Having seen Deeney's interview, perhaps we are starting to see more facts coming out. If it is true about Deeney holding the club to ransom and thereatening to injure his team and the club pandering to his every wish, I think we perhaps have the nub of the problem. From his interview, it is clear that player power has been rife, and needs to be sorted out once and for all if the club is to move forward. Gino and the whole management team should have been so much stronger with him and shown him the door. Fans would have hated it, but the club then and now would have been so much stronger for it. Clearly he wasn't the only one benefiting, but he was the leader of the pack. To think that they are even contemplating a return in any capacity shows incredible weakness. I can live with the finances, I just want to see a team on the pitch that gives a dam, week in week out. I am not sure that Gino has a clear way forward.
To my mind, the management structure has been wrong since the Pozzos took over. You have a crazy system which may work in Italy where the Manager/Head Coach (title depending how they feel at the time) is not responsible for recruitment/ discipline, fitness (mental or physical) / contract (extensions), training (tracked by remote analysts) travel, strategy etc. but merely `calling the daily register` and possibly team selection. Is it seriously any wonder that a good number of previously successful Coaches/Managers wallow in our system. If Gino (or whoever is really in charge) spent a little more time in designing a workable management structure, it would save fortunes being paid to `gagged ex Coaches` and much heartache to us poor demented fans.
I really don’t enjoy how literally people take things and then run with it. Is it true that Deeney at one point probably held more sway at Watford than his ability warranted? Yeah, sure. Is it true Deeney said he’d injure every team mate in training and then Gino / Scott took it seriously and then so scared by the threat they pandered to his every request? Let’s be realistic, Troy probably laughed and said it in jest for starters, secondly a previous offender admitting to planned pre meditated ABH on a call would not be clever, thirdly, do you really think a dressing room would let that slide? So yes, Deeney was a problem but he was a problem when he was good, the real issue is his ability declined whilst his ego remained the same (steadily grew), simple.
Plenty of clubs thrive with a similar managerial structure. The best manager isn’t always going to be the best talent spotter etc., so it makes sense to employ specialists who reflect a long term strategy. The problem is that when your system is devolved, you need quality people in each of those positions, whilst our owners hire cronies/ cheapos. And our South American scouting system and Spanish feeder club, which were genuine competitive advantages have now been overtaken and sold. Our own youth players don’t get minutes, as we have so many cheap mercenaries which will be sold at the end of the season. All the rot comes from an incoherent and outdated strategy and poor implementation. And the only person to blame is the person at the top.
I mean, there have been hoards of continental managers coming here completely unprepared for management in England because they weren't used to playing such a big role in recruitment, it's a fine system in theory, but obviously the recruitment would ideally be good and not just currying favour with dodgy agents and I think it's fair to say the manager should have some say in what type of player comes in to play under them. Our problem is we just don't think the manager is important, and never really have under the Pozzos
Our South American scouting system is surely still there? Our Spanish feeder club was indeed sold, but the Brexit work permit changes made it completely redundant anyway.
It is, but whereas in the past it produced a steady stream of talents, now it's more of a trickle, I'd say mostly down to the rise of data and other club groups (who of course are much more streamlined than us and Udinese)
It is, but we’re increasingly losing out on players we’ve been scouting (and would otherwise have signed) to other teams who are catching up with us. I also thought work permits were much more likely to be given if a player is playing regularly in a top league like la liga, but maybe that’s outdated.
It is true that in recent years other comparably sized clubs do seem to have improved their scouting networks and eroded some of our edge in that way, but when you look at signings like Asprilla and Hurtado we're clearly still managing to do something there. The system was discussed and outlined in this thread here: https://wfcforums.com/index.php?threads/work-permit-changes.57822/#post-2934308 The full up to date FA document on points can be read here: https://www.thefa.com/football-rules-governance/policies/player-registration/points-based-system While you do only need 1 minute of football in a major league like La Liga to qualify, the rules still meant that players getting a decent number of minutes in any of the 'Band 3' leagues listed, which include the Argentinian and Brazilian leagues, would qualify without any problems. Youth players having their debut seasons in those leagues also typically qualified. Basically players from the Band 1 to Band 3 leagues are fairly easy; Band 4 they need an additional feature like an international appearance; anything below is difficult. But on a very significant additional point - pretty much any player who plays a youth international in a recognised fairly competitive international tournament is now able to get a work permit. With players like Cucho we might have first spotted them at some international youth tournament like U17 or U20 World Cup, CONMEBOL U20 South American Championship, or the Toulon Tournament etc - and whereas before these South American youth internationals would typically need to earn a European passport first before coming to the UK, now basically every player who appears in the major youth tournaments are fair game and can be immediately brought over. That removed a huge hurdle for signing youth players from outside the EU, which we were able to bridge by having Granada and which other clubs couldn't - now all FA clubs can do immediately what it took us 3-4 years to manage in bringing young players over from outside Europe. (As an aside, buying a South American youth player and then loaning them to La Liga 2 for a season or more could even turn them from being eligible immediately for a work permit, to ineligible if they don't play any youth or senior internationals during the season, as La Liga 2 appearances generally don't earn enough points on their own.) (As an extra aside - as is being discussed now in the transfer suggestions thread - FA clubs can now sign 2-4 clubs from absolutely anywhere even without a work permit. This could maybe give us a slight edge back as our wide scouting network could mean we can go to more obscure leagues than our competitors. But also increasingly the multi-club model able to deploy a wider scouting network is being used by other clubs than us as well)
