That looks like the smile of a man who will no longer have the burden of working in his second language, will have sun and Senegalese restaurants to enjoy and won’t have a change of head coach before Christmas.
So far this summer we’ve identified and got our new manager and coaching staff in early. While our new signings so far haven’t been of a calibre that’s given us much excitement, it at least seems we are recruiting in line with said manager’s wishes and playing style. 13 players have left us. I don’t like the expression dead wood because these are real human beings involved, but it’s true we’ve shifted several players who don’t offer us what we want. Money has come in, and that hopefully will put us in a better financial position, although quite rightly we question why we got ourselves in this mess in the first place. Again we will all quibble over the values of some of our outgoings, but really that’s something out of all our hands as supporters and we just have to accept things for what they are. We will still have football to watch in 11 days time, whether or not Sarr went for 10 million, 12 or 15! Seeing the likes of Pedro and Sarr leave to be replaced by the likes of Wesley and Livermore is quite an unsettling experience but the hope has to be that history will let us look back at the summer of 2023 and conclude that it was needed, it was done with a purpose and a logic not previously seen during many of our transfer windows, and that it was the first of several windows carried out this way. Let’s hope!
He's smiling as he's about to execute a 'reverse Pape Gueye' on the Olympique Marseille hierarchy, rip up his paperwork and sign for Premier giants L***n Town, as advised by his new agent, Monsieur Mogi. You heard it here first.
I guess that we've at least recruited according to the team needs, though, one can question the standard at which we're recruiting. I'm far from sold, however. The club has to show a lot more than signing a few freebies who aren't completely non fitted to our expected system to win me over.
The loss we made on Sarr was bigger than the transfer fee we paid for Andre Gray. Both awful signings.
Exactly. Not sure what our needs are if Livermore is the solution. I see there is more of a plan, but the quality we're recruiting (so far), is pretty basic sprinkled with a lot of hope that these guys will hold up physically. Gino has put us in this position where we have to buy only players no one else wants (Livermore) and or players with serious injury history (Healey, Chakvetadze). Even Ince has some pre-existing issues and can't play yet.
I’m not won over either but at least there seems to finally be some joined up thinking and scraping the bottom of the barrel for things to be positive about, it’s a step in the right direction. We are where we are. We shouldn’t be there but poor management and recruitment has got us there. It could be a long painful climb back up but at least it’s started. My 40 years of supporting us has shown that quite often when my expectations have been at their lowest, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. I’m sure it’s been the same for many others here too. So who knows what lies in store this year. A more joined up thinking off the pitch coupled with a better team spirit and togetherness on it might at least cover up some of the obvious cracks in quality.
But it was not a transfer policy. We can now only sign players no one else wants or players that clubs are wary of committing to because of their recent injury record. That's a dreadful position to be in, but one the owner has driven us to.
Getting out of this basket-case of a club is probably one of the best moves of his career. I am surprised it didn't happen sooner. He was clearly not happy here, and the fact he has taken zsro part in pre season shows the club were working to get him out. I am not surprised he has a massive grin to finally be free. Not defending his poor attitude on the pitch, but it was clearly a good moment for him and he's obviously delighted.
Recruiting for the teams needs will all be irrelevant in two months when reality doesn’t meet expectation for Gino, and VI is fired.
Just open your eyes and look into the players we've signed so far. There is a common thread. That's proof enough for me. If we go on to sign some excellent young talent, who have not had a major injury and are highly sought after, I'll change my mind. I can only come to my conclusion based on what's happened so far.
Please. In 11/12 D1ckinson, Iwelumo, Yeates and Loach all made 30+ apps. Buaben, Garner and Forsyth all made 20+. Our summer transfer window incomings were: Forsyth, Mirfin, Yeates, Buaben, Iwelumo, D1ckinson, Tom James, Hogg, Garner, Weimann (loan). After losing Cowie, Buckley and Graham. Imagine the meltdown now!
Chakvetadze has had two ACL's and he's signing. Ince has an ongoing injury issue too. So, 3 out of 4 have had/have injury issues. I don't think they are saying if he's not had an ACL we're not interested, but I do think they are looking at this and gambling on getting players no one else will take a chance on, because an ACL injury is a black mark against a player.
The dizzy heights we experienced for the recent prem years makes the fall from grace feel worse than it should. We are just a bog standard champ side now, buying bog standard champ level players. We just need to get used to it !
I fully understand and empathise with the sentiment. The last 4 years being a Watford fan has been grim to say the least with an owner who has repeatedly shown incredible contempt to us with their actions and (lack of) words, recruited head coaches who neither brought entertainment on the pitch or a connection to the fans and notable number of players who were only here for a payday and did not want to play for us and only here due to their connections with an agent who is under criminal investigations. The promotion we had during Covid was made hollow because we couldn't attend, but the relegation that originally occurred was because of the arrogance of poor recruitment and hiring / firing head coaches without a plan. Our finances are shot because of inept decision making from up top as well as a strong stink of arrogance. There are plenty of long term season ticket holders I've had the pleasure of watching with for years who have given up or will this Season if things don't change. The only reason I have optimism for the campaign ahead is because as Malteser2 has said, we've had a near top to bottom clear out of the previous shower of **** in the changing room (More extensive than most of us predicted), started recruiting players for a manager who was identified early and does appear to match the style of play they want to implement, unlike Edwards who was set up to fail with signings like Manaj, Gaspar and Davis. Manga seems to be leading a lot more in the way of decision making on the pitch and has been fairly ruthless, something we haven't seen for a long time. We've had a breakthrough with the first At Our Place in years with Gino Pozzo there and there's another scheduled shortly before the transfer window closes. This needs to continue to hold the club to account. We need to see more. Plenty more. What we've had isn't good. It's the bare minimum. But it's a start. There does seem to be a glacial but notable change in direction at last.
You said the players we have signed, I am unaware that Chakvetadze has been announced plus you don't know what Ince ongoing injury is. We can only make comment on our transfer window at the end of it
No We paid 27m Euro (£22m at the time) with a potential for more based on metrics and sold for a minimum of 18m Euro (15m) - We paid 13m for Gray with a potential for 18.5 So, whilst not the best investment, I would argue that in monetary terms Gray was far worse and in footballing terms, there is always Ellington!!
My opinion, for what it’s worth, is I wouldn’t be signing so many players with injury issues. One or two gambles, yes...but let’s not over-do it. I’d have taken a punt on Healey definitely, but probably not Chak or Wesley. I’m much more confident Healey is already back to the player he was before the injury, whereas Wesley seems to have regressed and Chak I still feel is a big gamble. Re Ince, I’m not worried about his injury record. He played 33 matches last season. Interestingly the player who often gets held up as an example of our failed summer window so far because we didn’t get him, Callum Styles, missed four months last season because of injury. But that’s not stopped us berating the fact he’s not joined us. Had we got him, we’d be happy we’d actually paid a largish fee for somebody that another Championship club wanted too, and I bet nobody would be worrying about his injury revived. As for the worst squad issue, how is that defined? Are we worse off having players of lesser ability but more heart and desire? Playing devils advocate slightly, our signings in 2023 have included full internationals from England, Holland, Scotland, Canada, Georgia and maybe soon Brazil and Moldova. A striker who scored for fun in France, a winger with a very decent goal scoring record in our division and one of the rising stars of Scotland. How can we be sure they’re players nobody else wanted? Just because we don’t read it on Twitter, doesn’t mean the agents of Healey, Ince, Wesley etc haven’t received enquiries from other clubs. In certain cases, fora such as ours have threads saying they’re so happy to be rid of a player we’ve signed, but haven’t we done the same here about players who’ve then gone on to do well at Udinese and elsewhere? How much of an accurate barometer are such media? I’m not greatly impressed by the state our club is in or the gambles we are taking on our transfers but, and this is only my opinion and not telling others how to feel, to have a closed mind already before the season even starts isn’t healthy, about something that’s meant to be fun and enjoyable . Lots of time when it kicks off to post critical comments on our signings once we’ve actually seen them play a few games or spend weeks on the treatment table. But for now it’s all unknowns and predictions and gut feelings.
£22m I’ve heard it all now. What exactly is your source for those figures, trust me bro? We paid £32m for Sarr, but the club used a historical exchange that we hadn’t seen for 5 years prior, to suggest the Euro amount we paid was only the equivalent of £28.8m.
We can make comments at any time. We don't have to wait until the end of the window. This is what a forum is for, to discuss things on a daily basis. When events unfold, views get changed. That's normal.
35m Euro for Sarr plus performance add ons (and penalties for non-payment during Covid): https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/79cca7996fc92ca8/original/Sarr.pdf Can quibble over the exchange rate impact but the overall fee paid in Euros is indisputable as it's in the public domain.
You are giving your opinion on players that are not officially our players, until they are why bother
I've given an opinion on a player, not players. I think it's fair to assume Chakvetadze is our player. The club never announce anything quickly, but if you don't like that, that's fine. I'll live with that. Welsey is another who we are talking to, also has had an ACL injury and has never been quite the same player ever since going by what people who see him regularly say.
I know a lot about an ACL thanks. I've had people close to me who have gone through the operation. An ACL to a footballer, is a black mark. It's off putting to a buying club, hence why there's usually a reduction in fee as very often there's a risk the player is never quite the same afterwards. It's a case of buyer beware and is why I believe the club are targeting players like this. As they can get them with little resistance from others.
