What have we learned from pre-season 2015?

[Polish_Blue_Army]

We have learnt that nothing is going to change since last season. The same players, the same mistakes, the same tactics, the same lack of commitment - the same midtable [Poor language removed]. Hanging around places 10-13 waiting for confirmation of staying up and losing mathematical chances of the europa league

 

[macdog]

On the face of it I could agree with you -ie the inexperience factor. But there's a whole different level of ball game being played here by the Pozzo family who own Watford. I don't necessarily agree with it but I can see the commercial attractiveness of it for the owners and players. If you don't already know The Pozzo family also own Udinese and Granada. Their business model has been to get all 3 teams in the top flight of Italy, Spain and England by legitimately loaning players between their clubs and then cancelling / restarting contracts at will so that players resale values are maximised according to the market their playing style is most likely to be commercially most valuable. With Watford now in the Premiership they've achieved that. The thing is most of watford's players already have either serie A and/or la liga experience as a result of them being loaned between the 3 clubs in the past 3 seasons. 2 of the players also have premier league experience. Most of them have also been plucked from obscure leagues to join the Pozzo experiment because with serie A, LA liga and premier league on their CV they become more valuable personally (in terms of attractiveness to bigger clubs) and also to the wider Pozzo project. As I say, I don't agree with it but it is clever in a way and every one of those 10 players they've 'signed' knows that they have 38 games to impress and win a contract either to move to a bigger club or stay in the premier league. They'll be right up for it this season and I reckon will surprise a lot of people.

I don't agree with it either, but it does offer an alternative to the billionaire sugar daddy scenario. Commercial partnerships of some kind with other clubs in other leagues may be the way of the future. Where's that hotline to Barca Roberto? On Watford, I hope they do well (except against us). This will be an interesting experiment to watch. It looks more promising than being owned by Elton John.

 

[evo1878]

I don't agree with it either, but it does offer an alternative to the billionaire sugar daddy scenario. Commercial partnerships of some kind with other clubs in other leagues may be the way of the future. Where's that hotline to Barca Roberto? On Watford, I hope they do well (except against us). This will be an interesting experiment to watch. It looks more promising than being owned by Elton John.

Totally agree with you mate as an alternative to billionaire sugar daddy. It only works where there is common ownership of the clubs though. The tax authorities are going to have something to say about it at some point cos no transfer or agents fees also means no taxes to be paid so more cash for each club to invest in lawnmowers and other stuff. Very clever although only 1 of the 3 clubs could ever compete in the same European competition at any one time. But their model isn't about that. It's about legitimately swapping players between 2 leagues. So a lesser version of it is imagine if someone at Everton had the foresight to buy some club like Ross county in Scotland and Sligo rovers in Ireland. With minimal investment within a Few seasons our U21 players could be playing week in week out in Europe every year eg til Christmas. The Pozzo family have just said - screw Ireland and Scotland leagues we'll aim higher and do it in the 3 major euro leagues. Am surprised they haven't bought a Portuguese club yet and got access to all the South Americana who can get Portuguese EU work visas.

I hope Watford do well too but not on Saturday.

 

[Eggs]

...I think I posted on another thread that a real bonus has been the introduction of a couple of youngsters who look like they might be on course for transition to the 1st team. That would be very welcome.