It's no coincidence to me that the first time I've ever seen HB1 admit he was wrong, he quit the forum in the same post.
Not really surprising Gracia played a part. Ultimately you are always going to find it easier playing abroad under a compatriot Wouldn't read too much into it. After all, a few of the players signed last year just because of old Walt
Where did I post a snide comment saying he might not be enough of a draw? I'm not saying I didn't but I don't recall it so maybe you can find it for me? As for being gracious enough to admit it....I posted this: Post #370 less than a week ago - Familiar surroundings and he strikes me as a player who needs an arm round him and told how good he is. I think he enjoys the PL and realises its time to settle on one club rather than 2 every season. And, people probably won't expect me to admit this, but I expect the presence of Gracia is a big plus too. I just hope he doesn't throw a 'Richarlison' when his favourite manager gets sacked.... You see, the thing is, even though I hold an overall opinion that Gracia isn't the man for us, I'm not silly enough to deny there would be positive facets to him being here. I'm not in denial of positive aspects to his continued tenure. I just hold a different overall opinion to yours but I can agree with you on some of the smaller positive aspects of him. I have ALWAYS said if he was to stay, I'd back him. I agree , it was shown in a newspaper clip a few posts before mine. But HB1 said he'd heard this right from the start - why didn't he say so? This newspaper clip isn't right from the start. If I'm honest, I regret replying to him as I don't feel at fault for him going but maybe the catalyst. I was hasty in my response and I apologise for that. But he has/had a habit of throwing antagonising snippets in his posts and now he's bailed because someone called him on it.
I've had enough, frankly, and I'm out of here. Anyone who comes in here and says something off topic should be ashamed of themselves and it's doing my head in. What I want is facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon facts; nothing else will ever be of any service to them. Unless you double my 'like' count by the end of the day, I'm gone forever, and you'll never see me again, and you'll all feel really stupid and wish I was back then, won't you. You'll see.
I echo Burnsy’s most recent comments. Those of us who still have doubts over Gracia do mostly tend to try and be fair and balanced with our opinions. Of course Gracia has good points and has done some things very well since joining us. He may well be a big success. I hope so! However, there are those who really rate him and his time with us so far who maybe aren’t as fair or balanced when debating. Everything he’s done is wonderful and there can be no middle ground. We’ve had such pointless debates here recently. You know the sort. When we lose it’s nothing to do with him. When we don’t win we were unlucky. If we concede a late goal we pretend we didn’t and we count imaginary points instead etc. Much as though I like HB1 personally and also admire the quality of his writing in what I believe is his second language, he was one of the worst offenders at this. Somebody earlier praised him for being balanced, but I find him one of the least balanced debaters on here as he sticks ardently to his point, even as his arguments get more and more ridiculous. I will miss his input here and hope he returns but at the end of the day it’s a grown adult deciding he no longer wants to be part of a forum. Nobody died. The middle ground in a debate can often be seen as boring, but usually it carries some merit. Next season I will continue to post and occasionally express doubts over Gracia, as I’m sure will Burnsy, Jumbolina etc, but what I will try hard not to do is to be too pigheaded to praise him too when we win or do well. I won’t be posting saying we won in the last minute so we must have been lucky (as certain people started doing about Silva only last week). I will try to be balanced and fair and see both sides. And if I break from that, somebody please message me and tell me! Politely though!
This a false premise I'm afraid. I can't think of anyone who thinks that Gracia is like the second coming of Graham Taylor, just people that think that, taking everything into account, he did well enough to be given a shot with a full pre-season and fewer injuries. Some, like me, are also sceptical that we'd replace him with a coach with a significantly better record, and think if we got rid of him, chances are it would be someone similar coming in. But I've seen no evidence that anyone "really rates" Gracia. The jury's out but I'm glad he's getting a chance.
Fantastic bit of business If we pull this off. With regards to those that are leaving, most will come back under a new name, it's usually very easy to spot them.
A great signing. Welcome back GD! People leaving more rapidly than English wickets in Edinburgh. Do come back.
Great deal, hopefully he will do well for us Not sure why people seem to be leaving the forum, everybody needs to relax a bit I think. This is a forum for a football team not a group of people collectively working on a cure for cancer , yes it goes off Topic and some of the jokes are ***** but who really cares
I don't think it's worth leaving the forum for and getting too worked up over, but it's certainly understandable that people are getting sick of clicking on threads looking for discussion or information on the intended topic, only to be met with page after page of the same crap joke. All the more annoying when this thread specifically is about a player it looks like we are actually very likely signing, rather than a baseless rumour.
Great signing if this is true. Read a few comments that doubting his ability after his performance at West Ham; I was at that game and we couldn’t get out of our half for 45 minutes and then he was pulled off mid way during the second. Not exactly a game to accurately assess him on. Would like to see him play off the shoulder....
As far as I'm aware this forum has now being going strong for 12 years. I'm sure people flounced in year 1 saying the forum is going downhill and they're still flouncing now saying the same stuff. It's all bo**ocks. This forum kicks the backside of just about every forum out there, not just the footy ones. Carry on.
I think it's fair to say that there is a brand new breed of annoyingly shallow arsewitted posters on this site that are driving out or have driven away a number of genuinely interesting regular posters who used to contribute actual decent quality content. It's a massive shame.
It does seem like a couple of posters have been singled out and every opportunity taken to have a dig. Yes they could annoying, factually incorrect and arguementative but then that' what the ignore function is for.
Yes. Genuinely interesting preview write ups on the opposition with a few jokes and geography thrown in are now replaced with any attempt to make cheap jokes and nasty insults at the opposition in the hope they may be goaded into responding which obviously thrills the OP no end and makes their other friends revere them as gods. Every other thread that turns into childish bickering about unrelated subjects only enhances the experience of all who come here to get more insight and information about the team. While this site has always been more diverse and interesting than other team forums, it is becoming a bit of a joke. Yes I could leave but there are some very good posters still here and I would miss werewolf.
This is good business if it gets confirmed, I'm sure he can be inconsistent but he is also one very few who can be a real game changer and create genuine excitement. Very happy. Sorry to disappoint but I am not currently planning to leave the forum.
BBC now reporting this. Watford are expected to confirm the signing of winger Gerard Deulofeu from Barcelona later this week. A fee, thought to be around £11.5m, has been agreed for the 24-year-old, with personal terms expected to be a formality.
The official twitter just dropped this: https://twitter.com/WatfordFC/status/1006130060057808896?s=19 Stay tuned...
For comparison, Cardiff are about to sign Josh Murphy for £10m. I'm not convinced about Deulofeu's consistency, but his pace and skill alone are well worth £11m
Deulofeu signs? New kit reveal? Deulofeu signs AND new kit reveal? Gracia sacked? Gracia sacked while wearing old kit? Masina signs? Masina AND Deulofeu sign? Masina AND Deulofeu sign AND new kit reveal? I can barely contain my bodily fluids!
Pretty much everyone who has worked with Deulofeu or seen him, has said that if he can add consistency to his game, he’d be one hell of a player. Hopefully Gracia can draw that out of him and we can work on his fitness as it’s often levelled at him that he can only play for 60 mins. One things for sure, this only solidifies for me, that we have the best midfield outside of the Top 6.
