Watford Fans Outside This Forum

Yep, he's realised "the model" won't hack it in the EPL and he has no other way of doing things.

 

Why's he against it? For financial or philosophical reasons?

 

Don’t really know - I’ve just been told by a number of people that Duxbury doesn’t agree with analytics being a core tool in recruitment or in tactics. The club realise it can’t be totally ignored and have hired a couple of coaches who specialise in that field but they are marginalised for the main part.

Was also told that Gino wanted rid of Deeney in the summer but Duxbury was, and remains to be, the obstacle to that idea.

I think Deeney gets away with what he does because of Duxbury - and Duxbury gets away with his shortcomings because he has the ear of Gino who listens to him too much.

This is something that’s been told to me a few times in recent months. As has been mentioned elsewhere, there’s a reason all West Ham fans have a very, very dim view of him.

A lot of the clubs early successes were down to Pozzo Snr and his son as an active deputy. When Snr stepped away, Duxbury’s role increased when in hindsight, it should have stayed the same and Gino should have done more of the work he’d proven he could do well. But he delegated and has never rowed back on that decision.

 

Nani arrived with Gino and Duxbury. Duxbury has been here all along.

 

This suggests Duxbury has something over Pozzo in some way. What footballing qualifications does Duxbury have to decide whether analytics etc have any relevance, as I can’t remember?
In one of your posts yesterday you mentioned a split in ‘the hierarchy’ with Duxbury (enjoying Pozzo’s ear) on one side; who would be on the other side?

 

I wonder how much money the club have from ST deposits etc. And if that’s able to be withdrawn by individuals.

If there was a mass withdrawal, they’d be in no 2 minds about the depth of feeling.

Never gonna happen mind you.

 

Good balanced outlook.

Social media (including internet forums) is ultimately an echo chamber with a closed ecosystem. At its worse, it encourages and entrenches people into more and more extreme views. I feel this has been compounded by the pandemic making people understandably stir crazy and reactive than in more normal times.

Agreed; definitely one of the better takes.

 

Giaretta and some more constant members of backroom staff. I’m led to believe that Gino actually would like to explore this side of things further but as a Duxbury is against it - could be financially or philosophically...likely both.

I don’t think he has something tangible over Gino - although I don’t know that. I just think there’s too much trust put in him and I know he’s not popular.

 

Alright then, we have plenty of fans that don't think it's the most important thing in life and don't get too upset when things go badly on and off the pitch.

 

I can only think of only one poster who predicted relegation? I predicted financial meltdown but that isn’t the same thing.

 

Probably not. It's very similar to politics in this respect. Most only have a passing interest and very few have the time, or inclination, to look at things in detail. Lucky bastards.

 

We don’t need to ‘reset’ because we’d still be at the base of the same model and trying to rebuild it. The model and way of working needs to change. That won’t happen mid-season. But more importantly, it didn’t happen in the summer when we were alluded to that it had.

 

Agree.

One part of the "model" was not to use their own money but 3rd party debt to leverage against every asset we have-ground, players, transfers and TV money/parachute payments. We all await the June 20 accounts but fear what they will show in terms of the level of liabilities secured against player values which will have declined but the debt and outstanding transfer instalments remain fixed.

This was used to take our overall debt to £130m (£80m to 23 Capital and £50m in transfer instalments) as at June 19 and since last September when it emerged that 23Capital wanted to exit the market who would fund this model going forward.

Their overall model has to change as there will be next to no reputable lenders willing to replicate what 23 Capital did particularly as they must have good reasons to exit (Covid, declining player values for those clubs outside PL and potential breakaway of top clubs into Euro Super league impacting TV revenue etc).

If the Pozzos are serious about "long term" then either they risk their own money (like the owners at Brentford, Reading, Blackburn. BMuff, Boro, PNE and more) or run a tight ship like Norwich and Swansea by investing in managers for a medium term coupled with a youth policy/lower league purchases and not seeking external debt to make ends meet.

 

One thing that should not just be swept away - IF the accounts look as bad as we believe they will, then Duxbury’s comment at the Fans Forum needs to be flagged given he assured that the finances were fine.

 

He’s got form. Didn’t he sit there and say we had no external debt once, not mentioning that the holding company was leveraged up to the eyeballs?

 

Brexit has presented the biggest change to the way the transfer market operates since the Bosman ruling. The Pozzo model consists of moving players in and out of the UK before they are established players. That will have an impact over time and we'll probably see more of the Dan Gosling type signing than we've been used to.

 

Thats right- this was posted by some member called ....Burnsy in Feb 19 at the AYP event then

"Debt - the club has no debt. If things went west tomorrow, the club is in no jeopardy. Scott’s words"

Whilst looking for that I also spotted the below from the Oct 20 AYP with Ivic (its from Nisman94 post-In fact that thread is worth reading-page 13 onwards (if you want to feel even more despondent)

• Financial impact of COVID and relegation on the club and the stability of the club- Duxbury emphasised the philosophical point that it's not football without supporters and not about financial necessities. If the worst-case scenario happens and fans can't come back for a long time, the club have a strategic business plan in place and will not be financially affected by this. Duxbury also said that the budgets don't need to be balanced and that the onus is on Ivic and the squad to do well. They will address needs in January, but there are no pressing needs to address currently