Watford FC - The Pozzo Family

I prefer the other one with the Eddie Oshodi and 'wages' references.

EDIT - oh ****, you made the one you posted? It's good as well.

 

lol i think i made this immediately after the player of the season awards when the palace fans were up in arms.

 

I still violently hate Ian Holloway.

 

I couldn't care less about him anymore.

His managerial career has deteriorated whilst we as a club have grown and grown. Last laugh etc.

 

In Milan this week for meetings with senior media companies and everybody has been asking me about the Man U game - amazing how high profile it was over here. Some titbits picked up along the way:

- Udinese new stadium looks amazing. Really like the multi coloured seats
- Pozzos fell out with local council over naming the stadium the Dacia Arena compared to Stadium Friuli, the historical name which meant a lot post earthquake
- definite truth in the ongoing rumours surrounding them selling, their absolute priority is Watford
- Ginos sister hosts an unbelievable party every year in Ibiza
- everybody I spoke to have heard about Watford and all rate Walter very highly

Nothing ground breaking but surreal to be meeting people who are really interested in the club

 

Really interesting, fascinating to hear. That idea of selling Udinese having any legs still seems so incredibly strange to me, if we are priority or not, they've owned them for decades and they're not just some random team they chose, Giampaolo was literally born there! Would be a shame, in my eyes, and would also surely mark a departure from their established model as they wouldn't have a place to develop the younger players and park the reserves/use as a base for their myriad loans as they do now.

 

Well they don't own Granada anymore but we've still got a fair few fingers in that pie

 

I for one would feel remorse if ever they did sell Udinese to concentrate on us, as l did to a degree when they off-loaded Granada. Udinese have reasons enough to feel a degree of resentment towards Watford all ready, not to mention the incredible debts we still owe them. To me, if l were a Udinese fan it would feel a right kick in the teeth if it were to happen.

Cue somebody saying business is business, it's a cutthroat world and there is no loyalty or sentiment in football any more. Maybe, doesn't make it sit any better.

 

But why? .... the money involved would have to be pretty astronomical and Red Bull have a track record of investing in their teams. RB Leipzig currently sit 2nd in the Bundesliga, they were absolute nobodies a few seasons back.

 

I don`t see the connection of the Red Bull teams with Udinese. Leipzig are hated in Germany more than MK are here. The amount of money any would be purchaser is prepared to hand over to Udinese will have a bigger impact for us than it would the Udinese fans l am guessing.

 

I couldnt give a toss. I'm a watford fan, not a pozzo-collection-of-clubs fan.

Solely concentrating on watford can only be of benefit to our club. And might just end up with us acquiring the first trophy in our entire history.

 

Eh? .... but that's the whole rumour, admittedly Udine is comparatively small but they have a potentially huge catchment area.

Leipzig are hated now but then so but so were Chelsea and Citeh. If Leipzig ever get to knock Bayern off their perch you can be sure they will be adored by half the German population.

 

The rumour is Red Bull are interested in buying out Udinese? I guess l didn`t know that.

Edit: Just got up to speed on the Udinese thread...Pozzos will do whatever they do but l believed them to be footballing men as much as business owners. I noticed Sherlock hasn't made any comment about the rumour..l can't believe many there are thrilled at the prospect.

 

I agree.

After all, how would we have felt if Bas had sold Watford so he could buy Udinese?

 

The point here to me is, if they're willing to sell on the club they support and have invested an incredible amount of money/energy in to a faceless corporation, what will they do to us given a half decent offer?

 

Laugh as they roll up their sleeves revealing L*t*n tattoos

 

I'm not sure what, but i would have expected there to be some advantage in keeping an EU football club, for when we brexit.

 

given that scenario they will sell us without hesitation of course. Why wouldnt they? And who could blame them. They are businessmen. Watford is a mutually beneficial arrangement and nothing more. It's brilliant that they are here as it means we have a good chance of winning our first ever trophy, but I hope we win it soon because at some point (when we are no longer beneficial to them/they've made enough money/they get bored) we'll most likely be back in the championship within a few seasons.

I am absolutely serene about that too. Why should they care about us anymore than we care about udinese?

 

I totally agree. I said it was like being the adopted child that the parents idolise whilst ignoring their own kids. One of the guys I spoke to was an Udine fan....he had huge admiration for the Pozzo family but totally understood why their priorities were changing and didn't seem too bothered if the new owner took them to the next level...he thought the new stadium would be a fitting legacy

No idea if he represents other's views

 

I thought they only sold 51% of Granada, and if they sold a controlling interest in Watford, they would still be involved as part owners and presumably would still want the club to progress to increase their shares value and their share of the profits. As maintaining premiership status and growing the clubs footballing success is the way to do that as supporters surely better commercial hard nosed owner than say a wealthy glory owner, like the owners who have failed to bring footballing success at QPR, Blackburn, Leeds, etc?

 

I thought Gino still owns 49% of Granada ?

Also, how many players of theirs does he own ? Isaac Success transfer fee was paid to Ginos Company wasn't it ?

 

If and when they sell us you can only hope and assume it will be as an established premiership club. If that's the case we would presumably have no debt, a great stadium and a fantastic team as well as the promise of whatever the latest mega billion pound TV deal is. So they'd be selling us for a pretty sizeable amount, an amount only somebody with very deep pockets could afford. They would have to be that rich they wouldn't be buying us to make money more as a rich mans play thing, so hopefully it wouldn't be that bad if and when it does happen.

That at least is the hope.

 

Well, the point is it doesn't bother me too much.
I think the Pozzo's are the best owners Udinese could dream to have and what they've done with limited resources (compared to sheiks, oil tycoons, media moguls and other owners around in football world) is amazing.
More than 20 consecutive years in top tier, 11 qualifications to European Cups, in a system where small teams get only the crumbles of TV rights money and in a city of 80k inhabitants, this is a small miracle.

Yet, if they read sometimes the social networks and are fed up of ungrateful fans always complaining, and if they are also fed up of politicians always trying to make obstacles (the Dacia Arena - Stadio Friuli "problem") and of an Italian football system that hinders the "small clubs" ...
well, I can perfectly understand if Gianpaolo wants to just enjoy a golden retirement and if Gino wants to focus his undoubtable football managing skills in the best possible environment, where he can really show how much money AND results can obtain a sharp mind in the right place.
If they want to quit, that's understandable and I'll simply be forever grateful to them for three exceptional decades (and I will continue to be a fan of WFC as a club owned by people of my county).
If they quit, they'll try to leave Udinese in good hands and Red Bull is probably one of the best options around.

I'd prefer them to stay. I'll understand them if they leave and won't cry if they sell to Red Bull.

Edit P.S.: I'll give more comments about what I think of Red Bull as possible new owner in future but right now we're 1-0 on Fiorentina so ... later.

 

I always thought the dual ownership of Watford and Udinese was mutually beneficial to both clubs in terms recruitment and allocation of players.

 

Initially I would've said yes. But now things seemed to be very much skewed in our favour and we're getting the better players. The stakes are much higher with us, they can't afford for us to get relegated as the overall loss would be significantly higher.

 

Whoah ... skewed would suggest we should be on equal terms but it really can't work like that because of income and F.P.P.

We've been in the PL five minutes of a hopefully long stay, I'm certain Udinese will benefit in many ways but a) not immediately and b) it still needs to stand up to scrutiny. The days of big brown envelopes have long gone.

 

Well we've sent them... Angella, nowhere near good enough for us but good enough for them?

 

Sorry but were we meant to send them Deeney? ... As I said we've been here five minutes, Udinese will have to wait a little longer for the quality transfers they can use.

 

I imagine if they ever got into real trouble we would buy them what they needed in Jan

 

Are they not looking after Berahino for us in January?

 

As bad as it sounds I couldn't give a **** about Udinese or Granada, as long as Watford are doing well.

 

Meh, I quite like following the other Pozzo clubs (including Granada). Problem is they seem to both be rather pony at the moment.

 

Visionary Pozzos - Our much loved promotion heroes

Despite all the wailing and general gnashing of teeth when our promotion heroes were sold, their general lack of progress shows the astute football and business brain of the Pozzos.

Vydra, Abdi, Anya, Pudil, Angella all battling to get off the bench in the Championship/Udinese.

Only Fessi is successful (still miss him, and the professor :dismay: ).

But no room for sentiment, and 'Selling at their peak' is working well.

Thoughts ?

 

Anya only survived the first cull because he was home grown.