Gianfranco Zola claims he was lured into the Watford hot-seat by the ambition of the club's owners and says he will be given time to push for promotion. The former West Ham boss found himself away from the dugout for two years after being shown to the door at Upton Park in 2010. He kept his eye in with some coaching work back in Italy, but was always open to the idea of returning to club management. Watford offered him an opportunity to move back to England over the summer, with the Hornets' new Italian owners turning to a familiar face from their homeland. Ex-Chelsea forward Zola is delighted to be back in London and says he has been granted a season in which to find his feet, before launching the club back towards the Premier League. He told La Gazzetta dello Sport: "Why did I choose Watford? For two reasons: my family wanted to return to England, we have always been happy here, and I like the Pozzo's project. "We want to make Watford into the 'English Udinese'. "In England 'project' is a serious word and you are given time. In Italy, two defeats make everything a failure. "The club have allowed me to settle in this season. We'll think about promotion next season. "If we are in the play-offs in the spring, we will look at things again." The only thing I will add is that he will be given a season, unless it looks like we will be relegated.!!
Meh, he likes a project where he doesn't want to do any work! The guys above him buy the players and the coaches coach. What does he do? Make the tea?
Glad to see he is being given a season to bed-in if you like. Cant see us being anywhere near the bottom this season with the players we have at the club now.
Im not sure that i buy into the fact that they will be happy with a season to 'bed in'. I think that everybody at the club must be looking to bed in at first i.e until after the second international break in October and then be pushing on to looking for the play offs at least. I think that this would be reasonable with the players that have been sent. Personally with the players that have been sent and how good they look we surely would have enough quality to do ok. I would really like a day out at wembley especially for my son. Although two leg win against Ipswich would be nice or to lose 3 - 0 to derby at home and then tonk them 5 -1 at Pride park with numerous watford fans celebrating up there would be nice.
I'm not sure I like the fact he completely rights off promotion for this season.Just seems a bit odd in my opinion.
I agree, wherever you aim at is normally where you will land (that is unless im playing golf, foooouuuurrrrr). So to say 'bed in season' isnt good, have to agree secretly they must be wanting promotion. I certainly do.
I wouldn't bet he has as long as appears. My guess is that if we do mid-table or better he'll be ok. But if we are flirting with relegation he'll be gone in a heartbeat.
Agreed, i hate the word 'project' in football, used initially by managers who talked too much and liked the sound of their own voices, now used by everybody. 'Group' is another one. Its not a f**king group, it's a squad. Call them a close knit squad if you have to, a squad with a great spirit, but not a group.
I hate the word 'project' too. It's stupid. I mean, use the word 'job' or 'disaster waiting to happen'. It failed at Man City and it'll fail here too.
I imagine there will be expectations that we finish at leat top half. If that happens then we will have a chance of the play offs. A season to bed in just sounds like a statement to get everybody to calm down. So much has happened in a short space of time, players, managers and owners are new to Watford and The Championship and we are trying to play a completely different style of football. The style of play needs to work so it fits in with the other two clubs making it easier to move players around. Don't have an issue with "project" or "group" as they're just words. I don't mind about this season as long as we see progress which I'm sure we will.
To me Zola's words seem quite sensible. Do not create too much pressure and expectations (on players also) let's do the best for now. In last two seasons for Guidolin (Udinese's magager) the eternal phrase was "safety first, then we'll see!" and I appreciated that umilty and it led to great results. BTW it "should" be quite obvious that saying "We want to make Watford into the 'English Udinese' he doesn't mean "Udinese B" but "The surprise. The underestimated underdog. The club that manages to do very well even without a stellar budget" and whatever else could be applied to Udinese's last years.
A club that treats managers like confetti, and fans openly complaining about not being in the Champions League proper? No, it'll take us a good 6-8 weeks to get into that position.
May be in the start they wanted to give him time to bed in but seeing what they wrote about being shock on how big the debt is i think they will want prem football next season and if they are giving him time to bed in why go mad on the last day of the window? And reading that he was shock with all the players coming in is a shock so he is saying he has no say on who comes and goes?
if it was a season about finding his feet then he would have simply added 4 or 5 players in key positions to last years squad and developed his style over a season. The signings needed to push for promotion would have come next summmer. With 16 new players, of which at least 8 to 10 won't be here next year, there is no way this is a settleing season. Anything less than the playoffs and Zola will be gone at the end of the season
