Anthony Joshua’s representatives hold talks over Watford investment By Adam Leventhal and Matt Slater 2h ago Financial experts working with two-time heavyweight champion boxer Anthony Joshua have held exploratory talks with Watford over an investment in the club, The Athletic can exclusively reveal. Although not directly involved in discussions himself Joshua, 34, was approached about the possibility of becoming involved in the Championship club and talks are said to have been at “entry level”. The proposal that was discussed is undisclosed at this stage, but it’s known that Watford have held discussions with other parties regarding a minority stake in the club. Watford value the club in the region of £150million to £175m ($191m to $223m). ‘AJ’ — as he is commonly known — has a net worth of approximately £150m to £200m ($191m to $254m) according to the 2024 Sunday Times Rich List, and strong connections to the club. He was born at Watford General Hospital next to the club’s Vicarage Road ground, grew up in North Watford on the Meriden Estate and went to school in nearby Kings Langley. “An investment business which has brought Anthony investment opportunities in the past was approached and held an entry level discussion about an opportunity with Watford Football Club,” a spokesperson for Joshua told The Athletic. “This was an initial chat without even a discussion over due diligence which so often kills these types of deal.” While the discussions are an indication that the club is actively seeking new investment, it appears Joshua’s focus — at this stage — remains on his current profession. EDIT: That's not the full article but I am not subscribing to the NY Times. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5529811/2024/05/30/anthony-joshua-watford-investment/
Would be pretty cool if AJ was involved with the club, but didn't think he was a Watford fan. I'm hoping he fights at the Vic one day!
Sure we have heard this before and there were 2/3 forums last season but on particular subjects. https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/24376461.watford-will-deliver-fan-engagement-plan/
Engagement sessions will be £1,000 a ticket. Those paying £5,000 get to sit on a chair, £10,000 gets you an additional instant coffee, £50,000 and Lloyd Doyley will pick you up from the nearest bus stop.
@Jumbolina I bet you're thinking long and hard about your decision not to give Pozzo any more money now
Someone has managed to get an interview with Scott Duxbury . https://x.com/thewatfordway/status/1826559868427276374
Going by the podders recent podz they've already had TDB and then the women's manager and captain. It's a new weekly Zoom call setup from the club where they get to ask a couple of questions each. Good soft-ball media practice for the lower profile squad and staff members but someone like Duxbury will bat any questions away with ease.
Is ‘thewatfordway’ some ITK journalist, every thread seems to have a link to some twitter post of theirs.
We all know that the "fans groups" and Podders are all in the clubs pockets. None of them ever dare question anything the club management do & in return they get the odd interview, their kids get to go to the junior hornet training sessions, drip fed inside crap, somehow all manage to get away seats at matches when there are restricted numbers and they make a little money out of it, through clicks and adverts. There will be the usual array of questions, does TC get involved in transfers, what do you think of the new sky deal and would you like to sit on my lap while I stroke your hair Scott. Its a complete waste of time to tick a box and to avoid having to face any scrutiny.
Saw this on the Derby forum . Does he kind of have a point in some of the rant? “Amusing to see they aren't happy with the owner. They had no complaints about him when the Pozzos were cancelling the contracts of valuable players at their Spanish club so that Watford could sign them for nothing to help them avoid FFP breaches whilst getting promoted at our (and others) expense, or filling their squad with so many loan players from Udinese to, again, avoid financial breaches whilst winning promotion that the rules were changed to prevent this very same dodge”
So that's something that brought us Penaranda and Isaac Success, and something that happened 11 years ago. Hot button, up-to-the-minute criticism that really gets to the heart of the issue. This, also, from the fan of a club whose owner spent wildly and irresponsibly in a desperate Groundhog Day attempt to get promoted (at our expense), including breaking their transfer record 4 times in his first 3 years, and then tried to get round it by selling their stadium to himself at a wildly inflated value, right?
Every club looks to exploit loopholes in the rules some have success and others don’t …. The worst culprits are the big clubs as not only do they exploit all other clubs they then ensure rules are amended to ensure the exploitation can continue ….. namely plucking any half decent youth player from other academies for peanuts. FFP to ensure teams with resources eg Newcastle cannot use their money to challenge them …. They don’t want a repeat of when Man City joined the elite group and knocked them off their perch. Although they are trying to get rid of them with the 115 breaches of FFP …. No one dares take a look into the activities of Liverpool, Man Utd or Arsenal ….. they ignore Chelsea by and large - but god forbid Everton, Villa, Brighton or Wolves spend £1 too much and start competing - it’s an uncompetitive landscape where only a few can regularly win trophies or have actual, sustained success
No he doesn't have a point. Yes we were happy with all of the above, but we've since had 5 years of crap on the pitch and an absolute circus off it, while the debt has gone sky high.
I was only thinking of the bit where he said some people weren't complaining looking in from the outside when things were going better? Not suggesting that is what was happened here of course. Naturally things change and views can be different. As said about they probably weren't that bothered about over spending or dodgy ownerships when going for promotion (and anyway by then the loan thing had been shut down and Derby missed up their own chances)
Derby are a funny club. Fallen into pure irrelevance alongside ourselves, Reading et al. Probably only one notch above MK Dons no matter what happens this season.
