Watford Fc - A Deeply Rotten, Toxic Club

The life of the zealot I suppose. All binary. No nuance.

Although how Pozzo has developed this status given that he treats his followers with contempt is beyond me.

Our fanbase is a deeply strange state of affairs.

 

I think we all know you're a dyed in the wool bedwetter, so probably no need to ram it home. You're not sheepish.

 

I think this is accurate, and I would suggest things have also be exacerbated by Covid. Most of us have been living in a heightened state of stress for a while, and the impact of the pandemic plus successive lockdowns has definitely taken a toll on a lot of people.

It seems to me that civil discourse is at an all time low as so many people are exhausted and often carrying mild (or worse) mental burdens as a result of the pandemic and related items. People have much shorter fuses and are far less tolerant than usual, and far more prone to negativity and confrontation.

 

This is a new take. People critical of the owners must be doing so because they are carrying mental burdens from Covid lockdown? Good grief.

 

Read a post by another well known poster not so long ago, prattling on about how you view your football team being an extension of your personal life, and if you’re unhappy about things it’s likely that you have underlying issues in your personal life that you’re expressing. Absolute codswallop.

 

I don't think Arakel quite said that, and it's a fair point that the forum has certainly become a lot more negative and toxic over the last couple of years, and I think reasonable debate has suffered as a result.

Of course a relegation didn't help! Although we did achieve promotion to the top level, which has only happened a handful of times in the club's history. That didn't seem to help though.

 

It's something that gets thrown at Nath a lot. "you're angry with the state of the football club and the way you express it means you must have problems in your personal life". These people can't seem to get to grips with the simple concept that some of us are absolutely furious with what Pozzo has done to our club in terms of finance and culture. It's perfectly possible to be furious about what has become of the club we love without having some underlying mental health issue.

 

He might not have meant it that way. But he replied to someone critical of people blaming the owners with "so many people are.............carrying mild (or worse) mental burdens . People have much shorter fuses and are far less tolerant than usual, and far more prone to negativity."

I'm not sure there is much else to be taken from that, than people critical of Pozzos are impacted at least in part by mental burdens. I thought it was a pretty poor post to be honest and by the context and wording it's clearly aimed at those "blaming the owners" and those showing "negativity". It's like me posting some gibberish that because of lockdown, people need to security of looking up to Pozzo and will thrash out at people critical of their pillar of strength. But of course if I posted that it would be insulting nonsense.

 

I'd imagine the core of the Pozzo model is in the transactions themselves. The only players I can think of who we improved and then sold at their peak value are Vydra and Ighalo. We sold Richarlison too early and Doucoure too late and like Ighalo both players got worse during the later part of their time at Watford. Hughes improved at Watford but then we lost him in a cut price deal. Ake is probably the best example of us developing a talented young player and JP is developing too although we don't seem to be doing much for his goalscoring. It's said we paid between £30 and £40 million for Sarr and we should still make a tidy profit on him, but has he really improved over the last 2 years? We'll also make money on Dennis and JP when the time comes. Ironically the deals for Suarez and Estupiñan were 2 of the best 'Pozzo model' deals we've done and they never even played for us. I guess the Pozzo model is to make money buying and selling players, unearth the occasional gem and put together a survival squad in the top flight/promotion squad in the champo for as little money as possible whilst constantly changing managers. I dont think player development really comes into it at all.

 

I think there are several reasons the forum got more toxic, the pandemic must be part of it but the are other significant reasons too. The way Scott tried to rebrand the club into a meaningless, vacuous franchise, the attack on Luther Blissett with no apology issued afterwards, the catalogue of bizarre and disastrous decisions by Scott and Gino, the unfathomable refusal to sign a decent centre back, having a convicted violent offender as the voice of the club and letting him talk so much sh1t to the media and be above the manager, coming close to sabotaging our promotion chances when we had a squad good enough to win the league, the constant stream of not quite good enough journeyman players and all of Scott's lies/gaslighting/fake PR. The club has become more toxic and the forum has reflected that. We were stupid enough to believe Scott when he said we'd be the best of the rest. No one likes to feel like a sucker and he sure as hell suckered us. Scot sold us a fairy tale and we believed him, now we know it was all lies.

 

Don't worry about it. I think what I wrote was pretty clear. If someone wants to deliberately try and twist it into something it wasn't, shame on them.

 

Well people can read what you posted. I think you were pretty clear.

 

Yes he will be back very soon

 

Tell me Kwando Kwando Kwando?

 

The club is a toxic, divided, disorganised mess so why wouldn’t the fan base be the same?

Nothing seems to have much thought, few examples from Deeney leaving rushed on the last day, to no post for Mariappa when he left to two players signed in the last 12 months being left out of the squad already and not moved on now just collecting wages AND the one loan terminated too.

It’s always, always plasters. QSF II was a short fix, as was Pearson as was Xisco, as was Ranieri as is now Roy. Ivic was maybe the one that had markings of a bit of thought and future planning and that went rapidly **** up.

A fanbase that has seen like 6 head coaches and about 12 different centre back partnerships in a year is going to be toxic. If anything, an argument can be made for people valuing life more and being more positive post pandemic and WFH positively benefiting work life balance.

 

Blame the Premier League and Murdoch for this.

 

Of course that outlook isn’t helped when a Mod steams into a debate saying one side are just having ‘tongue-in-cheek banter’ when they throw abuse around whilst the other side are seen as being genuinely nasty.

(Not at all implicating you in the above)

 

This might be the best joke ever posted here and nought. Philistines!

 

I hate this football club.

 

For a league that is glamourised as 'the place to be, the Disneyland of football' it doesn't half bring a lot of misery...

 

I've tended to find that if I'm showing signs of being p155ed off in my personal life, it's often cos my football team is performing crap, not vice versa.

 

The chaotic approach to player and coaching staff recruitment aside, fans are sick of being shabbily treated and then insulted by the club's barely literate communications. Take the new phone entry system: it clearly wasn't fit for purpose so the response was "get to the ground hours before kick off". And what about the 'miss more than 2 matches and risk losing your season ticket' scheme? It couldn't be more badly thought out or offensive. We have an owner who completely ignores the fans and a chairman that looks, acts and sounds like one of the smuggest, most self satisfied tw ats that ever drew breath. It's no surprise that more long-term supporters are finding better things to spend their money and time on.

 

This club is irredeemably rancid to the core. I like Ray though.

 

It’s also putrid, noxious ,fetid, smelly , virulent , pernicious and musty .

 

Notice how our fortunes plummeted almost immediately after they introduced the 'Keep The Vic Full' "campaign" fully inclusive of that unpleasant threat? Schadenfreude indeed.

 

Apart from the evening after a limp defeat or at the match itself, it's all quite compartmentalised for me.

Sure, if watford are flying high and doing well, or we've got a big cup semi or final to look forward to, it gives me a lift, but you can't make it to your mid 40s as a follower of Watford and the English national teams and still allow disappointment in sport to massively affect one.

 

I'm kind of pleased that a lot of you guys seem to have fallen out of love with WFC, because I assume you guys will not be renewing your season tickets which hopefully will mean I can get some for me and my family.

A few years ago I had to give up my season tickets for personal reasons that I had held for many years, even though I spent nearly 30 years living in Cornwall.

However, I have been on the waiting list for about three years now as my circumstances have changed, but I have been unable to get any season tickets so far. Therefore please guys by all means do your talking with your feet and allow others to buy the precious season tickets that you apparently no longer want.

 

Notice also how it caused a global pandemic? Truly appalling strategy from the club...

 

Dont u no m8 the ones that moan dont go 2 games reel supportas support the teem

 

Is it not possible to be critical of how the club is run whilst also supporting the team on match day? There seems to be this odd idea that both are inherently linked.

Like you said, once you drop your season ticket it's very difficult to get another one, which will play on the minds of those that are current season ticket holders as you never know what is around the corner. In a couple years time we could be under new ownership or perhaps after another relegation a restructure as to how the club operates off the pitch.

 

Don't u know that a fair few people have actually said on here that they have had enough and said they were going to give up on WFC.

So I am hoping they will follow through on their convictions and give up their season tickets, but unfortunately for me I think as Cassetti's Beard says the doubt about getting their ST's back if they change their minds in the future might stop them following through with their current threats.

 

u goin 2nite m8?

 

I'm following Ben Foster's example and farming my season tickets out to opposition fans for the rest of the season.