" Malky Mackay from Watfords point of View "
Sun Jun 19, 2011 8:31 am
The Laird is dead… 18/06/2011
Posted by Matt Rowson in Thoughts about things.
Malky Mackay
In the end, his departure was anything but a surprise. As discussed earlier in the summer, there were reasons to believe that Mackay might see this as the right time to go irrespective of other recent developments. The failure to deliver the new pitch, the re-engagement with Saracens and particularly the departure of Julian Winter won’t have encouraged him to hang around but probably weren’t decisive.
In the end the only surprise is perhaps the destination, heralded by a fortnight’s worth of rumour and reports linking him to the job at Cardiff City. The Bluebirds’ failure to gain promotion saw several senior players leave at the end of their contracts, and the suggestion that this would be the point where season after season of putting money into chasing the dream came back to haunt them. Hell, we first thought that six years ago, when Cardiff City signed Neal Ardley off us having had trouble paying their own players earlier in that campaign.
All of which doesn’t leave our own financial situation looking too rosy if Cardiff’s a better option… but perhaps part of the attraction is that there’s a rebuilding job to do at Cardiff, a clean slate of sorts. No such requirement at Vicarage Road, of which more later.
After a brief defiance of Cardiff’s request to formally approach Mackay, Bassini and Watford relented – perhaps realising that there was more to be lost than gained in obstructing a manager that wanted out. The details of our financial settlement aren’t known, but Bassini has publicly sent him on his way with the club’s best wishes.
And heaven knows, those best wishes have been well earned. Mackay joined the Hornets from West Ham, one of the many recruits from Aidy Boothroyd’s little black book in the late summer of 2005. A key man, a leader, in the promotion side in his first season, Mackay continued to play a role in the Premiership campaign before gradually easing into coaching duties the following season.
On Boothroyd’s dismissal in 2008, Mackay had his first spell at the reins before Brendan Rodgers appointment. A slightly revisionist reflection on that period had Malky as unlucky not to be appointed to the hot seat full-time; I don’t remember him being a strong candidate at the time, the assistant is rarely a leading contender when the main man has been sacked.
Either way, Brendan Rodgers upping sticks to Reading at the end of that campaign meant that Malky didn’t have to wait long for his opportunity. Novice managers don’t tend to get given cushy jobs, it’s true, but few will have had to deal with quite as challenging a first six months of management. The unsettled situation that he inherited was exacerbated by the departure of senior players in the August, three of which in the final week of the transfer window. Some of these will have been planned, the forced sale of the graceless Mike Williamson certainly wasn’t.
That December, Watford’s unstable boardroom situation came to a head; however uncomfortable Jimmy Russo’s antics were from our distance, they would have been far more destabilising inside the club. Through it all, Malky remained utterly professional, presenting a calm demeanour with an attitude in interviews that was simultaneously engaging, pleasant, and utterly guarded and uninformative, in contrast with the styles of his two predecessors.
On the pitch, iffy away form couldn’t disguise the fact that we were vastly exceeding expectations with a new side built around the re-engaged Eustace, newly signed Graham and loans Cleverley and Lansbury playing some occasionally devastating stuff. The season ended with a brush with relegation that was closer than form earlier in the season had suggested, a situation not helped by a build up of postponed fixtures on that pitch.
Last summer saw more departures, significantly Jay Demerit on top of the loan signings. With an even shallower squad to work with, hopes for this campaign weren’t high… and yet Mackay delivered even more vibrant football, making a mockery of our previous problems away from home with eye-catching wins at both the sides destined for automatic promotion, as well as an awesome 6-1 triumph at a Millwall side previously unbeaten at the New Den in ten months.
Still it wasn’t plain sailing, as two loan players made a big enough impact in the first half of the campaign to be retained by their clubs unexpectedly in the January to the detriment of the side. If the results dipped in the second half of the campaign, fourteenth still constitutes well above par. Frankly, when one considers the bloodied noses, the emerging army of youngsters and the scorned expectations I’ve not enjoyed a season as much since we were promoted in 1999.
Most of all, Mackay, a rookie manager, was confident enough to trust those around him and the system that was being built at Watford, in part by the also recently departed head of recruitment John Stephenson. A system so utterly sensible, so demonstrably, extraordinarily successful that one is left praying that the dramatic changes at the club over the last days, weeks, months don’t lead to its abandonment as much as one rues the loss of an excellent manager.
Because none of the multitude of factors that have lead to us sitting here with a new owner and head of recruitment but minus chief executive, manager and centre-forward reflect any inadequacy of that system. This thing ain’t broke and doesn’t need fixing… so the last thing the club needs now is a headstrong manager with a broom.
Such continuity as is available should be clung to without hesitation; Sean Dyche, a strong personality, a leader, with management aspirations, should surely be first, second and third choice for the newly vacant role at the top. No surprise that Mackay is already making noises about taking his assitant with him to Cardiff. To offer Dyche the job, an unspectacular option with no grandstanding or grand gestures, would do a great deal to restore confidence in the club and its new leadership after this most unsettling of weeks.
Posted by Matt Rowson in Thoughts about things.
Malky Mackay
In the end, his departure was anything but a surprise. As discussed earlier in the summer, there were reasons to believe that Mackay might see this as the right time to go irrespective of other recent developments. The failure to deliver the new pitch, the re-engagement with Saracens and particularly the departure of Julian Winter won’t have encouraged him to hang around but probably weren’t decisive.
In the end the only surprise is perhaps the destination, heralded by a fortnight’s worth of rumour and reports linking him to the job at Cardiff City. The Bluebirds’ failure to gain promotion saw several senior players leave at the end of their contracts, and the suggestion that this would be the point where season after season of putting money into chasing the dream came back to haunt them. Hell, we first thought that six years ago, when Cardiff City signed Neal Ardley off us having had trouble paying their own players earlier in that campaign.
All of which doesn’t leave our own financial situation looking too rosy if Cardiff’s a better option… but perhaps part of the attraction is that there’s a rebuilding job to do at Cardiff, a clean slate of sorts. No such requirement at Vicarage Road, of which more later.
After a brief defiance of Cardiff’s request to formally approach Mackay, Bassini and Watford relented – perhaps realising that there was more to be lost than gained in obstructing a manager that wanted out. The details of our financial settlement aren’t known, but Bassini has publicly sent him on his way with the club’s best wishes.
And heaven knows, those best wishes have been well earned. Mackay joined the Hornets from West Ham, one of the many recruits from Aidy Boothroyd’s little black book in the late summer of 2005. A key man, a leader, in the promotion side in his first season, Mackay continued to play a role in the Premiership campaign before gradually easing into coaching duties the following season.
On Boothroyd’s dismissal in 2008, Mackay had his first spell at the reins before Brendan Rodgers appointment. A slightly revisionist reflection on that period had Malky as unlucky not to be appointed to the hot seat full-time; I don’t remember him being a strong candidate at the time, the assistant is rarely a leading contender when the main man has been sacked.
Either way, Brendan Rodgers upping sticks to Reading at the end of that campaign meant that Malky didn’t have to wait long for his opportunity. Novice managers don’t tend to get given cushy jobs, it’s true, but few will have had to deal with quite as challenging a first six months of management. The unsettled situation that he inherited was exacerbated by the departure of senior players in the August, three of which in the final week of the transfer window. Some of these will have been planned, the forced sale of the graceless Mike Williamson certainly wasn’t.
That December, Watford’s unstable boardroom situation came to a head; however uncomfortable Jimmy Russo’s antics were from our distance, they would have been far more destabilising inside the club. Through it all, Malky remained utterly professional, presenting a calm demeanour with an attitude in interviews that was simultaneously engaging, pleasant, and utterly guarded and uninformative, in contrast with the styles of his two predecessors.
On the pitch, iffy away form couldn’t disguise the fact that we were vastly exceeding expectations with a new side built around the re-engaged Eustace, newly signed Graham and loans Cleverley and Lansbury playing some occasionally devastating stuff. The season ended with a brush with relegation that was closer than form earlier in the season had suggested, a situation not helped by a build up of postponed fixtures on that pitch.
Last summer saw more departures, significantly Jay Demerit on top of the loan signings. With an even shallower squad to work with, hopes for this campaign weren’t high… and yet Mackay delivered even more vibrant football, making a mockery of our previous problems away from home with eye-catching wins at both the sides destined for automatic promotion, as well as an awesome 6-1 triumph at a Millwall side previously unbeaten at the New Den in ten months.
Still it wasn’t plain sailing, as two loan players made a big enough impact in the first half of the campaign to be retained by their clubs unexpectedly in the January to the detriment of the side. If the results dipped in the second half of the campaign, fourteenth still constitutes well above par. Frankly, when one considers the bloodied noses, the emerging army of youngsters and the scorned expectations I’ve not enjoyed a season as much since we were promoted in 1999.
Most of all, Mackay, a rookie manager, was confident enough to trust those around him and the system that was being built at Watford, in part by the also recently departed head of recruitment John Stephenson. A system so utterly sensible, so demonstrably, extraordinarily successful that one is left praying that the dramatic changes at the club over the last days, weeks, months don’t lead to its abandonment as much as one rues the loss of an excellent manager.
Because none of the multitude of factors that have lead to us sitting here with a new owner and head of recruitment but minus chief executive, manager and centre-forward reflect any inadequacy of that system. This thing ain’t broke and doesn’t need fixing… so the last thing the club needs now is a headstrong manager with a broom.
Such continuity as is available should be clung to without hesitation; Sean Dyche, a strong personality, a leader, with management aspirations, should surely be first, second and third choice for the newly vacant role at the top. No surprise that Mackay is already making noises about taking his assitant with him to Cardiff. To offer Dyche the job, an unspectacular option with no grandstanding or grand gestures, would do a great deal to restore confidence in the club and its new leadership after this most unsettling of weeks.
Re: " Malky Mackay from Watfords point of View "
Sun Jun 19, 2011 8:47 am
Good read and nothing but encouraging words regarding mackay. Not that I enjoy seeing other clubs in turmoil but after reading the little piece on Sean dyche I now hope we bring him in as number 2.
Re: " Malky Mackay from Watfords point of View "
Sun Jun 19, 2011 8:52 am
An indepth write up that.
Sounds like Mackay was fighting bigger problems than what we had under Ridsdale. Also sounds like those problems are about to carry on at Watford. While here he wont have to bother about the boardroom as the Malaysians look like they are here to stay and are willing to invest. Reading that article and picking up on the fact that Mackay has had to rebuild a side under restricting conditions and doing well at it, it conforts me to say I think he will be able to rebuild here to challenge for promotion this season.
Sounds like Mackay was fighting bigger problems than what we had under Ridsdale. Also sounds like those problems are about to carry on at Watford. While here he wont have to bother about the boardroom as the Malaysians look like they are here to stay and are willing to invest. Reading that article and picking up on the fact that Mackay has had to rebuild a side under restricting conditions and doing well at it, it conforts me to say I think he will be able to rebuild here to challenge for promotion this season.
Re: " Malky Mackay from Watfords point of View "
Sun Jun 19, 2011 9:02 am
Bakedalasker wrote:An indepth write up that.
Sounds like Mackay was fighting bigger problems than what we had under Ridsdale. Also sounds like those problems are about to carry on at Watford. While here he wont have to bother about the boardroom as the Malaysians look like they are here to stay and are willing to invest. Reading that article and picking up on the fact that Mackay has had to rebuild a side under restricting conditions and doing well at it, it conforts me to say I think he will be able to rebuild here to challenge for promotion this season.
Ian, Exactly my thoughts
Re: " Malky Mackay from Watfords point of View "
Sun Jun 19, 2011 11:11 am
I wonder if we should make a move for this John Stevenson as mentioned as head of recruitment seeing as he worked well with our new man.
Re: " Malky Mackay from Watfords point of View "
Sun Jun 19, 2011 11:49 am
WELSHWIZ6733 wrote:I wonder if we should make a move for this John Stevenson as mentioned as head of recruitment seeing as he worked well with our new man.
You should definitely do that - he's at Brighton now!
Re: " Malky Mackay from Watfords point of View "
Sun Jun 19, 2011 2:35 pm
Goof write up, paints the picture of a man who did really well in really bad circumstances.
Re: " Malky Mackay from Watfords point of View "
Sun Jun 19, 2011 4:18 pm
Good article that.
It's his ability to rebuild that stands out.
...and if the budget gets a bit squeezed then you feel he could still get a squad to perform.
It's his ability to rebuild that stands out.
...and if the budget gets a bit squeezed then you feel he could still get a squad to perform.
Re: " Malky Mackay from Watfords point of View "
Sun Jun 19, 2011 5:21 pm
PeterboroughBlue wrote:Good article that.
It's his ability to rebuild that stands out.
...and if the budget gets a bit squeezed then you feel he could still get a squad to perform.
Im not so sure its about having a tight budget, rather than knowing and understanding the value
of money. The Malaysians wont mind shelling out if they get results. But over the last few years
this club has weighed in with ridiculous wages for fellers who hardly kicked a ball for us. Or for
players that looked like they couldnt give a f**k.
If Mackay decides to give a feller 10k a week you can be sure he's going to get his moneys worth!!