Football Season Guide

Another season and yet another managerial change for Watford. Former player Tom Cleverley seemed like the ideal man to take the Hornets forward, but it would require a level of patience that the Pozzo family have never shown. After winning their first five games of the season across all competitions, there was a natural decline in results. The notoriously restless owners were already looking at potential replacements for Cleverley in January when the Hornets were just a point outside the play-off positions! Widespread backlash from the fans meant they held fire and waited until the quieter summer months to eventually pull the trigger. Paulo Pezzolano becomes the 22nd manager to be appointed by the Pozzo family since they took over in 2012. The unheralded Uruguayan is a complete departure from Cleverley, with no previous experience in English football. Pezzolano has been described as a “promotion specialist” from his work at previous clubs, but the jury remains out on if he can live up to that reputation in a league as frantic as the Championship. Pezzolano is also know for developing youth and Watford have some of the most prodigious young talents in the league. The likes of Kwadwoh Baah, Rocco Vata, James Abankwah, Pierre Dwomoh, Caleb Wiley and Mamadou Doumbia are all under 22-years-old and impressed in their first seasons in the Championship. Attacking-midfielder Giorgi Chakvetadze is still only 24 himself and is one of the best players in the league on his day, but there are doubts over whether he will stay at the club. The club have invested further in youth with the arrival of teenage wingers Othmane Maamma and Nestory Irankunda. Left-back Marc Bola, goalkeeper Nathan Baxter and midfielder Hector Kyprianou are more familiar names with experience in English football. Watford’s biggest concern might be up front. Top scorer from last season Vakoun Bayo blew hot and cold at times but has now returned to parent-club Udinese. Vivaldo Semedo and Luca Kjerrumgaard have come the other way, but both will need time to adapt.