At Our Place: Fans' Q&A Held At The Vic

Detailed and informed discussions on a number of topics took place at the first 'At Our Place' question and answer session of the 2024/25 season at Vicarage Road.

Supporters had the chance to ask questions relevant to football operations to a panel which featured Chairman & CEO Scott Duxbury, Head Coach Tom Cleverley, Sporting Director Gian Luca Nani, Academy Director Richard Johnson, Club Captain Daniel Bachmann and Head of Performance Alvaro García-Romero Pérez.

Further informal sessions are being planned for the season ahead, looking at various other parts of the club.

Below is a selection of the questions asked, and the responses from the panel.

What is the difference with Gian Luca Nani’s dual-role with Udinese and what is the benefit for Watford?

GLN: The difference was before I was working 15 hours, now I am working 30 hours! It’s not too much different. Day-by-day nothing changes, I’m based at London Colney. The benefit is I have a bigger picture, I watch more Udinese games. If there’s anyone there I think is useful, I can recommend him. I can only do this because of the great staff we have at both clubs.

There has been talk that we were once a squad of individuals - we seem to have become a team again. What have you done?

TC: Good communication with my leadership group. That’s Dan and five other senior players. I think I’m very transparent with the team and they know exactly what I’m looking for. Body language is a huge part of what I’m about. I think I left a dressing room where it was easy to make excuses and point fingers. I was part of that dressing room! It was Sir Alex Ferguson that said to me, “always see yourself in your team” and I was a team player so I want to see that. They are now becoming natural behaviours in training.

With Tom being a former player, do you think coaches from within could be good for the future?

SD: I don’t want to look past Tom, it’s disrespectful. Why I pushed for Tom so heavily is because our home form was so poor, the disconnect between the club and the supporters was poor and Tom was uniquely qualified to unite both. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that he’s revolutionised the home form and from there we can work on the rest. He’s a young coach, he’s going to get better, you haven’t seen the best of Tom yet. Hopefully, we’ll have many, many more years together before we think about succession.

What has been the impact of Paul Robinson?

TC: There were two main objectives. Can we get more clean sheets? I think we tipped the scales a little bit too much in the attacking sense and we wanted Robbo to get that balance back. He has brought two in the games he’s been in. Then there is set-pieces, I think we were in the bottom three on the data. His expertise is from Millwall, a set-piece expert team. It’s still a process, I expect to see more clean sheets and fewer goals conceded. His character, he’s on the front foot, he’s passionate about the club and he can be aggressive at the right time. It’s good for the dressing room, a little bit of fear factor.

How have you found the change from team-mates to a player/coach relationship?

DB: It was never going to be awkward, I always got on well with Tom when we played together. The most important thing in life is how someone treats you as a person. He’s just a genuinely good human being. I think every single player in the squad will tell you the exact same thing. It’s been a really smooth transition.

How would we cope financially if we did go up?

SD: I’ve always said we want to be the best version of who we can be. We are a community club, and we are a Championship club in our DNA. What we have is a really good scouting network. We forgot what we were and started spending money, but we can go back to signing young players. We have to get to the point where we’re a sustainable club. Other teams aren’t getting the Pedros, the Richarlisons. We won’t be buying established Premier League players and making that mistake.

Richard Johnson is asked about the Academy:

RJ: Obviously, being in the Championship gives our kids more opportunity. This season with Gian Luca and Tom we’ve developed a group of players that can impact the first-team and they’re training with the first-team most days. We work closely now with the development group. When we came in three-and-a-half years ago there wasn’t a recruitment department in the Academy and no set profile on what we were trying to recruit. In the last two years, we’ve got Jon Goodman in as Head of Recruitment and he’s very experienced in this area.

Are the international breaks a distraction?

AR: It’s a good time to recover players, we’re in constant contact with the national teams to see how they are.

Did we do enough to keep Wesley Hoedt at the club?

SD: We absolutely ensured that he left; he was on a Premier League salary. We had to cut our cloth accordingly. We don’t have the ability to keep players like Hoedt on a Premier League salary. We have to work within a financial framework to stay sustainable. We have to make tough decisions with regards to players and salaries. The key to the Championship being a viable league is the new Premier League deal which will deliver an extra £6 million to each club. We will actually be a profitable club when this new deal comes in.

Giorgi Chakvetadze, Kwadwo Baah and Mattie Pollock have been awarded new contracts - what happens if there are bids in January?

SD: The idea is we don’t sell those players in January. I can’t envisage any scenario where that would be a reality. We’re in the mix for a successful season so it wouldn’t make any sense to entertain it. If United or City come in and offer £100 million for one of them then perhaps we could have a conversation with Tom! But other than that it makes no sense. We are competitive, we are sustainable, we don’t have to sell.

Are any incoming signings likely in January?

GLN: We are always looking for talent, if they’re not ready for a super top team we can bring them in and work on them and put them in the window. We are happy with the squad we have, we are covered in all positions. The aim for this window is maybe send some young players on loan for experience, but if an opportunity becomes available, we have to be ready. There are still nine games to go until January, let’s see what happens. 

We seem to be getting more from our bench this year?

TC: I’m pretty demanding so firstly I want to know why the first-half hasn’t gone well. But I’d say the environment and leadership group shows that everyone feels a part of what we do. The impact of the subs has been a massive part of why we’ve done what we have. Ryan Andrews was left out a couple of weeks ago, but how he’s reacted to that has been excellent and it’s not reactions I saw two or three years ago.

Scott Duxbury on the atmosphere at the training ground:

SD: The atmosphere at the training ground is the best I’ve seen. I’ve been here 12 years, it’s the best. The stadium staff are now based at the training ground, the players talk to all the staff. It’s a real pleasure, I wish you could see it. If any team deserved to get promoted it’d be this team, but I know it doesn’t work that way.