 352 these days.

 

No.

 

Could it be a saving grace that Marco went before Okaka? We have 4 options up top - the 2 big guys in Troy and Stef - then the option of Ricky or Gray.... If this new coach could sort Gray's first touch out, that'll be good. Also think Gray would be better with a striking partner.

 

Lineker has stuck his usual knife in.

Gary Lineker‏Verified account @GaryLineker 7m7 minutes ago
Absurd decision, in my opinion, by Watford to fire Marco Silva after his first bad run. He’ll be snapped up very quickly and Watford will almost certainly get someone less talented.

 

To be honest, Richie plays that role already, the only issue is does Cleverley drop out with Chalobah (when he returns) and Doucoure as the middle pairing?

Femenia to play wide right with Janmaat at right back, which defensively isn't ideal but attacking wise is pretty good (I say this as I don't see Carrillo staying)

 

Er, yes. Which top team is giving it the old 4-4-2 even though they have the best players to do so?

 

Him too!

 

3-5-2 would work with the midfield (Though you'll probably rotate Cleverley and Bobby P)

 

I really can’t see him challenging the dismissal, especially as he is not exactly blameless himself. Has any other manager done so? I can’t bring one to mind.

 

Listen to what a lot of the pundits are saying and on Skys Sunday Supplement the press guys were very critical of Silvas attitude since the Everton approach was as much to blame 5 points from 22 would get almost anyone the boot

 

I've just awoken from a long coma - Is Beppe still in charge? Did I miss much?

 

Gary Lineker more than anyone epitomises the modern day social media culture of having to get your view out as quickly as possible to as much exposure as you can, even if it means not giving yourself enough time to be able to research the situation you're commenting on first.

He is a professional journalist and the presenter of the biggest football show in the country and he clearly hasn't even bothered to read the club's official statement before tweeting that. Staggering.

 

Miguel Pinho means 'micropenis' in Portuguese

 

One of the things teaching for a third of a century (if not life in general) taught me is that you should never underestimate just how stupid stupid can be. And there are a lot of stupid people out there: They are of course spread along a spectrum of ability, but the really stupid ones are really stupid - and there are lots of them. But, of course, we are talking football, where a great many people are wilfully 'stupid' - they allow their biases free reign and disingage thinking from emotions: A lot of people support other clubs and will use this as a stick with which to beat Watford.

 

Every manager does that. That is why they get compensation. Compensation is not a right inferred just by being sacked; there has to be justification for any payment that makes it clear the coach/manager was sacked without contractual reason.

If the Club believes there was a breach of contract, it is very different to the coach being sacked because they are not good enough. To me, that is why the Club's statement is written the way it has been (Silva is capable, but was distracted by his contract breaking active interest in the Everton job).

It didn't just 'not work out', in which case compensation would be due to the coach (because the Club hired a man not good enough to do the job they hoped), but it failed because of non-coaching reasons, which means Watford FC can claim they were wilfully damaged by Silva's fit of pique.

Someone above said the statement was well constructed, and I would agree with them 100%. Gino is no ordinary club owner.

 

The way Silva handed the whole Everton fiasco was very poor indeed irrespective of their approach but there's rarely any honour or loyalty in football these days so can't say I'm surprised.

Interesting wording in the club statement.

Anyway whatever happens now for the remainder of the season won't be dull. If we do get the new manager impact as some clubs did then it may lift us to safety.

 

I'm just disappointed we've hung on so long we've missed out on Paul Lambert.

 

Surely MS changing his attitude because of the Everton interest could be considered 'gross misconduct' of sorts? Would be difficult to prove though.

 

It's not stupidity. It's ignorance.

 

It's also amazing why people are bothered by it as much as they are.

 

Club has gone into meltdown ever since Holebas's leisurewear collection was launched. Make of this what you will.

 

I thought that but he likes 4-4-2 so Clevs or Bobby P would start on the bench, unless you play Clevs out wide right.

 

But isn’t there a difference being paid off by a club and being compensated through the workings of the processes of employment law eg through a tribunal? I assumed you meant the latter.

I can’t claim to expertise here though so I may be mistaken.

Someone earlier also suggested that Gino had paid off the rest of his contract.

 

Personally love some of the comments about us sacking a manager when we're 10th - Then some Arsenal fan comes along and says the only manager who should be sacked is Wenger...

 

Thats the thing, 5 points from 22, he had to go. Other clubs have sacked their managers this season for far less.

I'm still not convinced that the whole Everton affair was as influential on the subsequent bad run as gets made out, but it was a rod of Silva's own making. He had to go, surprissed it took this long in the end

 

In legal terms, I believe, the main issue would be breach of contract. It is possible the breach could have involved 'gross misconduct', but in a compensation case, the breach would be the real issue.

 

Not particularly bothered, but I'd say judging by some of the comments I've seen by people who know less than we do that we are considered a bit of a basket case/laughing stock.

 

Maybe sacking Silva was necessary but my overall feeling today is sadness. In those three months he gave us the best football that we've seen at Watford in my memory (I am too young to remember first spell GT.) We played an entertaining brand of attacking football and we put in some brilliant performances. At Bournemouth/Southampton/Newcastle we didn't just win, we were remarkably dominant and comfortable in a way we haven't seen since promotion. Against some of the best teams in Europe, Liverpool/Arsenal/Chelsea/Man Utd/Spurs, we went toe to toe and gave them good games, picking up some fantastic results. Again, in a way we haven't produced since being promoted. The subsequent drop off in form has been tied to two things: injuries and Everton, neither of which Silva can take all of the blame for.

Injuries - we lost almost half of a team, Kike/Chalobah/Hughes and at least one of Kaboul/Cathcart would be in our best XI. In the league table of days lost to injury, we are top (for the second season running.)

Everton - Silva's refusal to rule it out made it into a massive issue. Could he have prevented it? Yes. But should he have? I don't know if we can blame him. From Silva's perspective, Everton are surely a more attractive option. Higher 'ceiling' in terms of potential because of their resources, better playing squad which was underperforming and so far easier to produce an 'improvement' and so be judged a success. I honestly think the main thing to blame for the Everton scenario is our system as a club of quite intentionally treating head coaches as disposable. Let's go through things under the Pozzos:

Dyche - Takes club to highest position in four years (11th) on one of the league's lowest budgets. Surely a successful manager but gone without getting a chance.
Zola - Takes club to 3rd in his first season, twice being a game away from promotion. Leaves in December of the next season with the club 13th after the first run of sustained bad form under his management.
Sannino - Finishes in 13th, then takes club to 2nd after five games before being removed.
Garcia - Illness
McKinlay - Brought in, then it's decided that his face doesn't fit so he's removed after two games.
Jokanovic - Secures promotion, then leaves in the summer without even having a crack at the Premier League.
Flores - 13th in our first season in the Premier League and an FA Cup Semi-Final, removed after seasons ends with his first sustained period of bad form.
Mazzari - 17th, the only manager who could be argued to have taken the club backwards. Even here, however, he has to contend with the worst injury situation in the division and we still finish 6 points off relegation, 5 points off 8th.
Silva - Sacked with the club in 10th position after his first sustained period of bad form.

We can debate the individual details of these managers but there is clearly a trend. So now think about things from the perspective of potential head coaches. You know that you're not coming in to take a project from start to completion, you are inherently seen as temporary and know that you'll be gone after the first sustained period of bad form. This leads to two things:

a) we're not going to attract head coaches who want to be part of a long-term project over a number of seasons because that, quite intentionally, isn't our way of doing things. Duxberry has made a big deal of our system being based on regarding head coaches as temporary/disposable and getting continuity in other areas. We not going to attract 'loyal' coaches.
b) if you are our head coach, why wouldn't you take an opportunity to move to a bigger job on more money if it came along? You know you'll be sacked when we have the first sustained run of bad form and you surely only came in with the view of using Watford as a springboard or for a bit of money because you know how low your odds are of being kept on long-term. This is compounded by the nature of the league. We are the 8th team of that 'bottom 14' to change manager this season. We are the 8th of the 11 in that 'bottom 14' who aren't newly promoted (only Dyche/Pellegrino/Howe remain.) This is a very tough league and if you're not one of the big 6, bad runs are the norm. So not only do you expect to be sacked when you hit a sustained run of bad form, you know that run of bad form is probably going to happen at some point given the nature of the division and Watford's resources within that. Why wouldn't you go to Everton? Flores/Mazzari/Silva all produced good runs and bad runs, maybe that isn't their flaws as individuals but the nature of the league.

So that's why I'm feeling sad today. The disclaimer is that while I think the above is a flaw with the Pozzo's model, it doesn't mean that the model hasn't been a success for us over the last five and a half years ago. I just think that the trend is increasingly clear and so we need to stop blaming our individual head coaches when they get removed, but acknowledge that this is an inevitable part of our club's model, for better or worse. And the consequence is that some very good coaches who could have led us to a long period of success, I'm thinking Dyche/Joka/Flores and maybe now Silva, get thrown away and then go and prove at other clubs that it wasn't them who was the cause but more the model that they had to operate within here.

 

If you see the Rednapps just turn it over.

 

Some of the replies are quite comical and worrying. Especially to those celebrity ex-footballers.

Special fans.

 

Clubs decision, the press will have to move on to another story. The Pozzos will not male amy further justification on their decision.