Football Season Guide

It is all change at Vicarage Road this summer as Watford are in the midst of an Italian revolution with the club taken over by an Italian consortium. Charismatic manager, Gianfranco Zola was also selected for the hotseat, with the new owners ousting Sean Dyche who had done a very good job on meagre resources last term. Despite that, Hornets supporters will be hoping Zola and co. can build on their strong finish to 2011/12 and with a glut of new faces it promises to be an interesting transitional season. Star defender Adrian Mariappa finally moved onto pastures new with a big money switch to Newcastle, while keeper Scott Loach departed for boyhood club, Ipswich. The club's new owners have taken advantage of the loan system, bringing over a host of players from Udinese and Granada - clubs the consortium also own in Italy and Spain respectively. Whether they all gel in time remains to be seen and Zola's managerial skills will also be tested due to a lack of experience in the English second tier. A top half finish could be well within reach however if all does click, with the likes of Fitz Hall and Manuel Almunia adding big game experience to the spine of the team.