Watford 0 - 2 Brighton & Hove Albion - 12/02/2022

The club has already borrowed against the Premier league 2021/22 prize money.
We are close to edge financially.
Once relegation is confirmed, you will read more about our financial woes.
Derby or Reading situation is possible. Hopefully not worse than that, but very possible.

 

I’ve no doubt they will, conveniently ignoring the fact we probably earned about £600/£700m in PL money during our initial stay in the PL, then £50m off PP last season. something an Aidy Boothroyd Championship team didn’t have the benefit of.

 

Does the fact that our finances were in a perilous state after five years raking in EPL cash not hint that the club isn't being run particularly cleverly?

 

I hear the crowd was no higher than 16000.
Watford emailing their fanbase one day before a game was a first for me.
For one moment l thought l was an elite forum member, but happily no.

 

That's a really good point about the managers at Brighton and Soton. We have created a situation where the players, the fans, the media, everyone at the club and the manager himself know it's a very short term gig. Almost a working holiday. We are basically a cash cow for unemployed managers to work for a few months and then get a pay off.

Scott told us the club structure he is 'managing' would make the manager's job as easy as possible. Yet more bull$hit from Scott. The Watford job is one of the worst jobs in football management. It's so ironic that the only Pozzo managers who went on to better things after leaving Watford are the one they sacked without managing a single game and the one they backed Deeney against who went on to finish 7th in Serie A after leaving Watford. In General Pozzo's Watford is a managerial graveyard and that's on Scott and Gino. They've taken all the concepts and realities of management and turned them upside down and inside out. It's a farce. The Watford manager's job is a poisoned chalice located in a snake pit in the middle of a field contaminated with nuclear waste. I'm not saying Scott and Gino don't have any skills or talents but when it comes to management and basic human psychology they are completely clueless and that is one of the many reasons why the club is slowly imploding.

 

Aidy would have signed 2 Steve Kabbas with those funds

 

I've not actually heard the final whistle for a few matches. Today I was on my way out the multi-storey when I presume it was blown.

 

Not if he had the best negotiators in world football upstairs

 

I have been to many games in the past Division 4 and upwards.
Would l go now if l could? Probably not from what l have read, been told and seen. It is clear to most football fans that Watford are not good enough in the Premier league. Who is to blame? Duxbury and Pozzo don't care for the fans feelings or love of the club. It's just a business to them.
I think the club is in a perilous with its position in the league, with its fans and financially.
It is rumoured that the attendance was around 16000 for the Brighton game.
I think we are heading into a period similar to the one after GT first left.
You and l both know that the team has rubber stamped their relegation already.
The summer will be an interesting one. Let's see how will line up in the Championship and that's if we can.

 

Pathetic manager, pathetic team. Imagine your genius plan being to sit back all game so that our rock solid defence could guide us to a 0-0 draw.

He's like Quique without the good start.

 

2 Steve Kabbas and a Lee Bromby?

 

The official attendance was 20 000 & something according to the announcer at the end. To be honest, there looked to be alot more than 16,000 there.

 

I can't believe that after that rightfully derided cameo people still think JP starting would make any difference whatsoever to the bluntness of our attack.

 

I agree.
Not many spaces near me in the Rookery,even the family who eat their own body weights in Haribo were back.
Also a man who looked like a large garden gnome and a lady with a burger who said could she come through when there was "a lull". I love an optimist!

 

Close to the edge financially before or after the sales of Sarr and Dennis are factored in?

 

Natalie Imbruglia in a panda suit. We'll that's one in the yank bank I never thought I'd store.....

 

Even after that cameo I would take JP over King & Dennis in a heartbeat. Dennis is so frustrating, he wasted a number of good openings yet again today by trying to do too much instead of passing the ball. He constantly seems to try and do it all on his own and just gives the ball away. However, he atleast put a shift in trying to press and win the ball back which is more than can be said for King who just ambled from side to side. My 3 year old, whose spent all day laid up on the sofa after spending all night up with the winter vomiting bug, would have displayed more energy - he certainly couldnt have moved any slower

 

He’d make a big difference. Progresses the ball 2x more than King a game

 

Yes JP over King, even though that cameo was disturbingly bad. I wouldn't drop Dennis, he's very frustrating with his final ball but he has some scary pace and can make chances for himself and put them away, like he almost did today.

 

Really glad that HB1’s believe strategy worked today. Without that, it could’ve been 5 or 6!!!

 

Gutted. Terrible result.

Mushroom should of one.

 

Even if true, how much of that is due to King typically having to more play with his back to goal up against the opposition CBs, while JP is often coming deeper to the wing and AM positions? Plus the fact that JP more often plays off the bench and thus has it easier against tired legs.

 

How is it Charlotte Church’s fault?

 

Derby County 13 seasons in the Championship, and now on the edge of relegation to League 1. Reading 8 consecutive seasons in the second tier. I can see how they may have burnt through the money.

I am sure the financial consequences of our inevitable relegation will be dire. But the club lost players who would not accept relegation clauses in their contracts, and the forum seems to think we should have spent more on recruitment.

Today's performance was dispiriting because the players know they are short of the quality of a competent Brighton team. The damage done to this campaign is the woeful home form with just seven points. The really poor result at Brentford showed the frailty of the squad.

The one problem that sums up how dispiriting it feels is the total disconnect between the team and the supporters. Even the woeful campaigns in 1999/00 and 2006/7 felt better than this. Three more wins required to do better than those.

On the upside Louza could be an asset next season.

 

I would imagine we need the money from the sale of Sarr and Dennis. We will accept £25million for Sarr and £10million for Dennis.
We have spent the Premier prize money for Season 2021/22 already.
Low ball bids will be accepted.

 

Yeah very poor today

 

I disagree we should have spent more on recruitment. I do think we should have not wazzed millions up the wall on Rose, Louza, Kalu, Tufan, Kucka, paying off numerous management teams and numerous expensive contract extensions for garbage like Cleverley, Cathcart, Sema, Kabasele (and more depending on how far back you want to go).

 

Why stop there? Brighton though have not lost a match since the 15 December 2021.

 

Comfortable win. Nobody going to mention the finish by Maupay ? Absolute quality

 

Yep. Garbage defending but wonderful controlled finish to be fair.

 

Newcastle havent signed a right sided attacker. Thatd b the obvious destination for Sarr and I'd be amazed of he went for less than £50m. I'd love to see him go to Liverpool where he can develop properly at a well run club. He's stagnated at the vic with 8 managers in 3 years and our woeful player development.

 

All fair points to put into an argument, but the budget is probably smaller than any other teams around us. I do think our lack of financial clout means you have to play at hunches. Most clubs can point to good and bad recruitment. The point is that this seasons squad is inferior to the one that got relegated three years ago. Cost less and I would not be surprised to learn that it earns less too.

what I think is the centre of our recent demise, is that our owners have not realised how quickly the world has changed around them and they have now got caught out. Can they make up that ground? Well realising you have to change is stage one. The second will be that if they want to build a football business with Watford as a Premier League pivot, they need to give up majority control in return for significant investment. They may even make more money that way.

 

£50 million? No chance, IMO.

 

That game was fun.