The non-Watford football thread

Rather strange and silly, it must be very quiet in the enclave.

 

Yes it is very peaceful just as one would expect. Most are in bed now and after I have finished my rather nice glass of a new wine I am trying out, I will be retiring also.

 

Judging by your strange comments earlier are you sure you didn't open the absinthe by mistake?

 

Quite sure thanks.

 

Now now play nicely

 

Now they and we Buy success.. And profit

 

It is fantastic when Watford FC make a profit, it helps to ensure survival. Most supporters are perfectly happy with somebody else taking all of the financial risks and often heavily subsidising the local football club.

 

Unfortunately this ignores the bigger picture SH. Of course it is better for Watford FC to make a profit than a loss - but to then say that every man is for himself is the wrong way of going about this. We could very easily be in the same position as Bolton or Bury are now - the reason we are not is a result of pot luck and our location close to London. The fact is that 43 professional English football clubs have been in administration since 2001 - in the entire time previous to that there had only been 19. So something is going badly wrong structurally. The list of clubs to have entered administration includes Southampton, Portsmouth, Crystal Pal. Leeds Utd, Leicester and QPR - all clubs which are, at least on a par with us historically. Would you say 'everyman for himself' if Watford were in that position ? Are we, in any way, responsible for the demise of clubs like Bolton or Bury ? Possibly yes because if we look to the Pozzo's for our future talent and no longer buy players from lower league clubs as a result then we are depriving them of what used to be a major source of income.

 

Most of the clubs you have listed were clearly responsible themselves for reckless spending. There is nothing wrong with the structure if clubs live within their means. It is the directors of each individual club responsibility to run their own club on a sustainable basis. Just because club A is spending too large a proportion of its income, club B should not feel obliged to similarly financially compete. Taking responsibility for oneself is not 'every man is for himself'.

Without creeping into politics I would also say the above about individuals. It is not about being selfish, it is about taking responsibility.

The Pozzos are now sourcing many players from English lower leagues and taking more interest in youngsters, especially this year.

 

While I don't disagree on the case of reckless spending by certain clubs, it overlooks the crooks who simply buy into a club to strip it of the assets, or in the case of Bury to have an owner who uses the club as security to raise funds for his other business interests. The only way to control such things happening is by regulation, but the attitude that has been promoted by successive governments is that regulation should be avoided. As I pointed out there are far too many owners interested in the balance sheet rather more than what is happening on the pitch. Why is the hedge fund at Coventry prepared to see no football in the city while carrying out legal cases over the property?

One day these owners will move on when they cannot extract anymore from the club, leaving the fans with a shell that cannot continue. If you are in the PL you are certainly protected by TV rights even if you play in a near empty stadium. Even that comes with problems for the Championship if a club is relegated bringing large parachute payments with it. This spreads downwards through all the divisions.

Maybe the French system has something to recommend it, where clubs have to put forward their budgets for the following season, and how they will finance it every year. Not buy in once, but show that you are sustainable every season. Clubs frequently fail the tests and are relegated to a division, usually the one below, but to one more in keeping with what they have available to spend. This produces some strange issues over promotion and relegation, but rarely do we see clubs disappearing totally.

 

Apart from the EPL there is very little profit to be made in English football for investors except possibly when they sell. The vast majority of investors lose heavily often saving clubs from extinction. Alan Sugar once said 'you would have to be mad to invest in a football club'. This was obviously before the Sky sponsored PL. With the luxury of hindsight he probably now rejects selling Spurs. As we said before, luck and timing can be crucial.

I would not change the English football set up for any other.

 

Surely you'd tighten up the rules around right and proper owners though wouldn't you? When you see the histories of some of the people that have been involved it would make anyone annoyed. Just seems to be very poor due diligence checks.

 

Of course, there obviously must be effective due diligence, how on earth did Baz get anywhere near our club?

What cannot be overlooked is the clear financial irresponsibility of many clubs which self harmed.

 

England squad announced .

Some good in form players picked but still a bit of a big club feel with Lingard selected and AWB for the first time having joined Man U ofcouse !

 

A personal tragedy like this can really put everything football wise into perspective.

Very sad news.

Luis Enrique: Former Spain and Barcelona manager's daughter dies aged nine​

 

Every club in the EFL must do a forecast .And should they have to give it t the league to approve It then that should stop clubs not paying there bills

 

Grelish and Callum Wilson booked for diving - maybe harshly it seems but maybe their reptuation went against them like it did for GD the other week.

 

If the Wilson one was harsh, that just makes it all the sweeter

 

It was naughty though. Not the tackle mind, Wilson has cried wolf so many times, I mean the fact VAR didn’t respond to a clear and obvious error. And the Grealish one was mad on so many levels:

• Ref blew too soon.
• The ‘simulating’ player was fouled.
• The ‘simulating” player played a pass that was completed and became an assist.
• The officials lied about when the whistle was blown.
• Friend is an ugly useless waste of oxygen.

 

Like with the assistants with offside he should have waited till the passge of play had finished ...