After decades of floundering in the lower levels of the English football league system, Watford FC has comfortably maintained its position in the Premier League for the last five years. The club arguably had its best season in its 121-year existence last year, but the success did not carry over to the start of the new season in 2019.
After only securing one point in their first four matches, Watford decided to sack manager Javi Garcia. This was a highly controversial and shocking move after Garcia performed well in his first season as manager, but it was likely the right call.
Javi Garcia may have led Watford to an 11th place finish in the English Premier League and a FA Cup Finals appearance last year, but he does not have a history of maintaining success in his managerial career. Garcia has never stayed with a club for more than two years. He finds a way to have moderate success in his first season with a club before everything falls apart the next year. This pattern has been going on for the last 12 years, and it was clearly happening again with Watford FC.
Club ownership deserves a lot of credit for recognizing this unfortunate pattern and making a managerial change before it was too late. The players clearly were not responding well to Javi Garcia’s message this year. Making a move after only four matches should help ignite the club. It also may be exactly what was needed to preserve Watford’s spot in the Premier League for another season.
The sacking of Javi Garcia can only be seen as a positive move because the club replaced him with Quique Sanchez Flores. He had success during his first stint with the Watford FC a few years ago, so Flores knows how to lead this club to victory. Flores’ first tenure as manager may not have been quite as successful as Garcia’s, but he was placed under a much more difficult situation.
Quique Sanchez Flores was tasked with staving off relegation from the English Premier League for the first time in club history. Flores led the club to a solid 45 points and a 13th place finish in their first season in the Premier League in nine years.
If Flores can rekindle the magic he created a few years ago, then he will have problem getting Watford to play solid football the rest of the season to avoid a painful relegation.
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