OPINION

He’s done it before, so can Pozzo make Watford great again?

Whatever we do, we will all have taken some type of training course, seminar, workshop, or anything similar.

Many times, we go along and then leave, wondering what the point of the exercise was and realising that we will never get those many hours back. Others live with you because they not only help and inform you professionally, but they also teach you life skills that can be used at home as well as at work. Wilson Learning came into my life as part of an in-depth, complex, and comprehensive series of seminars in a prior non-journalism employment, guiding myself and many colleagues through a year-long ‘Way of Leading’ course. Each class was led by a single person, a lovely American lady named Linda Wilson.

Linda was the most magical coach: she could read you the Yellow Pages and deliver it in such an engaging and entertaining way that you’d hang on her every word.

The content was often challenging, regularly thought-provoking and invariably each two-day session left you wiser, more rounded and with a fresh view on business, colleagues, family and life.

One particular element was about how all successful businesses go through different phases or cycles, be they start-ups or long-established.

The first phase was the entrepreneurial stage, where things were tried and some succeeded while other failed.

During this stage, a company learns new information in order to go forward and advance. Many lifeforms in nature do not go beyond phase one: many tadpoles do not become frogs, the majority of acorns do not grow into trees, and businesses, whether completely new or under new ownership, fail. Those who do reach a second phase, the efficiency stage, are aware of what they will and will not do, and have placed their trust, time, and energy in the methods and structures that proven successful in the first phase. Businesses achieve true success and expansion, as well as profit, during the second phase. The problem is that silos and fiefdoms arise simultaneously. Employees become more focused on keeping the boss happy than their customers.

Policies and procedures take precedence over satisfying the needs of those you serve, and soon red flags will appear: less success, less profit, and stagnation rather than development. The good businesses see it. The terrible ones go into denial and get trapped in a death spiral from which they cannot recover. After spotting it, the good firms return to where they began and re-enter Phase One. They start to look at things afresh, try different ideas and make improvements. While it can be difficult to let go of things that have worked so well in the past, the alternative is to continue doing what has been causing those red flags to ping until the pings stop.

Changes are typically disruptive and uncomfortable, and they might include changing people as well as procedures, practices, and goods. Businesses that have been successful for a long time will have gone through the entrepreneurial, efficiency, and transformation cycles multiple times. Whether they call it reinventing themselves, restructuring, reorganising, or any other buzzword, the idea is the same: act as close to the peak of your growth curve as possible, and certainly not when you’re nearly at the bottom. In the case of Watford Football Club, it feels like there has been a realisation that without change, a death spiral is waiting round the corner.

Go back further, until owner Gino Pozzo arrived, and you can witness Watford’s many phases over the last 13 years. When he joined, the team was third in the league and had a new manager, staff, and a large number of new players. The following season was less successful, prompting further changes, including automatic promotion in 2015. Obviously, Watford’s stages were shorter than those of other clubs as head managers changed, yet the Hornets finished 13th, 17th, 14th, and 11th in the Premier League. However, from 2012 to 2019, the overall trend was upward, with increased success and money, as well as higher quality players and fees paid by the team.

So, perhaps in 2019, there was a need to recognise that the club had hit the peak of that particular growth curve, and it was time to go back and make a few tweaks to keep things interesting. Bob Paisley, a highly successful former Liverpool manager, famously claimed that the best moment to strengthen your squad was after you won a trophy. Don’t wait till the success has ended. However, the overall trend since 2019 has been downward, with the exception of the 2021 promotion, which will always be marked with an asterisk because it was carried out primarily behind closed doors owing to Covid.

The last three seasons of mid-table Championship fodder meant something had to change, and this writer admittedly supported the owner’s efforts to find someone to take over the club so that Watford could, as in the model above, return to the entrepreneurial phase they experienced when Gino Pozzo first arrived in 2012. However, as uncomfortable as it may be for some, there must be an acknowledgement that there is no organised procession of cash-laden individuals or groups waiting to remove the club from his hands. Yes, other clubs are purchased and sold, and they undoubtedly find suitable buyers. But few of us know the circumstances at any of those clubs, so it’s hard to judge if Watford have not looked hard enough, or if they have and found nothing.

(Image: Supplied)

The previous several weeks have seen the type of transition we’ve come to expect, with a head coach and his staff departing. Then there has been an uncomfortable change, as long-serving members of the administration staff are replaced. And now we’re on the verge of a transformation that no one saw coming, least of all those in Italy. The Pozzo family is going to abandon their 39-year affiliation with Udinese, sell the club, and devote their enthusiasm, time, and resources to Watford FC. At this point, there may be cries of ‘and pigs will fly’ or ‘I’ll believe it when I see it. Those sentiments are understandable, and while the owner may not like them, he would presumably expect some doubters.

However, the latter is far more important: if and when we see it happen, we can believe it. After all, when Tom Cleverley was fired, the owner issued his most extensive public statement in a long time. When a man who rarely speaks says something, it is worth noting, memorising, and monitoring. “I realise we have a responsibility to make this club the very best that it can be and I am energised in my determination to make Watford competitive, successful and challenge for a return to the Premier League,” he stated in a statement from a few weeks ago.

Furthermore, “Going forward, we will do everything in our power to keep those more experienced players in our squad to help the younger members develop.” “We are not abandoning the successful methodology of identifying and nurturing youth. However, we realise the need of keeping this current group together and strengthening it if we are to be successful. “The club will never be jeopardised financially, but we will do everything possible to provide stability and growth where the playing side is concerned.” In summary, the owner wants to try and keep all the best players from the previous season. add to it where he can, and ultimately have Watford in a position to challenge for the play-offs, or better.

As previously indicated, if we see that happening, we can trust it; if it does, we’ll all be delighted (with the exception of those who would desire a change of ownership, come what may).

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