R.I.P Setanta

I really didn't enjoy the interviews with managers whilst the game was going on. They always had two eyes and at least half a brain on the action to ever say anything of interest. An innovation Setanta did just because it was the Blue Square and they could, rather than considering whether they should. A step too far in getting the viewer right to the heart of the action.

A sad loss on the Sky EPG will be Setanta Sports News but for all the wrong reasons. A kind of Drop the Dead Donkey version of Sky Sports News. It seemed far more based in the world of sitcom than in the world of sport.

However, for the football viewer who was happy to watch any action at all whether it was a pointless England friendly or a game at the bottom half of the Conference, Setanta was a welcome addition to football broadcasting and a million times better than anything ITV Digital ever offered.

They will be especially remembered as the only broadcasters who were ever considerate enough to show a live game from Vicarage Road with cameras pointing at the Rous Stand rather than the emptiness of the East. Although you wonder whether this sort of frivolous decision making was partly what led to their downfall.

I won't greatly miss them, but will probably regret their demise on a dull Thursday night next season when there isn't any other football on.

The Next 11 Months

Hooray! They are out and we can now plan the next 11 months of our lives. Personally I'm very grateful for the way certain fixtures have fallen with away games on the dates of major family events meaning that for the first time in a long while I should make full use of the season ticket (providing I avoid the swine flu).

Is it me or do some games always seem to be in the same sort of position? Having read Paul Fletcher's excellent article on the BBC website about the fixtures computer I'm sure this is coincidence. But we do always seems to get Sheff U away early on. Forest was our second away match last season. Plymouth away is always on a Tuesday night. Bristol City are traditional Christmas opponents even though its a bloomin' long way down the M4. We are, yet again, Coventry's last home game although this time on the final day.

Donnie at home is a nice opener and ironic considering this was BR's first game in charge too. A pleasant evening trip to Underhill in the Cup follows before the tough one away at Sheff United. Easier looking games then see us going to Forest and hosting Blackpool. A brilliant start would be 9 points from the first 4 games and even 7 would be great. Anything under 4 will cause feelings of foreboding.

Its disappointing we won't see Rodgers walk down the Watford tunnel until April and, as some have already pointed out, he might not be there by then. Either being sacked or tempted away by some other mate of his. However we do get to go to the Madjetski in September and it should surprise no-one if we get Reading as a cup tie at some point.

Its a shame the trips to Boro and Newcastle are fairly close together. I really fancied going to St.James' but it seems much less appealing on a cold dark Saturday in December when we will have only recently done almost 90% of that long journey to the North East. I will definitely go to the Riverside as I've not done so before.

The trips I'm really looking forward to are the more quirky ones. Peterborough and Scunthorpe instantly got ticks as must go's. I'd like to go back up to Donnie partly as it was so friendly and partly 'cos its the easiest ground to park at ever. Cardiff will have their new stadium which tempts me although I don't know why. No doubt it will look like all the other new ones. Barnsley seems notorious as being the coldest ground in the country (although I'd argue its Adams Park) and appeals as being the sort of mad trip people like me make.

When my wife or friends ask why I bother doing a Blackpool or a Doncaster, just like mountaineers I can only give the answer "because it's there". I'd go to them all if I could. But having a family means being selective. That selection process started at 10am this morning and will be ongoing until the beginning of May. Bring it on. I can't wait.

Watford Managers League Table (from the last 30 years or so)

1. Graham Taylor
2. Ray Lewington
3. Aidy Boothroyd
4. Steve Harrison
5. Steve Perryman
6. Glenn Roeder
7. Kenny Jackett
8. Brendan Rodgers
9. Colin Lee
10. Dave Bassett
11. Gianluca Vialli

I've been meaning to do a list like this for ages and with the departure of BR and arrival of MM it seemed as good a time as any. Hopefully you've figured out that the list is in order of best to worst. If not then this probably isn't the blog for you.

The thing that strikes me most is just how hard it is to judge places 2-9. Over the last 30 years we've had one truly amazing manager and then a lot of mediocre ones and two who nearly tore the club apart. But those mediocre ones are all much of a muchness

If you split Graham's two reigns in charge, it goes without saying that he'd be in positions 1 and 2. One would be the first reign and two the second reign. He is like the No.1 single that outsells the rest of the Top 40 put together. His achievements dwarf not only those on the list but also those who managed the club before him.

Yet some dork from up the road questioned why GT is a legend on the WO site today.

Consider Graham achieved a fourth 'tier' championship and promotion from tiers 3 and then 2 (yes, I hate using the word 'tier' but just so everyone understands what we're on about). A League Cup semi final, runners up spot in the top flight (automatic qualification to the group stage of the Champions League by today's standard) followed by four highly respectable mid table finishes. The last 16 of the UEFA Cup, the FA Cup final and the FA Cup Semis. The third tier championship and promotion via the playoffs from the second tier.

Consider all the achievements of the others from 1920 when we joined the Football League. Promoted from the fourth tier, champions of the third tier. FA Cup semis three times. Promoted from the second tier via the playoffs and League Cup semi finalists once. And that's it.

Judging the others achievements against each other is a tricky job.

Ray Lewington is someone I have a lot of time for. From a league point of view he didn't do anything stunning but when you consider the turmoil the club was in following the Vialli/ITV Digital fiascos the man can be considered a saviour. It would've been so easy for us to fall into a spiral of self destruction but through Ray's no nonsense management he not only steered us to safety but also took us on a hugely enjoyable cup run.

Just as the club was getting back on its feet we then had the tragic death of Jimmy Davis. Yet again, Ray acted with supreme professionalism in taking a team that was clearly hurting and wanting the season to finish before it had even begun to safety. How easily and understandably we could have gone down that season.

In his third season he took us on an equally enjoyable League Cup run before Simpson wheeled the axe. I have no doubt that Ray would've steered us to safety in the same way Aidy did but I doubt he would've ever taken us any further than surviving the Championship. But given what the club went through both before and during his reign that is a huge achievement in itself.

Was Aidy a genius for taking a club who were favourites to go down, up to the Premiership via the playoffs? Or was he just a rookie manager who got lucky and had one good season in charge and a fairly easy draw to the FA Cup semis? I think we'll only be able to judge that one when he gets another job, although I can't imagine Swansea wanting to go from beautiful football to hoofball.

Did Steve Harrison do well to take the team devastated by Dave Bassett's wrecking ball style of management, up into the playoffs only to go out on an away goals rule that has now been scrapped? Or was he just able to ride on the remaining bits of Taylor success for that season before it all went wrong? Like Aidy its a difficult one to call.

Perryman did okay before leaving us for White Hart Lane. He avoided relegation after the Colin Lee disaster and had memorable wins in his third season in charge against Cantona's Leeds in the League Cup and Newcastle in the league. Glenn Roeder's reign was similarly okay. The high points were the 4-3 win against Bolton, an entertaining two legged League Cup tie with Spurs and finishing a decent 7th the season before he got the boot.

Kenny Jackett could have been great. He was just unfortunate that during his time in charge there was a much larger man looming over him who, fairly obviously, wasn't completely done with football management. It was only a question of when rather than if Taylor would take back full command. I think Kenny's day still might come. I certainly hope so. You wouldn't wish Millwall on him forever.

Which brings us to Buck. Difficult to place him at all really. I've ignored the gut reaction of placing him down in the hall of shame as that would be all about his departure rather than what he did when in charge. But similarly part of the reason its difficult to place him is because his reign was so brief. Its full of contradictions. He started badly but learnt quickly. He led us to an impressive 13th yet we only achieved safety after our 45th game. He used the loan market well yet got us Bridcutt and Rose. So he is in the middle. The John Major of recent Watford managers. In our history he will only merit a sentence and will always be remembered more for leaving rather than anything he actually did as our boss.

Colin Lee was a poor choice who never felt right and was never going to work. Too much at too early a stage in his coaching career. Steered us to safety after taking over from Harrison but barely won a game after that.

That just leaves the real villains of the last 30 years. Bassett only escapes finishing bottom because he didn't manage a whole season and didn't leave us as financially screwed as Gianluca. Maybe this is a tad unfair as the Italian probably did not foresee the collapse of ITV Digital but at the same time he did call us the Manchester United of the division so clearly had no financial sense and not much of a footballing one either.

Where will Malky fit into the table? I'm not going to try and predict exactly where but a mate emailed me today to ask me how I thought MM would do. I replied that I thought he would be with us for three comfortable but not sensational Championship seasons. As long as we don't look seriously in trouble of going down we'll stick with him but eventually will let him go by mutual consent with the excuse being something like 'he's taken us as far as he can.' So I guess he'll slot in somewhere between numbers 2 and 9.

A Watford Man Appointed by a Watford Board

No doubt the very fact I'm writing this will lead us to appoint a new manager this morning before I've even had a chance to publish it. But I thought I'd mull over the options and reflect on the events of the last week.

Firstly thanks to the board for coming out early on and saying it will be a Watford man in charge. This makes the wait a lot easier than under Simpson when, in all likelihood, we'd end up underwhelmed by the initial appointment and say 'who' when it was announced. I'm not saying that's how we'd always think come the end, but I like to feel a bit of excitement and/or acceptance when the announcement is made and that never happened with Aidy or BR.

Secondly having read the Watford Observer comments board all week it strikes me what a negative bunch of moaners they are. Sure, we've had lots to moan about in the past but this is a new dawn. A decent board who have got GT amongst them. They may not be the richest board, we may have to sell in order to survive but I'd much rather have Watford people on the board, just as I'd rather have a Watford man in charge. What do they want? An Abramovich style owner who comes in and splashes crazy amounts of cash around but is really only interested in the prestige of owning a football club and doesn't care which one it is. Or a board who genuinely love Watford. If it's the former then why are you supporting us? There are plenty of local football 'clubs' that would happily accept your half a grand for a season ticket, such as QPR, Chelsea or Fulham plc.

Good news that the three stooges have gone and followed BR to the MadStad. They were never ever Watford. Austin's propoganda in the programme about playing football the right way was particularly galling, and the over hyping of Lampard Senior's Watford connection when we played Chelsea just ridiculous. Good riddance. You never did anything to make me think for a moment you were interested in our club. You should have studied the behaviour of Keith Burkinshaw who took the club to his heart despite being a Spurs man and continued to attend even after we'd stopped paying him.

So to the candidates. BR might just be trying to lose any remaining ounce of goodwill at WD18 but he appears to have ruled Nigel Gibbs out of the running by stating how important he is to their set up. It would be lovely if we could steal him and then finish above Reading. But I don't think its gonna happen.

Hessenhalter seems to have split the fans down the middle. Some still hating him for going to Gillingham, others thinking he is somone who has already managed succesfully in the division keeping up a team who were clearly punching above their weight. Sounds perfect to me. However, having appeared keen, he looks like he is distancing himself from the job now. Perhaps he already knows he hasn't got it.

Tony Coton has the problem of formerly being a goalkeeper. Does a keeper ever go on to be a succesful manager? Peter Shilton, Chris Turner and Bryan Gunn are names that come to mind in the case against. Coton is a uber-Watford legend up there with the Blissetts and Mooneys. But I don't fancy him in charge.

Like a hurricane John Barnes seems to reek havoc wherever he goes and was last spotted off the coast of Birkenhead. GT presumably considers himself happily retired from the day to day running of a club now. Luther seems to have got out of the game after failing at Chesham. What about Moons? He'd certainly be good at the motivation but I don't think the board would take such a big risk.

Which really just leaves Malky drinking his beer and eating his pie. I wasn't keen for him to replace Aidy as it was his department that seemed to cause most of the trouble towards the end of Boothroyd's reign. However now we've come through the Brendan period Malky seems like a decent punt. We did okay under him for those 5 games although that doesn't really indicate how he'd fair across a whole season. But he knows the players far better than Gibbs or Hess would and also understands what the club has been through over the last three years.

Much like when we appointed Ray Lewington he just seems the right man to steady the ship. I don't expect any promotions particularly. But keeping us safely in the Championship for a couple of seasons and giving us some stability is just what this club needs at the moment. If some fun cup runs could be thrown in like we had last season than I'd be more than happy with Malky.

WO- Jimmy Russo doesn't want to discredit Brendan Rodgers but questions move to Reading

http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/4421170.Jimmy_Russo_has_his_say_on_Rodgers_departure/

Good stuff from Jimmy Salad on the Watford Obs website. Top notch too from GT. Exactly why we want him on the board.

I'm sure all those who moaned about the lack of comment approach are now eating large doses of humble pie.

Clearly someone had a word in BR's shell like over those 48 hours. An illegal approach, tapping up or just one of Brendan's mates, Nick Hammond or John MadStad, ringing up for a chat?

The trouble is how do you police this sort of thing and get evidence, let alone a conviction? Even if we managed those things would we get any reward or would Reading just get fined with that money going to the FA?

We've taken the most sensible course of action and gone for the money which we obviously need. If it means one less player being sold this summer then that's a good bit of business.

Integrity

When Steve Perryman left us I respected him for admitting that Spurs were the only club he could have seen himself leaving us for. Fair enough. I think we can all understand that players and managers are, to some extent, fans like ourselves. Obviously if you only held out to play for or manage the club you support your employment opportunities are going to be somewhat limited. Therefore you're going to take pretty much anything that is offered (apart from maybe your hated rivals, unless you are Steve Bruce) and, chances are, you'll end up at a club you don't have previous ties with.

We get that when we employ a Perryman or a Boothroyd they haven't been harbouring a long held ambition to be in the dug out at Vicarage Road. And if a certain club comes calling then we can see why you'd be interested. All we'd ask is that you be honest just like Perryman was.

But when that club with whom you do have a previous connection come along don't tell us its questioning your integrity that you are linked with it. Because when you do then jump ship it actually proves to us you had none in the first place.

Oh, and that statement on the OS and WO site was rubbish. No explanation, no apology, no justification. Just a "I'll never forget you" type of sentiment. Well, matey, when you come back to the Vic sometime in the next 11 months we certainly won't have forgotten you.

Enjoyable Inconsistency- A review of the season

A bit of context. I wrote this review on the way to work this morning before I'd heard the news about Brendan. I think its only fair to publish it as it was, because anything I say about him now will be clouded by the action he has taken.

Having read the season review of 2007/8 one thing keeps jumping out at me. Just how much more enjoyable this season was. In the season of our abortive playoff attempt we had a good beginning to the season, made even better by the arrival of Adam Johnson. Once he'd gone apart from a few games, the rest was miserable.

This season just gone we've constantly flirted with relegation, only making ourselves safe in the penultimate match, had a change of board, a change of manager who initially the fans didn't warm too, but some how its all been a lot more entertaining. A series of small triumphs over adversity.

I went into it with very low expectations. Our pre-season form was awful. Never before can I remember the team being booed off in a pre-season friendly, but thats just what happened at Stadium:MK and I'm afraid to say it was well deserved. We had no clue that night. No one quite sure what our new style was supposed to be. Priskin seemingly in the death throes of his Watford career gave us no hint of what was to come, but then I don't think he ever did under Aidy.

So to go to Palace and get a goalless draw on the opening day was a fine result indeed. Rather ironic that it was goalless given the amount of times the ball would go in the net follwing it. The only other 0-0 all season was a similarly impressive 0-0 at Ipswich.

Our record in August wasn't bad four home wins, two in the league, two in the cup and a 3-2 away loss to Forest.

September will be forever overshadowed by the Atwell incident but looking back it was a game that made me tremendously proud to be a Watford fan. The way we used the ghost goal to battle our way back into a game that we would've won if it hadn't been for the penalty right at the end. Following it was another proud performance as we dispatched West Ham in the Carling Cup. Its true that we didn't actually manage to score on the night but thanks to their own goal and some great defending we got through.

October and early November was where it all went wrong for Aidy. Some crazy matches culminating in the 4-3 loss to Blackpool. It still seems a bit of a surprise now that he went when he did. Its not as if we'd lost four or five on the bounce by cricket scores. Even our style of playing wasn't awful, not attacking wise anyway. It was the defence that needed sorting. Which is why I'll always think it was particularly odd that we replaced Aidy in the interim with Malky, the man in charge of our defence. However, he did okay in his spell as caretaker succesfully seeing us past Swansea in the Carling Cup and annilihating QPR which was a lot of fun.

Since leaving Aidy seems to have been some what villified by some fans. I think this is partly due to his link with Simpson, partly down to a perceived lack of humility, and also because the team his permanent successor brought in immediately embarked on a campaign to persaude our hearts and minds that we'd previously been playing football the wrong way.

This grated quite a lot with me, maybe because it went against everything that God, who would be returning himself a couple of months later, had believed during his original campaign of glory during the 80's.

At the beginning the hardcore lets play it on the floor experiment just didn't work. The game against Donnie was an embarassment as we showed Brendan why were aren't as good at football in any sense as those of his previous employers.

But, although I didn't realise it at the time, the second game, a right awkward one against Spurs in the Carling Cup, showed already why Brendan is probably better than Aidy. He changed things so that we actually gave Spurs a decent run for their money. Following that BR had his moment of doubt before we lost away at Birmingham, which given what we know now I think is perfectly understandable. If you'd been told a load of half truths about a new job you'd just taken on I think you'd be more than entitled to reconsider your position.

Two wins in four days over Norwich and Coventry in the wet proved a bit of a false dawn. The Christmas period was grim as Bristol City won the Boxing Day game within about 30 seconds of the start. Not long after came the worst point of the season when Darius and Danny came to town and totally outclassed us leading to ironic cheers for Hendo's goal.

But Brendan kept learning. He kept changing things until he'd got the team playing in his style but within their own limitations. No more so is this apparent than in the change to Lloyd Doyley. I love him but even I'd admit that under Aidy he couldn't pass to save his life and as an offensive weapon was hopeless. Under Brendan he passes with complete confidence and we surely aren't far away now from Lloyd's first goal for the 'Orns.

Priskin too has performed a transformation a kin to a caterpiller into a butterfly. Once the man you always expected to miss any goalscoring opportunity, is now a dead cert when he is 1 to 1 with a keeper even scoring past Petr Cech.

From February onwards things really did look hopeful even though it took until that Coventry away match to make us safe. Good performances against Doncaster, Charlton, Forest, Swansea and even Chelsea pointed that the future is at least hopeful, although it partly depends on how much we have to sell over the summer.

It was a season of inconsistency but I'd rather have that in a way than the consistent way we were good in the opening 15 games or so of 07/08 and then fairly rubbish in the rest.

Don't Blame the Board

I see the vilifying has already started. Not only against Brendan but stupidly also against the board for allowing it to happen.

What are they expected to do, tie Brendan to a chair? There is no point in saying no to an approach because you're just creating an unhappy situation all round. People seem to think being a football manager is different to any other job, but think of your own situation. If you were interested in another job and your current employer was difficult about it, it would just make you want to leave even more.

Speaking out against the best board we've had for many a year is just crazy. Don't forget GT is one of their number now and I've no doubt he'll make sure we get someone who can do the job.

Brendan Rodgers Departs

As ever when this happens the initial reaction is shock. However thinking logically about it I guess its no surprise given where he lives and his past links.

I expect he'll be vilified for it by certain supporters. Really we were probably lucky to have him as long as we did given what we know now.

No doubt we'll now get Reading in the first game of the season.