The one-club man: my take on the Sir Alex Ferguson challenge

[Linecoigne1998]

The one-club man: my take on the Sir Alex Ferguson challenge
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Hello everyone! So I've been meaning to write a new story on here for a while but just couldn't find the time. However, I now have enough time to start a brand new story and what better way to ease back into FM than with a good old Sir Alex Ferguson challenge? I don't think I've tried this challenge that often in my years of playing FM so it should be an interesting one! For those of you who are unaware of what the SAF challenge is (which is probably a big minority of people on here), here are the rules which I've copied from TheNotSoSpecialOne's attempt at the challenge a few months ago:

1. Simulate the game until November 6th and take over the team in 19th place in the Premier League (as SAF did with Manchester United in 1986)

2. Stay at the chosen club for your entire career (getting sacked will result in failing the challenge)

3. Develop youth players and bring them into the first team (like Sir Alex did with players like Beckham, Scholes, Giggs, Neville, ****, etc)

4. Persuade long-term players to stay on and become part of the coaching staff after they've retired (like Sir Alex did with many Manchester United legends throughout his time as manager)

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And that's it! There will be no restrictions on transfers or amount of money allowed to be spent as today's transfer market is crazy enough as is and setting any restrictions would quite literally make this challenge impossible.

I know this isn't the most original of stories but seeing as I've not really done this on this forum before and have been away for some time, this seems like the perfect format to ease back into it. Hope you all enjoy! Next update will be the club reveal and introduction.

Goal	Achieved?	Sir Alex Ferguson	Henry Leman
Take over 19th place (November 6th)	No	06.11.1986 - Manchester United	N/A
Win domestic cup within 4 seasons	No	1990 FA Cup vs Crystal Palace	2019 FA Cup vs Arsenal
Win the Premier League within 7 seasons	No	1992/93 season	N/A
Achieve domestic double within 8 seasons	No	1993/94 season - Premier League and FA Cup	N/A
Win treble (including Champions League) within 13 seasons	No	1998/99 season - Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup	N/A
Premier League titles	No	13	N/A
FA Cup titles	No	5	N/A
Carabao Cup titles	No	4	N/A
Community Shield titles	No	10	N/A
UEFA Champions League titles	No	2	N/A
UEFA Europa League titles	No	1	N/A
UEFA Super Cup title	No	1	N/A
FIFA Club World Cup titles	No	2	N/A

 

[Linecoigne1998]

Welcome to Watford!

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So the 6th of November 2018 is here and I've ended up with Watford as the club that I'll have to take to multiple Premier League and Champions League titles. Definitely not the worst club to be taking over considering how rich the owners are and how much quality there is in the side.

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I take over at 30 years old and with no previous managerial experience but a Continental Pro license which definitely gives me some credit for getting the job. The club isn't in a good place at all right now with no wins in their last 8 league games but hopefully I'll be able to turn this around in the next 2 months and make some decent signings in January to take the club out of the relegation zone!

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With just 2 League One titles, one League One and one Calor Gas League Premier Division title in the trophy cabinet, it's fair to say that it'll be difficult to emulate Sir Alex Ferguson with such a poor foundation. Thankfully, this is only the case in terms of previous titles as our training facilities are outstanding and the youth facilities are pretty impressive considering the club's status as well.

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My new home for the next few years will be Vicarage Road, located in Watford and with a capacity of just over 21,000 fans. There's definitely room for improvement in terms of the stadium's capacity but it's a very good looking stadium considering the financial status of the club before it was taken over a few years back.

In 19th place and with just one win in 11 games so far this season, there's a lot of work to do. The good news is that with 6 points, a few results going our way could really increase our chances of not only getting out of the relegation zone but also going up to at least 12th place which is just 7 points away.

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As I mentioned previously, the club's finances are more than impressive. With a budget of £33 million, it looks like we'll definitely be able to make a few decent signings in the January transfer window, especially with so much room in the wage budget as well. There will also be a lot of deadwood I'll be looking to get rid of in the team, so that might free up even more funds in the future which is fantastic. Now then, I've got a lot of work to do including figuring out the best tactic for this side and prepare for my first game in charge against Brighton at home in 4 days time so I'll see you all later!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Yessssss! Great to see you back mate!! Will be following!!

 

[Linecoigne1998]

Yessssss! Great to see you back mate!! Will be following!!

Cheers mate, glad you'll be following! Hopefully I'll stick to the save and won't just stop after a month hahah XD btw is it just me who's having issues with attachments, mostly just imported screenshots from my laptop?

 

[WeArePalace]

Great to have you back mate should be a great story! But I think most people are having trouble with attachments at the moment.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Cheers mate, glad you'll be following! Hopefully I'll stick to the save and won't just stop after a month hahah XD btw is it just me who's having issues with attachments, mostly just imported screenshots from my laptop?

I have to lose mine through imgur to get them to work

 

[Linecoigne1998]

Great to have you back mate should be a great story! But I think most people are having trouble with attachments at the moment.

Cheers WeArePalace! Glad you'll be following

I have to lose mine through imgur to get them to work

And that's a good idea TheNotSoSpecialOne, I might try to do that in my next update and see how it works out.

 

[Linecoigne1998]

First month in charge

November 6th to December 11th has been a very exciting time for me. Having just become Watford manager, I've been able to impose my style of play on a team and it's felt so good to see it happen in real life on the pitch! After being a fan for so many years, it just felt really weird to be telling players what I thought they should do, and they would do it! Nevertheless, we've had some great results since I came in and I definitely hope that we can keep this sort of form up and maybe push for a top half spot by the end of the season!

For my first game in charge against Brighton, I opted for a 4-4-2 as the most balanced tactic I could use and it went incredibly well! With 36 chances throughout the game, we managed to score 4 and get all points in a 4-1 win against a 10-men Brighton side from the 22nd minute onwards. This definitely felt like a one-off considering we had the man advantage for so much of the game, but at the same time we were 2-0 up by the 7th minute! I guess our next match will tell if we just got lucky or if we're actually a decent side!

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WOW! Just when I thought we were going to get battered away from home by Wolves, we once again come away with 3 points in a fantastic 3-0 win! With 22 chances, we're definitely creating opportunities and the best part is that we're taking those chances as well! I brought in Peñaranda for this match as he's an extremely promising striker who I wanted to give some more game time and he definitely didn't disappoint. Two games in charge, 2 wins, 7 goals scored and just one conceded. Not a bad start if you ask me!

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We're never going to stop winning at this rate! 29 chances again and a 2-0 win thanks to Will Hughes who scores a first-half brace. I can't believe how well this team is playing right now and even though we've mostly had games that we, on paper, could definitely win, it's just been an unbelievable journey already. I'm already loving this Watford side and I can't wait for the transfer window to really make it my own!

Our great form definitely didn't go unnoticed, as Doucouré wins the November Player of the Month ahead of Callum Wilson and Eden Hazard! Peñaranda also deserves a shout for winning the Young Player of the Month in November ahead of City's wonder kid Gabriel Jesus and Bournemouth's wonder kid David Brooks!

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And yet another away win as we make it 4 wins from 4 games! What an incredible start to my career as Watford manager and I certainly hope it continues that way considering the results we're getting. We're also playing some really good football, not being outdone in possession and creating loads of chances to really give us a chance to score some goals. The next match on our calendar however, is our first big real test: at home against Manchester United.

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This game couldn't really have gone any worse to be honest. A 3-0 defeat really weakened our morale, especially considering we were statistically the better side today. I guess this shows that we do lack quality where sides like United don't. It was a real shame to lose out like that to Manchester United but we just weren't clinical enough in front of goal and our 14 chances got us nowhere today. It's still a very encouraging result because we played very well, but I'm not getting paid to play well unfortunately, I'm getting paid to win football matches and take this club to new heights which won't happen with results like that...

​Our good run of form through November sees us jump up to 13th place, just 4 points away from Wolves in mid-table. With 22 games to go this season, we have a lot of time to turn our season around and push for a top 10 finish which this team can definitely achieve based on what I've seen so far, so I'm definitely looking forward to the next month or so and the start of the transfer window so we can make some moves and bring in some much needed quality and future stars as well!

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We'll be facing some tough opponents in the next month or so with games against Newcastle, Bournemouth, Arsenal and Manchester City but others where I feel we can definitely get some good results against Cardiff, Fulham and Leicester. We also have an FA Cup 3rd round match to look forward to, a competition which, according to the board, we should reach the 5th round of so hopefully nothing goes wrong against Derby...

 

[Linecoigne1998]

Starting to struggle

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After a great start to my Watford career, I have to unfortunately say that it's starting to get tough. Despite the obvious quality in this side, we're hugely lacking motivation and passion and that has already cost us more than once so far this season. Nevertheless, we'll keep pushing on and the arrival of a few players throughout the January transfer window will be a huge boost for us.

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Our first game after the United disaster came against an in-form Bournemouth side, against whom I was expecting a bad result to be completely honest. A long-term injury to Will Hughes will keep him out until at least mid-January which isn't ideal either but at least we ended up getting a positive result against Bournemouth. A hard fought 5-4 victory with a QUADRUPLE from Andre Gray which should really help his confidence considering how poor he's been up to this point.

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​After a great result against Bournemouth, I was hoping for more of the same against Cardiff but we just didn't have it in us. A bore 0-0 draw which made me go over to the fans to apologise considering they travelled all the way from Watford to Wales... A really disappointing result to say the least especially considering how desperate we are for points at the minute.

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As if things couldn't get any worse. A decent performance overall although we concede 3 goals and lose all 3 points against a beatable Leicester side. If we're going to stay in the Premier League this season, we NEED to be more clinical! The sad part is that Deeney, Gray and Peñaranda are 3 very capable strikers but they seem to just not be able to find the back of the net for whatever reason. I know this is a strong side, I just need to figure out how to get them going.

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Our final game of the 2018 calendar year didn't exactly get Watford fans in a good mood for New Year's, that's for sure. We lose 3-1 to Fulham away from home despite a dominant performance which saw us lead the game for almost 40 minutes but once again, Fulham were a lot more clinical and that's what mattered. All I know now is that the January transfer window is opening, and I've got over £30 million to make some signings.

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First off, departures. Tom Cleverley was one of the players who I believed was just not good enough for this time. With midfielders like Doucouré and Capoue, it's difficult to find a reason to play Cleverley ahead of any of the two, especially when Will Hughes can also play as a centre-midfielder and he's miles ahead of Tom's level. We let him go for a nice £7.5 million fee, adding on to an already decent budget for January.

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Another player who I considered to be dead wood was Prödl. The Austrian centre-back, at 31 years old, just never featured in my plans for this team and it was best to let him go for some money while we still could. We get a nice £3.5 million added to our budget again, although we'll have to pay part of his wages for a little while, which definitely isn't ideal.

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This final departure was agreed upon during December, but we'll be saying goodbye to Britos who's moving to France for £500,000. Another ageing centre-back who was just never going to make it into this side.

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Side note: just realised we actually let Andre Gray go as well, £12 million to Leicester. He solicited a decent offer from a better side and asked if he could leave so I didn't really have a choice but to let him go unfortunately.

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Now for some good news then. With over £30 million to spend but some positions to fill up, I knew I needed to players who we could buy for cheap and who had the potential to really take this club to the next level. Predrag Rajkovic was that man as a new goalkeeper for us. Gomes and Foster just haven't cut it in goal for me and I can't bring myself to field 2 over 30-year old goalkeepers week in week out when other clubs have much better keepers guarding their goal.

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I also decided to bring in the young Manuel Gasparini who used to play for Udinese. As the owner of Watford has an in with Udinese's owner (well, he is his son...), we got a great deal signing the promising goalkeeper for just £2.5 million. Manuel is only 16 as well so we have him on seems like minimum wage for a professional football player, which will definitely help our wage bill. He'll be able to come in for FA Cup matches and any other competitions where Rajkovic can be rested.

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Next up is a defensive signing. Bruno Amione signs from Belgrano for £3 million, however we'll only be able to welcome him to the club in January 2020 as he's under age and by Argentinian law, he can't move to Europe until he's turned 18 which is on the 3rd of January 2020. A decent young signing who can come in during next season and hopefully be a good backup! My plan is to get a lot of young promising players at the club and really develop them to become some of the best. Bruno fits that bill.

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We now move to some midfield signings, as Nicolás Domínguez comes in for £9 million from Vélez in Argentina. Anticipating a departure from Doucouré either in January or this summer, I decided to invest in another young player who could take his place. Regardless of whether Doucouré leaves or not, Domínguez will be a fantastic player in the future, I can just feel it. He can play as a centre midfielder or defensive midfielder if I need him to, which is fantastic. One big issue however is that as a 20-year old uncapped Argentinian, we couldn't get him a work permit and now have to wait 3 months to apply for another one. Let's hope someone wants to take him on loan for the time being...

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Another exciting young signing is Agustín Almendra, who we sign for £8 million from Boca Juniors. Being able to play as a left midfielder, centre midfielder, right midfielder and attacking midfielder, we have a hugely versatile player who joins us and will be able to play in whatever formation or tactic we need him to which is great. Same issue as with Domínguez however, as he's uncapped and therefore couldn't get a work permit. It is a big shame as we've spent a decent bit of money on 2 players who can't even play for us for the next 3 months but let's hope they'll be able to start playing next season or maybe towards the end of this season at least...

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One young player who'll be able to start right away is Pelayo Morilla! At just 17 years old and with a release clause of £1.4 million, it was a no-brainer. I felt like we were lacking a good left midfielder in the team so Pelayo can definitely fit that role or at least provide some depth in that area for now until he becomes good enough for the first team. It's a very exciting time to be a Watford fan right now in my opinion as we've got some great young players coming through!

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Our final signing is one of the hottest young prospects in Europe at the moment. At just 16 years old, not many people knew of him which is why we were able to get him for just £6 million but he's got the potential to become one of Europe's best strikers and I'm very excited for him to be a backup to Deeney and Peñaranda now that Gray is gone. Should our budget allow it, I will most likely get a more established striker to come in for the time being as Fábio is still very, very young but I'll definitely be looking to use all these young players in the side at some point! And that's it in terms of signings, I can tell you that there is at least one more coming but nothing has been finalised yet so I'll announce it once it has.

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Back to the football now and we had a big game against Arsenal to kick off 2019 but once again, we just about fell short. It was a huge shame as I feel like we performed really well but unfortunately, a good performance doesn't necessarily mean goals and in this case we needed goals more than a performance. A 1-0 defeat is still respectable against one of the best teams in the league but I ideally want to be getting at least a point from these sort of matches so we need to do better.

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Up next was Derby County in the FA Cup and for once we were clinical! With 20 shots all game and allowing them just 3, none of which were on target, we get a decent 2-0 win thanks to goals from our 2 defensive midfielders Doucouré and Capoue early on in the game. We go through to the next round where we'll face Shrewsbury, which realistically should be an even easier game than this one.

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After 11 days without Premier League action, we came back with a bang as we win 3-1 against Newcastle in a very even game. For once, on paper, it looked like perhaps Newcastle had the better game and should've won the match but I won't complain! Yes, I know, I know. When it happens to us I'm happy but when it goes against us I'm annoyed. Who wouldn't be? It doesn't matter now, we get all 3 points and now need to look ahead to a big game against Manchester City. We're still in transfer negotiations with a player, maybe even 2 if our budget allows it so it's difficult to focus on games right now but hopefully we can not get completely thrashed by Guardiola's side.

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Well, it's not a thrashing but it's still another defeat. On top of that, we now have our best player Deulofeu injured for a month and Janmaat, who's my best right-back, suspended for the next game. We're really going to have to pull off something incredible soon to turn this season around and hope for a mid-table finish at this point, otherwise I might just lose my job!

After 23 games, here we are in 15th place. Not a very good position to be in but we are 10 points clear of the relegation zone which is a positive. At least we're not having as bad a season as Everton who are in 19th somehow! The issue now is that the more points we lose to mid-table sides, the more ground we have to make if we want to get up to 10th. We're already 7 points behind West Ham who have that coveted 10th place we want so much so let's hope this second half of the season can get better and we can get some points and maybe be more lethal up front too!

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My next month in charge promises to be a tough one. Our games against Everton and Southampton are ones I expect us to do well in and maybe even win, but the West Ham, Tottenham and Liverpool games are something else. I guess we at least have the FA Cup game against Shrewsbury to hopefully get our morale up...

 

[Linecoigne1998]

Finding some form

After a tough spell throughout the end of December and January, it felt great to finally have a good run of results recently. Despite some huge opposition in those few games, we managed to get some decent results which have allowed us to really think of a mid-table finish as realistic.

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First up is our last signing of the transfer window. We had a bid lined up for the Argentinian striker Maximiliano Romero which fell through at the last minute (due to, you guessed it, work permit issues), making Souttar our 7th arrival of the January transfer window. With an average age of 20.4 years old, they were all signings made for the future with a few already being able to fit in the first team such as Rajkovic and Souttar, as well Domínguez and Almendra if they didn't have issues receiving a work permit. Nevertheless, Souttar is 22 years old and can already start in the team, as well having a bag of potential which will make it exciting to see him grow as a player over the next few years.

Our first game following the defeat against Manchester City was at home facing Shrewsbury in the 4th round of the FA Cup. We didn't get off to a good start, conceding in the first minute and getting a red card in the 7th minute shortly after equalising, thanks to Will Hughes' 3rd minute strike. We held on however and managed to grab the win in the last 10 minutes, courtesy of Troy Deeney who always seems to be the hero in these last minute moments. We'll be going to the FA Cup 5th round, which is what the board wanted of us, where we'll face Hull City. That should give us a real chance of making it to the FA Cup quarter-final!

We then faced off against Everton who are having a horrible, horrible season. We went ahead early on thanks to an 11th minute goal from Capoue and things went from bad to worse for the Toffees after that. Keane got sent off in the 19th minute, giving away a penalty which Deeney easily put away before we went 3-0 up at half-time. A very dominant performance which was exactly the sort of performance I wish we could put in week in week out.

A difficult away game at the London Stadium awaited us next and after a very even game, we could only get a point. We conceded a goal in the 91st minute which is definitely frustrating, but overall we manage to get a point from a side a lot higher up than us in the league which is ideal. We did however receive a fine for our lack of discipline, something which I'll have to look at for the next few games if we don't want half our starting 11 suspended by the end of the season.

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This match against Southampton was another opportunity for us to pick up some points but our lack of finishing ability put us to the sword as we score just one goal from 9 shots on target and concede 2 from 4 shots on target for the Saints, meaning we fall even further behind the teams in mid-table. Definitely not a good result considering we just came off a big win against Everton and a good draw against West Ham but we push on. We also lost our best right-back to injury who'll be out for 3 weeks, putting us top of the league for injuries...

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We did get a very positive result against Hull, easily winning 3-0 putting us through to the FA Cup quarter-final where we'll face Bournemouth! Fábio Silva also got to play, as well as our other 16-year old Gasparini in goal and both of them did a fantastic job, with Fábio becoming the youngster ever goalscorer for Watford. Already breaking records at just 16!

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Our next Premier League game was another trip to London which this time resulted in a 1-0 defeat. Tottenham kept most of the ball throughout the game and we just couldn't deal with the many attacks they had during the match. We did only concede one however, so Gasparini can be proud of his performance against a top side like Spurs.

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Our last game in February was another huge game against Liverpool, however this time we got off to a flying start by scoring twice in the first 10 minutes of the game, effectively giving us the win as the Reds only found a way through in the 89th minute. A huge 3 points gained from a side in the top 3 in the Premier League which is a huge positive for the team and will definitely give us a confidence boost ahead of the next few games before the end of the season!

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This decent run of form puts us 12 points away from the relegation zone which, unless something terrible happened, should see us stay in the Premier League for next season. More importantly, we are now just 3 points away from 11th place and 6 points away from 10th place so even though we have our work cut out for us, we can definitely hope for a decent finish if we find some momentum.

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We'll have some big games coming up against the likes of Chelsea, although our games against Crystal Palace away and Wolves at home will be equally tough in my opinion. Brighton will also a good result to get out of the relegation zone so it'll be interesting to see how this game goes. As for the FA Cup, a 6th round exit would exceed the board's expectations so there'll be no pressure on us to perform but it would be fantastic to get to an FA Cup semi-final in my first season in charge so I'll definitely be pushing the lads for a result.

 

[Linecoigne1998]

An impressive cup run

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Following a decent month in February, we knew we had to continue our good form to hope for not only a good cup run, but a climb up the Premier League table as well. It's so important for us to finish in a decent position to receive a bit more money at the end of the season and hopefully rebuild the team next summer. With games against Chelsea in the Prem, Bournemouth in the FA Cup and Wolves in the Prem as well, we had our work cut out for us.

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Our first match of March 2019 came against Crystal Palace, a side above us in the league who have definitely outperformed people's expectations to say the least. I can't lie and say I wasn't worried, but we played a fantastic game and Souttar, our new signing from January (and one of the few who could actually since he didn't need a work permit!) scores the winner. What a story that was! A 3-2 victory away at Selhurst Park is definitely the best result we could've gotten and getting this result on the back of beating Liverpool at home should really give us some confidence going forward.

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We once again got a fantastic result but this time at home against Chelsea, as we held the Blues to a 1-1 draw thanks to a very quick response by Doucouré to Higuaín's opener in the 31st minute. The bad news however is that our goalscorer and best midfielder by far, Abdoulaye Doucouré, is out for the next month after twisting his ankle during this match against Chelsea. As if our luck couldn't get any worse!

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We then moved on to a big game away against Brighton which we should've realistically won but despite our 13 shots on target, we just couldn't score more than one past Matthew Ryan today. Groß scored a late equaliser to break our hearts and steal 2 points away from us but the season isn't over yet and whilst we may have just helped Brighton avoid relegation, we still need to make sure we finish as close to mid-table as we can ourselves!

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Our big game against Bournemouth finally came as we battled it out for a place in the last 4 of the FA Cup and it was an unlikely goal from the 86th minute which gave us the win to put us through to the semi-final of the competition! Arsenal and Manchester United will be fighting over a place in the final in one of the semis, while we'll face Southampton hoping to get to the club's 2nd ever FA Cup final since the 1983/84 season, when Watford lost to Everton at Wembley. This could turn out to be a fantastic end to the season for us!

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Unfortunately, I can't really say the same about the league, as we fall 2-0 against Wolves at home to give away even more points in our chase for a mid-table finish. I think I'm going to have to accept now that we should finish in the bottom half of the table, but I've seen more than enough from this team to be very hopeful for the future and this upcoming summer when we'll hopefully have a decent budget to spend on some new players and apply for some **** work permits for all our new South American players!

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Speaking of the future, I got a brand new shiny contract! The board were reportedly very happy with my performance as manager of the club so far and have decided to extend my stay at Vicarage Road until June 2021, so I know I have at least another 2 years to really make this team my own (unless of course next season goes horrendously and I just get sacked anyway...).

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With just 6 games left in the 2018/19 Premier League season, we sit in 13th with 37 points, 3 points off the "magical 40 points" which have always been used to figure out if a team is safe from relegation or not. Sitting 12 points clear off 18th place, I'd say we're almost guaranteed a spot in the Premier League next season but you never know with this competition. Our goal of 10th place is now 8 points away so as I said before, it's probably best to accept a second half of the table finish but we'll be pushing to get as close as possible to Wolves.

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With a huge game against Southampton to start off April, it's nice to get 2 easier games in the league against Huddersfield (20th) and Burnley (16th) before preparing for some huge matches away at Old Trafford and at home against Bournemouth. However, Huddersfield and Burnley both can save themselves from relegation with a few decent results so we'll have to play them like we would against Manchester City if we want all 3 points in both those games.

 

[Linecoigne1998]

Alright everyone so I literally just realised that I deleted all the pictures I had uploaded on Imgur so I wouldn't have a huge cluttered library on there and because of that, all the images I had linked to the previous updates are now deleted as well... attachments are being a real pain on this forum recently and it's really getting annoying, hopefully that can get fixed soon but it seems like it's been like that for a few months... I had a cool update lined up for the end of the season but I might just make a new post now doing a whole season review to show results, the final league table and the signings we made throughout January. Let me know what you all think.

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

Alright everyone so I literally just realised that I deleted all the pictures I had uploaded on Imgur so I wouldn't have a huge cluttered library on there and because of that, all the images I had linked to the previous updates are now deleted as well... attachments are being a real pain on this forum recently and it's really getting annoying, hopefully that can get fixed soon but it seems like it's been like that for a few months... I had a cool update lined up for the end of the season but I might just make a new post now doing a whole season review to show results, the final league table and the signings we made throughout January. Let me know what you all think.

Attaching pictures on here has been a nightmare for a number of months now! All we want is to upload images without them appearing as attached thumbnails and I've seen you and a few others comment about it now... how do we even try to get it fixed?

 

[Linecoigne1998]

Attaching pictures on here has been a nightmare for a number of months now! All we want is to upload images without them appearing as attached thumbnails and I've seen you and a few others comment about it now... how do we even try to get it fixed?

I think there's some mods for the forum on other pages? Idk I could've sworn a few months ago I saw some mods commenting on other threads (not manager stories) so I guess we could try to find something there? Not too sure... It does make it kind of annoying to write posts sometimes unfortunately

 

[Linecoigne1998]

2018/19 season recap and 2019 pre-season

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So, with my attachment issues, a 2018/19 season recap is in order. In the Premier League, we brought it all the way back after sitting in 19th when I joined the club on November 6th, getting very close to the board's goal of a mid-table finish.

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Perhaps the big surprise this season is Everton getting relegated after a terrible season, while Bournemouth also surprised everyone finishing in 6th place. As for us, we managed an 11th place finish which is more than good enough for me considering how bad of a state the team was in halfway through the season. We made some great signings in January who played a key role in turning the season around and thankfully, we can now move on and hope for an even better finish next season!

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As for the FA Cup, we're champions! A tense 4-3 win against Southampton in the semi-final took us to the final against Arsenal, a game which was definitely not in our favour but we managed a 5-3 win somehow and win the club's first ever FA Cup! On top of that, we've also directly qualified for the Europa League group stage which is incredible news not only financially as we'll be getting some decent money for our participation in the competition but also in terms of potential transfers! It would've been difficult to attract good players if we had simply finished in 11th as we would've been nothing more than a mid-table team in the Premier League, but qualifying for the Europa League means European football and that's absolutely huge.

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We were quite busy over the transfer window, spending a total of £69 million and selling £62 worth of players. Considering we had a budget of £67 million to the start the summer off, that's not bad business at all! I managed to get rid of some deadwood players but also let go a few more important players like Pereyra, Chalobah and Capoue. However, they've been replaced with some incredible players. With Domínguez now having a work permit, he'll be able to play for us and will be a huge player for the side, whilst Sandro Tonali is a big signing for us considering he was approached by Juventus, Chelsea and Manchester City... Juan Miranda is also a great signing for the future as Barcelona had to let him go for £21.5 million due to his release clause. Lirola will be a great signing at right-back to really improve our defence, same with Onguéné who's a young promising centre-back who can become the future of this defence along with Souttar. Finally, Ziyech comes in as a marquee player for us to replace Pereyra and he's very versatile and just 26 as well so already in his prime which is great.

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Pre-season went quite well overall too, with 6 wins, one draw and one loss from our friendly matches. We were unfortunate in the Community Shield game against City but Guardiola's side is still miles ahead of us in terms of quality so I wasn't really expecting that much. Nevertheless, a 2-0 defeat is still not as much of a thrashing as many people would've expected so I'm happy!

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Our schedule for the first month of the 2019/2020 season looks promising! We'll have two tough games against Leicester and Bournemouth which will be important to get good results in, whilst a game at home against Burnley might not be easy either but is definitely more winnable. We also face 2 of the newly-promoted sides in Middlesbrough and Aston Villa which might be 6 easy points off the bat but we won't be too overconfident as it could come back to haunt us. Let's see how this goes!

 

[Linecoigne1998]

A perfect start for my first full season in charge

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So then, after a few months in charge of Watford, an 11th place finish last season and an FA Cup win, it was time to start off my very first full season in charge of the club. I was feeling pretty confident considering some of the amazing signings we made and definitely felt like we could get off to a good start considering our opening 5 games in the Premier League weren't hugely difficult to get points from. Here's how we got on.

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We had an incredible first game with a 3-0 win away against Bournemouth with goals from Deulofeu and Deeney in the second half, but more importantly a debut goal for Hakim Ziyech who was playing as our right-attacking midfielder in this match! A great start for our new Moroccan star as we beat a strong Bournemouth side to really show what we're about this season.

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Up next, Middlesbrough at home and we once again had a fantastic performance. Allowing just one shot on target for Middlesbrough all game was certainly a highlight, and it felt nice to see that we dominated the possession too. Juan Hernández, who's an amazing prospect and was out on loan at Huesca for the last 2 years, comes back to make his 2nd appearance for the club and scores a brace in the first half, as Doucouré finish the job with a 47th minute strike to give us a 3-0 lead and that's all she wrote!

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A 3rd clean sheet in a row for Rajkovic and a 3rd win in a row for us as we narrowly beat Burnley 1-0, thanks to a 65th minute striker from arguably the best player at the club Gerard Deulofeu who's having a fantastic season so far! It was a pretty close game but we end up on top yet again and continue our incredible start in the Premier League!

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The Europa League group stage draw came around just before our away game against Aston Villa and I have to say, I'm really excited to get started in Europe! AEK and Sparta Praha are, no offence to them, not teams we should be losing against with Feyenoord being the strongest side in the group and the team we should be battling 1st place in the group with. The board expects me to guide the team to the 2nd knockout round of the competition which, for the club's first ever appearance in Europe, seems a little high but we have a great side and I'm confident we can get there.

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We did get some really unfortunate news from the physio room following a training session before the Aston Villa game, as Deulofey gets yet another lower back injury which will keep him out for a month and a half at least. The physios have told me they're confident they can make sure this injury doesn't come back again with the treatment they're planning and I hope to God they're right because we're going to need our little Spanish Messi in Europe this season as much as possible!

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Much like the Burnley game, we struggled in this match a little more than the opening two games this season but eventually got a second goal from Doucouré in the 80th minute which proved to be the winner as Andre Green claimed one back for the newly-promoted Aston Villa in the 94th minute. We did play the last half hour of the game with a man-advantage which always helps but it's yet another win in a flawless start to our domestic season!

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We finish off this update with another incredible result and perhaps the best of the lot with a 4-0 win at home against Leicester! The Foxes just had no answer for the many opportunities we created this game and a stellar performance from Rajkovic and the defence made sure we kept our 4th clean sheet in 5 games, whilst Doucouré, Hernández, Peñaranda and Morilla had a field day up front each scoring one! I was a little worried having to play Morilla for the next few games due to Deulofeu's long-term injury but he's a very exciting young prospect who I think is really going to be able to step up for us!

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So 5 games in and we sit at the top of the league! Our flawless run of 5 wins from 5 games so far this season puts us in 3rd, level on points with Liverpool and Arsenal who have also enjoyed great starts, and 2 points ahead of Manchester City who were held by West Ham in their only draw of this Premier League season so far. It's been a fantastic star to the year for us, the issue will now be to balance Premier League and Europa League as our European venture will start later this month.

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Our first European game takes us away to Greece to face AEK, right before we have another away trip for a cold night game in Stoke. We then face Sheffield United in the Carabao Cup just 3 days later and Tottenham at home 3 days after that! It's going to be a hectic month in September and that will continue on October too with games against Sparta Praha and Arsenal just 3 days apart again.

 

[Linecoigne1998]

Finding the right balance

After an incredible start to the season, we now had to balance European football and domestic football with the Europa League campaign starting up. Although we didn't have the perfect month we did in August/September, we still did really, really well considering the amount of new players in the team who had to learn to play with each other!

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We faced AEK in our first game in Europe and it was a resounding success. A 3-1 win away from home after being 1-0 down at half-time really gives us confidence that we can do something great in this group and hopefully our good form will continue for some of our tougher matches against Feyenoord.

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Unfortunately, our good form had to come to an end eventually and Carrillo's 11th minute strike gave Stoke the 1-0 win as we faced another of the newly-promoted side, this time unsuccessfully. I was really annoyed at the end of the game considering on paper we were the better side but credit to Stoke who played quite well throughout the game and deserved the 1-0 win in the end.

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I fielded a slightly weaker team than usual against Sheffield United, thinking it would be enough to put us through to the next round but in the end we needed one of our starters in Doucouré to come on and score a brace in the last 3 minutes of the game to give us the win. We probably deserved a better scoreline considering the stats of the game but it's a win nonetheless. One thing's for sure, it's that our squad depth needs to improve in quality if I'm to play them in domestic cup matches...

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Arguably the best result of the last month for the club, as we beat Tottenham 4-0 with just 36% of the possession! We started the game incredibly well, scoring twice in the opening 15 minutes and then twice again in the last 18 minutes. What an incredible game for us and what a performance! This has really shown me that it's not all about the possession and whilst keeping the ball is good sometimes, you don't necessarily need it to score a lot of goals! We did get some bad news however as Peñaranda got injured and will be out for a month, which will however give Fábio Silva a chance to come in and be a backup striker in the side for the time being.

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September really was an opportunity for us to showcase the incredible youth we have at the club and how about that for a showcase. All 3 of the players in the top 3 for Young Player of the Month were from our club as Morilla is the one who won it in the end at just 18 years old, with Juan Hernández in 2nd at 20 years old and Juan Miranda in 3rd at 19 years old.

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Our second game in Europe was even better than the first one! A 7-1 victory at home for the club's first ever European home game is not too shabby at all, as Hernández scores a quadruple to take his goal tally to 6 goals in 2 games in the Europa League and 10 goals in 10 games in all competitions. To think our Colombian striker was out on loan for the last 2 seasons... imagine what he could've done for us last year!

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We then had a big top-of-the-league clash against Arsenal which I was hoping would go better but we unfortunately lost 4-1, despite equalising just one minute after the Gunners' opener in the 47th minute. The home side were just too strong on the day for us and we had to travel back to Watford without a single point unfortunately. I did see enough in the performance to be proud of the team though, especially considering this is our first big defeat of the season.

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We end this update with another win, this time 1-0 at home against Fulham as Hernández scores yet again and Onguéné gets his first MOTM award as a Watford player. A great performance all round and whilst I was hoping for a few more goals considering our dominance, we still end up getting the 3 points at the end of the 90 minutes which is all that matters.

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So we're still up in 3rd after 9 games in the Premier League, thanks to Manchester United and Chelsea not being able to find their feet just yet. With 7 wins and 2 losses, we have a great record on top of being the 2nd best defence in the league and the 3rd best attack. Everything is going incredibly well so far and I just hope that as the season goes on we don't get too overwhelmed and start choking. The board wants us to finish in the top half this season and right now we're 9 points ahead of that, but my personal goal is to lead Watford to another European campaign whether that's the Europa League or the Champions League.

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Some big and important games next month for us. The two European games against Feyenoord will essentially decide who finishes top of group G, whilst we'll need to win against Derby to exceed the board's expectations for the Carabao Cup. Cardiff away in the Prem will be an interesting game considering they're up in 9th which is unheard of for the Welsh club, whilst games against Crystal Palace and Southampton should, on paper, be ones that we win. Our home game against Manchester United will also be a big test but I'm confident we can get at least a point considering the Red Devils' horrendous form. Finally, our last game in November against AEK might just seal our fate in the Europa League and qualify us for the next round if all goes well in the 2 games prior against Feyenoord.

 

[Linecoigne1998]

Tough patch

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After some fantastic early-season form, we've slowly come back to Earth with a few results that were definitely hard to take. The Europa League isn't secure either even though I thought it would be by now which is a big shame. There's still a long way to go for my first full season in charge but hopefully this doesn't change our good fortune so far this season.

Well great. I think we can say goodbye to first place in the group now after that horrible result, we'll just need to move on and hope we can do better at home against the Dutch side but if we can't beat a team like Feyenoord, how the **** are we supposed to reach the 2nd knockout round?!

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How ironic that it would be our former midfielder Chalobah who would score a 94th minute equaliser for his new side Cardiff... A 2-2 draw means we drop another 2 points, especially considering Juan Hernández missed a penalty halfway through the first half. A very disappointing result but hopefully one we can forget about and move on.

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A good result in the grand scheme of things but on the way, we definitely should've done better. We win on penalties after another late equaliser from our opponents and move on to the next round of the Carabao Cup where we'll face Hull. Should be an interesting quarter-final!

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Yet another disappointing result as we faced Watford at home and could only draw 0-0. We're definitely going through a bit of a rough patch right now but hopefully I can rally the lads and we can start over and get back on track here because if we keep losing 2 points every game, we might just end up in 11th like we did last season...

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I think it's fair to say Feyenoord have got first place in Group G in the bag as we can only get a 1-1 draw with yet another late equaliser from our opponents, despite just one shot on target all game. It was a much better performance from the team but we just weren't clinical enough and that obviously cost us. On top of the bad result, we've also just lost Doucouré for the next month to month and a half which is just terrible news considering how good he's been in midfield since I joined in November last year. Really not the best time to be a Watford fan right now...

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It was a big game at home against United and once again we just weren't clinical enough. We definitely were the better side on the day and should've at least gotten a point from the game but truth is we didn't and here we are. Another defeat and hopefully the last one for the next few matches because I might feel a bit threatened in terms of job security if it continues like this...

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As if things couldn't get any worse, we lose yet another game this time against Southampton who definitely shouldn't have won this match in my opinion. Embolo's penalty in the 63rd minute was what separated us and at least a point and once again it was close but just not close enough. We NEED to do better.

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Phew... We at least end November on a good note with an incredibly dominant performance rewarded with a 2-0 win against AEK. We now have one last Europa League group stage game away against Sparta Praha and a win would see us through to the next round. A draw would work too, but ideally I want another win of course.

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We were also hit with some good and bad news transfer wise this month. Cathcart wasn't getting any play time and said he wanted to leave so when Stoke came knocking for £5 million, I decided to accept the offer. As for Souttar, I really wanted him to be a big part of the side but he just didn't develop like I thought he would and got quickly replaced by the much superior Onguéné when he arrived so we had to let John go to Crystal Palace for £8.5 million. The great news however is that with the money raised from these 2 departures and the leftover transfer budget we had from the summer window, we have made the club's new record signing in Nikola Milenkovic, a very promising Serbian centre-back who's played for Fiorentina for the last 3 years. He should be a fantastic addition to the team and will most likely move Kabasele to the bench so we'd have a centre-back pairing of Milenkovic and Onguéné, not bad if you ask me!

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After 13 games, we still sit in the Europa League spots which would be an ideal for the team at the end of the season in my opinion. Chelsea and Stoke are very close to us but I'm confident that with a good month in December we can start to pull away again and hope to still finish in European spots. Feyenoord have officially qualified with a game to spare as they beat us and therefore would finish above us in head-to-head if it stayed like this, however the top spot is still up for grabs! If we win our game and Feyenoord draw or lose theirs, we could finish top of the group which would be great.

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The big worry right now is to get out of this rough patch and start earning some points, however some of our next few games in the league against the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle and Manchester City aren't exactly going to help us at all so we'll just have to pray that the sides we'll be facing will have an off-day and we can capitalise on that.

 

[Linecoigne1998]

Holding on

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With a very packed month ahead of us and some tough fixtures to think about, I was definitely worried. We've done very well in the league since the start of the season but a few bad results and we could find ourselves in mid-table once again. The January transfer window is around the cornier too and it'll be interesting to see if we can sign anyone who can be of help to the side, but I feel like we have some good balance in the team right now so we might not even spend any money.

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Our opening game for December was another disappointing result as we concede late in the game to lose 2 points despite a dominant performance. It's now coming to a point where I'm impressed with our performances but we're just not getting all 3 points when we should. Liverpool are a great side so I wasn't expecting too much but it's a shame to lose 2 points so late on.

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We quickly followed up with a great 2-0 win away against Wolves, who are a very decent mid-table side in the Premier League. We completely brushed them aside thanks to a Ziyech brace and it feels good to know that we can beat some of these strong "best of the rest" teams in the Premier League so comfortably.

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After our unfortunate defeat against Chelsea, we needed to try and make a statement against another one of the big teams in the league and how about that for a statement?! We win 1-0 against Chelsea at home as Juan Hernández scores yet again. Peñaranda had to come out after he pulled a muscle and will be out for 3 weeks which I would say is a shame but he's really not performed this season. I don't know what it is, I thought a Peñaranda-Hernández partnership would be devastating but it just hasn't worked out and Deeney has been more consistent and has just performed better overall.

Our good fortune continues in Europe as we win our last group game 2-0 against Sparta Praha, while Feyenoord draw with AEK away from home giving us the top spot in the group! We'll face Ludogorets in the First Knockout Round which feels like an incredibly fortunate draw and it'll be interesting to see who we get next if we make it there. Feyenoord weren't so lucky, as they draw the group C winners Manchester United! Fair to say that finishing top of the group was definitely worth it...

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We continue our great run of form wit a 3-0 win against Newcastle in a pretty even game. I do feel bad for the Newcastle lads here because they performed quite well but just weren't clinical enough as we took the spoils and scored 3 goals in the first half. Deulofeu is back from injury and already performing, while Troy Deeney is just ageing like a fine French red wine.

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We then had a bit of a scare against Hull in the Carabao Cup quarter-final, as we scored early on thanks to Doucouré but conceded with 20 minutes to go. Kabasele (who's likely getting replaced in the first team by Milenkovic once he comes in) eventually scored the winner in the 79th minute and we go through to the semi-final where we'll face Aston Villa who somehow have gotten to this stage, while the other semi-final will see Leicester take on West Ham. With none of the big sides left in the competition, could this be a big chance for us to win our second domestic competition in 2 years??

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We had some more good news this month as Morilla, who's really stepped up since Deulofeu's injury, signed a new contract with us for another 3 and a half years! At £25,000 a week, his wage isn't eating up a lot of our finances and he's a great little player which is exactly what this club needs. No superstars, just players who want to work hard and play football.

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Some more lost points here as we draw 0-0 against Bournemouth. I went over to the fans after the game to apologise to them for having to witness this calamity of a game especially considering the horrible cold they had to sit that through. It's a point nonetheless and when you're competing for a European competition spot, they all count.

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This turned out to be our last win of the 2019 calendar year, as we beat West Ham 3-1 thanks to Onguéné's first ever goal in a Watford shirt and a brace from Peñaranda who finally woke up from his goalless slumber. A great win against a strong side and although it would've been nice to get a clean sheet, I can't complain with a 3-1 win.

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Our good run of form had to end eventually and there's no more honourable way to do that than to lose to one of the best teams in the Premier League. We fought hard and actually took the lead at the Etihad but unfortunately just couldn't finish our dinner. Two goals in the second half sealed our fate as we lose 3-1 (thankfully a few days after Christmas).

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Unfortunately for our fans, we won't be giving them much to celebrate for New Year's Eve as we lose 1-0 to Middlesbrough with a 91st minute penalty. With 24 shots all game and 10 decent chances, you would've thought we would've gotten all 3 points but it just wasn't to be and we end the 2019 calendar year on a sour note. New Year new us though right? We'll come back stronger in 2020 and hopefully keep getting decent results to finish in the top half of the Premier League!

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So here we are still up there in the Premier League after 21 games. It's encouraging to see that we're just 2 points behind 4th place, although it's also worrying that we are only 3 points ahead of 8th place. We can't make any mistakes now if we want Europa League football again next season. Tottenham, Manchester United and Southampton are all hot on our tail and hopefully we can create a bit of a gap with good results in the next 2 months.

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Speaking of the next 2 months, we'll be going west to Ipswich for our first game in 2020 with an FA Cup 3rd round game that awaits us there. Then. we face off against Aston Villa not once, not twice, but THREE times this month as we play them in the Carabao Cup semi-finals with the first leg at home and also in the Premier League at home later in the month. Our 2 other games this month see us play against Burnley and Leicester away, with both sides in 13th and 14th respectively. They'll be dangerous to play against and we can't be overconfident if we want points so let's hope we do get them.

 

[Linecoigne1998]

Unbeaten in 2020!

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After a difficult end to the 2019 calendar year, we needed a good start to 2020 to really make sure that we not only did well in the domestic cups but also were in a good mindset for our upcoming Europa League tie against Ludogorets. Despite some difficult games and a very painful departure, we had a very exciting arrival in the team and he'll hopefully be one of the best players to have ever played for this club!

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Our first game in 2020 was a successful outing against Ipswich in the FA Cup which takes us to the 4th round! We'll face Burnley later this month away from home and hopefully we can beat them, although I'm not too sure with Deulofeu's sending off in this game...

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After a big FA Cup game, we now had a big game in the Carabao Cup and just like in August when we faced Villa, it was another tough game. We eventually game out on top and won 4-3 but it was very close to say the least, especially considering we were winning 4-0 in the 72nd minute... We really shouldn't have conceded that many goals to be honest but at least we got the win and have one foot or maybe half a foot in Wembley for the final.

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After his bad form this season and a very average season last year as well, I decided it was time for Peñaranda to leave the club. Will I regret it? Probably, considering the young lad's potential. I have had my eye on a striker for a while though, and these £20 million on top of the money we saved up from the summer transfer window might just allow me to go after him now and believe me, he's a HUGE step up from Peñaranda. I wish the 22-year old the best of luck and hopefully we don't face him in Europe now so he doesn't get back at us!

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Another tough game this month but this time in the Premier League. We come away 1-0 winners in a tight matchup, thanks to Doucouré who's having one of the best goalscoring seasons of his life. Two years ago he scored 7 goals at Watford and that was his best ever goalscoring season in his whole career. This season, he's already at 8 goals and we're only in January!

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So there's Peñaranda's replacement! To say I'm excited to see him play would be an understatement. It cost us a LOT of money, the entirety of our leftover budget in fact, but he should definitely be worth it if he progresses as well as many European clubs expect him to. The release clause isn't great to have in there but I'm hoping we can get him to sign a contract extension soon enough and get rid of that release clause. His first game will be against Villa in the Premier League so let's hope he can bag a few goals then!

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Amione just joined us after turning 18 and although I'd have loved to keep him as a backup for one of our centre-backs, his work permit application was unfortunately rejected. As a result, we had to send him out on loan to New York Red Bulls so he can get some game time and hopefully come back a better player and able to receive his work permit. As for Fábio Silva, he's the future of this club for sure but with Jovic's arrival, I just couldn't find space for him since Deeney will now be our backup striker so he's going out on loan to Norwich until the end of the season which should provide him with some much-needed playing experience.

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Our second game of the month against Aston Villa was yet another tough one and we couldn't win this one. Hughes will be out for a week or so, which is a relief considering it could've been a much more long-term injury. It was another late goal which cost us points and I just can't seem to put my finger on why we keep conceding this late. Is it because the players are all so young and just don't know how to deal with pressure late game? I'm not sure. It also wasn't a great debut for Jovic who didn't do much up front but hopefully he'll pick up later on in his Watford career!

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After a very tough game in the first leg, this one was just as tough although we did come out 3-2 winners thanks to Morilla's first ever career hat-trick! This also makes him the top goalscorer in the competition and he'll hope to add on to that tally when we face Leicester in the Carabao Cup final. A 7-5 aggregate win is a lot closer than I thought it would be but we won the game at the end of the day and that's all that matters.

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We faced Burnley yet again this month but this time in the FA Cup and it definitely didn't go as planned. A 0-0 draw means we now have to have a replay fixture and when our players are already so exhausted or injured, it just wasn't what we needed. The club expects us to reach the 5th round of the FA Cup which means we HAVE to go through but I guess considering we made it to the Carabao Cup final when they expected a 4th round exit could make up for it if we didn't make it past Burnley.

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Finally Jovic scores his first Watford goal! We come away 2-0 winners with 2 late goals from Deulofeu and Jovic to give us all 3 points. A nice warm-up match for the Carabao Cup final which undoubtedly won't have the same result but it'll be a big confidence booster to have won against them today. It also gives us a few points to continue our impressive Premier League campaign so far.

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So there we are; 24 games in and we still sit in 4th place. We're 7 points behind 3rd and 5 points clear of Chelsea in 7th which is great. We are however level on points with United and Tottenham, meaning if the season ended next week we could have the chance of finishing either 4th in Champions League places or 5th/6th in Europa League places. Wherever we end up, if we finished in 6th I would be absolutely buzzing so anything above that is a HUGE bonus.

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February is a PACKED month to say the least. With a total of 8 fixtures, it promises to be a very tough and tiring month for the lads so some of the younger players might get a run out in the less important games against the likes of Fulham and Cardiff. We'll see though. We have a particularly tough 4 game run with Tottenham away, then an away leg in the Europa League in Bulgaria, then the home leg of that Europa League tie and finally the Carabao Cup final at Wembley. Let's pray no one gets injured in this period...