It will take a lot of convincing rhetoric and excuse-making to persuade me that Watford’s ruling family have not made at least one significant pig’s ear of the job of steering the club this season. They could cite panic or being wrong-footed by developments, but while losing one manager to ill health is excusable, losing two more is at the least, downright careless if not inexcusable.

One cannot imagine any leading businesses or industries following such a “Carry on” script as the Pozzos have perpetrated.

I will pass swiftly over the case of Oscar Garcia, for his setback in health was far more devastating for the man than for the club. He has been spotted in Sant Cugat, a Watford-sized town over the mountain from Barcelona, and his daughter started school there on Monday (October 6), joining the same class as my grand-daughter.

I was sorry to see Garcia go, because he has experience of the Championship – an important quality in my book and one perhaps regrettably underrated by the ruling family.

The departure of his predecessor Giuseppe Sanino, was at best ill-timed – gone with the season only a few games old and Watford in second place. The decision was made all the more risible by the claims the decision had been long considered. If the manager’s future was in doubt in May, why wait until August and risk destabilising a new season? It smacked of the hand shaking on the trigger; a hesitancy that knocked the owner’s credibility.

They got away with that one but questions have to be asked now after the latest farcical turn of events that has rendered Watford something of a laughing stock in the football world. I certainly heard the sound of the odd titter coming from the environs of a town beyond Harpenden and Michael Calvin’s claims of Watford being a club without identity, do not seem so outlandish now.

What a pantomime! What a farce!

The rumours are rife but the fact remains a manager has left eight days after being appointed and now the club’s press release trumpets the arrival of a new man “with proven success” although that success has not been recorded in England and certainly not in the Championship.

As the Hornets bring a new dimension to the concept of Manager of the Month, Gino Pozzo has been quoted in the club statement: “Our job is always to act in the best long-term interests of the football club” and duly becomes hoisted by his own petard.

Was the appointment of Billy McKinlay in “the best long-term interests”? By parting with him, presumably not, so Gino, by his own admittance, does not “always” get it right, and after an eight-day tenure by the previous manager, obviously they got it spectacularly wrong, according to the technical staff back in Italy.

One could ask what they know about the Championship, Billy McKinlay etc, but either way it constitutes a succession of events, which has rendered Watford and their owners a laughing stock and the only way they will be able to ride this out is by getting to the play-offs.

  • Back in 2000, Watford FC were sponsored by Phones 4 You, and the company ran a competition in conjunction with the club and the Watford Observer, inviting youngsters to write a 300-word match report on any game from the previous campaign in the Premier League.

Among the prizes was a Motorola pre-pay phone and the doubtful bonus of shadowing me covering the final game of that season, against Coventry City at Vicarage Road. I mention this because I wonder what happened to the winners who were dubbed Young Sports Reporter of the Year.

They were both Watford season-ticket holders: nine-year-old Kelly Somers of Knutsford School in Watford scooped the top prize in the nine to 12-year-old section and Joseph Bridge, 16, from Rustington, West Sussex won the 13 to 16 age group.

Kelly admitted she was thrilled to win the prize as she intended becoming a journalist after she left school, and could not sleep the night before the game. She was thrilled to be in the pressbox and meet Graham Taylor in the after-match conference.

But what happened to them? Did they make it into journalism or did they opt for a more lucrative employment?

I had forgotten all about that day until I saw a picture of me with two youngsters and it all came back. The runners-up in the competition were Liam Baker and Emma Knight from Watford, and Matt Reveley and Neil Kelly from Berkhamsted. It was 14 years ago, so what became of them all?

In the meantime that summer of 2000, Watford were hoping that Dominic Foley, their somewhat retiring striker would be boosted by two goals for Ireland in three outings for Mick McCarthy’s side. “He is an intelligent boy and sensitive, which are two qualities that don’t necessarily help to make you a good professional footballer,” said Taylor.

Foley had languished with Wolves after Taylor had left the club but, after securing the striker on loan and looking to make the deal permanent, Watford were surprised when Wolves asked £400,000 for the player which Taylor described as effectively “sticking two fingers up at me”.

Foley was given a free transfer later that season and Watford signed him on a two-year deal. Foley was to make 33 appearances for the Hornets, scoring five goals, before heading off to the continent and then back to Ireland to continue a career in the game until 2012.

This article was first published in Friday's Watford Observer