Zola - your contributions

My favourite ever Premiership player and my favourite ever Watford manager. Its been an honour to have him at our club.

 

Thank you for the best football I have ever witnessed as a watford fan

Thank you for the best moment of my life so far

Thank you for absolutely everything, you are going to be a great manager one day

Good luck with your career, I would be happy to have you back involved with the club any day

Guess it wasnt meant to be :'(

 

Saw my first Watford match in the late 1940s, but even during the GT/EJ years did not see anything better than some of the football we saw last season. I do indeed feel sad at the loss of GZ as our manager and wish him well in any future ventures. Go sir with our thanks and good wishes, you are indeed a legend and a gentleman.

 

Followed this club since 1980 something, as a fan from Finland I was always somewhat "strange" according to big clubs bandwagoners. Met the 1987 team in Finland under Bassett. Planned to visit Watford as young but wife and four kids stopped that. Last season I met first time an other fan from Finland - before that Leicester semi we said that we go to final if we play. Walked around Watford in three days and sat on premium places at Wembley. Met John McClelland at the Watford junction and he remembered me from 1987! We sat down at the Tourch Pub and he buyed me a beer. We had a wonderful discussion about the Bassett era. Nowone else in the pub recognised the icon - i understood at that time i had become old (46-years of age) and the club had so much younger fan base that legends isnt recognisided by younger fans on the street. I wanted to shout out loud to all 300 fans waiting for the final 4 h before match - LOOK here is one of our most classy capitanos! But i wanted John and hes boy enjoy the day without any extra fuzz. HAd a wonderful trip 1st time to my recarnation lands, met my fellow brothers and sister. Even months after this trip wife has commented that why in hell put 600 eur on something like that! I am not bothering a damn about that - had an experience i shud had gone for earlier! Thanks to you and your team and season 2012-13 i said it was a GO! Thanks to you i met my club, saw Vic and met fellow fans. At the same time when i 1st connected IRL with club i feel sad you have to leave this wonderful family club! Family in Italy is important ! We all know that - you will always have a special memory and belong to this club as a family member! Br Kimmo from Finland!

 

Am I alone in thinking some of the stuff here is indulgent and vomit inducing?

 

Correct, anyone would think the bloke had died hence my R.I.P. gag.

 

Dear GianFranco,
It is with a heavy heart that I say farewell to you and wish you all the very best for the future. It has been an absolute honour and privilege to have you as our manager - you brought us hope, happiness and very sexy football! Cannot thank you enough for putting Watford FC back on the map and if you ever fancy coming back - you would be most welcome. Once again my sincere thanks to you - absolute legend and gentlemen. Woooaaahhh Gianfranco!
Louise Watford supporter from Yeovil!

 

Thank you for some of the best football I've ever seen a Watford team play. It was an honour to have you as our manager, superb ambassador for our club, maybe we will see you again to complete the job.

 

Gianfranco, before you took charge here our fans were lacking in confidence and unsure of what the future held. Things were looking bad. In just one season you have turned us all around, from hoping we'll still have a club to support to believing we should be challenging for the title. The change around the club has been incredible, we have a future, we have quality and most of all we have belief. I don't think this would have happened without you and those devastating counter-attacks.

Thank you. And remember, do not scratch your eyes!

 

Thank you Gianfranco for everything you've done for this club. Best of luck for the future, and I hope that we'll see you on the touchline for Watford again!

 

I didn't scratch my eyes...

 

Gianfranco, your very first game at Crystal Palace summed up your tenure at Watford for me - the frustration of losing 2-1 with minutes to go to the elation of an injury time winner with a finish worthy of yourself.

And so the 'Zolacoaster' emotional ride from high to low to high again was born, along with the changing of our playing style reputation to associate Watford FC with exciting, counterattacking and high scoring football. That, in itself, is a remarkable feat.

A man of honour, an increasingly uncommon quality in professional football today, I thank you for the adrenaline rush ride, and am only sorry it was all over so soon.

 

"ZOLACOASTER" ​

Sums your tenure up, it certainly had its ups and downs, unfortunately it seems to have derailed, but thanks for the ride GFZ :sign15:

 

I really like Mr Zola and I echo some of the comments, but I struggle with this sort of thing - I find it awkward and cringeworthy.

 

Gianfranco Zola. For me you will be remembered for the 2012/13 season in which you took a team of multi-nationals, many of whom didn't speak English and brought a brand of exhilarating football at Watford Football Club. You guided the club to a memorable Play-off semi against Leicester and unfortunately we fell at the final hurdle. Highlights for me included the Brighton game which I believe really put Watford FC on the map as an entertaining footballing side. Nottingham Forest away, where we firmly put a promotion contender (or pretender) to the sword. There were some negatives early in the season but to see this rag-tag group of players to form one of the most deadly in the football league is credit to yourself and your coaching team.

As a person, I have the utmost respect for you. Considering what you have achieved in your footballing career you epitomise humility and a lot of professional footballers can learn a lot from that.

I wish you every success in the future and I hope you look back on this family club with fondness rather than the last few games of your tenure.

 

Troy Deeney has written that Zola is easily the nicest man in football. The sincerity of this comment could have been neatly underlined had Troy managed to break into a sweat over the first quarter of the season.

 

Normally I would agree with you, but how else does an ordinary fan show their appreciation to someone who has made such a difference to our club and given us extreme emotional highs?

Don't know when we'll see him back at the Vic, so I'm just grateful there is a forum to show my appreciation to the man.

 

You did us proud last season. I was proud to have you as our coach. Thank you for the game of my life, the Leicester game.

Best of luck to you in the future whatever it holds.

 

Last season was my favourite season of football, I have ever experienced. I will never forget that season, as long as I live. And I will never forget the man who made it all possible. So thank you, Almen Abdi.

All joking aside, to throw a load of players together, and play the best football this club has ever played in such a short period of time, was a minor miracle. Zola, you did us proud. A gent, a legend and most importantly, an ambassador.

Please come back one day, as the reception will tell you everything about the legacy you have left.

Cheers Zola, and we wholeheartedly wish you all the best for the future.

 

Nope.

 

Your only mistake was to resign. Thankyou.

 

So long GZ & thanks for nearly getting us promoted.

 

Thanks for last season, and I'm glad the members on here voted against a flag made up of you, as now it would have been wasted cash.