My brain is full football. Nothing else fits. But to be honest I don’t really read this forum. I only post to it and read things that pop up in my inbox or alerts.
Manga is just the latest lightning rod for their baseless optimism. It doesn't even matter that we've got 11 years of experience showing us that Gino is a micromanaging autocrat and so even if Manga has a list of players capable of winning the Champions League, within our price range, we will still end up with more ****.
I didn't mean to unleash the hounds on you. It was just a light hearted jab. As a friendly piece of advice, its best to lay down a marker saying all signings are ****, as I do, because they always are. Sooner or later, they always are.
What an awful bit of business. The fact that he was our next number 9 after Deeney is a joke For it to be February and neither of our summer striker acquisitions play for us anymore is laughable.The Pozzo way paying out yet again!
Undisclosed doesn't necessarily mean a fee was involved. If you're not giving out any details, the fee could be zero. But you've specifically said 3m. What's the source?
https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/20272377.albanian-striker-rey-manaj-moves-watford-barcelona/ This article is a joy with the benefit hindsight! The club deliberately misled Andrew French as they wanted to keep this move under wraps as Manaj was so in demand, he was seen as a Deeney/Helguson figure and the now obligatory 'he was exactly what Rob Edwards wanted'.
I have no idea what I said about Manaj when he joined but it quickly became clear he was gash. Plus I'm not paid money to scout these players and arrange deals to pay them thousands of pounds a week. It's a complete circus behind the scenes at our club.
There's absolutely no substance to saying Manaj cost Watford £3m. Even a Google only throws up a comment left on a website called Watford Opinions, in which someone called 'Ian' states with certainty the fee was £3m and goes on to talk about rumours in France. Anyway, my info is that the fee was less than £1m, quite a lot less.
To be fair they didn’t really mislead AF. He rang up and asked and they told him he was a load of rubbish. They were spot on
The amazing thing is that he was brought on before Bayo. Bayo was crap, but he occasionally got something right, like a stopped clock.
Just highlights the utterly awful and clueless recruitment during last summer. Did not help the incoming manager one iota and handicapped the entire team. From not taking Laird the closer fit Kiko but settling for Gaspar. For a club on restricted finances to waste eleven million pounds and more on players that have contributed the next sum of nothing with not one eye to the future shape of the squad is unforgiveable. I do hope Ubenga is given the reins over the next few windows to shape the squad in the manner of a Brentford or Brighton so long and this is the operative phrase that Gino does not interfere.
Presumably Okoye. Which seems fair enough given he only arrived in the summer even if signed the previous window.
Yep people like to forget about the unmitigated disgraceful purchase of Okaye as he neatly falls between windows. As terrible signing as there is to burn Pozzo with given he swallowed funds that could have been used in the premier league campaign. Albeit it would have just gone on the lubrication of Bayat anyway.
They obviously expected Bachmann to leave and for him to be number one going by the pre season videos hyping him up .
I can see the logic of that at times, Bayo is a better goalscorer, but utterly rubbish at holding the ball up if we need to see a game out, which Manaj is marginally less **** at even if he's not even as good a goalscorer as Bayo
End result - overall they're both absolute, complete and utter dog poo and should have never even been considered, never mind actually signed. What has transpired with him and Bayo is a new low, even by our horrific standards. Two of the worst, most ridiculous signings in the history of the football club.
Remember when everyone couldn’t believe it when we managed to get Deeney and Gray off the books, then Bayo and Manaj ended up being the Aldi knock off version of them.
Utterly baffling decision to sign him. If he had a bit of pace then I could just about understand taking a punt, but anyone watching him would say he has absolutely no discernible qualities. The fact they didn't even bother with the standard issue loan and forget policy says everything
That's a little harsh on Aldi. They're more like the 'lucky' dip in the bargain bins of a charity shop.
I’m absolutely certain that Manaj was signed because his CV said Inter Milan and Barcelona. I really doubt that any scouting was done on him beyond that.
As much as I don't beat the owners with a stick as much as some, this signing was clearly nothing to do with what we needed but all about greasing some palms. It is singly the most ridiculous signing we've ever made, maybe Oulare aside
There were so many deals in the summer, that have proved to have been very poor indeed. The incompetence from Gino is there for all to see. It was clearly him who made those calls, as both Giaretta and Duxbury are still employed. Anyone showing such bad judgement would have be fired without doubt. Now we have to believe (or rather I would prefer to believe) that Gino has handed all the decision making to the professionals. I think, even now, the signings Manga made in the January window make a lot more sense, as opposed to those made in the summer.
I spent a stupid amount of money of my dad's phoning the Hornet Hotline when we signed him. Genuinely thought he would be good. He wasn't...... Still better than Ray Can't Manaj Running though
