POST MATCH PHONE IN | CARDIFF CITY 5-1 WATFORD

A 5-1 defeat at Cardiff, a performance that barely warrants

the description, and reports emerging during the game that Watford might be preparing to dispense with yet another head coach. Justin, battling a dreadful cold, and Carl take the reins for a post-match phone-in that rapidly becomes about something far bigger than ninety minutes of football. Supporters are furious, but the anger as has been the case for a long time is not directed simply at the dugout. The questions being asked about Gino Pozzo, Scott Duxbury and the direction of Watford Football Club are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

 

Callers from the away end, across the country and around the

world try to make sense of a club many say they barely recognize. There's

frustration at recruitment, disbelief at the players' performance and a growing fear that YET AGAIN changing the manager will simply restart a cycle everybody knows way, way, way too well. But amongst the anger there's also something rather different: a sense of unity, renewed purpose and cautious hope. Elton John's intervention, Roy Moore's forthcoming meeting with Gino Pozzo and the increasingly vocal supporter movements suggest that, whatever happens next, the

conversation around Watford has fundamentally changed.

 

Peter joins later as the discussion turns towards the club's identity, its academy, the supporters who continue to travel extraordinary distances and what being a community club actually means. There are moments of

genuine sadness, some gallows humour, and even the suggestion that Roy Moore might emerge from Friday's meeting as Watford's next manager — which, given recent history, probably shouldn't be dismissed entirely. Ultimately, though, this is a phone-in about something more enduring than owners, managers or league positions: what Watford means to the people who support it, and why they're determined not to lose it.

 

COYH!!