Not disagreeing. Its a vicious circle of our own making. I despair at us continuously sacking managers. But I also wouldn't keep Gracia. Go figure. No. A lot of people on here speculated that a Top 6 club would come calling for him. But I still believe that Chelsea/Arsenal would have been looking for a bigger name. Obviously we now know that Everton could turn his head but I don't see anyone else. Of course there was a chance he could have moved on. But I would say it would have been 50/50 and nowhere near the foregone conclusion you mention.
I think it was clear, Silva was not going to be a long term appointment. I remember saying he would be here for a good time, not a long time. What no one knew was how bad his behaviour going to be. That took everyone by surprise the way he chased Everton. It's tough for Watford. Getting a good coach, who will do well for the team, but who would stay loyal. I think we've had a couple of opportunities though to have achieved this, but have not taken them. Joka and Dyche probably have been still at the club now had we not moved them on. We now have a situation, where we've got a caretaker coach, in all probability, and we'll have to start all over again in the summer.
It's what we do. If we didn't throw away matches in the final minute, which is the most heart wrenching way to lose, it wouldn't feel like watching Watford.
No we weren't...................we were second, having only won 4 of the 5 matches. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/29007741
I'll always remember the unbelievable Huddersfield game mentioned in that link as the players just thought '**** it' and ignored him. Wish they'd do that now.
Had we continued the way we started under Silva, he would have had quite a few clubs come calling for him this Summer, unfortunately Silva got his seasons mixed up and thought November was the start of summer!
His ambition fried his brain and clouded his judgement. Now he's screwed his reputation and will do well to attract a big club now. It won't be lost on an owner how he wanted to jump ship so quickly at Watford. He'll probably have to take a backwards step in order to go forwards if he stays in England.
This why I was so keen for Javi to work out. I genuinely believe his ambition would've been satisfied by 3 seasons of mid table with us, but unfortunately he seems a bit ****, though my hunch is that he's demotivated by knowing he'll be off in the summer. I suspect Gino is already flashing his knickers at the next in line. I just hope he's finally got a good un.
His ego was such that it would always be a short relationship. Even when things were going well he was criticising Gino for the players brought in ! You may have thought he would be here for the long term but I always thought it would be short, and hopefully sweet, though I hoped we'd at least get the full season.
OK you say 50/50, I thought it was more likely than that, guess i was right . Not sure his next step would have been a top 6 team, more likely he would have joined another Euro Champ League team. Wonder if he will still go to Everton this summer but its being kept quiet while he negotiates his damages settlement ?
I'll believe it when I see it. I also don't think we should underestimate the dross on the pitch. I think many coaches would struggle with our striking and defensive options.
Oscar Garcia only lasted one game didn't he - a 1-0 defeat at Charlton. Seems to have done ok since elsewhere across Europe.
I bet the fans of Leeds, Derby, Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest, Ipswich and QPR wouldn’t mind the “mediocrity” of our last 5 years.
With the very real prospect of all 3 promoted clubs finishing above us this season and finishing 17th last season, yeah I'd pretty much call that mediocre
Poor old Beppe. I actually quite liked him, he was easily the biggest character we've hired so far. He highlighted what turned out to be a long term issue with the club, that the players are far too pampered and have little to no respect for who comes in. He left us in 2nd, with probably the fittest squad we've had since Gino took over. This is why the fawning over Slav annoys me at times, it was the work of others that paved the way for our promotion, all he did was improve our league position from 3rd to 2nd. Beppe also broke a home winning sequence that I doubt I'll see bettered in my lifetime
I liked him too. He was clearly a bit of a oddball but he gave comedy interviews ("I saw my face on the pitch") and the video of his induction where he sang a song about the team being a group of lions that would never surrender and would bleed yellow and red (I'm paraphrasing as I can't exactly remember it) was genius.
Forgot about that! He was an absolute oddball. I remember reading about his past. He had worked as a janitor in a psychiatric hospital I think? He'd clearly worked very hard to get where he did, and I don't think he disgraced himself at all during his time with us. The more I think back to it the more crazy that appointment was. You have to wonder what Gino was smoking to pluck him out of obscurity of lower division Italian football to help spearhead our promotion charge. Still it didn't work out too badly
Has anyone considered that regularly changing our coach, having loads of injuries and a squad that realistically would do well to reach 10th might be the reason for our demise? What I would love to see is any coach being given a whole pre season, rather than someone coming in and spending pre season getting to know the squad rather than working on how he wants the team to play.
Sannino was a classic. Wasn’t there also a quote along the lines of “I am d*ckhead. I am Gaffer.” Or am I getting mixed up with Lloyd Dyer?
We were warned about our fans developing a ‘holier than thou’ attitude when we got promoted, and here it is. 3rd in the Championship, with some of the best football seen at the Vic 13th in the Championship, disappointing but still with some big wins along the way 2nd in the Championship 13th in the PL , FA Cup Semi 17th in the PL, beating United and Arsenal, no real threat of relegation Likely 10th-17th in the PL, beating Arsenal and Chelsea, no real threat of relegation For a club of our size, that is in no way mediocre.
Reports in Spain that he's on a 3 man list to take over at Real Sociedad, although Unai Emery is very much first choice: http://www.mundodeportivo.com/futbo...711192917/unai-emery-ya-tiene-una-oferta.html A Google translated part of the text: I know precisely sweet FA about mundodeportivo.com to be able to say if it's a credible story or not.
Seems like whoever runs the club's social media account reads the forum as they've highlighted Javi's favourite phrase: https://twitter.com/WatfordFC/status/987012954590720001?s=19