Transfer Window January 2022

Some great replies: “so what an untested kid went to Bournemouth. We have internationals at CB! Grow up people”

I mean, does this guy actually watch us play? He genuinely thinks our CBs are good? Amazing people out there.

 

Impossible is nothing to them. Maybe they can chuck out the ‘helped the NHS’ line that seemingly justifies a lack of strategy at all levels of the club.

 

I'd like to pick up on that point you're making. I think it's something a lot of fans probably think, so you're not alone in this. I've probably made similar statements in the past, but we've got to really look at this and ask why fans think like this.

Is it truly not working? Really? We've been in the Premier League for 6 of the past 7 years. When we did fall out, we bounced back at the first time of asking. These are really incredible achievements for a club of our size. We can never get away from the fact, the vast majority of our history was lower league. Not until Ken Furphy in the early 70's did we ever get to the second division, and that was for just one season. Our history only really began once Elton John and Graham Taylor arrived. They took us to the second division, then to the first. But once GT left, we fell back to the second division. We even dropped back down the the third tier, until GT returned for his second stint. That wasn't all that long ago. Left to our own devices, Watford are a lower end Championship/League One side. This is reality.

Now, I think it's probably fair to say because of all GT & EJ's efforts Watford are now a firm Championship club, even if we fell on hard times. I think most would consider Watford suitable to sit at this level and not below it. So that in itself is an elevation of status.

I believe the Pozzo's have taken us one step further. Under them, we have become what I would probably call a yo-yo club. We're now a very strong Championship club, who are currently operating in the Premier League.

So we've actually incrementally improved as a club. Unfortunately, for fans perception, the owner has become a victim of his own success. We not only got promoted, but the stayed in the top flight for 5 years. That said, I never felt we were established or comfortable at that level.

We are now as good as we can be, outside of being owned by a billionaire. That's the only way we can reach the next step permanently. It's all about who has the most money and without it, you have to trade in the shadows and between the cracks just to compete, but that's getting ever harder now.

Do I think the Pozzo's will make us an established EPL side? No, I've never felt they could achieve this. Without someone with serious wealth, it's just a pipedream. Sure we can play in it for a few seasons but we won't be a side who will never looking over its shoulder.

I think the Pozzo's make a lot of mistakes. There have been errors of judgement and obvious failings even a layman fan can predict well in advance, but we are a much stronger club now then we were before they came and this is what fans have to remember.

If we go down this season, and look hopeless in the Championship, struggling and saddled with big debt, then yes, maybe that is the point when it's time to start questioning whether they are a help or hinderance. But right now, it's not the time. They are fallible but overall very good for the club....warts 'n all.

 

Rookery Mike needs to grow some ****ing balls.

 

Trust the process.

 

I see some have tried to stand up to him a little bit today. Someone claimed that Burnley had strengthened and he responded:

‘Burnley have just swapped one big striker for another’.

It’s difficult to determine whether his ignorance is deliberate or not.

 

It’s always this type of post that completely misses the point.

Many people are completely sick of how the club are run and don’t equate league position to enjoyment of supporting Watford.

Can anybody say sitting 19th in the Premier League is actually enjoyable?

Better owners always get dragged down to “well who has more money” when in reality for many it’s no longer down to that, better owners = different, and if that means we return to being a Championship club on a long term basis then so be it.

We aren’t finishing mid table in the PL and getting to cup finals anymore, we’re scrabbling around at the bottom getting humiliated by Norwich and yet again on our third manager of the season. What exactly are people so desperate to hold onto at this point, when they keep asking, “but who would you suggest as owner?”.

It’s like persevering with a failed relationship because you got on in the past.

 

As mentioned earlier Mateo Musacchio. For the love of me I really can't quite fathom how this guy is still without a club. Ok he's not up to speed but when he is would walk into a lot of clubs in the Premier I believe, especially those around the bottom.

 

I get what you're saying. I'd even go as far as to say most of it is right.

But equally unlike his first 5 years I've no idea what Pozzo stands for anymore. What are we actually aiming for? We're not using our new found status to nab talent from lower down the pyramid, we're not building under a specific manager/head coach, we're not bringing through youth players, we're not replacing old players and we're definitely not seeing much enjoyable football. Promotion was great for the club last year but us as fans it was a non-event.

I also think if we wait to raise the alarm until the looking hopeless in the Championship while saddled with big debt moment, we'll be far too late.

 

It's the direction of travel that's the concern. If you're in an aeroplane and the engine cuts out, you can't continue to claim it's still working as intended because you are currently in the air.

 

Genuine question, do you actually enjoy watching Watford sitting 19th in the PL, on our third manager of the season having not kept a clean sheet for 30 PL games more than watching us as an average championship team?

I know you like to look at what we did 7 years ago as being as relevant as what is happening now, but I’m just asking you about the here and now present day Watford, not the Watford 5+ seasons ago.

 

Great analogy, unfortunately HB1 places as much importance on what Pozzo did 10 years ago as what they are doing now, and that having never been in the relegation zone for four seasons straight, spending the last two seasons entrenched in it is just nothing more than a coincidence.

 

Lol we used to genuinely believe the Pozzos had one of the best scouting networks in the world.

Now we would literally accept anyone who wouldn't look like a complete embarrassment on the pitch.

Sent from my moto g(8) power using Tapatalk

 

They did. And that’s not just hype. Plenty of those involved in the game have said it. But the rest of the world simply caught up and the move to everything being online finished it once and for all. Now we’re just part of the herd, with the possible exception of some half-decent links in South America.

 

I think it points out that a lot of us fans don't know what the landscape is really like.

Of course there are potential owners who could do a lot better but I am willing to bet there are more who would take us backwards.

But that's missing my point, I don't get why pragmatism is being looked down on. I am not going to call for a change unless I know the people coming in are better.

I'm not a cog, I do think we are on a downward trend and our current model has to change. But I am clearly more risk averse than the average poster and I'm terrified of another Bassini.

 

The inconvenient truth for the Pozzo fan club is that our average Championship attendance places us in and around the last play off spot, hence why pre-Pozzo we made it to the PL anyway roughly every decade.

As the owner of a Serie A club, the ability to borrow a few players we wouldn’t otherwise be able to is more than enough to elevate us to more of a yo-yo club who should get to the PL far more regularly than once a decade.

They definitely did overachieve for 4 seasons, but now they aren’t contributing anything to us you wouldn’t expect to get through borrowing 3/4 slightly better players, but at a significant downside cost in terms of how the club is run.

There is absolutely no benefit in our visits to the PL anymore, we don’t benefit financially or through enjoyment.

 

Will we go down this season? well probably yes is the answer, but we might not. No one knows just what impact Hodgson is going to have. It's easy to be pessimistic, but we're still a club punching above our weight, even in a struggling EPL season. We're in a league with some truly massive clubs. Probably the best league in the world.

Can the Pozzo's be better? Yes, they can and they were. As I said before, they are being judged by their previous success, but maybe that was an overreach. Maybe the financial climate is so tough they can do no more than to sign punts (no spelling mistake).

Are we attractive to alternative owners, who are a lot more wealthy than the Pozzo's? We have to be honest, we're not. The billionaire guys only want the really big clubs, or the sleeping giants. If we go down, we'll be no more attractive than QPR, Millwall, Stoke, Preston etc. What I mean is, we won't really be standing out as a good club to invest in because we don't have the large fanbase or history.

Until I see a viable alternative, then I'll always be backing the Pozzo's who I know are not perfect. They do a hell of a lot that I dislike, but they really are still our best bet for success.

 

Ah come on, where’s the correlation between attendances and on-field success?

 

I agree with your points. These are things they really have to do better. I would also add communication and some sort of mission statement would also go a long way. That's been long overdue.

Personally, I think running a Premier League football club is an overreach for the Pozzo's, but they are well within their comfort zone in the Championship. We witnessed it for ourselves. There is now a huge gulf between the EPL and EFL. The Pozzo's can still have a huge positive impact if/when we are in the Championship. I'd back them every time to get us out of it.

 

Do you even need to ask?

 

Well it’s what everyone constantly trumpets on here as to why we should be grateful, because look at Nottingham forest etc. and where they are. We’re apparently punching above our weight because we’re doing better then them, even though our average attendance and theirs in the championship is comparatively relatively negligible, especially when weighted against the fact we can lean on a top flight European club for players every season and they can’t.

 

Actually, we got promoted under Furphy in the 68-69 season and were relegated (under George Kirby) in the 71-72 season...so a total of 3 years in tier 2 until the 79-80 season under GT.

 

Like Wolverhampton Wanderers?

 

Not every owner is a Bassini so I really really don’t get the fear. There are far more better owners than bad. Do you panic every time you get behind the wheel because you once had a car crash? No.

Pragmatism isn’t being looked down upon. Because any new owner could bring in better working practices whilst remaining pragmatic. To me, signing Kim Min-Jae, Ahmedodzic, Manolas for combined fees far less than Okoye and Louza is pragmatic? How could signing good players in talent-deprived areas of the pitch for a smaller outlay be anything but more pragmatic than what we have done?

 

You realise this is you admitting that you will never call for a change, or indeed even express an opinion you actually seem to hold, given that you also admit there are potential owners who could do a lot better, purely out of fear?

There's no such thing as 'calling for a change' when you already know the people coming in are better - or, indeed, who the people coming in are at all - that's called 'watching a change be implemented having already taken place'.

 

To be fair, some supporters said the same when the dentist was here. The worm only really turned when he didn’t show up for the fans forum and GT destroyed him because of it.

Remember that GT agreed to work with him. This kept a good part of the fans onside who also said things like ‘we’d be bust if it wasn’t for him’.

I’m sure there were others who said that until a viable alternative appeared that we’re behind him.

Some fans can’t see beyond the end of their nose. It’ll never change. Spend £40m on a player yet still have no money and punching above our weight. It’s weird. Again, like with FTRE, not sure if it’s deliberate or not.

 

Yes but don’t forget, these fans will now say that they knew all about the Pozzos long before they took over. So much so that the Watford Supporters Club were vehemently against them taking the club over.

 

The fantastic thing is he is the one that the other FTRE blokes label as miserable. He’s their chief ‘BW’!!!

 

Yes....but I'm not sure why you've posted. Didn't understand the singling out.

 

It's quite funny reading the replies and seeing how he has to immediately row back in every one, protesting 'it was a genuine question' and then magnanimously conceding the points those replying to him have made - if you're going to put out a statement dripping with very clear and smug snark, that does, indeed, as one replier put it 'allude that fans aren't bright enough to judge for themselves and just want deadline day business', at least stand by and don't instantly pretend that's not what you were doing. Obviously, that mask slipping wouldn't serve the pod dynamics, though.

 

Come now HB1, we both know you're not that stupid.

 

That was me that made that reply to him….

 

They also defended Basini when some of us were calling him out as a car crash.

 

I've gone over to the COG side.

It's beautiful.

 

Amazing, I honestly did wonder for a second but dispelled it! I hope no one's scrubbing Twitter for similarities to things I've said on here

That guy arguing with you was an incredibly disingenuous bootlicker - hits every single COG checklist ten times over.