If There Was A Protest Against The Owner….

It is depressing though, particularly not ever scoring.

On the way home with my mates on Saturday, none of us wanted to talk about the game, and the conversation meandered towards a long debate on euthanasia. Which was far less depressing.

 

Or get the likes of Ucko to state that he doesn’t care about relegation or the team’s performances for the rest of the season and it’s just a social occasion for him and his fellow Stone Island clad ‘squad’. Maybe they can get in another spot of abusing fellow fans on the train if they don’t join in a fake podcast.

Protest? Can you do it online only?

 

My favourite line this weekend was his tweet where he said he was ‘just tired of it’ and can’t remember the last time he was excited for a game. Despite tweeting out his excitement for every game this season about 72hrs before kick-off and every day in between.

Fair play to him spending all that money on going to all the games etc, I’ll never knock him or anyone like him for that. But it does all somewhat indirectly support what Gino is doing right now.

 

That's not really quite true. Those who know me would be quite surprised to hear I don't get overly upset by a defeat/relegation. I just give myself options. I knew exactly what sort of game Saturday would be and decided to do something else with my day. Over the years I've been many 'types' of fan. There's been times when I've been a home and away 40 out of 46 league games type and others when I've chosen to stay away or pick and choose games. Currently it's the latter, but that's not solely because of the football.

I think for any protest to have legs there has to be a clear message or objective not a vague 'down with this sort of thing' type one. So, to get the discussion back on track, what precisely would the protest be?

If walking out of a home game against relegation rivals with half an hour to go and heading back to the pub isn't a protest, what is? Or is that you want a demonstrative, vocal expression of dissatisfaction. If you're convinced of the strength and validity of your message, what's stopping you?

These are not purely provocative questions, I'm genuinely curious. There seems to be some strong feelings here at least so I'm puzzled why it's the fault of those who don't want to join in that no one is protesting. Nothing's stopping you organising something for the next home game.

 

This is actually such a good idea there's no way it would ever happen.

 

So be fair I’ve seen him raise quite a few questions about the club recently before getting bashed down by Pozzo ultras and on one occasion a Foster enthusiast!

 

Problem is if I don’t go to any game for rest of season but then still renew for next year I’m not sure what difference that makes. Cash flow is the same for club. And I’m a good person so I’ll put tickets up for resale so others have chance to go who might want to, so club might even benefit from my discontent!

To answer your question my specific frustrations are using the squad as a player trading vessel with little strategy in terms of building an actual balanced team while simultaneously harming our balance sheet by running up significant debt. I feel like we have no vision, no strategy and no long term plan. Just a trading post for player churning and blaming the manager when that strategy doesn’t deliver a
team. The lack of communication I find irritating but I can live with that.

 

good point although you might struggle to get takers for tickets at the moment? I don’t know.

 

Is there still a Watford Supporter's Trust? Don't they have a view on external debt secured against the stadium?

 

Alan Shearer's latest column for The Athletic came out yesterday, and it was on the subject of Manchester United and what the club has become. Given that it's written by a legendary former player who spent a long career at the heart of dressing rooms, obviously his insight carries some weight, and I was fascinated reading it because it seemed to me like so much of was both applicable to and informative of the situation at our own club. I will put the article itself in The Safe, but here's a taste to give you an idea of why it resonated so much:

 

I can hardly be bothered to show up at games these days. Attending a non-match day seems even more depressing.

The club gave me some of the excitement that I hadn't felt for many years as a fan, but has now left me feeling less excited and disconnected with the team than I felt before the take over.

I guess part of that is from experiencing the highs of seeing the club do well, so my expectations are higher. But predominantly because I can see the model is no longer working. The club for years refused to buy quality or train and blood younger players, instead opting for tens of 5-10million punts and older players who hit our wage bill then leave. Now we have a load of 30ish year olds who don't have the stamina to last the match/ sharpness to win 50-50s, no strength in depth, no creativity and no strong core.

Roy might eventually make us tight enough and get our set pieces/ counter attacks humming; he did the same with Palace. But I don't think we have the heart to survive a relegation battle, and I'm not sure we've had a good second half of a PL season since the Pozzos took over, so I'm not waiting with baited breath.

 

I'm looking forward to the Interim Derby on 26th Feb. Got my tickets.

 

This is the thing for me. The protest needs to have a clear message / aim and I'm not sure what that would be.

Maybe asking for stability, continuity, a clear plan and better communication or f-ck off? It's not exactly a clear demand.

 

I have noticed a real parallel between us and United for a while:

No long term planning in their transfer strategy, whilst bringing in players with clear physical, technical and/or mental weaknesses. Switching managers with no continuation of style. No fixing of key positions where there are obvious weakness, whilst money gets splashed on positions they don't need. No heart/ robustness. Aging players randomly given long contracts. Large squad without much talent off the bench. Uninspirational managers.

 

They ‘raised concerns’ a year or so ago apparently. I don’t know whether that was with each other, a drunken rant in the pub or via email.

I assume if it doesn’t come with a laminated certificate, they aren’t that fussed.

 

A small matter of living in a totally different country for most of the year is a relatively big hurdle in my defence.

 

I've seen the some fans described as meek and mild and basically not up for the fight. I'm not up for a protest but it appears that some on here are so why not get things moving. These things often start small and gain traction as they move forward and even amongst the few on here there seems to be enough to get the ball rolling. I'm not saying this as a mickey take, if people feel it's the right way to go then carry on, it's just not for me

 

I think the tennis ball idea is great, as long as it's backed up with a clear narrative.

 

I think you start with a demand that the owner speaks and answers very clearly the questions the fans have. Obviously he wouldn’t be open to an open forum taking question after question etc. That’s just not who he is and it’s unrealistic.

But I don’t seen any reason why fans couldn’t unify and come up with say 5 key questions that we want detailed and truthful answers to.

And we then take stock of the answers and decide whether they warrant more trust or whether there’s scope to further question the direction of the club.

 

This is the most pertinent part, I think, when it comes to us:



Hardly shocking, but hugely confirmatory.

 

This is a great post. After the semi-final we were making our way back to the pub in West Hampstead where we had had lunch when we were stopped in the street by a complete stranger who had spotted our scarves and enthused over what a great game it had been and congratulated us on the win. It was just part of what made it a great day and one that I wouldn’t swap in a million years for finishing 7th.

 

Problem is my major beef is with the finances and if they look as bad as a suspect after latest round of loans I’ll be jumping up and down. Will be years till that washes out though in public domain. Next set will be the post championship season I think (which presumably will be grim reading as well). The team being garbage I can handle, even if I can’t stand the model.

 

The point is, we don't know & some are concerned neither does the hierarchy.

 

In fairness, no matter what people do I suspect you get to see the finances until they have to be reported

 

That's a good idea. What are the questions on the short list for the final five?

 

Do we need to get a ghost writer for the tennis ball?

 

If potentially spookily apposite.

 

Okay, I'll bite.

What is the strategy?
What is the plan?
How is it clear?

 

I’d propose:

1) What is the current level of external debt and ato what extent are we projected to finance it (including player sales) if we are relegated and do not bounce back.
2) On what basis do we feel comfortable in continuing to provide so big a proportion of our transfers to an agent who is accused of financial misdealings.
3) What is the current plan for squad development because it seems at odds to that communicated by the CEO last summer.

 

2 and 3 are good, but I don't think the club would discuss the first. We'll sell Sarr, Dennis and possibly others, so they wouldn't want to broadcast the finances if they are bad and risk getting low fees.

 

Thank You for this conversation and all the opinions. As someone said earlier: We are all rigth and entitled to our opinion.

I have attached here a leaflet which was given to me; and others; during a match versus Norwich back in October 1990. It was a Colin Lee era. If You read the paper and change only a handfull of words, You might be able to hand it again to fellow supporters during one of the next games. But then again; we are in much better situation on and of the pitch nowadays.

Many words have been said, but what are my points? Supporting a football club should in my opinion be a positive experience. Even though I feel sad etc. if we lose or play badly, I still try to see positives. And yes it has been hard during this season. Supporting from abroad is nearly as painful as attending a match when things go against You. But I try not to spoil my weekend if we lose. And I will still be there beside the tv, or radio, or internet when the next match begins.

I am happy to be in the premiership, but I would also be happy to attend a match in the lower leagues as I have done. For me the most disappointing thing is, that I believed that this team would have been good enough to fight for the 17th place or even better. I believed that Ranieri was strong enough to give us new direction; and he gave us some hope which then faded away. Hodgson. He has done it before. He could still make it, but not many of us believe it anymore. There are still games and points to be won. If only they could at least show some spirit and fight.

So I wouldn`t be taking part in a protest against these owners, because I believe that they have achieved more than I would have been able to imgine. But I would still like to hear their plans for the future. They have tried to come closer though, as was shown with the naming of the stand. But something is missing.

They are not mega rich; it is fine for me. And they don`t need to be, to try and give us some stability with a manager who could try to build this club so that the fans can be proud.

 

Wow that flyer is shocking. I thought young people today were swayed by social media grammar but there's no excuse for that horrifically written piece.

 

Sounds disturbingly like anti vaxxers branding others as sheep.

 

Not sheep, but unquestioning perhaps. The problem is the only way I’ll be proved right is if we either get caught up in a Mogi corruption scandal or our finances go completely to pot. The football aspect is what it is, much as it’s a bit miserable right now.

Neither of those scenarios would be a win for me so hopefully I am proved wrong.

 

Happy to question, but to what end? To argue that Pozzo doesn't have the best interest of Watford FC at heart is frankly bizarre. You might question the trading model but the ongoing success of both WFC and Udinese is fundamental to the plan. The Pozzos obviously believe that the model they have is the only way teams such as these can survive at the top level with finite resources.

Massive mistakes have been made, but to suggest that intentions are not good is absurd. Yes, we might attract different owners with ostensibly deeper pockets, but be careful what you wish for. We could end up with the Venkys. I hope that they turn it around and tweak the model for future seasons but if not, it is not really reasonable to expect a club the size of Watford to be a premier League permanence, and we will doubtless see Brentford and their like lasting a couple of seasons at best.