Home GeneralWith morale at all-time low, Watford blame game begins

With morale at all-time low, Watford blame game begins

by Luna
2 views
A close-up of Ed Still wearing a navy blue zip up jacket
[Getty Images]

It seems Watford are going to be appointing another head coach in the summer. The club have not admitted it yet but Ed Still's time is surely up.

The atmosphere at games in the last few weeks is the worst it has been since the Pozzo family took over.

The owner is now taking heavy criticism from a sizeable part of the fanbase and the surprising gamble on appointing Still has backfired badly.

His record is six defeats, four draws and three wins. At Watford that is sackable in itself but the toxicity that this run has brought means his position is untenable.

Morale at the club and among the players is at an all-time low and a vicious blame game has begun.

Previous head coach Javi Gracia predicted this downfall. He felt lack of leadership and experience was going to be the Hornets' undoing.

Despite a good first half of the season, Gracia felt it couldn't be sustained and he was right. The board made a mistake in not backing him in January and Gracia left so he didn't have to deal with the inevitable mess.

The appointment of Still has also proved to have been a mistake. Bringing in an inexperienced, relatively unknown manager into a young, fractured dressing room never felt a good fit and he's looked out of his depth.

The players must accept blame too, for poor attitudes (numerous instances of turning up late for training) and lack of desire but as has been the case so often with Watford, the players themselves will be cheesed off about the cultural set-up of the club: the hiring and firing of managers, the 'player-development' recruitment policy, the infighting, the lack of discipline inside the camp.

Which leaves the fans. Upset, disgruntled, annoyed – there is now even a sense of apathy. The players and the club need them in this time of need, but their patience has run out – again.

We have been here before, albeit not as bad as this.

The supporters have every right to be as critical as they are but just need to be mindful that someone has to pay the bills (Watford most recently suffered a £19m loss), unless there's a billionaire out there who wants to take over and doesn't care about losing money.

Watford will not change under Gino Pozzo but to get the fans back on-side, he's going to have to run the club better. With the Premier League days long gone and finances tighter, it would benefit him too.

Original Article

You may also like

Leave a Comment