Why the Pozzo family don't deserve their media reputation

I had to write this for uni so I thought I would share it here too

The Pozzo family have come under heavy criticism on many different occasions since they took over Watford in 2012. Many of the mainstream news outlets give a very one sided, uneducated opinion about The Hornets owners and the positive things the family have done for Watford are never given any media attention.

The Pozzo’s succeeded Laurence Bassini as owners of The Hornets in 2012 and have taken the club to the heights of the Premier League already in their first four years in Hertfordshire. Before the Italian’s took over Watford were a club with an owner who got into severe financial trouble and didn’t treat Watford as a football club, instead treating it like his toy. I am almost certain had Gino Pozzo not invested in the club then we would have gone into financial difficulties and we would be a team much like Charlton who are in disarray on and off the pitch.

Even from their first season The Pozzo’s have come under media scrutiny due to the amount of loan signings that they brought in from their other clubs Udinese and Granada. Watford had 17 loan signings in their first season and Sean Dyche was sacked without being given a chance. Yet The Hornets made the play off final and narrowly missed out on making the Premier League in the owners first season. However, the only story the national press were interested in was the loan players we had brought in, not that a team who were mid table no bodies missing out narrowly on the Premier League.

Since that day at Wembley, The Pozzos have massively improved the facilities at Vicarage Road and the training ground investing a lot of money into the clubs infustructure for the future. They have taken us to the Premier League and an FA Cup Semi Final. Yet the Pozzos reputation is all about sacking managers and financial altercations that have since proved nothing to do with them. They deserve a lot of praise of how far they have taken the club and they will only take us further in my opinion. They said they’d get us into Europe and I’m sure that one day we will play there.

Yes the Pozzo’s haven’t helped themselves with the amount of managers we have had but the thing that is forgotten is the amount of success they’ve brought to the club. A lot of the media nonsense about the manager situation is over hyped too with many leaving the club rather than being dismissed (e.g. Oscar Garcia and Bepe Sannino) However, the biggest media criticism which is totally unfair is the fact Quqiue Sanchez Flores was dismissed, yes his first half of the season was good but in the second half of the season if any team went on the same appalling run we did then their managers would’ve also been shown the door. They’ve brought in a man who has so far steered us to 8^th in the Premier League and has every chance to keep us there.

In an era where owners are ruining football clubs and taking them to the ground, isn’t it time the media gave the Pozzo’s the credit they deserve?

Leave your thoughts below…

Watford v Leicester

What a difference a couple of weeks makes as Watford saw off champions Leicester City at Vicarage Road yesterday (Saturday).

To be honest I was apprehensive about yesterdays game following the 6-1 drubbing at Anfield a couple of weeks ago. But once two o'clock came around and after a few pre match pints my optimism was back as I headed to my seat bang on 3 o'clock.

Its a good job I wasn't 30 seconds late!

A fast start was needed to get the fans onside and a fast start is exactly what happened. After The Foxes kicked off Watford won the ball back and within 33 seconds Etienne Capoue sent Vicarage Road into raptures. What. A. Start.

All credit to Mazzari because whatever had been said over the international break clearly had the desired effect because every single one of the boys in yellow looked up for a battle.

Roberto Pereyra seemed to have more freedom yesterday and boy his second in a Watford shirt was something special. His curling wonder strike sent many of the fans in my area into shock as it flew in to the net. Britos was voted Man Of The Match but for me it was the Argentine who deserved it.

Forgetting his goal, everything that was good in attack stemmed from the little magician, he nutmegged both Danny Drinkwater and Danny Simpson in the first half. He oozes class when he is given the freedom he needs in the team, with this in mind I would make no changes for the game against Stoke next Sunday just so Pereyra can work his magic.

The only blemish on a magnificent day for The Hornets was that it could've been more comfortable than we made it. Miguel Britos gave away a silly penalty after he fouled Vardy but from then on he didn't put a foot wrong. Mahrez duly converted. We didn't really look like conceding in the second half and Gomes really had nothing to do all day.  

Sebastian Prödl was again a rock at the back and we look much more secure in defence when the Austrian is there.

A battle and a passionate display from The Hornets which ultimately was more than worthy for the 3 points that were picked up yesterday. We are two points better off than we were at this point last season and bar a few blips against Burnley and Liverpool we've looked solid under Mazzari.

The next couple of fixtures against Stoke (Next Sunday) and a trip to The Hawthorns to face West Brom (3rd December) are very favourable for The Hornets and this is a good chance to cement our place in the top half of the Premier League heading into the Christmas period.

Little old Watford 8th in the Premier League.

You 'Orns!

Watford 2-1 Leicester City

Man Of The Match: Pereyra (Britos officially received it)

Match rating- 7/10- drab in parts but a fantastic battle by both teams.

Capoue v Pogba- 6 (5 goals 1 assists) for Capoue and 2 (1 goal, 1 assist) for the 89 million pound midfielder

@Adzrowe on twitter

Liverpool 6-1 Watford

Ahh football the only sport where you can travel 5 hours with hope get smashed 6-1 but still come home relatively happy!

Firstly I want to apologise for the lack of content on here in the past few weeks- I've had quite a few assignments so they unfortunately won (unlike Watford)

With Watford not playing Saturday I decided to take a trip to Peterborough to watch their FA Cup tie against Chesham. With my mate from Uni being a massive Posh fan It was a nice chance to sample what he watches week in week out. The less said about the game the better as it was dreadful and it left me saying "I'll never moan about Watford ever again"

Its fair to say that statement lasted less than 24 hours!

After an early start and a delayed train I had a feeling that it wouldn't be our day but as a football you have to remain optimistic so I spent the entire 5 hour journey trying to convince my mates we were going to take something from the game.

After the nicest chips with curry sauce and a cheap pint we found ourselves in the stand as the teams came out with the delusional optimism in the air as "You'll Never Walk Alone" was belted out by the home faithful.

Liverpool were quicker, stronger and faster than us and they raced into a 3-0 lead in the first half. Not that I saw the 3rd goal I had gone down for an early half time pint. Fuming at half time- I was having a rant before I was rudely interrupted to say that I wasn't allowed to moan as I hadn't followed Watford when we were terrible. After drawing out some poignant results from the past including a 3-1 defeat to Preston in 2011 the conversation came to an abrupt end.

The second half didn't get much better but do you know what it was enjoyable to cheer when we got a corner and sing "sexy football" after a string of passes- to say we were making the best out of a bad situation was an understatement. At least we fans made a good account of ourselves!

The game finished 6-1 and we trundled back to the train station laughing at what had just happened (its all we could do!)

All in all a decent away day, good company and a few beers. As for the performance well that doesn't matter.

You 'Orns!

Peterborough 2-1 Chesham United
Liverpool 6-1 Watford

Man Of The Match (Watford)- Amrabat- gives his all and looked genuinely sorry for what happened.

Away day rating- 7/10- surprisingly a very good day out despite the terrible result

Pogba v Capoue- Who even cares anymore?

@adzrowe on twitter