Yes he sold up 'immediately*'. *Where 'immediately' means after a mere 13 years of constant fan protest.
There is plenty that makes me uneasy about Gino's methods but I think you're being ever so slightly hysterical there
I don’t think we’ll need to wait too long to find out, if we don’t get promoted this season we’ve got £150m of debt and only two saleable assets, one of whom will only have a year left on his deal.
Let's wait and see then. In the meantime why don't we all try getting behind the team to help Slaven turn things around.
He owns a club that is known to dodge paying their liabilities on time. The Zuniga saga. The Pape Gueye saga. The Raffaele Riva letter. Being in front of CAS on a number of occasions. His families historic tax issues in Italy. His families links with match-fixing in Italy. His ties to Mogi Bayat. All off the top of my head and not really things that could be considered normal at other clubs. I accept its football ownership and expecting everything to be above board is just not realistic. Saying ‘all owners are dodgy - ours is no different’ is maybe something I wouldn’t fully agree with - but I’d understand why such an opinion could be held. But saying you don’t see what is dodgy about him? Really?
I'll get behind the team when they show some fight and effort. At the moment they're just a bunch of millionaires sh!tting on the shirt. As for Bilic, who cares? I think I've read two comments from him since he joined. I'm not just saying this for effect and maybe I'm losing my mind, but the other day I saw an old clip of him on TV and genuinely forgot he was our head coach for a minute.
I know it could be terrible for the club but I can't wait for this Bayat stuff to kick off next year.
I haven't got any answers only questions but how can anyone "play" for a manager when they don't know how long that manager will be here ? . Could our apparent lack of spirit be down to this in some way?
I'm sure fans of every other club could rattle off a list of similar examples of their owner's business methods. Gino is running a major company in a notoriously ruthless and unethical industry - not a corner shop.
Same. So many transfers involving him and Watford that don't make sense with in terms of fees or how they never kick a ball for us. Nantes' Brigade Loire never replied to me when I asked if they still had that banner about him...
Just to use one example - you think every other club would actively forge closer links with a man being investigated for financial crime?
If they felt it was beneficial to them, yes. And, of course, he's only being investigated. He hasn't, as far as I'm aware, been convicted
He hasn’t that is true. I strongly disagree most clubs would forge such such close alliances with this man though until the outcome is established.
Gino and this agent fellah probably are a couple of sh1ts. But I doubt they're any worse than any of the other characters running EPL and Championship clubs.
I’m sure a lot of fans of most clubs have gripes with their owner. But we will agree to disagree on those gripes being ‘similar’. And running a major company doesn’t equate to the issues I listed not being dodgy.
Just as an aside - can you provide any examples of another English club that has an owner who has been cited in match-fixing, been in CAS 3 times in 3 years AND been forced to retrospectively pay for a loan player over 2 years after the player finished his loan? Or a club, just one, with a vaguely similar rap sheet? You said all clubs had similar so finding one from the other 91 clubs should be easy enough! As I said, if you don’t think it a problem, I get that. But it’s absolutely crazy to say it’s not dodgy.
I changed my mind… Nah - it’s cool. I just genuinely was interested to understand your point a bit more that’s all. As to me it seems you’re actually saying he is dodgy? You just don’t think it’s abnormal?
If 'dodgy' means he takes a few short cuts and can be a little forgetful when it comes to filling out his tax returns then he probably is. But I just don't buy this portrayal of him as some sort of international conman whose aim is to run Watford in to the dirt for his own financial gain.
In relation to the bit I’ve put in bold, it’s more than that, as laid out earlier. It’s on a scale that’s bigger than ‘normal’ so it’s not really comparable to every other club - or even the minority of other clubs. In the English game, we are an outlier for dodgy behaviour. I think your downplaying of those things as ‘a few shortcuts’ or being a ‘little forgetful’ is very wide of the mark. As for the bit not in bold, that’s a separate point and one I’m still unsure of. I totally agree he’s not aiming to run Watford into the dirt on purpose because I don’t ultimately think it benefits him unless there is something massively underhand going on that no one has knowledge of. But - I do think there are matters where he has knowingly not taken the best decision possible for the club because a different choice does benefit him or his cronies personally - and he’s (wrongly) believed that different choice to still be good enough to make things work.
Burnsy, mate, it's my wedding anniversary on Sunday and if I don't get out and buy my wife something soon my life will be a living hell. So, much as I'm enjoying our exchange of views, I really have to go
