The Vile Club Narrative

Ok, Pozzo owns the physical body of the club but the heart and soul are ours.

Either way Pozzo out and I look forward to seeing what the Spanish prosecutor on his case for alleged tax evasion and financial fraud has to say. If he gets found guilty I imagine fan sentiment will shift quite markedly.

 

Agreed.

PS. Glad I have made it off your lengthy ‘ignore’ list.

 

Perhaps we should have a poll here although ideally any question would need to be well framed. I guess there is a degree of uncertainty in a simple should he stay or should he go now question as its not clear to the voters what alternative they are voting for until we find a buyer. Theoretically if he goes there may be trouble but if he stays there may be double or vice versa or something.

 

I expect there would be a clash of opinions maybe followed by an English civil war.

 

There’ll always be a Clash of opinions

edit…just seen you beat me to it haha

 

Hopefully we won't be so hard up we have to leave the Vic or else it'll be London Calling

 

Anyone convincing himself the club isn’t Gino’s is quite frankly kidding themselves. He owns it; you pay him to attend, support etc, it’s that simple.

If he wanted to destroy it, unfortunately apart from protesting, there really isn’t much anyone on here could do.

 

Could be a real Clash of opinions.
EDIT: didn’t read all the thread before posting.

 

I agree, there's not much we as fans can do to make him sell the club but I do think more can be done to put pressure on the owners to address issues the fans have about the club in general.

I am surprised though, considering how vocal some are online, that there isn't some sort of organised Pozzo Out movement on the vast social media platforms we have now.

 

Are you surprised? One of the podcasts did a 5-a-side tournament for charity this weekend (which should be applauded)…but is it a coincidence that Luther, Tom Cleverley and even Harry The Hornet turned up?

These platforms won’t say much as they get access.

To be fair, that DNSYE lot do seem somewhat independent - but a lot of their phone-in type stuff seems to actively encourage maniacs like those Ron and Charlie idiots.

 

Vocal online means nothing in real life. Online personas for many are about being as extreme in their view as possible to get the attention they crave, but those extreme views are still the minority even if they are the loudest.

1 - A small group who are so angry about how the club is run they will spend all day telling you how they don't go anymore and never will and nobody else should.
2 - A large percentage of fans who are unhappy with how the club is being run but will renew and still turn up of a weekend to enjoy a game of football with their pals, might have a grumble at the game but then go home and largely forget about it.
3 - Everyone else.

Group 1 is the smallest but the noisiest - at least online.

 

I assumed it was a clever word that I was too dumb to know. Sounds like a fencing term (not the creosote one, the one with swords).

 

The thing is, he couldn't destroy it. That's what ultimately does make it ours. Sure he could run the entity currently called WFC into bankruptcy and sell the stadium to property developers, but there would still be a Watford FC. Fan backed and playing at the bottom of the football pyramid and working its way back up.

Gino doesn't own Watford FC. The 150 years of history and countless other egotistical owners who've come and gone show that. He will be gone, sooner or later, but WFC won't stop existing.

 

Number 1 is my favourite. Very vocal and love to mention that they don't go anymore if that somehow makes them better than others but actually do naff all about removing the issue. I'm very much in group 2

 

What is it exactly you want me to do about it? Loads of our fans are still pro Pozzo or indifferent. The club will manhandle you out of the stadium if you take an anti Pozzo banner. If anyone attempts to organise a demonstration it gets an interest of maximum 30 fans on twitter.

Seems I can vote with my feet and not give the awful Pozzo anymore of my money. What else do you want me to do given the above and the mindset of our fans?

 

That really isn't true
You call fans who go to games or don't have the same hate as you do as idiots yet you do nothing either, apart from come on here saying how much you hate Pozzo. Do you show interest in the demonstration? If it's going to happen it has to start somewhere. 30 this week, maybe if something happens it would gain traction and interest and next week it's 50 and so on

 

Hang on, it seems like you are agreeing with the premise of the opening post and actually disagreeing with Jumbolina. Wow.

 

I think you underestimate the “careful what you wish for” sentiment in the fanbase.

And isn’t the numbers the point? If only 30 people want to demonstrate doesn’t that just show that our fans aren’t strongly anti Pozzo at all?

Why should I use my time on a small meaningless demo under an Uncle Ron banner no doubt, possibly get abuse chucked at me by our fans, definitely get manhandled by the stewards while meanwhile the likes of you keep going and stay silent because you want to meet your mates and have a beer.

I’ll just let Pozzo run the club into the dust and use my time more productively in the meantime. None of that will stop me pointing out the dreadful owner we have in the hope that some of our fans will develop stronger opinions on the matter. Presumably that is allowed.

 

I wasn't talking about podcasters.

 

For what it's worth i think that should definitely be allowed. However, I do wonder if repeatedly pointng out your hatred for the owner on an internet forum is truly using your time productively and I worry that this course of action may not be condusive to one's personal happiness.

 

I really enjoy it.

 

Not a bad line up to be fair, who played up front?

 

I enjoy it to be honest. He's a nasty piece of work and it's good to have an outlet. I'm truly worried where he will leave our club.

 

Isn’t this how it should be aired? Repeatedly and honestly? Not sure why it should have to be linked to someone’s personal wellbeing?

Someone can be the happiest they’ve ever been in their personal life and still feel the desire/requirement to voice their dismay/anger at how the club they support is being run into the ground if they should wish. The points should not be considered mutually exclusive whatsoever.

If Jumbo or anyone else thinks ‘god I hate how things are going and I can see my club going out of business here! But I will only voice this occasionally and I best be careful not to annoy people by saying it too much’ then what a sorry state of affairs that is frankly. And the same goes for anyone else who loves Gino etc. Say what you want as often as you want. The moment it’s watered down is when apathy reigns. And that’s why we are where we are right now if we are honest.

 

I don't know that it's for me to say definitively either way how people should air stuff as ultimately that's a personal choice. But seeing as you asked, my personal opinion would be that if one felt strongly that their club was going out of business it might be better to air it in a more proactive way to try and actively instigate a change or protest. But I can get trying to win hearts and minds to ones point of view on a forum is also a valid approach. This is my pereonal opinion and im not seeking to reopen the earlier debate in this thread between KGT and Jumbo.

I was more picking up on the earlier implication that rather than actively protesting against the club it was a more productive use of time to repeatedly make the same points on a forum. But I accept that this was perhaps an over simplication on my part of what was being said.

The point Jumbo made in response made complete sense to me in that it's enjoyable to him voice his hatred for GP on this forum as an outlet.

I don't think i was saying people shouldn't voice opinions and if it came across this way than sorry. I not sure that the principle of free speech is really under attack on this forum but appreciate there is some sensitivity on this issue.

 

I hate to say this but Pozzo is going to be £125 better off by May.

I received a letter about some long forgotten shares I bought.

I'm sure I purchased £250 but they're worth £125 now!

I can cash in if I have the certificate.

Small word,big meaning.

I have until May 24 but I suspect it's long gone, probably up in smoke with other sacrifices!

I'll start looking...

 

We already know that the Pozzos want to sell. But at the moment there are no buyers. Even for a club on the outskirts of London. Even for a club that will be debt free (away from owner debt). Even for a club that has recently been in the Premier League and would need a certain limited amount of investment to be back there again

so protest what? The fact that Pozzos are refusing to sell even though that’s not true?

 

Do we know they want to sell? Few rumours of ‘outside investment’ (which were made to sound far more likely by Leventhal than they actually were) but there’s been very little evidence that they want to sell up.

Plus I’d say we need a lot of investment in the playing squad to get promoted and we are not close to being debt free either, even if you write off the £75m (and growing) owed to Gino…and I’m not sure why we’d ignore that frankly!

 

yes been lots of inside info that they want to sell. But obviously I can’t prove that

I disagree on the lots of investment in the grand scheme of things. £50-100m would get us challenging again which, if a US or Saudi consortium, would be the expected number I would presume

Based on the last accounts and the expected sale of Asprilla at the end of the season then external debt will almost be eradicated. Very dependent on how much Pozzo wants to sell will be how much of his debt/profit he wants to recoup

don’t get me wrong I would be delighted to see the Pozzos go…but a protest would only work if there is a buyer lined up

 

There was an article in the Times about 6 weeks ago that stated GP wanted to sell.

 

I said very little evidence, not none!

Fingers crossed he wants to sell - and I imagine it’s crossed his mind more in the last 12 months than any other period. But personally (and from speaking to people within the club), I don’t believe he wants to sell.

 

Got any steer on finding that, after all these weeks, by any (likely slim) chance? I don't recall that one at all, off the top of my head.

 

It was titled “Watford for Sale” and appeared in the Martin Ziegler “Sports Notebook” column on a Saturday. As for timing, it was around the time the financial results were published.