I think if you block everyone that disagrees with your particular viewpoint the forum will just be you talking to yourself.
The thing about Pozzo Out, is that as the team has deteriorated and results have followed, the pass that the owner and executives were given has been revoked by an increasing number of supporters. If we're all entirely honest about the past decade, we parked a whole series of misgivings along the way – some major, some minor – because the general trend was upwards and because the game as a whole had changed. The club did some very good, and welcome, things – they improved the ground, they named the stands after two of the club's legends, they honoured Graham Taylor's achievements, they created a promotion-winning team and kept the club in the Premier Division without so much as a matchday spent in the bottom three. We enjoyed watching some fantastic players, and had some great days. Deep down – or perhaps not even that deep down – I knew it couldn't last for ever, so I chose to enjoy it while it lasted and hoped that the future wasn't being compromised in the process. But there were red flags, and we all chose to ignore them to a greater or lesser extent. For my part, I let them go because I was enjoying the ride and because I couldn't personally do anything about them other than withdraw my support, which would have been preposterous at the time. The faked bank letter, the failure of the owner to communicate any plan to supporters, the managerial circus, the obvious desire to create a series of expensive 'matchday experiences' that were entirely reliant on the team staying in the Premier League, the PR missteps before and after the cup final, the failure to invest in crucial areas of the first team while the player-trading model meant people came and went without pulling on the shirt, Mogi Bayat being placed under multiple investigations, the Kamara transfer (which we probably ignored because it was an absolutely astonishing bit of business)... The list goes on but we know all this. We defended the club against attacks from rival supporters. We all rallied against Martin Samuel, who suggested we were everything that was wrong with English football, because this was our club. We didn't question the mistakes and the waste – Oularé, Ibarbo, Diamanti being three of the early ones in the Premier League but there are many, many more – anything like as closely as we would now because the results on the pitch compensated. Largely that was because we came to expect so many signings that some of them would turn out to be decent. But we didn't ask what on earth the transfer deals concerning Juanfran, Sven Kums or Filip Stuparevic were all about. Or about the countless other players who were traded in and out without getting within a country mile of the first team. And why should we have when the first team was doing well? The people in charge – well, Duxbury, primarily – admitted mistakes in hindsight in the way a politician does when they're seeking to move people's attention on. Lessons have been learned, we're told on a rolling basis, as the club reaches for the reset button while behind the scenes nothing fundamental changes. For a while now, I have not recognised the club I support. Not because the results and performances have been bad, but because I can no longer see what it stands for. Or rather, I can. It strikes me the club exists to enrich a small number of people. Admittedly, much of the English game exists for that purpose these days. The club's stated aim is to become debt free by the end of the season but there's a crucial follow up question to that. Why? Racking up mountains of debt didn't seem to bother them for years, why is it so important to pay down the external debt now? We can speculate on that – and my own guess is that the lower the external debt the larger the amount Pozzo will get when he does eventually sell. Whatever the reason, the debt is being clawed back by halting investment in the team. In the past we'd get two Ranegies for every Capoue. Now we just get the Ranegies. Meanwhile, Bayat remains mystifyingly close to the heart of things – an example if ever there was one that the club does not stand for enough of the good values we'd like to think it stands for. Innocent until proven guilty, I guess, but I'd have thought after the second investigation was launched the club would've thought 'hang on a minute'. But, of course, we have very little idea of the extent of Bayat's role or where all the money has gone over the years. Who has profited and why – after pulling the lever on the Premier League's riches year after year – have they still found themselves a hundred million down? What next? Well, the goodwill has run out. The excuses, the resets, the apologies for mistakes made in hindsight but the lack of self-awareness to realise that we, the supporters, can see mistakes being made in real time too, means that we're stuck in the gurgler until there is a fundamental change. Football is low-hanging fruit for fantasists, dreams and incompetents – if not the downright malevolent. We're only one wrong turn away from finding ourselves in the position that Wigan and Reading are in now – a road that the likes of Portsmouth, Bolton, Birmingham and many others have journeyed down. And so I understand the urge for caution. 'Careful what you wish for' is, on the face of it, an understandable sentiment. But the alternative is worse. An owner who has barely lifted his appreciation for the supporters above grudging acknowledgment that we are part of the picture at all. A business model that looks grubby, greedy and, not to put too fine a point on it, trading people for huge sums of money and chiseling bits off each deal here and there for the various interested parties – much of which has only a passing benefit to Watford Football Club itself. Naming the stands after Elton and GT, the GT statue itself, have come to look – to me at any rate – like handy deflector shields. Publicly they stand for this, behind the scenes we do that. I've hesitated to post all this today, for a number of reasons, not least because it's only repeating the sentiment expressed by many others but at greater length. The international break is always a barren fortnight where discontent bubbles away too. But what are we now? What would three wins out of five change? Does it really matter if they stick with Ismael or not? Because the very purpose of the club is no longer to put the best team on the pitch, to provide a team and an ethos we can all unite behind, because the trust has gone, the lines of communication are not clear and transparent, they are grudging and fudging. That's not the club I fell in love with and even in its worst previous eras (Petchey, begging buckets to save the ground, Bassini) there was something to unite behind.
Andrew French has been seduced by Gino and his friends. Once a voice of reason, but now the lakey of Pozzo
I’d respectfully disagree. He’s simply reported what the club has said and done, which is the foundation stone of any further commentary.
Hasn't he just maintained the same role, in reporting what is said and done? When the club tells lies, he reports lies. He's there to convey information. We are all adults. We can decide what we do with that info.
And he was quite critical of the club generally at takes in personal articles but obviously he has to be a bit careful so he can keep his job .
I disagree with many people on here, including your good self! It's how people debate the points that decides whether i block them or not
What would Pozzo's preferred lakey be? Lakey Como? Or is he settled enough here to choose Lakey Windermere?
Perfectly put. Some people on this forum were way ahead of the curve with the red flags and pretty much predicted the slow motion train wreck coming, even when things were still on the face of it going well. But it was very much a minority view and most people either had little interest in anything beyond what was happening on the pitch, or tried to cow those people by calling them negative or alarmist. It's very hard to run any organisation successfully if you're always in crisis mode. All the energy spent fighting court cases, pushing rules and finances to the limit, constant changes to key personnel, trying to avoid scrutiny take their toll. There's an opportunity cost and that's actually getting on with running the club with a long term, sensible strategy and making it stand for something. Pozzo's arrogance shone through at the fans' event, I'm utterly bemused by anyone that thought he spoke well. He's not at all a natural communicator, doesn't have a scintilla of charm or humour to take his audience with him or paint any kind of vision. But he does have a steely resolve and certainty that he's doing the right thing. Which he may well be, for him. Sometimes (perhaps often) his interests will overlap with what's best for the club. But when they don't, he'll be looking out for number one and won't give a second thought to Watford. You are right, some people will have done very, very well out of the Pozzo years, none more so than the man at the top.
Ha ha! He’s never met me or talked to me! I’m far from perfect but I’m also not to blame for reporting stories and comments people don’t like.
@AFWO Any chance you can print this in full in the Watford Observer next week? It perfectly sums us the state of the the club, the disconnect and disillusionment of fans and the overall trashing of the club. Cheers
Brilliant post and I doubt many disagree with much/anything written. Certainly struck a chord with me. I would point out that they have had no choice but to pay back the debt or at least the bulk of it. The loans have been secured against future TV income which will plummet and so the debt facilities would be significantly cut. Also if you have external debt of £50m and are unlikely to be generating cash through profitable operating, the only way to pay off that debt is through asset sales. This was the summer we had to sell Pedro and Sarr and so our only opportunity for ever paying back those debts and avoiding administration. I therefore think that debt reduction and squad weakening was unavoidable although there must have been better cheap/free signings and loans than we managed to achieve with our burgeoning recruitment team !
Yes, that's a very good point. The Premier League tap is being turned off. Having said that – to the best of my knowledge the club haven't actually explained that themselves have they? My memory of the Pozzo-Duxbury event was that they were pitching the debt reduction as a positive thing, an example of their responsible husbandry. One other thought that raised a weak smile last night... At least we've finally found out what would happen 'once all the Udinese loans go back'. So there's that...!
@EnjoytheGame As others have already said, a wonderfully written and very well argued post. Thank you! In my humble opinion it’s high time all reasonably minded supporters come together to strongly voice our growing objections to the current ownership. However, there still seems to be too much internal bickering for that to properly happen. Surely we’ve now passed the time for arguments over who realised it first or last? It shouldn’t matter when you first started having misgivings about Pozzo, it’s not a competition with badges of honour handed out for people who’ve been right more often than wrong. It’s way more serious than that. What matters now is everybody who dislikes the ownership, whether that was ten years ago or ten minutes ago, to unite as one and start voicing a combined protest. It probably won’t get far, but I’m sure it will get less far if it’s not a united opposition. I’m tired of reading bickering, arguments and who is blocking who etc. We have to stand as one voice here.
Quite . I presume clubs like West Ham , Newcastle and Man U plus clubs our size have large numbers of organised fans groups leading the way rather than a few banners at the games? Do we even have one and do they marry with the majority view or more worried about flasks being banned and dodgy catering (which is important but not the main issue )
Even investors get put off when they realise the thing they're looking to invest in is run by someone who has no real idea what they're doing. Investors don't mind a bit of risk but Pozzo is probably a stretch for most
Yes they don’t “explain” much do they, and they certainly put a positive spin on it and went OTT by claiming they would be “debt free”, which isn’t likely or necessary. Having said that, I had been concerned that they would make a “death or glory” attempt to get back to the prem and put the future of the club at risk. I'm glad they seem to have accepted that would be foolish given they don’t have the funds any longer to survive at that level long term.
True, though potential investors can also be put off by a mutinous fan base who they worry might give them stick in the future !!
The original poster knows me well enough! If he wants it submitted as a letter, I’m sure he will. I/WO will always run a letter/email (unless it’s offensive!) because we’re there to reflect and share all opinions.
A F W O n...r...a...b d...e...t....s r....n...f...e e....c...o...r w...h..r...v ...........d..e ...............r Just a guess?
