Sailing, snorkelling and looking forward to SCUBA diving, it is hard to appreciate what’s happening to my team on the other side of the world. In the space of a few weeks we have lost our honorary life president (Elton), our manager (no longer will the nickname “Betty” grace this blog), our chairman Graham Simpson and now our chief executive Mark Ashton. Paraphrasing: to lose one board member is silly, to lose two is downright careless. There are fears expressed on internet boards that we are in freefall, other opinions suggest that we may have turned the corner with the departure of loss leaders. I fall squarely into the latter camp.
How Watford FC Plc managed to turn a season in the Premier League and the £40 million income it brought (along with nearly £10 million for Ashley Young - who has since justified every penny - £4 million each for Hameur Bouazzer and Marlon King, £2 million each for Darius Henderson and Danny Shittu) into a financial crisis is endlessly bewildering. Would we be in Leeds’ or Luton’s position if we had lost that play-off final three and a half years ago? We didn’t spend silly money on new players and stated clearly that we were earmarking cash for stadium redevelopment. What happened?
The question is rhetorical. There had been some fallings out with “the Russos”, a family whose name unfortunately brings to mind the Sopranos rather than Abramovich, but they are right back on the scene after the AGM that triggered the chairman’s demise. There have been subsequent reports that the new manager, Brendan Rodgers, was poised to leave within a week of arriving.
I realise now that I haven’t blogged about the arrival of the ex-Chelsea reserve team boss but can’t say much more than “I was right” about the fact I wouldn’t have heard of the next Watford coach. On his watch we have drawn against the bottom club, lost at home to Spurs (which our host in Queensland, Allen, enjoyed) but we finally won two games, both 2-1, at home against Norwich and Coventry this week. Some less fair-weather fans than I are dreaming of Championship football again next year. I am dreaming of the Great Barrier Reef this week.
How Watford FC Plc managed to turn a season in the Premier League and the £40 million income it brought (along with nearly £10 million for Ashley Young - who has since justified every penny - £4 million each for Hameur Bouazzer and Marlon King, £2 million each for Darius Henderson and Danny Shittu) into a financial crisis is endlessly bewildering. Would we be in Leeds’ or Luton’s position if we had lost that play-off final three and a half years ago? We didn’t spend silly money on new players and stated clearly that we were earmarking cash for stadium redevelopment. What happened?
The question is rhetorical. There had been some fallings out with “the Russos”, a family whose name unfortunately brings to mind the Sopranos rather than Abramovich, but they are right back on the scene after the AGM that triggered the chairman’s demise. There have been subsequent reports that the new manager, Brendan Rodgers, was poised to leave within a week of arriving.
I realise now that I haven’t blogged about the arrival of the ex-Chelsea reserve team boss but can’t say much more than “I was right” about the fact I wouldn’t have heard of the next Watford coach. On his watch we have drawn against the bottom club, lost at home to Spurs (which our host in Queensland, Allen, enjoyed) but we finally won two games, both 2-1, at home against Norwich and Coventry this week. Some less fair-weather fans than I are dreaming of Championship football again next year. I am dreaming of the Great Barrier Reef this week.
No comments:
Post a Comment