Watford Fc 1-0 Millwall - 24/04/2021 - Promoted To The Pl

He seemed pretty subdued straight after the game when being interviewed by Sky. Maybe he didn't feel part of it, as the form that got us promoted coincided with his absence from the side.

His ending comment was something along the lines of the Premier League will have it's big mouth back next season, so it looks like he thinks he's staying.

 

Had the same thought about Deeney. Very subdued on Sky, and seemed rather awkward and uncomfortable on the Hive Live after-show. Though certainly got a strong positive reaction from Xisco after the match.

Hard to know if it was that he felt distant from it, that he recognised how well we played after he moved on, how maybe there's no role for him, or just us over-interpreting.

 

Thanks for the info.

Whatever people on here may think of him, the fact is that he has served this club faithfully for a hell of a long time.

He's no longer a starter and rightly so, but I hope he gets some sort of testimonial or special send off from the club if this is to be his last season with us.

 

5.5 weeks earlier than in 1999.....

 

We got promotion today, but Bachmann will never come off his line to claim any ball. This will be punished massively in the Premier league.
Will be an interesting off season. It was either promotion or administration.
Who do we sign? Who will leave? Do we have a plan? Is Xisco allowed to manage in the Premier league?
Let's just enjoy the moment now and have a good summer.

 

Flim Flam - are we getting him on loan or signing him on a full 5-year contract?

Sorry, I'll get me coat.

 

Not sure what you've been watching, it's been very noticeable how he's started doing this. It's clearly something he's working on.

 

Focussing on himself as usual. My understanding is his contract ends on 1.7.21. He'll have been paid over £15 million for his 'work' over the last 5 years. Hopefully he will go quietly, it would be an act of extreme madness to keep him on in any capacity even as a mascot or pie seller. Of course he was subdued, the only reason we got promoted was because of his injury. My guess is that he made a rabble rousing speech before the Luton game that backfired spectacularly and as a result was less involved in dressing room 'motivation' after that. The idea of Troy telling people like Sarr, JP, Hughes, Nate, Clevs, Kiko, Sierralta etc how to win football matches is farcical. Maybe the club have finally realised that. It's amazing that we got promoted this season and after our descent into Deeneyball, a total miracle. It wouldve been so gutting to lose our great young players this summer. The Coventry player who injured Deeney basically made the club £150 million. Must be the first time our player of the season has been from a different club. Runner up for player of the season has to be Troost, in our darkest hour he facilitated the fightback with his excellent leadership skills essentially enabling the dressing to recalibrate and allowing our best players to flourish. He wasnt one of our best players but he was the one who had the cojones to put things right when we needed real leadership. With the squad we have we shouldve pissed the league but I fear we still have chronic unresolved institutional problems within the club. It was the players who got us promoted despite the failings of Gino Scott and Deeney. Gino and Scott have got very very lucky with this. If they respect the incredible team ethic and plethora of leaders that emerged in the absence of Deeney, and if they can buy into the passion, commitment and humility of the players to become better people themselves and develop this squad effectively we will go far. My fear is that it's not in their DNA. They could start with an unreserved apology to Luther for 'Luther missitgate' and naming the stadium the 'Luther blissett stadium' for one season to honour Watford's favorite son and also belatedly give Maps the send off he deserves. Surely its possible for Gino to take the club forward without trashing who we are!?

 

His contract doesn’t end this summer.

 

My understanding is that the treatment of Maps was cos they tried and failed to agree a new contract with him. You can tell a lot about a Watford fan based on their view of Maps. Do they support the old, established values and authenticity of the club or the new Gino/Scott/Deeney media manipulation and fake branding. Even sticking the knife into Luther Blissett. I can understand them having issues with people with integrity who are Watford through and through like Maps and Luther. Must be galling for Gino/Scott/Deeney to be reminded of everything they are not.

 

I agree that I'd be concerned about Kiko starting again in the PL next year given his problems last season, and he's starting to get on a bit, however he's linked up really well his Sarr this season going forwards. I'd be looking to replace him and move him to the bench, though it won't be easy to find a clear upgrade.

Masina as you're probably aware is someone I've slated a lot in the past, but I think he's actually improved hugely defensively this season. He still could offer a lot more in attack, but given we'll likely be under the cosh a fair bit next season I think he could actually help us stay solid. We'll need to sign another (perhaps more attacking) left-back alternative anyway as Lazaar isn't good enough to even be back-up, but I wouldn't be surprised if Masina starts next season and looks more comfortable.

 

I've slagged him off more than anyone else at the club, but I am delighted he'll have a final season/5 months in the Premier League with us. Deserves a send off, and could be a useful late sub Kevin Phillips style.

 

TBF to Deeney, of course he was going to be there and of course the media would head for him. He said in the interview that he felt awkward being interviewed given how little he’d been involved, paid glowing tribute to the manager, and said the most important beneficiaries were the day to day staff at the club, not the players as they come and go. He then named half a dozen of the office ladies. I thought it was a great interview.

 

I normally like what you have to say, but please use paragraph's as it would make reading your no doubt wonderful thoughts so much easier

 

So, if Deeney were to leave, am I correct in inferring that your future ire will be entirely focused on the club’s ownership?

 

I'd be the first to admit that my spelling, typesetting, punctuation and inexplicable font size changes are not my forte

 

A 'composed' jacket from TM?!

 

Clearly a reference to either the guitarist in the Police or the seminal tennis book by Gordon Forbes ' A Hanful of Summers'.

 

I can confirm it was Barolo.
I have a zoom meeting in forty five minutes and then two matches from midday,oh dear!
I have also removed my black laces and will replace them with some yellow ones.
I don't do so well when I drink really...

 

My head hurts

 

Post time: 1.48am

Someone had 1 too many babychams methinks.

Hope you feel better today soft lad.

 

Congratulations!

Always a massive deal bouncing straight back up, you don’t want to turn into another Derby or Forest....

Hope you get to celebrate with your fellow Hornets now restrictions have been eased. See you next season, assuming the mighty Leicester don’t break off and form their own international super league or something daft like that.

 

I'm sure I've read somewhere when he first started playing pro football he suffered panic attacks.

 

Fellow happyclappers are we happy?

 

Still kind of hoping you get the double once the FA dishes out points deductions to the traitors

 

Well, I'm pretty reluctant to be too hard on Gino given that he's given us 6 years of PL football and some amazing times. But if he's built a house of cards financially and if the stadium has been used as collateral for loans then I'd be pretty worried. This season Gino did an incredible job of lowering the wage bill and making the cash we needed to stay solvent while keeping Sarr. Although I guess ultimately it was the money from Udine for Del boy and Maxi that kept us afloat. What Gino was doing in terms of the management of the team up until the Coventry game I have no clue and I'm pretty sure he didnt either. I just hope that he values the new leadership structure and mentality that has evolved in the dressing room since Troy's injury and wants to nurture and reinforce it. I hope he understands what it's worth and how much the club can benefit from it, if its allowed to flourish.
I've regarded Scott with deep suspicion since the statement after the FA cup final. I think he views the club as a franchise and either doesnt understand the club's values or doesnt care what they are. I didn't believe him when he said he'd learned the lessons from our relegation earlier in the season and yesterday on hive live he proved it. He literally said 'we are an established premier league club' !!!!!!!!! Nothing could be further from the truth. We were relegated last time we were in the PL and will probably be fighting relegation next season. The really disturbing thing about this comment is that a) it totally misrepresents what we are as a club (we should be proud of what we are, not delusional like Everton and Newcastle fans) and b) for the 1st 4 seasons we were in the prem we believed our main job was to avoid relegation. We saw it as a battle and 4 times in a row we won that battle. Then in the 5th season Scott and the players seemed to think we were 'an established premier league club' and we just needed to turn up to be mid table.......with that mentality we got relegated.
Next season like over half the clubs in the PL we will be a few bad decisions away from relegation. Only the top 6 and Everton are really established and I'd say right now Leicester and a couple of others are safe next season but a series of bad decisions/not replacing top players who leave could put them in trouble in a couple years time.
We are 100% NOT an established premier league club and never will be. We used to be a lower league team, then pre Pozzo we became an established 2nd tier side. Now the best case scenario is an extended stay in the prem but we saw how quickly it can all fall apart last season.
What we are is: An underdog (and proud of it), A small town team that punches above its weight. A club that is relatively progressive on anti racism etc. A club whose supporters are people who like watching football live (we have one of the highest %s of fans who have been to games). A community club. A club who only 7 teams have been promoted more times than. A club who former players return to (one of the best features of the Pozzo era). A club who's fans are extremely non violent compared to most other clubs. A club who's fans have a tradition of peaceful mass pitch invasions and jumping in the local pond. And what we used to be was a club that can be honest with itself. I fear that is something that is slipping away.....

 

Apologies if this has been posted before, but for us older types, the season has mirrored that series of Dallas, when Bobby went into the shower, and Pamela Ewing dreamed everything. Were we really in the championship. My last game before lockdown was the thumping of Liverpool at the Vic. If Liverpool is the next home game, it will be as if we have all been asleep and woken up with nothing having changed

 

This may have been me - see post re my head hurting, below

 

I'm in a different time zone and had 1 beer, detective Certs.

 

It's actually the first promotion that I have seen in any form since the game against Hull in 78/79!

One bizarre benefit of Covid is that I have been able to see more Watford games this season than any time since 1984/85, which was my last season in the UK.

 

Not suggesting it was right at all.

But that Roy Moore bloke personally offered to pay for the clean-up and the council replied on Twitter saying they were very appreciative for the offer, understood the excitement and have had their contractors out and posted a picture of it clean and tidy (by the ponds standards) already this morning.