I need something a bit more positive today. We are facing almost certain relegation on Sunday and I'm a bit tired of all the "clubs lost it's soul" "Pozzos are evil", "this is the worst thing ever to happen to Watford", "We are the worst football club in he world" etc etc.... Ok the Pozzos might be a bit bonkers and this season has been challenging to watch, but they've taken us on one hell of a ride and I hope there is much more and better to come. So this is a thread purely for writing good things about what the Poszzos have done over the last 8 years .If you've got negative comments then please save them for the many other threads that exist. You can even post nice things about Giraldi here if you can think of any. I'd really like to restore some of my faith back in my fellow supporters, amongst all the hysteria. I guess if no one else posts on here that will be quite telling I'll start: I am proud of the way the club dealt with the Corona crisis. Offering the ground to be used by the NHS, not furloughing staff and initially supporting Deeney when he had genuine concerns for his young baby.
People get greedy. The more success you have, the more is expected. We were a rubbish Championship club, before the Pozzos took over. People say they want to go back to that ! Everyone wants a scapegoat, for this season- let’s blame Deeney, Pozzo’s etc. Personally I think the positive is that he may realign supporters expectation. A par performance is 15th in the Championship, anything above that is success.
The counter argument you will hear is that no one minds going down to the Championship, of course we don't, had we done so heroically and following genuine attempts to plug evident holes in the squad. I suspect, however, that had we tried to plug the holes with expensive and experienced players and then went down (as has happened to many clubs in the past) people would be livid with the waste of money on 'journeymen', rather than say 'well done, good effort'. Our time may have run out and for us this is what it looks like. For Stoke, Sunderland, West Brom, Fulham, Norwich etc it looked a bit different.
Yes. The hope is that we haven’t over-spent and with same sales and moving some players, we can be financial stable. We could have spent big on absolute rubbish, and be in a bigger mess. Hopefully we will have a more youthful team next year, that can have a stab at the play-offs.
Gino and Co. have done a good job from bringing us to be big time and we are/were an established premiership side. We still could be Sunday afternoon. At any rate, there have been massive faults levied at their "world class scouting network". What I never understand about it, they scout a great talent who we hear about and get excited to see. Then they loan them out to another club till they get good and sell them for assets. Ok not every single one has turned that way, but how is that supposed to help Watford develop on the pitch when any new assets are sold off to make a profit? I do respect what they have done for the club off the pitch - we have probably one of the best pitches in the premiership and our ground looks very nice. Hospitality as never been better and the overall look of the club from an outside prospective is much grander than it was a few years ago. What is killing all the kudos is Geraldhi. We have gone on and on about how much as fans, we despise his presence at the club. He more or less is the manager. He hand picks transfer dealings, more or less picks the team and formation and has the ability to change it at will. It is no wonder NP got fed up with it. Why come into a club with a reputation of getting clubs out of danger only for the reigns to be taken off you when you are almost clear?
They fixed the hole in the Rookery roof that for many years had dripped water on me whenever it rained. I will always be grateful to them for that
5 years in the Premier League, possibly more An FA Cup semi final win only achieved once before against a third division side Some memorable moments, Brighton away, Leicester, Liverpool twice Almen Abdi A ground we can be proud of Some very good players that I never would have thought I would see The naming of the two stands What they did during lockdown for the NHS Would like to know what they thought would happen this season but in general they've been a success
They have done the ground up nicely and do a lot of good things in the community. Unfortunately lost focus on improving the on field stuff which means those nice corporate areas won't be filled.
They have done so much for Watford FC, and lets remember the Premier League ride is NOT over yet......... THE 'ORNS ARE STAYING UP
When I first starting watching Watford in Brendon's first season, the best we could hope for was mid-table in the championship. We were an unfashionable team with no money, a **** stadium, **** infrastructure and we relied on poor academy players and loans. I never thought i'd see Watford in the PL when I started going. Had we continued in that vain I think we'd have ended up like Ipswich. Instead we got 5 years of PL football, an FA cup final, wins against all the big clubs (bar City), improved training facilities and a stadium that i'm proud of. People use Granada to show there is life after the Pozzo's but with a club like us, we're only ever a Bassini away from complete collapse. This season has been rubbish, but the grass isn't always greener. We will always be a small fish in the PL, regardless of our owner.
I might also add that the Graham Taylor statue , and naming of the two main stands after Watford legends demonstrated that they respect the history of the club . The ‘for Nic , for promotion’ campaign was also a very human reaction , hardly soulless .
I fear we will be relegated on Sunday because of the sacking of Pearson without a reason being published. This has turned the whole football world against us and every neutral fan will be wanting us to go down and will see it as justice. I think by keeping his cards close to his chest Pozzo has made a monumental mistake.
The only way it will have an impact is if it affects how Arsenal, WH and Everton play, which I very much doubt. Every fan may well want is to go down, but that doesn’t mean it will happen because of it.
Gives the players an excuse as well . All the ex players say it will affect their focus and moral. Well that has been missing for most of the season !
Not many people know this but the Pozzos built a laser on the moon to protect the earth from asteroids
We could've ended up with another owner like the Russo's or Bassini. In a parallel universe we're scrapping away in League 1 or League 2 in a crumbling stadium. Off the pitch they've kept it touch with our history with the GT statue and the Elton John stand, another owner may have never been interested in either. Some cracking memories from the promotion season and that first season where it was all really unexpected. The absolute scenes when Vydra scored that 2nd goal against Brighton and then watching us get promoted in a pub in Brighton with hundreds of other Watford fans. Reids shitting himself in public at Brentford. Probably would've happened anyway.
I don’t know what happened , not many do, but most of the pundits I have heard have indicated that Pearson had a falling out and was dealt with. I have actually been quite surprised by the lack of “what the hell are Watford doing” reports. As for Pozzos , took us to the premiership , we have seen some great football at times and some great performance and some memorable players (not always for the right reason) , who can forget the Amrabat or Britos being sent off with his first kick of the game ,the highs and lows of Holebas , Rich and Sarr on Fire , or Watford 4 Chelsea 1 Two things I won’t miss, the twice yearly kicking by city and the ridiculous TV commentary that goes with playing in the prem, i lost count on Tuesday of how many times they pointed out we keep getting stuffed.
Hmm.. not seen that on BBC or Talksport where they seem to think we are only going down because we have sacked Pearson .
I heard that Gino puts a can of beans into the food bank donation trolley at the supermarket every week, but to make sure no one finds out he puts on a ginger beard disguise
well what do you expect linker and radio station full of tossers I used to listen to talksport a lot (commute to work) but the idiot in the afternoon absolutely hates Watford (and Arsenal) I thought commentary (can’t remember if sky or BT) before the Man City game was fairly reasoned about the incident, I’m sure they made reference to a bust up in the dressing room leading to Pearson’s dismissal
Thank you pozzo family. You made our little club vibrant and relevent again. We've gained international support now plus made Arsenal and Man United fans hate us as we seem to do well against them. You saved our club and I don't doubt we will learn from this season and go again.
Gino's ringtone is z-cars. Giraldi personally goes down to Tesco every weekend to direct traffic in the horrendous bottleneck. The club have funded numerous events to save the Horns pub. The Kingswood estate was almost bulldozed to make way for an M25 multicomplex service station until the Pozzo's stepped in. HS2 is believed to be going past the ground now due to serious influence from the club on the government to adjust their route.
Gino does deserve all the credit for getting Watford into the Premier League and he has done very well in keeping us there, by hook or by crook. However, the board have made horrendous mistakes this season, one after another, and this has accumulated in Watford being just 90 minutes from relegation with only a long shot of staying up. I still believe we will stay up somehow, however, if we do go down then I think there will be a big backlash from supporters towards the owner. On the surface it looks like sheer incompetence to sack Pearson with just two games to go. How can that be justified? He can only justify it if we stay up, if we go down he'll be open to huge criticism. Would Pearson have got anything from these two games? We'll never know, but the size of defeat was huge and costly against City. I would feel a lot more confident going in against Arsenal with Pearson and Shakespeare behind the scenes. But they've put us in this position and have weakened us for sure. Mullins and Stack are good coaches, but they do not have the experience to navigate this. How could they? You need someone who has the experience of being successful in these high pressure situations, which Pearson has been. To sack him, without any explanation given, will never play out well. It looks like they do not know what they are doing at boardroom level. Personally, I do not feel there is any reason that can justify sacking an experienced manager and replacing him with a couple of inexperienced coaches, especially as we're on the brink of relegation. Sheer lunacy.
Pozzo's are generally excellent owners who've had a nightmare this season. Given a lot to the club, but some bad decisions have come back on them this season.
