Quique Sanchez Flores - Manager

Boooooooo Flores out!

 

Just a heads up for the reliability of this story... when they say 'impeccable' sources, they really couldn't be from a better place. The offer is there...

 

Wish our owner was called Godfather Jesus Gilly Gill.

 

win rate in the league 47%, draws = 8% ( suggests attacking coach )

38 games X 47% = 18 wins and 54 points

8% of 38 games = 3 draws and 3 points

total 57 points

this year 57 points would have given us 8th place

I'd take that

( edited because of crap maths )

 

Damn

 

Coaching a big club with high expectations is tough, and a totally different proposition to coaching an underdog newcomer.

I'm inclined to favour is success with Getafe over his apparent failure with Atletico Madrid.

 

Go on?...

 

Fair point. Getafe were 13th on their first season after being promoted. I think we d all take that for next season.

Also his 'failed' season at Atheltico brought him 2 european trophies and cup runners up in 2 years.

 

Probably called him a **** during his celebrations.

 

I can also confirm that the sources from which the knowledge is known are of the highest quality.

 

Our new manager will also have previously been involved in football in some capacity.

 

Fell out with Deeney.

 

Evening all.

As a part time Atletico supporter I feel well placed to give my opinion on QSF.

The problem looking back from an Atleti point of view is that under Diego Simeone the Rojoblanco's have experienced fairly unparalleled levels of success. This has the effect of dwarfing the acheivements of his predecessor's, including our man QSF. It can be argued that apart from winning La Liga in the 90's Atletico haven't been up to much at all. Spent a couple of seasons in the 2nd tier in the early 2000's.

Winning the Europa League was a massive achievement and QSF certainly had the ability the get his team up for the big games. However, league form was abject, especially for a team who had finished in the Champions League places. Did a lot better the following season finishing only 4 points of 4th, but it was clear that he wasn't able to take Atletico to the next level, disappointing with the talent at his disposal.

I think for us next year we'll be playing a lot of "cup finals", his history at Atletico suggests he might be ok with us but it's hard to tell. He'll keep us solid and depending on the relationship he can build with our key players it may work out ok.

For me it's a yes... just about.

 

He will also speak a language.....

 

Not happy with this. Sends the wrong message.

 

Deeney is also concerned.

 

I am also hoping that he/she/it will be a human as he/she/it will have to work with the existing mostly-human coaching staff.

 

The pozzos are looking to get a coach who has 'experience' and can 'win football matches.'

We have definitely been linked with qsf, though he still might not join us.

The pozzos will only employ 'the right man for the job.' Not sure how literally to take that, by it effectively rules out rumours of us appointing a female head coach.

This is from the same source as my dressing room insights, so it's solid.

 

At last, someone who is just giving us all the facts.

 

Whoops, sorry.

 

I know it's a bit of a traditional on here that I'm lukewarm at best towards our new Head Coaches..but it's like waking up this morning and discovering the world has gone mad. What on earth are we doing? It's crazy. We unearth a terrific guy in Joka who takes us up. His win ratio over the last 15-20 matches of an incredible season was just about the best in my 30 years of supporting the club. He impressed just about everybody. We built some continuity. We achieved something no other manager since GT in the early 80s achieved..automatic promotion to the top flight. Brilliant.

And now, just as we should be basking in the glory of that and looking forward to this coach and players taking us into the Prem, all this is happening. It's madness. Sort it out. Ask any of your friends who don't support us and I bet they are saying the same thing. "You're getting rid of that guy who got you promoted?"

I know we are all supposed to tow the party line that our owners know best, and I respect those excited at the prospect of this Spaniard joining us who keeps getting sacked from his other clubs and who won a cup few people care about much by dint of winning most of their ties on away goals. Fair enough. The decision to replace BM seemed harsh but was a brilliant decision. But we are taking now about a Head Coach who has taken us up. And soon he could be about to become WFC history. And we enter the biggest season in our history starting all over again with a new guy in charge.

It's total lunacy.

 

We're all going round in circles. I don't think there will be a Watford fan who would want someone to replace Joka in normal circumstances. However I don't think these are normal circumstances because there is no guarantee we will stay up. Financial stability of the club has to come first. From a financial point of view it would be a poor decision to bow in to pressure especially if Joka doesn't deliver and we have to get rid in December and pay heaps of compensation.

Also what message does it send out to players and agents if the owners bow in to demands? No one person is bigger than the club.

Besides we never gave him a good chant and never even sang sign him up so perhaps we all knew it was short term

 

We're not getting rid. We've offered him a contract - if he doesn't wish to sign, that's not Watford's fault.

 

They're not children..they're adults, they're businessmen, they're football people..we're not a tinpot non league club up to our ears in debt..we are a Premier League club..it's crazy that this can not all be sorted out.

 

Whilst I generally agree with your post, the comparison of Joka's performance against previous managers should be tempered by the fact that Joka had the most talented squad ever seen at the club, so he was given a distinct advantage against the others.

On paper we had a better squad (certainly in terms of depth) than Bournemouth so it could be argued that Howe would have won us the Title.

 

I say this with a twinkle in my eye and not at all in a rude or nasty way but it's amusing how 3 weeks ago after Brighton Joka was rightly being lauded for taking us up but now that praise has been diluted by some supporters..on other fora too mostly..to say anything less than top two would have been a failure despite him only having 35 games in charge, he failed because we didn't win the title, he might be a failure in the prem, he's a greedy old so and so because he simply wants the best deal for himself and his family after guaranteeing for his bosses £120 million, there are better managers out there etc!!!

It's almost as if people who really like Joka are trying to justify reasons why they'd still feel ok if he left. A self-defence mechanism to cover up the obvious disappointment if he leaves.

At 5pm today one of our closest rivals for an automatic spot will suffer the heartbreak of knowing they're to spend another season in the Championship. That could quite easily have been us. But it's not. We owe that, at least in part, to Joka and its why I'm so adamant this impasse should be sorted.

 

A few weeks ago Joka himself said that there was no room for sentiment in the Premier League. Being the fourth manager inside a few months, he'll know more than anyone that his view is shared by the Pozzo's.

He is quoted as wanting to stay but added “Now we must continue our life and start thinking about what is best for all of us" suggests he knew contract negotiations would be hardball. Since then the Wobby have learned that an improved contract has been offered but not accepted - Round 1 of negotiations.

Round 2 and we hear Flores has been approached and is considering - a classic Pozzo tactic to up the ante on Joka, whilst giving free airtime on the back pages of the national media for an out of work Flores. A win-win arrangement I'm sure.

Round 3 And expect to see the final round of negotiations where both our sweethearts will reconcile, having conceded ground in order to be able to tie the knot.

The Pozzo's are astute but not stupid. The last thing they'd want will be to lose their favoured man at the start of the most important season of their footballing lives.

 

If Watford had ended up third and lost in the play offs would you have still held the same view? If not, it is amazing that three points makes the difference between being te best the thing since sliced bread or a failure.

Yes Joka did well and should be retained if at all possible but not irrespective of cost (if that is the sticking point). The likes of Hoofroyd and Mackay were similarly feted as top managers on getting us up (with vastly inferior squads) but have since turned out to be average at best.

Joka has a long long way to go before he can be mentioned in the same breath as God.

 

I understand what you mean Malt... but if the new English agent rumour going around on Twitter is true (and it coincides with a sudden change of terms that Joka is demanding) then the Pozzos have little choice.

They are not one to pander to agents/ managers desires. They have probably offered Joka a decent contract, and will be striving to keep him for some consistency. But if the winner of the Thai/ Serbian league or whatever doesn't want to sign, they will bring in a Europa League winner. They clearly are very used to agents playing hard ball, but after all these years, they will not compromise their winning formula because people think that getting second place makes Joka irreplaceable.

 

I hope you're right BBB. It's plausible, but the process seems to be so dragged out I'm not optimistic.

 

To be fair, Jokanovic was parachuted in to do a job, and he did it. There has never been a guarantee of it turning into something long term, his family live in Spain still. I hope he stays, but if not it doesn't seem that Earth shattering.

 

Hoping we can look back on some comments in this thread in the same light as Southampton fans can when looking back on comments when Nigel Adkins was sacked.

 

Despite the run we had since that awful Wolves loss on Boxing Day there appears to have been no attempt by the owners to offer Slave an extension to his contract which was running down so if we had failed to get up even via play offs I wonder if he would have been here next season. An extension would have given him some time to work to get us into a good position in the championship by say Xmas or alternatively see how we faired in the PL

We got up a month ago and if I recall correctly no new contract was offered until 3 weeks ago -it makes me think he was only ever going to be a short term deal.

More " what have the Pozzos done for us" in the Observer Friday also was interesting in its timing as if to remind us who calls the shots.Even if the £20m figure was grossly exaggerated in terms of cash injected on published figures no one can deny the squad assembled by them surpasses that figure but was not reflected in the June 14 accounts

 

Exactly, and this applies in a broader sense as well. None of our head coaches leaving is earth shattering, and whilst that was quite new to us at first, I think the reaction to this news suggests a lot of people are starting to 'get it'. Head coaches will come and go and the entire functioning of the club will not change.

I'd advise everybody to not get attached. If you're expecting somebody to come here start a dynasty that lasts a decade, you're going to be disappointed. Comparisons to GT were always well wide of the mark, because we just don't operate in that way any more. I love Slav, he is an excellent coach and an excellent tactician, but he isn't the heart of the club and no coach we have under the Pozzos ever will be. That's a pretty tough position to play hardball from.