Boggles the mind why anyone would bother with a dead language, I suppose it could help you with French/Spanish/Italian/Portuguese etc, but you could just learn those languages anyway!
I don't have an issue with the players wanting to play for a bigger club, even if it's unlikely they break through (your average prospect would be unlikely to break through with us too), they'll have the benefit of better training facilities/coaches/teammates, my main gripe is that the clubs who put in all that hard work to develop these kids get next to nothing. Wasn't it half a mil we got initially for Sancho, and then about £2m I think as a solidarity fee when he got his big move to United? That said, as much as the system is bent in favour of the bigger teams, it doesn't fully explain why we've been so bad at bringing our own young players through the academy, as every other club seems to manage to do it from time to time
They could fix it by allowing the developing club say 20% of any future resale value. At least then we’d have an interest in seeing him do well and get some sort of compensation to make effort worthwhile.
EPPP which unsurprisingly was initiated by the Premier League so that young English players can develop in top clubs using a tier system that massively favours moneybags clubs. Clearly we've really benefitted from this scheme with Jadon Sancho, Galvez and now potentially Amass moving to larger clubs because there's some myth it helps with their development and Watford a rewarded with a paltry fee set by the amazing *cough* EPPP system.
We got I think a 3% cut of the Sancho to United deal, City, who he probably spent less time at and where he never got to play in the first team, got far more. It worked out OK for us, but only because it was such a big deal, not every deal is going to be £70m!
I didn't understand English grammar until I started learning Latin. (There again, I've heard more Anglo-Saxon since I started watching Watford.)
we offered wasn’t good enough. “Steven Amass (his grandfather) wrote the following comments under an article in the Watford Observer in February. Harry Amass might still have been tempted by the lure of a glamorous club such as Manchester Utd. and by their academy facilities, but these comments do make me wonder whether he might have been persuaded to stay if he had been offered more money because he would probably have broken into Watford's first team in the near future” "He (Harry Amass) started in the academy at 9 years of age and now plays very much Watford u18s. He was also on the bench for 1st team against Reading. All coaches at Watford have developed Harry Amass, who's stlll 15yrs old, into a very exciting player with a fantastic future ahead of him." “Harry got his scholarship a year in advance. He's also been offered a 2 year pro contract. Unfortunately the wages are not impressive, not much more than scholarship wages which he doesn’t get till he's 16. He's attracting much interest from big Premier league clubs. My heart will always be with Watford and so will Harry's but as Watford say he is their star academy player they don't appreciate him so much when it come to salary. Harry didn't sign and we know what clubs are interested and Watford never provide information to Harry, his mum Gemma or me. If the right offer, club and pathway is put on the table then Harry and his mum will make the decision - they get the last say.”
Gino being cheap again. Who’d have thought. No issues with splashing the cash on Mogi agent fees and ex-head coach payout packages though.
Maybe. But no longer the narrative that Man Utd are just plucking player and nothing we could do. As always with our academy Pozzo takes the cheap route so he can deploy the funds on other priorities. And he pays the penalty.
We need to know numbers to make a judgement. What did we offer? What are Man Utd offering? What would we of needed to offer for him to stay?
Are we in a position to price match clubs like Man Utd for every child that shows a bit of potential, when we're already in a precarious financial situation? And if we did match the wages these clubs are prepared to pay, we would still need the kid and parents to be switched on enough to ignore the draw of the bigger club's status and facilities.
No we are not I’d agree. However we are in a position to invest more in the academy as opposed to double dipping the Bayat brothers on garbage like Bayo. Even you and Tut must wonder why nearly every other club has produced a couple of decent first team players in the last decade and we cannot. Maybe rather than defend Pozzo it might be worth taking the lad’s grandfather’s comments at face value. Clearly we have our place in the pecking order, but we also know Pozzo’s priorities.
That's it. You can argue about the merits of an academy and how much you should pay promising players, but you only have to look at the utter crap we have wasted millions on to see that we do appalling business, get priorities completely wrong and pinch the pennies of the little people whilst blowing huge amounts on cack. Nitpick over academy salaries whilst giving the likes of Manaj thousands a week.
Yeah because it's not as if one of his family members would ever say anything to try and deflect accusations of greed and disloyalty away from him.
Is it an either or situation? Every signing for the first team is a risk and we've made several massive money-wasting errors, as well as several money-making shrewd pickups. Both through Bayat and away from his grubby hands. Would it make a difference if there had been 1 or 2 success stories where a lad happened to be a Watford fan, or slip through the cracks? How many first team regulars have come through at clubs who have been in a situation like ours? Cat 2 academy, Premier League regulars who pay low wages with no wealthy owner. If we spend the next 5 years as a lower mid-table Championship side, I'm sure we'll see a Shaq Forde-type perhaps establish themselves as a passable player at this level, over time. Sorry, where did I mention Pozzo? Not everything has to turn into a boring Pro/Anti Pozzo debate that goes around in circles. My gripe is with the system that is intentionally built for clubs our size to miss out.
If you take his grandfathers comments at face value (and why wouldn’t you?) then it’s obvious conversations would’ve been had about what Utd were offering and what the wanted from us to stay. Utd are obviously a bigger club, but the numbers wouldn’t have been huge either way, so it’s clear we just didn’t want to pay it and it’s clear where our priorities lay. Our current financial situation isn’t just some accident foisted upon us, it’s of our own making through wasting untold millions on absolute rubbish, and not making much shrewder, smarter and ultimately much smaller investments like this. It’s the same argument we get from Gino’s disciples over Ivan Toney, “but we couldn’t afford £5m” ok, but why couldn’t we afford £5m? And then two season later with less money and more debt we miraculously find £5m for a player with 1/50th of the talent and potential of a player we supposedly couldn’t afford.
Because his family members will obviously wish to deflect from the inevitable criticism that would come his way on him jumping ship.
If you take his grandfather's comments at face value....and then add in a load of assumptions, coloured by your own biases, then sure, you might end up with this conclusion. Which isn't to say we haven't spent money in the wrong way over the years, and prioritised the wrong things. We have. And yes, obviously Ivan Toney would have been a better use of £5m than Vakoun Bayo.
Until he comes back to us on loan in 5 years time for a loan fee of £1m and an obligation to start every match.
Seems a bit mean spirited to assume, but if that is what happened then it would make more sense than posters on here who constantly deflect criticisms of Pozzo over the years. A man who won’t even talk to them!
I’m not sure who would criticise a young player joining a bigger club? The criticism on here was solely for the system… until someone pointed out the grandfathers comments which suggested he actually wanted to stay, and it wasn’t the system at all. Yet again it can’t be the owners fault though, I mean what are the chances!
It's also easy for them to claim what the club offered wasn't good enough while knowing it's highly unlikely the club can or will reveal publicly what the actual offer was.
Yet if it's a simple case of him wanting to join a bigger club - your assumption being that you think this is something understandable - then why do some on here (like you) also immediately claim it's the owners' fault, when there'd be nothing they could do to prevent it if it is a simple case of him wanting to join a bigger club?!
Two things United offered more than us. You can blame Pozzo and he is certainly to blame for a lot of what is currently going on but without seeing the two offers it's difficult to see how much they differed. Money is always going to be factor in anybody's decision just like it would be for anybody on here changing job. No matter what we offered, if United really wanted him they could go higher than anything we offered, that part is not Pozzo's fault It's Man Utd. They are a huge club and the thought of playing at Old Trafford or training with some of their first team players again would be a factor. I've supported Watford all my life but if given the chance as a youngster to go and play at United instead of Watford it would be incredibly difficult to turn down.
Ermmm, because of the grandfathers comments above? Nobody was criticising the owner (or the player) until evidence was produced to suggest we should. Do keep up.
Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Yeah not you, Jumbolina, UEA, GoingDown, Moog, etc. etc. Yeah, nobody!
This is amazing, even for you. Moog and GD haven’t even commented on this post, or even the other one, Jumbo’s only comment before the post from the grandfather was in support of the player, my only comment was about the system being rubbish. You’ve completely shown your preconceived ideas up here haven’t you, embarrassing stuff.
Look at UEA and Jumbo's earlier comments on the other thread that's discussing the Amass issue, as well as who has endorsed them. https://wfcforums.com/index.php?threads/academy-and-under-23s.43030/page-89
Moog and GD have 'liked' i.e. endorsed the comments from UEA and Jumbo that were criticising the owners. Unusually you actually don't appear to be one of them in this particular instance, but you also couldn't wait to jump on board and make unfounded assumptions. But again - yeah, "nobody"!
Sorry. What’s unfounded about blaming the “putrid smell of Pozzo and his cronies and their chaotic brand of incompetence”. And this is then followed up by claims from the lads family that we penny pinched (while simultaneously making sure the Bayats are sorted out). Seems well founded to me. Have you been asleep the last 4 seasons?
Accuses others of making unfounded assumptions whilst simultaneously making far bigger unfounded assumptions, amazing as always.
