Football fans are notoriously fickle, I’m personally not buying into the revisionism and rewriting of history with him, no matter what a shambles of a club we’ve been while he was last here, his record at pretty much every other club shows he’s got a bit of an attitude problem, and he can be incredibly selfish on the pitch. Seems silly to suddenly pretend otherwise to me, but as I say, as football fans we’re an incredibly fickle bunch. But, on his day he’s genuinely Premier League level, and probably mid-table level at that. We’re only paying a fraction of his wages, and as it’s just for the remainder of this season there is absolutely nothing to lose, without him we aren’t going down and we aren’t going up. With him we aren’t going down, but we certainly have a much better chance of making top 6. All things considered it really is a no brainer, but equally, I also don’t quite get the need for the passage of time to have suddenly turned him into Mother Theresa either.
So much will depend on his attitude. If he comes here and sees this as a chance to get 10 goals in 18 games to get himself a decent move from Forest in the summer then great. He was always pretty selfish and that might make him even moreso, but hopefully it's win-win.
Personally I think too much is being made of his attitude problems. He’s not coming here to be a saboteur. He really likes Watford, so I don’t see he’d come in and deliberately burn bridges. The apparent fact he’s taking a 70% wage cut tells me how serious he is about playing football in an environment he’s happy in. It must mean a lot to him. He’s pushed for the move himself I’ve been told. So I just don’t see a bad egg coming into the building.
Is he taking a 70% wage cut? Surely Forest are subsidising the 70% and we’re covering 30%. Having a bad attitude doesn’t have to mean he’s coming here to sabotage us, he’s clearly got a bad attitude as evidenced at pretty much every club he’s ever been at and his national team, but a bad attitude can manifest itself in many different ways that don’t involve active sabotage of his club. He can be doing the business on then pitch whilst at the same time whilst also causing other issues that are attitude related. Just because he’s re-signed we don’t have to turn him into a saint, he’s still a great signing for a club on our position.
Well it can be glass half empty, but getting a mercurial player like Dennis you have to expect there will be issues somewhere along the line. If he was a perfect pro, then he’d be at Arsenal. I personally believe he wants to prove himself and start playing at a club he wants to be at. That’s huge because he’s going to be motivated to do well. Our dressing room is a lot stronger now so I don’t see it will be an issue. I believe in Val being strong enough to sort out any issues.
Yes I'm not disagreeing with any of this, I just hope that we all benefit from a potential single-minded approach to improve his options in the summer. How will he react to being subbed for tactical reasons, what if he's not deemed fit enough to start for a few games due to his injury problems this season ? What if he's asked to spend most of his time tracking back in tough away games ? He was truly outstanding, and at prem level, for half a season - hopefully that's what we see over the next 18 games or whenever he's fit enough to start. Maybe he'll do well enough to attract a bid from premier league Luton in the summer ? Hopefully VI really wants him here and hasn't just been told he's got him and he's got to play him !
Well to answer your what if’s……does it matter? He won’t unhinge us to such a degree we’ll be relegated so it doesn’t matter, as far as I’m concerned. He could get us to the playoffs, or he may sulk, and be dropped. So a potential massive uplift or has no impact.
Yes I agree, my point was simply we don’t have to pretend he hasn’t got attitude issues, but equally acknowledging he’s got attitude issues doesn’t also mean he’ll be coming here to actively sabotage the club. He might score a hat trick but then shout at the dinner lady because he finds a hair in his lunch, which we’d just have to accept as part of the package.
If you see relegation as the only possible downside this season. I hope the improved morale/togetherness/hard working ethic of the team continues as we are going to need that next season when funds will be further reduced and hope he contributes to that if he's that keen to return and play.
It was clear he wanted to come back last January as he was heavily linked and posted himself watching our games on Instagram, he wanted to come back in the summer but our coach rejected him out of hand and now he’s taking a 70% pay cut just to join us. He can’t do much more to prove he wants to be here. If he was the sort of player he’s being described as, he’d be sitting on his hefty wage happy to do nothing.
We'll almost certainly never know if Romano's right but there's no reason why a player can't give up part of their salary to push a move through.
If you want to be successful, you have to have the odd mercurial talent in the mix. If he comes in and destroys the team spirit beyond all repair, then I would suggest the team spirit wasn't strong enough in the first place to be sustained anyway. I see this move as a very low risk and there is a lot of potential upside.
We sign a player a player who got a goal/assist every other game he played for us in the Premier League in what was otherwise a shocking team. He clearly enjoyed it here as shown by continually following our progress on social media. He apparently asked to come here! He has pace, something we are massively lacking. We got rid of Healy and replaced him with Dennis. Have we ever had a bigger upgrade than that. Has he got an attitude, it appears so but he just seemed to want to win and if he gets the hump every now and again and sulks a bit then so be it. I could not be happier with this signing as the positives far, far outweigh any negatives. If we could get two more signings through the door to improve the team than that's excellent and we are certainly giving ourselves a chance of the play offs. To prove how good a signing this is, even @NathWFC is positive about it!! @Goldenorn - Any news on any other signings?
The simple question is whether or not he is a better option that Healey. Whilst Healey may be a lovely fellow and well liked by his teammates, he was limited on the field. Dennis will cause panic for Championship defenders and we are likely to score more because he is on the pitch. I am not sure about this attitude problem, but if he does start acting Billy Big Bollox, I think Livermore, Hoedt and, most importantly, Val, will set him right. The scene and atmosphere in the club during his previous stint was poor, to say the least. Every signing has its risks, but this one, in my view, is more likely to work.
He's the sort of player who likes being a big fish in a small pond by the looks of it. When he went to Forest and Turkey he was just another player. Here he is our star player where he will get the attention he thrives on. It did sour towards the end but the club was incredibly toxic which it isn't as much now. If He finds the love again we can turn him into a monster.
Absolutely. The potential upside is huge vs the small risk. Would be great if he can help keep us in contention for the POs given we are one of 8 teams within 6 points of 6th place.
On the attitude issue that may or may not exist, but you never know it could be that Ismael is the manager that Dennis needs? Its not uncommon to find players with attitude who really respond to one manager. We know Val likes to sit players down and put them in their place and maybe that is what Dennis needs. It could even get the best out of him.
Yes, I assumed it would’ve been Forest subsidising his wages, but after I posted I searched back on Burnsy’s posts and can see they suggested it was a reduction rather than a subsidy. I appreciate it can happen, it’s just incredibly rare and also unlikely (how many of us would do it) so fair play to all involved, and especially to Dennis if he has taken such a cut.
Well Dennis will know his place if there is an issue with attitude or behaviour so has probably changed his ways and sure VI would have a say now too. Whereas before we had so many managers which meant the players could do what they liked without being controlled.
Bad man! Bad attitude! The squad morale will drop! That’s why it’s important to get rid of a player who doesn’t want to play for a team challenging for a playoff spot, and let him get his wish and sign for a struggling side down the bottom. Thanks Rhys. I liked your cameos, and I was hoping to see more from you. But you didn’t want to stay, and you think you could shine in a poorer side. (Big fish in a small pond). Good to find a player who doesn’t see himself in League One next season, who does want to be at Watford, and is willing to take a pay cut to get the move.
Yes I would be stunned if he has taken a cut rather than the balance being subsidised, but fair play to him if he genuinely has....whatever, the key thing is we are only paying 30% !
I think he would buy into VI's work ethic and I always felt he was more effective than Sarr. Also if he steps out of line, VI unlike previous managers, will have no reluctance to discipline him as he did with Louza.
The FTRE podders don't seem too pleased with this deal. Maybe they were kept out of the loop and are sulking over the fact that they didn't get their exclusive.
I didn't realise how many different fan podcasts Watford had until recently! Loads, and their mainly ****!
My favourite comment was one of them saying he feels ‘very protective of Val’ as if he’s a friend. The self-importance of these nobodies knows no bounds.
I understand a midfielder is also imminent and that a centre back (preferably left footed) is also on the agenda, I wouldn’t expect any more than this but if an opportunity comes to significantly improve the squad such as the Dennis one then I wouldn’t be surprised to see us take it. The club are clear that given current position a push for promotion is the goal. Parachute payments are no more next season and things become a lot tougher then
He was the best player to play for Forest in 20 years tho to be fair. No doubt the same for that no mark Turkish club too
Nail/head. FTRE boys have long had a weird sense of entitlement and appeared overly chummy with Leventhal, the club, whoever they've been able to get their claws into.
WD18 is rapidly heading that way too. If I wanted to be preached to about how I should feel, what I should think and ours is the only opinion that matters brigade, then I would probably listen more. It's like being asked to join the "I'm right, you're wrong" cult. If i wanted that I'd spend more time reading @hornetboy1 posts !!!!
