To Watford Fans: From Gino Pozzo & Scott Duxbury (about Time!)

Drain the swamp

 

Out of contract i believe

 

Like there was intent to be "the best of the rest" ?
Easy to say the right things in a carefully choreographed statement but actions speak louder than words, as we've seen in the last 15 months.

 

He'll never be out of contract in my heart.

 

Can you hear the drums, Fernando ?

 

If we can get some players in that are half as likeable as Fessi and Abdi I'll **** myself silly.

 

I think it's the least we could expect less than 24 hours after yesterday's doom. Typical PR stunt in attempt to rekindle any relationship with the fans, ticking all the boxes in terms of doing everything they can to get us back to the Premier League...they were hardly going to say their aim was for next year was a mediocre mid table Championship finish!

This next week or two will go a long way to deciding which way next season will go.

 

Of course there is intent to get back to the PL. Thats where the money is so it kinda goes without saying.

When you say ‘they’ve done it before and know what is required’ - how we did it before is largely irrelevant as we won’t be doing it that way again. There won’t be a huge influx of Udinese players. We will also more than likely be favourites to win the title - can we handle that pressure?

They have shown NO signs at all that they see the issues with the squad. We have to stop giving them that excuse. It’s just not true.

 

Giraldi must go this week for me. If they are getting rid, there should be no delay. If he’s not gone by the end of the week, that will signal to me that he’s staying and is involved in the search for a new coach.

That’s the sign I’m looking for.

 

I reckon if you asked the Watford supporters (who know who he is) the decision would be unanimous.

 

That's my take on it too, and action speak louder than words. If we get another journeyman coach and start a fire sale then you can file the statement in the bin.

However, if we get ourselves a quality coach and retain the vast majority of this squad, including the sought after players, then I'd say we mean business.

The only thing that I can take from the statement is that the owner is looking to stay, which is a good thing IMO. It means he's not going to bail and run, so it's in his best interests to get us back up quickly.

Whereas they could be somewhat relaxed about the timeline for promotion when they first arrived, this time they have a lot of money invested. They are now in a place where money will evaporate very quickly. They can afford a one season hit, and let's face it they have no choice, but the squad they currently have, with a good coach added, is realistically their best opportunity to gain promotion over the next few years.

 

So saying that there are issues around the team isn’t accepting that the squad isn’t good enough? Sounds like that’s exactly what they’re saying.

Even our most football illiterate fans can see where the issues are

 

I agree with this.

I'm hoping for a strong head coach who is given the confidence to assert a vision. We're also going to need someone willing to upset the apple cart a little when it comes to the Deeney figures (should he still be here) and a few of the other more experienced lads. I became frustrated the last few weeks simply with our lack of 'style of play', aside from the lump and feed off Deeney route. At least Bournemouth and Norwich fans can argue they went down playing their, allbeit failed, way. This is part of the reason why, Day 1 of recovery, I feel they're probably in a stronger position than us right now, they're literally position filling into a style that suits them.

 

It seems that some people wouldn't be satisfied unless the statement openly criticised specific players, attacked a current employee and outlined the specific transfer strategy. That was never going to happen, for all kinds of reasons - including basic logic.

It states that they recognise this year was not acceptable, that they will learn from it, and that they are committed to gettign back to the Premier League. That's what we want.

It confirms that mistakes were made surrounding the team (which is probably as much an acknowledgement that there were failures in recruitment and in hiring head coaches as they would legally want to say). That's what we want them to do.

And it says that they want to restore the passion around the club. None of us can object to that.

It is a PR exercise. Obviously. That's not a reason to demonise it. Better that they've articulated those things and made those commitments, than be silent. Given that our communications department is often somewhere between clueless ('anyone want to be in Europe?') and inept, let's take what we can get.

So yes, now it's up to them to act. And also up to them to communicate more. We've been angry about their silence. Now that they've spoken, let's keep the pressure on them to keep doing it, not shout at them for not doing it perfectly and cause them to feel it wasn't worth the effort.

 

Surrounding the squad, not within it.

If they wanted to truly ‘say’ something, they could have said ‘we’ve made errors in compiling the squad and the work to rectify that starts now’.

When they talk about things ‘surrounding the squad’, to me that sounds like they are admitting that they’ve made mistakes in the firing and recruitment of managers. And possibly Giraldi’s role in it.

But like I, and many others have said, there are huge deficiencies in the squad at both ends of the pitch - and the owners have allowed that to fester despite all the warning signs being displayed well in advance of yesterday. They have had chances to fix it and have chosen not to. So you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t accept that the owner and his cronies suddenly see the issues all of a sudden.

It’s not personal towards you. But nothing winds me up more about our fanbase than those who continue to claim the owner is seeing things he’s not acting upon.

Too many windows have passed with us not signing the required players with the owner being given excuses - ‘Gino will see what we need, he’ll act in the next window’

Too many manager have been hired/fired with those concerned being told to ‘Trust in Gino’.

Everyone is welcome to their own perspective. Mine is that they’ve burned through any goodwill I had towards them. They can accumulate more of course - but with strong actions, not vague words.

 

Excellent post

 

I disagree with your first statement.

They could easily have said

‘We have failed in areas when compiling this squad. That is reflected in our relegation and we, along with the squad, cannot hide from that and owe it to the fans to be honest about it. The work to rectify this starts today.’

‘We also recognise that as a leadership team, there were certain practices undertaken that perhaps placed our place in the Premier League at greater risk. We are undertaking a review of our practices and the fans can be assured no stone will be left unturned in making the correct changes to bring top flight football back to Watford Football Club. This review also starts today and further announcements will be made in due course.’

No names named. No specifics given. But something that would go much further than what has been said.

 

Is that why he played 41 league games in 2018/19, all but one of them starts and 37 of those for the full 90? Or scored a vital goal in the play-offs that nearly got his side to Wembley? What evidence was there to suggest he wasn't up for it?

 

Well no, they were hardly going to say that. So what did you expect them to say?

 

West Brom fans

 

I personally think the owners do not see the head coach position as all that important as demonstrated by some of the decisions this season.

They’ve got faith in their way of doing things and believe the influence and impact of a manager is relatively limited.

I think they also think they know better, as evidenced by the rumours around Pearson and that they disagreed with tactics and player selection. It’s almost like Gino being the owner thinks he knows better than his staff, but being the owner he doesn’t want to actually do the job himself which obviously makes sense.

The interesting thing for me is going to be will this attitude change? And if they feel they know best, will they continued to think this?

For me the issues around the squad are slightly overstated. With a fit Gerri we stay up regardless of manager, with a better striker we stay up regardless of manger.

Ultimately it is there underestimation of the head coach that had cost us the most and it will be interesting to see if this changes how they do things.

 

How much are they actually owning up to this massive **** up since last April?

I’d be bowing my head in shame pair of ****s


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Transfer request at the start of the season and a lot of their fans saying he was a shadow of the player he’d been in previous seasons?

 

I don't blame Gino one bit. I think Pearson got it wrong too.

 

Im sorry, I just can't let this pass. I know we r all hurting but High Wycombe is a great town!

 

What we did for the NHS was outstanding. That aligns with core values we should have as a club. However, doing stuff for the NHS doesn’t get you points on the football pitch.

Withholding the players bonuses - does that align with the core values the club claims to hold? Such acts almost certainly will cost you points.

 

The moment we were officially relegated people were posting their dissatisfaction at the Pozzo silence, feeding off one another and gnashing their teeth. I particularly note the credulous ones who were screaming blue murder at an openly made-up statement. Then a statement comes out, says the right things, and still nobody is happy: Along the lines of 'actions speak louder than words'. Well, alright, of course they do. But get a grip, folks. PR exercise? Well of course it was, what the hell else did you realistically expect?

 

Reasonable response, could have been worse “**** you all, we are selling the club”, I get a hint that they know the fans are pissed off and want to bounce straight back to prem

would like to see us keep

Gerry (10% chance of keeping , imagine he will go abroad)
Hughes (50% chance, he is young enough to waste a year in the championship)
Sarr (25% chance , we should not sell for less than 30m , could go to udinese for a year)
JP (50% just want to see what he is like)
Quina (75% chance, he hung around when he wasn’t getting a chance , got to be worth a go in the championship)

if we kept the above must have a reasonable chance of getting back to prem

when does the championship transfer window open / close ?

Edir: and wouldn’t be surprised to see Joka back

 

Its open

 

in which case why the **** haven’t we signed anybody

 

I’ve outlined above something that could have been said that would give greater belief that they ‘get it’. I don’t think the statement does say the right things - I think it’s ambiguous and skirts around issues. I think the opening line is terrible as well - it’s akin to saying ‘look, nobodies dead so perspective please’ - whilst that may be true, playing down the anger and upset of fans isn’t a good look in my opinion.

 

This is my position. Confidence in Gino and Duxbury has been severely knocked and I will judge on their actions. The next few weeks will be telling.

It was the type of statement I wanted to see even though in reality it doesn't mean much and is full of cliche.

 

I think it's very likely Pedro stays

 

Just seen on Twitter probably already posted , but thought it summed it all up

 

I actually like that, manufactured it may be but it was eloquently expressed and I think the word "world" was used in a metaphorical sense, rather than alluding to the world at large with all the problems with the pandemic - "world" as in our world, concerning Watford FC.