Who knows how successful he will be, which players he will be able to sign and how much autonomy he will be given – for now I am personally very happy that Tom Cleverley has permanently become head coach of Watford.
And while I know there are some who disagree – possibly with valid reasons or concerns – given the responses on social media, messages and texts I’ve received, and looking at forums and message boards, the vast majority feel of Watford fans feel the same way.
After all, this is a first in the twelve years that Pozzo has been owner: a permanent, internal appointment.
Since Sean Dyche took over from Malky Mackay in June 2011, the club has not been chosen from within to manage the team.
There’s a lot to be said for continuity, and that’s the one thing the owner hasn’t tried since the club’s on-field fortunes began to decline.
The Hornets have had a former England manager, a Premier League winner, experienced foreign coaches, a seasoned England campaigner and a young England boss in the last two and a half years.
But what Pozzo hasn’t tried is to give the job to someone already at the club, although admittedly there haven’t been many options as most of the staff have been wiped out along with the coach they appointed.
So credit to the owner for clearly breaking the mold and deviating from his usual approach.
And while we give some credit, he also seemingly gave Valerien Ismael as long as he thought he could before firing him – something that couldn’t be said about many of the previous incumbents.
There are small hints of change, but certainly not enough to suggest that this particular aircraft carrier is taking a turn at sea.
It is clear that the next indicator of change – if there is any – will be what transfer activity the club does in the summer: what positions, where they come from, what money is spent and, as always, which agents are used.
Likewise, it will tell to see who not departure in the summer. The accounts show that the club will need to raise a similar amount of money to the sale of Joao Pedro to continue, especially if there are no parachute payments.
There are some marketable assets in the first-team squad, but they will leave holes in an already thin group.
The team size will also be interesting. With former boss Valerien Ismael repeatedly saying he was happy with a smaller, thinner squad, will Cleverley want a bit more choice?
After all, there is skinny and then there is so much trimming that the bone is exposed.
Naturally, his knowledge of the club’s younger players is extensive, as until last month he coached the Under-18s and regularly watched the Under-21s.
It would be good to see the club not only promoting Cleverley but also giving opportunities to some Academy products.
First, as Ryan Andrews has shown, there is talent.
Secondly, there seems to be a feeling – not just at Watford, but across British football – that unless you have paid a fee for a player he cannot be good.
Many of the greatest Watford players of all time haven’t cost a cent, and while times have changed and the game moves on, it would be a step back towards how the club used to operate if talent was at least taken into account homegrown. .
For now though, all the ifs and buts remain as Cleverley still have two games left of the season before the real work begins for the 24/25 season.
He would be the first to admit that he and Watford desperately need a home win.
Saturday is the last chance and while Cleverley has certainly improved his performances, he knows that a draw at home is not enough – especially a goalless draw.
While the visitors, Sunderland, will as always bring a large and vocal fan contingent, it will be Cleverley’s first home game against an opponent still without promotion hopes.
The atmosphere during the last two home games was quite lukewarm, with little on the pitch to provide much inspiration from the stands.
However, the timing of the announcement means those in attendance on Saturday will know who the new manager is and will hopefully get behind him and the team.
Having not won at Vicarage Road since November 28, it’s an ideal opportunity to do something the new head coach has been talking about since he took over: send people into the summer with a sense of confidence and optimism about next season.
It’s clear that Cleverley is a novice manager with just seven games of experience, and that puts a lot of people off.
Xisco Munoz had managed just 11 games at Dinamo Tbilisi before becoming Watford head coach in 2020, and Dyche moved straight from assistant to manager in 2011.
Another negative with the appointment is that Cleverley will be easily overthrown by the owner and will take whatever is given to him in return for a first attempt at management.
Because I’ve known Tom for a few years now, I don’t see that. He is relatively reserved and perhaps not the most animated in the dugout.
But he is also far from soft and he is no one’s fool. And let’s be honest, how would appointing a different head coach have led to them being treated differently?
Although Ismael had much more say than most in recent times, he was still far from autonomous.
Regardless of what anyone thinks about the owner, he wants success. He needs Watford to do well.
He can be accused of a lot, but I don’t believe he makes a deal hoping it will fail, or that he wants Cleverley to be to blame for decisions he makes behind the scenes.
Watford are no longer in the top flight, Sky are no longer putting money into Vicarage Road’s coffers and the days when the club could knock back offers for their best players are long gone.
For two seasons, Watford have failed to get anywhere near the play-offs, with squads that have become increasingly weak.
They should at least be in and around the top 10, not only from a football perspective, but also from a business perspective.
If the owner had wanted a malleable puppet, it would have been easier for him to find Carlos Coachaball somewhere in the lower European leagues, through an agent, and then put him in charge while he pulled all the strings himself.
Cleverley has recently played top football, including for Watford. His coaching is refreshing, exciting and very goal-oriented in every way.
Unlike some previous coaches, when you ask him about an opponent, he knows them inside and out: their players, their style, their approach. It sounds obvious, but this has not always been the case with predecessors.
Very often the answers at the pre-match press conferences surrounding the team Watford faced were more the platitudes of ‘It’s always a tough place to go, no easy games in this division’ than any granular detail that any study time suggests. has been applied.
He’s worked for some very, very good managers and while he’s not a superstar, he’s well known enough that if he had been inclined to just be a frontman he could have turned down the opportunity and probably gotten a coaching/management job could have obtained. at a comparable level.
He has made it clear that he loves Watford. He said from the start that he wants to lead the club. If he thought the terms of employment wouldn’t allow him to do the latter, driven by the use of the former, I’m not sure he would have taken the job.
Again, some supporters will point to players he did or did not select, players he did or did not praise, and question his opinion.
But that’s football, right? Has a Watford manager ever received one-sided support for his team selections, quotes or tactics?
Even the great Graham Taylor wasn’t immune to the odd hooting or muttering.
Cleverley is, I think, what Watford as a club, team and perhaps even as a city needs right now.
It’s been a grim, tedious slog over the past few seasons watching a succession of head coaches arrive, mostly fail to get a tune out of the team, and then leave.
They all announce when they go in, and almost all hiss when they go out.
They didn’t know much about Watford, and Watford didn’t know much about them either. It sometimes felt like football speed dating.
Cleverley knows the club, he knows the players, he knows the fans. He has seen Watford play in the Premier League and in a cup final, and he has seen them relegated and floundering halfway down the table in the Championship.
The fans know him too. He was an exemplary professional and a respected captain.
As a player said to me this afternoon: “Clevs is someone you wanted to do your best for as captain, because he set such a good example and set such high standards. That hasn’t changed since he became coach.”
Of course, it could all end in tears, but it’s highly unlikely that Cleverley took the job with his eyes closed. Since signing in 2017, he has played for twelve different permanent coaches. He knows this job comes with a health warning and no long-term guarantees.
He is someone the fans can relate to, the players know him well and he is an enthusiastic, hungry and ambitious young England coach – which is, after all, what many fans wanted in the spring of 2022. That appointment didn’t work out, but if there was ever a lesson in what a lack of patience can do, that was it.
Watford have been in shambles for too long, with just 18 home league wins in their last 64 games, and yet more than 90% of supporters have renewed their season tickets in the hope that things will be different next season. It’s going to be our season.
Come August, there will be 23 other teams thinking the same thing, and many of them will have stronger rosters, bigger budgets and better recent histories.
But few will have a head coach who is as invested in the club as Watford’s.
Good luck Tom.