I mean tbh even if we had any kind of form or still in contention for anything I wouldn't exactly be confident of getting a result so no chance now. It will be like when we had end of seasons games against teams fighting for relegation under Lewington or someone - we'd lose.
This seems like a pretty shyt idea, to be honest, and not something that would be a desirable thing to happen given the problems the game already has in this country with escalating incidences of pitch invasions and violence committed against players and coaching staff by those in the stands. The rest is all pretty fair game and a desirable outcome. As long as we all still get to wave our flags.
Quite like Sunderland and they've been through some bad times under clownish owners recently, all painfully captured in the Netflix documentary. Hopefully they enjoy the three points on Saturday, then dump those ****s from up the road out in the Play Off semis and set up an all north eastern play off final.
Couple of things here. Football as a whole has changed, to the players it's a job, they are not fans. I see this players cared back in the 90's when we were terrible thing mentioned quite a lot but not sure there is any truth in that. I've been to many games over the years where we've simply not turned up and there seemed a general apathy to playing for the club. I imagine that it's not just a football thing and there are plenty of people who are not passionate about the company they work for. most fans at clubs don't feel connected to their club anymore unless you go down in to non league football The legacy. As mentioned above football has changed and the way things are done are vastly different to how they were done under GT and Elton all those years ago. Graham Taylor would simply not like what football has become, not just at Watford but in general across the world. I don't feel their legacy has been damaged and in fact I feel the club is still very respectful towards the two of them. I don't like what football has become and I've mentioned it before that Sky and all the money in football has ruined the game for me. There are plus sides of course with the state of grounds these days but it's very difficult to connect to players on millions of pounds a year for being bang average at their job Would I like Pozzo gone? Probably but if people really think with a new owner we will go back to the way things were with players apparently caring about the club (they never did with some exceptions) as much as fans do, they will be disappointed
The level of expectancy is also so much higher now than in the 90s. Most of those seasons just blur into one now for me. We had no expectation of promotion, there was occasionally a concern over relegation but other than a couple of notable escapes, the football was boring but acceptable as we had no real hope of achieving anything other than surviving in the second tier. A few seasons from now, when expectations have been reset, we will be happy to be in the position of a Preston/Bristol City in this league. What is different is that the players did play with passion and as a team. We have been a million miles away from that this season and we need to get back to that very quickly if we are going to survive at this level and feel anything towards the players. Luton have shown what can be achieved if the players are pulling in the same direction and working for eachother.
The Victoria Hall in Sunderland had one of the worst tragedies ever in Britain in 1883 - now almost completely forgotten. 183 children aged between 3 and 14 got crushed to death in a theatre there. It was a variety show and they announced that there would be free prizes for some children and then started giving away stuff to those nearby from the stage. The kids in the balcony surged down the stairs but the door at the bottom was bolted so only one at a time could pass through. There was a massive crush. Eventually some man ripped the door off its hinges. As I said, 183 kids died. Sometimes siblings together. Twice as many as Hillsboro but completely forgotten. "Soon we were most uncomfortably packed but still going down. Suddenly I felt that I was treading upon someone lying on the stairs and I cried in horror to those behind "Keep back, keep back! There's someone down." It was no use, I passed slowly over and onwards with the mass and before long I passed over others without emotion." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Hall_disaster
Thank you for bringing that to our attention. I’ve never heard of it before. If it had been 183 MPs, I suspect it would not have been a neglected.
The Premier League's colossal success has helped to magnify some very unedifying failings throughout football. Their success is also their failure, in a manner of speaking. Watford have been well caught up in all this.
I couldn’t care less if a player is a fan of the club. It’d be nice but it’s not required. A player who is a fan of winning would be better. They really are still around, in abundance.
Holy crap. Really puts things into prospective. What a tragic loss of life that was. Love and thoughts to relatives of any one is still connected to it.
Pozzo leaving might not change much your right, but any chance of us getting even close to the good feeling culture of the club will only begin with him removed. He isn't going to change, he's stubborn and stuck in his ways. Any owner that demands fans' cannot protest about how they feel the club is run is not fit to serve. He's running scared, and knows a full scale protest would no doubt tear holes in the "everythibng is fine" facade his trying to project to anyone not connected to the club. There is nothing wrong with a POZZO OUT banner - if it's a peaceful protest then there should be no problem with it. Like many have said before, he isn't going unless he is bought out or we are relegated again. He will not want to do business if we are a tinpot League One club who are continuing to spiral downwards (even if he is the major reason for it).
Some fair points made, but the thing about the 90s teams is that there was undoubtedly a greater connection between the fans and players back then. As TUT says expectations were lower but I well remember going to away games to watch the team with the two Jasons (Drysdale & Solomon), which was a pretty terrible one in an era when the owner didn’t care about improving the team, but we were still right behind them and they got some unexpected wins. I think you’re right to some extent that back then as well footballers generally still saw the game as a job - they’ve never experienced being a fan in the way we have because they start playing for clubs at a very young age - but many more of them came through the Watford youth system, even if they didn’t actually hail from Herts. Young footballers playing for their first club will always be more committed to succeed for that club than many older, more cynical ones so of course fans will get behind them more. We haven’t had that for years now.
This is the bit I think is the problem. In general an owner is popular because of success. For the first few years Pozzo was liked by most because we were doing well. Even when changing mangers every year people backed him. Arsenals owner were getting pelters for ages but I bet they're not getting much stick now. The Glazers at United get stick because of a lack of success. United fans will say it's because of the debt or other reasons but if they were winning the league each year the voices would be a lot quieter. I'm not sure the removal of Pozzo will bring back the culture of the club people talk about, a culture that wasn't here in Zola's season, the promotion in 2014 or the years of mid table finishes in the Premier League. A culture in football that basically disappeared when the Premier League started
Started going in the early 1990s and we had some good players for that level but also a lot of average ones so like you say there wasn't a lot of expectation and hype. Plus they weren't earning silly money or talking like they are the best and ought to be winning each each but then failing. Doubt Jack Petchey (still alive at 97 btw) said we had an excellent squad and he didn't sack managers every other month or the CEO was telling people he expected promotion.. The crowds were very low though - 10k was a decent gate even in the 1998 Championship winning season until the last few games before generally average about 11/12k before the Pozzos came in. Is 13/14k a fairer reflection of our support if we get stuck in this league or worse? I do remember we actually came 7th in the 1994/95 season then got relegated the next despite GT's best efforts - bet that was a bit of a shock! Remember some goal feasts at the back end of the season though.
Fair argument, and I respect your point of view. I guess like a few fans, I would love to view it all through yellow and red/black tinted glasses, but the reality is often much harder to get on board with.
You're right in that I don't think even clubs like Brighton and Brentford who are doing historically well by their standards quite have the same 'culture' they had back in the day, but while their owners seem to have created a much more positive environment, it seems everything we touch turns to **** at the moment (plus the small matter of a 9-figure debt)
Probably helps they have a set identity and way to run their clubs. And probably had better luck scouting players across the globe compared to us? Brighton loan players out for experience and games then they come back and perform whereas ours....well never come back at times. I mean Brighton also manage to make good use of Danny Welbeck - sums it all up.
Bigger club than us . As will Ipswich, Sheff w and Derby if they gain promotion this season. These big clubs pick up a lot of momentum when they do actually turn their tankers around.
I know four that are going and staying overnight in Newcastle. They have decided they probably won't go to the game!
That makes sense actually. Go see the sights of the North for the day. No need to have the day ruined by going to the game and seeing eleven uninterested men for ninety plus minutes. If we did actually somehow win, they can at least say "but missing it was the better of two evils."
Definitely feels like we’re on a similar trajectory to those teams. Took them years to weed out the poison in their clubs. And that’s with a fanbase that actually wanted things to change.
Let's just go for it, have a laugh. Roberts; Andrews, Porteous, Hoedt, Kamara; Louza, Choudry; Asprilla, Sarr, Pedro & Araujo. Some form of 4-2-4 tell the front 4 to work it out themselves and either we'll score some goals or concede 5.
Or just for the hell of it: ---------------------------------------------------------------- Smudger ---------------------------------------------------- ------------ NathWFC ------------------- Knight GT ------------------ HB1 -------------------- YellowKicks ---------------- ----------- wfcmoog -------------------- a19tgg ---------------------- wfc4ever ---------------- TuT ---------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- GoingDown ----------------wfcSinatra ------------------------------- Sub Bench: Dom the Hornet -- Meister -- Cththlu -- TomWatfordFC -- lowerrous -- HoggDeeney -- We hate 48 -- Micha Hyde Set Peice Coach: reids Relationship Coach: RelegationCerts Proof Reader of Match Day Programme: Keighley
Brighton have Union St Gilloise (one of Belgium's most historic clubs, who since linking up with Brighton have gained promotion to the top flight, challenged for the title last season and reached the quarter finals of this season's Europa League) as a feeder club, and the link seems to work well, whereas our link with Udinese (I say link, there's the obvious family angle, but nowhere near as much joined up thinking) worked well for us initially when they were one of the best teams in Italy and we were in the Championship but despite some decent signings from them 2 seasons ago, that well has dried up for us. I think two clubs with top flight ambitions in top 5 nations is too much for a family without the financial muscle of a state behind them, especially when one is in England, but having a feeder club in a secondary European league like Belgium (or indeed Denmark as Brentford have a link with Midtjylland) seems sensible
I'd be no good in goal Skyla. I used to play attacking midfield, right wing. Plenty of pace and a fierce shot. Stick Moog into the net.
