As our mini-series continues, we move on to the three sides who missed out in the play-offs. How do you rate Watford, Brighton and Hove Albion and Leicester City?
Before Monday’s play-off final, most Leeds fans were hoping that Crystal Palace would win, out of a dislike of the way Watford were using the loan system all season to bring in players from Italy to bolster a squad that had just scraped into the top half of the table the year before. But I was reluctantly supporting Watford for the same reason, on the basis that if they failed to go up they would be the stronger contenders in the Championship next time round.
Watford are owned by the Pozzo family who also own Italian club Udinese, and they took advantage of a loophole in Football League rules which allowed clubs to sign as many overseas loan players as they liked, which annoyed the other clubs to the extent that they voted to change the regulations for next season. And they might be wishing that they had signed more players on a permanent basis, as they now have a transfer embargo until August 31st, which was imposed due to the activities of their previous owner.
The family have insisted that despite the disappointment of missing out on promotion they will continue to back the Hertfordshire club, saying “We are here for the long-term, there is no expiry date on this project.” But an on-line search to find out how much the family was worth turned up no information, and even the fans on a Watford forum didn’t seem to know. All the same, I’m going to tentatively tip them to reach the play-offs again this time, if only to put the kiss of death on them.
I was also going to tip Brighton for another top six finish, but that was until they suspended their inspirational manager Gus Poyet, for his comments after their play-off defeat by arch-rivals Crystal Palace. Unwisely thinking aloud during an interview with BBC Sussex he said “I have always said that all the time we keep improving I am going to be at this football club and the day we hit the roof, I'm not.”
That might have been a ‘come and get’ me plea to Everton, but that job has passed him by, as has the vacancy at Stoke, so he won’t be able to realise his ambition of managing in the Premiership just yet. Brighton are to hold an enquiry about his comments to assess whether he has broken his contract, but it’s difficult to see how they can keep him on. So despite their enthusiastic sell-out crowds in their shiny new stadium, they face an uncertain season and I don’t think they’ll challenge for promotion this time.
Which brings us to Leciester, who are another club with wealthy backers and a relatively expensive squad for this level, but who have yet to achieve the results you would expect from the money they’ve spent. At the end of October they looked likely to win automatic promotion after a run of 7 wins in 9 games, but their appalling form in the second half of the season almost saw them finish outside the top six altogether.
Quite a few Leicester fans would like to see the back of manager Nigel Pearson, and after the inconsistent performances they’ve produced during his reign so far it’s hard to see them doing any better next time, so I reckon they won’t even make the play-offs.