Sport
Watford manager sacked at precisely the wrong time
When Quique Sanchez Flores was sacked for a second time in December, I asked whether Watford’s revolving door policy would eventually come to a halt. However, Nigel Pearson becaming the third Watford manager sacked this season, with just two games remaining, demonstrates that it is spinning as quickly as ever.
Watford have lived up to their reputation and once again decided to give their Vicarage Road exit another spin, one that might have come at the worst possible time.
Because before the ink had dried on newspaper headlines of ‘watford manager sacked’, the reality of the situation would have hit home on Hayden Mullins, stepping into the lion’s den for the second time this season, with daunting fixtures against Manchester City and Arsenal to be planned for.
It is a pair of fixtures that has every chance of sending Watford down to the EFL Championship and ending their five-season stint in England’s top flight. After being thrashed 4-0 by City in the opener, they are back in the relegation zone on goal difference and defeat to Arsenal would surely spell relegation. Should that be the case, there will only be schadenfreude, not sympathy, outside of Hertfordshire.
Watford can only hope that Arsenal put in the kind of dire performance that they put in against Aston Villa hours after the City game. Villa’s win was a twist that came at just the right time for the Dean Smith’s side and, as we approach Sunday’s finale, it is the West Midland outfit who are in pole position to complete a great escape.
Watford’s decision to fire Pearson at such a critical point in the season begs one question, why now? Why did the Watford board feel that, with two games of the season left, this was the time to opt for a dramatic change of managerial personnel?
It is a question that only the Watford board can answer and, although positive results may have eluded Nigel Pearson recently, he remained the best man to keep them in the Premier League.
Despite a torrid first half, Watford did not capitulate against West Ham and clawed a goal back in the second half which is testament to the ability of Pearson to drill a ‘never say die’ attitude into his players. They may not have won the game but they did at least win the second half.
Of course, winning a half does not win you points but, had Watford shipped five or six to their relegation rivals and suffered an ugly defeat, a negative tailspin would have been particularly difficult to navigate.
However, a better performance after the interval suggested a lingering fighting spirit and, although defeat to Manchester City is of no surprise to anyone, the scale of the defeat without Pearson has pushed Watford’s goal difference below that of Villa’s which could prove crucial.
Pearson will have believed that a result against Arsenal was achievable. You only need to look at The Gunners’ offering against Aston Villa to see that they have an eye on the upcoming FA Cup final. Who better to take advantage of that than wily Nigel Pearson?
With no disrespect intended to Hayden Mullins, who has once again temporarily inherited this poisoned Watford chalice, is the twice-installed caretaker manager really a better bet to inspire this downtrodden group of players?
Watford are a club who seemingly live on diminishing returns, one that does enough to survive but little more. As long as they are a part of the Premier League party and the riches that it brings, that regard it as mission completed.
A club that ultimately lacks vision and identity, a transient squad with no real cohesion, consisting of players who are either in the shop window or switched between the other clubs which are part of the Pozzo’s footballing network.
Yes, it has worked for the past four seasons. Watford have avoided relegation from the Premier League since their arrival back in 2015 and even reached an FA Cup final last season but which seemed destined to fail eventually and, seemingly, that time is now.
If Watford’s time in the Premier League has run out, they will be sent packing to English football’s second tier with Bournemouth likely to join them. Should this be the case, their trajectories of promotion and relegation will mirror each other.
Although that is something of a statistical quirk, you couldn’t find two clubs with more contrasting operational philosophies. Since 2015, Bournemouth have had one man in charge, Watford have now had eight different reigns.
Such is the madness of Watford’s revolving door, they even call former managers back into the fold. Indeed, you would be forgiven for forgetting that earlier in the season, Quique Sanchez Flores had a second stint in charge of the club.
Whether Watford survive or fall through the trapdoor, it seems unlikely that the executives who run the club will radically alter their philosophy, so don’t be surprised to see plenty more ‘Watford manager sacked’ headlines in the future.
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