Football 22/23

[screwy]

Yeah indeed.

[Manoverboard]

I've watched the replays on MOTD 2 plus Sky this afternoon.

' Captain ' Fernades, y'er 'avin a laugh but the worst performance for me was from Anthony.

[Bensham33]

Sack the manager.

[screwy]

Bit harsh on Vieira.!

[oldbluefox]

Went into town today and usually it's awash with Manu shirts and jackets. For some unknown reason there was a distinct shortage. Strange.....
Football supporters are a fickle lot.

[Manoverboard]

Watford have a new Manager ... who've thought it

Chris Wilder this time round

[barney]

Bloody hell.
We had a virtual 90 minute rearguard match against Stockport tonight.
A very professional 0-0
I wouldn’t normally compliment a 0-0 draw but boy, did our lads put a shift in.

[Bensham33]

I've seen some great 0-0's over the years, really good games. I'd rather a good 0-0 than than a one sided 7-0 or a



9-0

[barney]

Watford have a new Manager ... who've thought it

Chris Wilder this time round

I think that with a bit of luck and a fair wind, he should make it to the end of the season.
I wouldn’t move house if I was him.

[oldbluefox]

How many managers have they had this season Mob?

[Manoverboard]

This is our third Manager this year, but there again we had three last year as well

Watford's owners believe that they had no choice. In recent times Bilic had virtually all of the players plus half a dozen purchased in the January window and yet in spite of that they could barely register a shot on target even at home against Preston so the only thing left to do to refresh the team was to get a new manager. Stay as we were and we would be facing relegation rather than heading into the play off places ... well, that's the theory as I see it.

[barney]

Constantly doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome is the literal definition of insanity.

[Manoverboard]

Conversely doing nothing is a certain route to stagnation.

Had we kept the same manager and financial platform that we had before the Pozzos arrived the Club would have been liquidated years ago. Football is big business and big businesses change their management teams around constantly to inject fresh ideas.

[Bensham33]

They should never have sacked Rob Edwards, look what he's doing at Luton. Football is a very different animal to big business.

Patience with your manager is the key to success.

[oldbluefox]

Patience with your manager is the key to success.

Not if you've got one who doesn't cut the mustard, doesn't motivate the team, doesn't entertain the supporters.

[barney]

I’ll agree that there is certainly time for a change of management.
All fans recognise this.
But 18 managers in 12 years ???
I’m not totally sure what the owners expectations are for a club like Watford.
A high end of table Championship team, I’d say.
Possibly flirting with the odd season in the Premier League but struggling.
There are many bigger clubs than Watford in the Championship and even a few in league one and two.
They seem to an outsider to be rudderless at the top with no plan except blaming and sacking managers.
Maybe the people appointing the manager need to look at themselves.

[Manoverboard]

Watford are a club who have invested heavily in their quest to be a Premier League team. Getting there is hard enough, staying there is something else. The plan is to be a PL team.

Rob Edwards is interesting ... he came from a promoted L2 club living on the edge to a club with the infrastructure of a PL Club. He was sacked for not getting results and he was totally out of his depth at a club like Watford. Luton by comparison is a small time club with a shed for a stand and no real investment since their heyday in the late 50s. Edwards doubtless feels more comfortable there and he will recognise that expectations are lower. For him it is a good stepping stone but time will tell if the players continue to support him, the Watford players it should be noted did not.

[barney]

I feel that your impression of your team is quite different to that seen by an outsider.
Sorry mate, but I wouldn’t even consider Watford a big club.
I see them as probably a mid table Championship club size wise who have owners with unrealistic expectations.
Forest, ex European champions have taken years and years to get to the premier league. Numerous bigger clubs in the championship have similar ambitions.
Watford is just a club in the pack.
Your average attendance this season is less than 20k
About the same as Portsmouth in league one.
Three or four league one teams have a higher attendance than Watford.

[Manoverboard]

I thought I said that Watford would like to be a big club

[barney]

Big clubs are big clubs
Medium clubs (Watford) are medium clubs
Small clubs (Gills) are small clubs
When we had five years in the Championship, regularly beating clubs like Palace, Wolves and Watford, we were still a small club.
Sunderland are a big club. They were getting 40k crowds in league one.

[Onelife]

What’s this with the BBC suspending Lineker? …they should have sacked the ignorant twerp.

[Manoverboard]

Sunderland were a big club in L1 but one with only miniscule TV proceeds, Bournemouth however are a small club who get millions from Sky et al ... size isn't everything, ask OL

[towny44]

What’s this with the BBC suspending Lineker? …they should have sacked the ignorant twerp.

For once we are in agreement OL, this is a golden opportunity for the Beeb to get rid of quite a forrest of deadwood. Shearer and Wright are also well past their sell by date, and if I put my mind to it I am sure there are many others that the public would not miss, and their replacements could start on the bottom salary rung and save the Beeb from having to increase the TV license for another year.

[towny44]

Sunderland were a big club in L1 but one with only miniscule TV proceeds, Bournemouth however are a small club who get millions from Sky et al ... size isn't everything, ask OL

But it is only the top clubs that prosper in the PL, those with big stadiums and expensive season tickets, huge revenues from club shops and extra TV rights from European cup games.
The likes of Watford, Crystal Palace, Brighton, Bournemouth, Fulham, Brentford etc, who have no chance of a top 7 finish, and very long odds of a cup final victory will always struggle to keep their PL status, and can expect to spend a few seasons in the champuonship at the very best, and like Derby, Sunderland, Sheffield Wednesday and United, they might have to drop into league 1 occasionally.

[david63]

What’s this with the BBC suspending Lineker? …they should have sacked the ignorant twerp.

Technically the BBC cannot "sack" him as he is not employed by the BBC - he is a freelancer with a very overpriced fee.