Evening all, As we settle in for an evening of eyeing next season's Champions League opponents () a little piece on why Tom Cleverley is so bloody important to Watford on and off the field. It's more for those who still think he's a United flop, but hopefully of interest to WFC fans too – http://www.footballwhispers.com/blog/tom-cleverley-perfect-for-watford-on-and-off-field
Good article “I couldn’t do it. I had to phone the great man (Sir Alex) twice and told him I knew we’d be selling Tommy Smith soon and could he wait until then. He said: ‘Ok, give us the money when you can’.” Almost makes you think better of AF
Cleverly is as good a fit for us as we are for him. His back story is wasted potential but that's unfair - Utd under Moyes and Van Gaal, Villa under Lambert, and Everton under Koeman were all negative boring defensive teams that never used him in the right way. He isn't physical enough to be a DM. In this role Doucoure (& Chalobah) do all the grunt, and Rich and Carrillo provide all the pace, Cleverley can shine at what he's really good - sitting behind the front line, linking and switching the play, injecting intensity and making things tick. The sum of our midfield really is greater than the parts. Doucoure - Chalobah / Capoue - Cleverley work because they complement each other brilliantly.
It doesn't me. Red nosed old fool. What's £250k to them? Absolute chicken feed. To us it was more than we could afford. Why did they need paying that fee for the loan? Why did they need to take that off us? If he was really decent, he would have told us not to worry about it. Have him for nothing. Help us out a little a bit.
I said on this very forum last year that if he could step up he could be our new captain and leader in the absence of Troy.
Are you sure Watford is the club for you Clive? Only 250 grand is chicken feed for us these days. We have players that earn about that in a month!
Exactly. So if we were loaning out say, Jerome Sinclair, to Accrington Stanley or someone like that and they said they were so skint they were struggling to get the paltry little loan fee together, would it really be so big-hearted of us to say "Oh well have a few months until you can flog your best striker and then pay us"? A few extra weeks to pay is hardly the world's most generous and big-hearted gift, is it? I suppose we're lucky they didn't add interest on.. And yes, Watford FC is indeed the team for me. What about you? How do you feel about them? Some might wonder from your impassioned defence of Sir Rudolph Rednose , whether your contempt and derision for the miserable Mancs is all it should be.
As good as he is for us, Cleverley will never be a fans favourite player. He lacks sparkle and a funky haircut.
"impassioned defence"? LOL i think the term is. So far as i know we havent been giving away loan players or helping out the smaller clubs too much as of yet. Business is business & football is a business. Anyway i was just wondering if now that we've joined the ranks of the (mid level) moneyed clubs it might upset your socialist sensibilities?
A agree with you, I think that they did actually waive the loan fee for Danny Webber earlier in the decade but they had different owners then.
You don't become one of the most powerful and wealthy clubs in the world by letting people off fees, no matter how big or small they are.
IIRC the loan fee for Webber was offset against potential compensation for them poaching Chris Eagles as a 15 year old
