Watford- dangerous

[Corky]

People making that arguement now are pretty weak, agreed, but lots of people have been against them being in the football league for a long time. Why would we be talking about it if they're not in our division? Its a Leicester forum after all, so the topics tend to be about Leicester and our league. That's why you only hear about it now because we don't exactly have a rivalry with Cardiff to the extent where we'd be talking about them when they're in a different league.

Really? I've only heard it since Cardiff reached the cup final and Swansea got promoted to the Premier League. It shouldn't make a difference, either you are bothered wherever they are or not at all.

I don't mean just Leicester fans, but English club fans in general.

[yorkie1999]

Every night I lie in bed tossing and turning and worrying about the threat of Watford. It's driving me to drink and I'm starting to question my sanity. I'm at my whits end and the words rope and swinging at the end of keep popping into my head, and its all your fault. Doomed doomed we're all doomed

[Dan]

I will explain my edit.

If we hadn't had such a hardtime this season trying to get some of the unwanted players off our books, maybe we would have been able to purchase players which will actually get playing time and therefore have better strength in depth.

Valid, couldn't agree more really, but I maintain whilst we're 28 games in and in 2nd, then it's down to us and no-one else that we throw it away in the last 18. That team doesn't help things but we've spent nearly two thirds of the season getting ourselves up here despite those lot, it's down to us if we fvck it up.

Who knows anyway.

[Carl the Llama]

Is everyone forgetting the amount of points we just missed out on due to dodgy shouts (I don't need to mention the Forest match do I)? We should be at least 10 points better off than we are, which leaves me pretty confident we have what it takes, certainly moreso than Mongford© seem to think.

(That was a bit mean but their forum hardly covers them in intellectual glory.)

[Harry - LCFC]

Stop worrying about others and concentrate on ourselves. Or should I be concerned about a Posh or Brizzle late run?

If you don't mind me saying I think that's a bit of a silly comment, Watford are a point off us, Peterborough are 24 points off us. There's clearly no comparison and you will have been aware of that when you posted.

Watford could well be a team we are competing against at the end of the season so their performances could impact on our success this season. Personally, I'd prefer it if they didn't do too well from now on so we have a better chance of finishing second.

[Super_horns]

Whilst I suppose it might seem unfair given the numbers we've got (

As said even Zola felt it was too many but the Pozzo hadn't come in we'd probably have a lot of loan players...just from england.

Also the ideal is the ones we want to keep will become pernament - accept that might be tricky with bigger clubs looking at Vydra.

That is what helped us last season with the now Brighton goalie and Kightly coming in etc when we were in trouble.

Plus we would have started the season with -10 and a bankrupt owner running the club.

These guys are at least football people..

[Dan]

Is everyone forgetting the amount of points we just missed out on due to dodgy shouts (I don't need to mention the Forest match do I)? We should be at least 10 points better off than we are, which leaves me pretty confident we have what it takes, certainly moreso than Mongford© seem to think.

(That was a bit mean but their forum hardly covers them in intellectual glory.)

This is true really but there's nothing we can do, I'd like to think we don't end up making excuses.

It's true luck hasn't been on our side, it's pretty incredible we're 2nd really, imagine if we'd been handed points like Blackburn & Forest?

[Captain...]

Why is it not good for game? Teams have been using feeder clubs for years, that would mean our ties with Manchester United aren't fair. What you mean is it's not good for Leicester City.

Firstly we are not owned by the glazers, any loan would have to be in their interest as well as ours, with Watford it only needs to be beneficial to the one man who owns all three clubs. Secondly we are restricted by the amount of united loanees we play because it is the same country Watford don't have that problem.

The problem is there is nothing to stop the owners loaning in a bunch of players to help Watford get promotion when Udinese or Granada have nothing to play for.

incidentally I didn't like what Sven did either, I didn't think we should have had so many loan players in.

If teams are going to become proper feeder clubs then UEFA, FIFA, the FA need to actually regulate it, like they do with Barcelona and Barcelona B.

What Watford are doing is not against the laws of the game but it certainly is against the spirit of the game, as was our loanee experiment.

[Manwell Pablo]

Firstly we are not owned by the glazers, any loan would have to be in their interest as well as ours, with Watford it only needs to be beneficial to the one man who owns all three clubs. Secondly we are restricted by the amount of united loanees we play because it is the same country Watford don't have that problem.

The problem is there is nothing to stop the owners loaning in a bunch of players to help Watford get promotion when Udinese or Granada have nothing to play for.

incidentally I didn't like what Sven did either, I didn't think we should have had so many loan players in.

If teams are going to become proper feeder clubs then UEFA, FIFA, the FA need to actually regulate it, like they do with Barcelona and Barcelona B.

What Watford are doing is not against the laws of the game but it certainly is against the spirit of the game, as was our loanee experiment.

Christ almighty.

If you think the only man who makes the call to loan players to Watford is the owner then your massievly wrong. Udinese want these players testing, except for Cassetti who they just want off their wage bill. They are both independant business's, the loaning of these players benefits Watford and Udine, it is no different to any normal loan, except due to the fact the business are owned by the same bloke, Watfords scouts may have been allowed to look at these players behind closed doors or may have shared info with Udinese staff on suitable players.

If you think Anthonio Di Natalie is going to rock up at Vicarage Road to fire them into the Premier League as soon as it becomes apparent that Udinese can't get into Europe, you're again, very wrong. You wont see anyone else arriving I bet. And the players they do have apart from the previous untested Vydra, are not good enough to play for Udinese's first team.

Not in the spirit of the game . There is absloutley nothing wrong with it. Just bitter Leicester fans getting worried about not going up, We've done plenty of things in our time that are questionable, for a start off we went into admin and went up without a points deduction, now that really is unfair.

Fuss about nothing this is! Ridiculous. I say again, I didn't see any of you worrying about it when they were mid table!

[Captain...]

Christ almighty.

If you think the only man who makes the call to loan players to Watford is the owner then your massievly wrong. Udinese want these players testing, except for Cassetti who they just want off their wage bill. They are both independant business's.

But they are not, that is the point, they are not independent.

So would you have a problem with Watford loaning Di Natale to help them with their promotion push if Udinese didn't have anything to play for?

[Manwell Pablo]

But they are not, that is the point, they are not independent.

So would you have a problem with Watford loaning Di Natale to help them with their promotion push if Udinese didn't have anything to play for?

Yes they are, they are Watford Football club and Udinese football club they have different boards, different balance sheets, different limited company names.

I'd view them loaning one of their best players, when Udine would probably be paying most of his wages, and putting themselves at disadvantage in Serie A as a result even if they had nothing to play for as taking the piss yes. But don't worry I can see where you are going with this rather obvious set up, that wouldn't happen, Udinese have their own interests, as they are their own football club, making their own decisions, despite your belief that the situation is otherwise, and there is no way they would have any player they want to play in their first team leave in order to get Watford into the premier league. Udinese fans, board, and management, would not stand for it, they have no connection to Watford what so ever other than using them to develop their players. The whole situation is not geared around getting Watford into the Premier League believe it or not. The players in question are not first team quality, except maybe Vydra but they've only learnt this from his loan spell, which is the whole Fvcking point of it in the first place from their point of view.

I say again for the third time. I didn't hear anyone kicking off when they were mid table. Funny who no one has told me why they didn't address this totally unsportsman like signing of a few reserve mid table Serie A players when it didn't directly affect them. Pathetic.

[Captain...]

Yes they are, they are Watford Football club and Udinese football club they have different boards, different balance sheets, different limited company names.

I'd view them loaning one of their best players, when Udine would probably be paying most of his wages, and putting themselves at disadvantage in Serie A as a result even if they had nothing to play for as taking the piss yes. But don't worry I can see where you are going with this rather obvious set up, that wouldn't happen, Udinese have their own interests, as they are their own football club, making their own decisions, despite your belief that the situation is otherwise, and there is no way they would have any player they want to play in their first team leave in order to get Watford into the premier league. Udinese fans, board, and management, would not stand for it, they have no connection to Watford what so ever other than using them to develop their players. The whole situation is not geared around getting Watford into the Premier League believe it or not. The players in question are not first team quality, except maybe Vydra but they've only learnt this from his loan spell, which is the whole Fvcking point of it in the first place from their point of view.

I say again for the third time. I didn't hear anyone kicking off when they were mid table. Funny who no one has told me why they didn't address this totally unsportsman like signing of a few reserve mid table Serie A players when it didn't directly affect them. Pathetic.

From my point of view I didn't know about it, if I had done I would have said the same thing then, and I said the same thing when we were trying to win promotion with loanees, I don't agree with having a side full of loanees, and neither does the FA, hence the having rules trying to regulate it, but loanees from outside the FA avoid these rules. That is my first problem with the whole situation.

My other problem is that I don't agree with feeder clubs, and neither does the FA hence them being prohibited, especially when they are really not a million miles apart in quality, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Watford win a cup and face Udinese in the Europa League, what would happen in that situation, looking at wikipedia, the list of UK clubs with feeder clubs is actually quite surprising, although they are all unofficial and generally between a much a smaller club and one of the big clubs, although it does say that Sporting Lisbon is a feeder club for Man City I am also aware we are looking to cement ties between some asian clubs and have a development relationship with them, and have taken a few promising kids over here for various training sessions, again though that is very different to loaning 6 of our players to a lower league team, or bringing in 6 loanees.

Ok another question for you, as you think it is so fair, we want to take Vydra on loan next season, and so do Watford (pretend we both got promoted), we offer them more money for his wages and better facilities and a higher standard of coaching, do you honestly think that Watford's owner wouldn't use his influence to ensure he went to Watford instead of us?

As I said, they are not independent, and this is not an independent agreement between the 2 clubs, and whilst Di Natale is not going to come over to give Watford a promotion push, there is nothing stopping them if the owner so desired to do it, and this will happen soon enough maybe not with Watford, but the more of these "relationships" that spring up the more chance of someone being parachuted in to a feeder club to help them win something.

There needs to be regulations put in place on these "feeder" clubs to ensure that no club is taken advantage of nor does it acquire an unfair advantage over the rest of the league, as it is feeder clubs are not permitted by the FA, but they are powerless to stop these "arrangements" and would be better off permitting it and regulating it, and there also needs to be regulations put in place of ownership of multiple of football clubs.

This not me being a "bitter" Leicester fan, I am not worried about Watford challenging us for second, this is me being a football fan and seeing the game move further and further away from a fair contest between 22 men on a football pitch.

[wolfgang amadeus]

With the amount of money we've spent in the last few years along coming from a foreign owner with some spare cash to spend on his son I don't think anyone can really complain about the league not being fair. Especially if you still follow the club and put money back into it, if you're talking about teams in the league who have gone about achieving promotion the wrong way I would say we are definitely battling it for the top two.

[Bluearmyfox28]

Vydra carnt keep going on how he is, he's hitting a goal scoring patch at the moment, once he goes quite Watford will go quite so I'm not worried personally!

[Manwell Pablo]

From my point of view I didn't know about it, if I had done I would have said the same thing then, and I said the same thing when we were trying to win promotion with loanees, I don't agree with having a side full of loanees, and neither does the FA, hence the having rules trying to regulate it, but loanees from outside the FA avoid these rules. That is my first problem with the whole situation.

My other problem is that I don't agree with feeder clubs, and neither does the FA hence them being prohibited, especially when they are really not a million miles apart in quality, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Watford win a cup and face Udinese in the Europa League, what would happen in that situation, looking at wikipedia, the list of UK clubs with feeder clubs is actually quite surprising, although they are all unofficial and generally between a much a smaller club and one of the big clubs, although it does say that Sporting Lisbon is a feeder club for Man City I am also aware we are looking to cement ties between some asian clubs and have a development relationship with them, and have taken a few promising kids over here for various training sessions, again though that is very different to loaning 6 of our players to a lower league team, or bringing in 6 loanees.

Ok another question for you, as you think it is so fair, we want to take Vydra on loan next season, and so do Watford (pretend we both got promoted), we offer them more money for his wages and better facilities and a higher standard of coaching, do you honestly think that Watford's owner wouldn't use his influence to ensure he went to Watford instead of us?

As I said, they are not independent, and this is not an independent agreement between the 2 clubs, and whilst Di Natale is not going to come over to give Watford a promotion push, there is nothing stopping them if the owner so desired to do it, and this will happen soon enough maybe not with Watford, but the more of these "relationships" that spring up the more chance of someone being parachuted in to a feeder club to help them win something.

There needs to be regulations put in place on these "feeder" clubs to ensure that no club is taken advantage of nor does it acquire an unfair advantage over the rest of the league, as it is feeder clubs are not permitted by the FA, but they are powerless to stop these "arrangements" and would be better off permitting it and regulating it, and there also needs to be regulations put in place of ownership of multiple of football clubs.

This not me being a "bitter" Leicester fan, I am not worried about Watford challenging us for second, this is me being a football fan and seeing the game move further and further away from a fair contest between 22 men on a football pitch.

You weren't aware?....fairly big story to miss that.

You can have issue with it all you want, they aren't doing anything wrong, there is nothing to stop us going out and loaning all the reserve Italian football based players we want if our offers are deemed good enough and we pay their wages (before you say Watford aren't doing I hope you can provide some evidence)

If you don't agree with unoffical feeder clubs we'd better get rid of all those players we've got, had on loan, and in some cases go on to sign, from Manchester United. There is a very obvious "arrangement" as you brilliantly put it going on between the two clubs. If there were six players they want to sign from Udinese, let them get on with it, I don't care, they are a mid table Serie A team and they have got players in who had no chance of playing for their first team this year. If it was clear Udinese were being put at a disadvantage by loaning their players out to Watford and Watford were getting some serious quality in, I'd understand your point. As it is I do not, Udinese are trying to develop their players, Watford are providing a service in an attempt to achieve short term gain, it is no different to any other loan arrangements. If anything Watford are putting themselves at a disadvantage in the long term as any player that is succesful we'll be shipped back to Italy at the end of the season.

To be honest there probably should be some sort of rule stopping them loaning so many players from one club but I'm not going to make a big fuss over a few second strink Udinese players, it's pathetic. You can point the finger at your the precious FA for not implementing the right rules not victimise a club playing by the rules just becasue they're in good form.

Vydra, on Loan or permanent? He would got to on loan to Watford, but if we the situation was reveresed with we'll say, Nick Powell, he'd come here. If we are talking signing, I very much doubt either of us could afford him, and I'd imagine it would go to the highest bidder. Who knows?

Please stop saying their are not independant unless you can actually back that up with something. They operate as two seperate business's with two seperate chairman, boards of directors, finances, etc etc. They are just owned by the same person. It's like a bloke who owns a used car dealership in Italy and North London ran by two different people making individual profit and loss selling different cars to different people. If you know otherwise please, give me details. There is plenty to stop Di Natalie coming over here, as I've already told you, Udinese wont allow it, it's not in their interest. Same reason any football club would not allow a first team player to leave, it's not in their interest. The same reason Udinese did allow those players to leave, it is in their interest. The bottom line in this whole arguement is that the deal between Udinese and Watford suit both partys, same with us and Manchester United, this is why there is nothing wrong with it.

Last time I checked there was nothing in the agreement between Udinese and Watford that allowed Watford to play 12 men in all Championship games, so no need to worry about it not being a straight forward contest between 22 men. Their ****ing Udinese for crying out loud not Real Madrid.

[foxes2011]

intersting but id be happy with play offs tbh , we have only been in autos twice this season really, but i stay in hope, the thing that pleases me is that there seems to be a small gap between the top 6 and everyone else so im happy about that and the very least we should aim for is the playoffs

[Captain...]

You weren't aware?....fairly big story to miss that.

You can have issue with it all you want, they aren't doing anything wrong, there is nothing to stop us going out and loaning all the reserve Italian football based players we want if our offers are deemed good enough and we pay their wages (before you say Watford aren't doing I hope you can provide some evidence)

If you don't agree with unoffical feeder clubs we'd better get rid of all those players we've got, had on loan, and in some cases go on to sign, from Manchester United. There is a very obvious "arrangement" as you brilliantly put it going on between the two clubs. If there were six players they want to sign from Udinese, let them get on with it, I don't care, they are a mid table Serie A team and they have got players in who had no chance of playing for their first team this year. If it was clear Udinese were being put at a disadvantage by loaning their players out to Watford and Watford were getting some serious quality in, I'd understand your point. As it is I do not, Udinese are trying to develop their players, Watford are providing a service in an attempt to achieve short term gain, it is no different to any other loan arrangements. If anything Watford are putting themselves at a disadvantage in the long term as any player that is succesful we'll be shipped back to Italy at the end of the season.

To be honest there probably should be some sort of rule stopping them loaning so many players from one club but I'm not going to make a big fuss over a few second strink Udinese players, it's pathetic. You can point the finger at your the precious FA for not implementing the right rules not victimise a club playing by the rules just becasue they're in good form.

Vydra, on Loan or permanent? He would got to on loan to Watford, but if we the situation was reveresed with we'll say, Nick Powell, he'd come here. If we are talking signing, I very much doubt either of us could afford him, and I'd imagine it would go to the highest bidder. Who knows?

Please stop saying their are not independant unless you can actually back that up with something. They operate as two seperate business's with two seperate chairman, boards of directors, finances, etc etc. They are just owned by the same person. It's like a bloke who owns a used car dealership in Italy and North London ran by two different people making individual profit and loss selling different cars to different people. If you know otherwise please, give me details. There is plenty to stop Di Natalie coming over here, as I've already told you, Udinese wont allow it, it's not in their interest. Same reason any football club would not allow a first team player to leave, it's not in their interest. The same reason Udinese did allow those players to leave, it is in their interest. The bottom line in this whole arguement is that the deal between Udinese and Watford suit both partys, same with us and Manchester United, this is why there is nothing wrong with it.

Last time I checked there was nothing in the agreement between Udinese and Watford that allowed Watford to play 12 men in all Championship games, so no need to worry about it not being a straight forward contest between 22 men. Their ****ing Udinese for crying out loud not Real Madrid.

Wasn't aware, sorry, sometimes I have other things going on that are more important than the dealings of Watford, I can barely keep up with the dealings of Leicester, so yeah I missed it, I knew something was going on, but I wasn't aware exactly what.

They are not independent of each other, they have the same owner, there is an invested interest, I don't want to slag off Pozzo as I don't know that much about him, but he owns 3 clubs, and he has the possibility to make an unlimited amount of loans between the 3 clubs, whilst the loan window is open. My issue with that is that he can abuse that position, you can argue that he hasn't you can say that he won't, and maybe he won't, but one day someone will, whether it is loan a couple of players to play in the cup final, they won't be cup tied as they are from different Associations or force the feeder club to play one of the bigger clubs star players back to fitness, or loan players out over the winter break in Italy.

The difference between us and Man United, there is no actual agreement, or relationship, they have the same owners, and I disagree with Udinese using a championship club as a feeder as much as I do Watford getting unlimited access to Udinese second string, I would hate for us to ever become a feeder club in that sense. Our "relationship" with Man United is nothing like this, we have loaned 3 players from Man United (that I can recall, as I said I'm busy and forget things) and signed 3 players directly from United without ever having them on loan. There is nothing untoward about signing players, and the loan deals were Cleverly - beneficial to both, we got a good player for a few months, they got valuable first team experience for an up and coming player, Lingard, was a bit of a disaster all round, he barely played, Keane came and got injured in the first half of his first match, it has since been extended and we will see if we can sign him at the end of the season as he looks promising, if not then we have had a decent centre half whilst SSL and Whitbread are out injured.

The relationship there is between Pearson/Shakespeare and someone at United it is not between the clubs and not brought about by having a shared owner, the Schlupp trial is an odd one, and I'm not really sure why that went ahead, but I don't see any foul play, if we were at some point forced to sell Schlupp to them, or forced to play one of their reserves I would be the first to complain.

To be honest there probably should be some sort of rule stopping them loaning so many players from one club but I'm not going to make a big fuss over a few second strink Udinese players, it's pathetic. You can point the finger at your the precious FA for not implementing the right rules not victimise a club playing by the rules just becasue they're in good form.

As I've said, repeatedly, this is not about Watford, I am not worried about Watford overtaking us in the league, and I have at no point said they should be punished or victimised, it is about the integrity of the football, and more specifically the Championship, I have no problem with Man United having a feeder club agreement with Connah's Quay Nomads, or Shelbourne FC as they are small clubs that probably benefit a lot from having a bit of financial support from United, but this is a championship club, not that long ago a premiership club, and now they are a feeder club to an Average Serie A side, the Championship as much as I want us to escape it, is one of the most competitive and unpredictable leagues in the world, and having "bigger" clubs using it for feeder clubs is not right.

I bring up the FA because they already have rules in England to stop feeder clubs and and prevent one man having an owning share in more than one club, it has those rules for a reason, we've already had Chelsea talking about wanting a B team in the championship like Barca do, and I think that loans are abused by many, us included and I would love to see those rules changed and the transfer window scrapped, but that is another argument.

[Guest ttfn]

Likening our "relationship" with Manchester United (off whom we've loaned 3 players in 4 years) to that of Watford's with Udinese is nonsense.

[gaz63]

Watford fan here,

just throught I'd clear a few things up as there seems to be a lot of misconception about what's going on with us.

Firstly, the whole 'feeder club' thing is nonesense. The reason why all the players have joined on loan was to simplify the registration process before the transfer window closed in August.

Vydra, Abdi, Ekstrand, Battochio and Pudil have all got options for us to make the loan moves permanent - something which we're aiming to do with all of them before Friday. We've already completed the permanent signing of Forestieri on a 5 year deal.

Udinese is a much less profitable venture for the Pozzo group than it once was. Italian football has lost a significant amount of revenue, and the biggest sides no longer have the money to compete with the rest of Europe. Granada also has the same issues, specifically that Barca and Real take a heavily weighted portion of the TV money.

The belief is that we'll end up being the main club of the three. The potential revenues from making it into the Premiership will make us the wealthiest club by a long way, and the ridiculous transfer fees that you get in England is a huge bonus to a group that remains profitable by selling players.

The fans absolutely love the current setup, and we're well aware that they intend to sell the best performing players when they reach their peak. This will make the club self sustainable, and will hopefully give us a fighting chance of staying competitive!

Anyway, I hope you guys get promotion this year. Shame neither of us could get one over on Cardiff early in the season (even though we both deserved to). I feel their luck will run out sooner or later, and knowing Mackay, he'll end up bottling it!

[Callabinho]

Maybe Cardiff should be worried about us and Watford?

[Manwell Pablo]

Watford fan here,

just throught I'd clear a few things up as there seems to be a lot of misconception about what's going on with us.

Firstly, the whole 'feeder club' thing is nonesense. The reason why all the players have joined on loan was to simplify the registration process before the transfer window closed in August.

Vydra, Abdi, Ekstrand, Battochio and Pudil have all got options for us to make the loan moves permanent - something which we're aiming to do with all of them before Friday. We've already completed the permanent signing of Forestieri on a 5 year deal.

Udinese is a much less profitable venture for the Pozzo group than it once was. Italian football has lost a significant amount of revenue, and the biggest sides no longer have the money to compete with the rest of Europe. Granada also has the same issues, specifically that Barca and Real take a heavily weighted portion of the TV money.

The belief is that we'll end up being the main club of the three. The potential revenues from making it into the Premiership will make us the wealthiest club by a long way, and the ridiculous transfer fees that you get in England is a huge bonus to a group that remains profitable by selling players.

The fans absolutely love the current setup, and we're well aware that they intend to sell the best performing players when they reach their peak. This will make the club self sustainable, and will hopefully give us a fighting chance of staying competitive!

Anyway, I hope you guys get promotion this year. Shame neither of us could get one over on Cardiff early in the season (even though we both deserved to). I feel their luck will run out sooner or later, and knowing Mackay, he'll end up bottling it!

Are you still run by your own board, and not Udinese's? And were the signings of the above players were Zola's decision not your owners?

Just for those arguing other wise.

ttfn, I'm not saying our relationship with Man U is the same as Watford Udinese, I am merley pointing out there is one!

[ealingfox]

Watford fan here,

just throught I'd clear a few things up as there seems to be a lot of misconception about what's going on with us.

Firstly, the whole 'feeder club' thing is nonesense. The reason why all the players have joined on loan was to simplify the registration process before the transfer window closed in August.

Vydra, Abdi, Ekstrand, Battochio and Pudil have all got options for us to make the loan moves permanent - something which we're aiming to do with all of them before Friday. We've already completed the permanent signing of Forestieri on a 5 year deal.

Udinese is a much less profitable venture for the Pozzo group than it once was. Italian football has lost a significant amount of revenue, and the biggest sides no longer have the money to compete with the rest of Europe. Granada also has the same issues, specifically that Barca and Real take a heavily weighted portion of the TV money.

The belief is that we'll end up being the main club of the three. The potential revenues from making it into the Premiership will make us the wealthiest club by a long way, and the ridiculous transfer fees that you get in England is a huge bonus to a group that remains profitable by selling players.

The fans absolutely love the current setup, and we're well aware that they intend to sell the best performing players when they reach their peak. This will make the club self sustainable, and will hopefully give us a fighting chance of staying competitive!

Anyway, I hope you guys get promotion this year. Shame neither of us could get one over on Cardiff early in the season (even though we both deserved to). I feel their luck will run out sooner or later, and knowing Mackay, he'll end up bottling it!

Decent post, clears a few things up thanks. During this season what is the highest number of loan players you have had on the field at one time?

[gaz63]

The idea of buying Watford was put to the Pozzo's by Gianluca Nani and Scott Duxbury, who both worked at West Ham together. Duxbury is pretty much in charge of the club, however Gino Pozzo is moving his family to London this year, so he'll most likely become chairman.

The signings were all made by Nani who is the director of football. Zola said early on that he prefers to just be the coach, and let somebody else deal with the comings and goings at the club. Ultimately Zola makes the decision on whether or not he wants a player though.

I don't think we'll see the same amount of players traded between the clubs again - it was a one off to boost our squad, which was lacking in quality. We narrowly missed out on Robbie Brady, and we've had a bit accepted for Jeremy Helan, so we're trying to conduct our own transfers from now on.

I can understand other fans frustration at our situation. But we're not a big club, and the level of investment available to us was limited. Its not a bad situation for a club like ours to be owned by a family that are football experts!

[gaz63]

Decent post, clears a few things up thanks. During this season what is the highest number of loan players you have had on the field at one time?

We've had at least 6/7 at any given time. International loans are not viewed as 'typical' loans, so there are no restrictions on the amount your allowed in the squad. Had this not been allowed, I think we would have just had to bite the bullet and sign the players back in August. The advantage has been that Zola's been able to see who can cut it at this level, and who can't. As it is, only 2/3 of the players are unlikely to be offered contracts

[Manwell Pablo]

We've had at least 6/7 at any given time. International loans are not viewed as 'typical' loans, so there are no restrictions on the amount your allowed in the squad. Had this not been allowed, I think we would have just had to bite the bullet and sign the players back in August. The advantage has been that Zola's been able to see who can cut it at this level, and who can't. As it is, only 2/3 of the players are unlikely to be offered contracts

Are you sure you'll be allowed to according so some on here you've got Udinese's finest playing for you and you're taking Di Natalie on loan for the play off final.