Valerien Ismael - Manager

It was an obvious Gino pick and the Athletic confirm it, I’m glad for once that you agree that’s obvious.

 

Wants a "hard working mentality on the pitch" apparently.

Not sure how he gets that with this bunch of losers, who know our mad man owner will give him the boot in 3 months.

 

Don’t worry! Because apparently we’re replacing the whole team (on virtually no budget) with exactly the right players for him. Because of course that’s both likely, and conducive to success.

 

He thanks Gino but no mention of Manga...

[Throws grenade and jumps back into the trench]

 

“First of all, I want to say thank you to Gino Pozzo and the board for the last few days and the trust he has given me,”

Devastating stuff for the “BuT He’S MaNgA’s ApPoInTmEnT” gang.

 

If Ismael wants to consider making something great at Watford, maybe he could start off by not accepting the job

 

Yes, I picked up on that. He actually said “Gino and the board” who are a little known pop group in Germany, but one of his favourites. They played their big hit “sack me in the morning” as he entered his office to make him feel welcome.

 

I’m not sure I understand the debate about who chose the new manager.

Surely Manga’s job was to compile a short-list of candidates? He then takes this to Pozzo, who after all does own the club and is perfectly entitled to have the final say. Together they looked at the short-list and plumped for Ismael.

So yes while maybe Pozzo as owner made the final decision, he was picking from a list of names all selected by Manga, so in effect both were responsible for the selection.

 

The subtext of the AL article is obvious, he has an axe to grind with Pozzo and wants to play up the ‘Manga is the new patsy’ narrative

He’s probably not wrong tbh

 

"You're not top ten, it's P45 time again..."

 

But it’s the same as what happened with Hodgson and Edwards at the very least, before Manga was even here, it was just Duxbury coming up with the names instead. At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter, Gino has the final say, and Gino pulls the plug when he wants to as well. Everything else is just noise. If a manager is more someone else’s suggestion, all it means is Gino will pull the trigger faster, that’s the only real difference.

 

Yes, this is exactly how I believe it worked. Manga's job was to fish out a list of head coaches who he felt would suit us and who he could work with. Then it went to the top for a discussion and Ismael was chosen. Where VI was on the list is up for debate, but the fact Manga selected him as a viable choice I would say he would be happy with the appointment. From the profile, you can clearly see, it's someone Manga would have selected on his list. Had we appointed someone like Scott Parker or Claude Puel that would have said, to me, SD or Gino making their own choice regardless of Manga.

 

After watching the Eurovision SF's this week, I think these guys would stand a chance of winning the entire competition.

 

Having another normal one today, I see

 

Gino has the final say because he owns the club. Totally normal.

I don’t like that, you probably don’t like that. But that’s how it is.

That’s why we will remain stuck in this endless cycle, and there’s little to look forward to really.

Manga will find players capable of fitting Ismael’s dark ages style of play but I’m sure as paymaster-in-chief the signings will have to be approved by our owner too.

Things won’t change until there is a change.

 

Yes of course but don't spoil the fun. A few posters want to fume about how Gino has gone out on his own and plucked this manager from out of the blue and forced him upon poor old reluctant Manga. AL said Pozzo had "final vote" so clearly Manga just has no input and just has to accept whoever Gino appoints .

 

That’s not really the point is it? If Manga wanted a specific manager and Gino didn’t agree, what do you think would happen?

 

It would be quite intimidating with Gino speaking Italian, Mogi speaking French and Duxbury speaking Gibberish.

 

Yup, alleviates some of my worries a bit (can't say I remember watching his West Brom team and deffo haven't watched any of Besiktas or LASK when he was there)

You are correct (above is across the whole season) so was a key part of our overall style (if you can call it style...)

 

Gino will always have the final approval but given Manga has selected the shortlist and run the process I'd assume he would get his man unless there were major concerns eg prior issues with a candidate Manga wasn't aware of. Otherwise Manga could just appoint his mum .

 

The Everton performance at Brighton shows what a fully committed team can achieve. Won't work every time but it was impressive. High workrate and no issues with going long .

 

I wish him all the very best, I really do.

Genuinely hope he can get his message across to the players, and that the football will speak for itself.

But it’s waaay too early to read what he has to say to the fans.

 

Sarcasm?

 

So Gino has the final say on the new manager. I'm not what people expected to happen? He owns the club! Isn't it normal practice for your boss to sign things off. This is just a nothing bit of news on something that happens every day in businesses all over the world

 

Well, if media reports are correct, Ismael was the forth choice of the Watford board.
I do not buy into the idea that a manager with his record was targeted.
Ths feels like a panic appointment? Why could the board not have waited?
He must be going into this job full of confidence and counting himself lucky to be coaching a club again.
The overwhelming feeling is that this is a very disappointing appointment.

 

Do you ever take a day off?

 

Presumably only if his boss signs off on it.

 

Not sure he was forth choice, but probably wasn't number one. Looks like there may have been one or two ahead of him initially, but were unavailable to us for whatever reason. Ismael was the first choice of available options it seems, which is just fine.

The thing that struck me the most was the profile of the names put forward by The Athletic. The head coaches were all similar in the way they set up their teams and the style they play. This is encouraging as it's a clear direction we are now taking with some logic and intelligence behind it. They were looking at coaches with similar characteristics. If we're to go "all in" with recruiting players for this system, then it's good to know it doesn't all come undone if Ismael doesn't work out.

 

Tell me which part you don't like or don't agree with. I will point out again that I don't like the way the club is run but this just seems like a load of nothing

 

Do you have links to these reports?

 

Just quickly read the interview with VI. Says we will stick with being a possession based team. Bit of a surprise?

 

Yes, it’s a surprise to me, after watching us all season, that’s what we were.