Oct 31 2007
The Boothroyd Strategy
With all the hype surrounding Arsenal v. Man U this weekend, you’re probably not paying any attention to the Coca-Cola Championship, but you might find it interesting that Watford, last year’s Premier League doormat, is sitting comfortably on top of the second division, six points ahead of second-place Bristol City — say, weren’t they in League One last year? — and nine points clear of the playoff zone. (Finishing first or second in the Championship guarantees promotion to the Premier League, but the 3rd- through 6th-place teams fight it out in a playoff for the final promotion spot.)
Two seasons ago, Watford won that playoff. They spent the next season getting battered by the big boys and were immediately relegated. Manager Adrian Boothroyd, however, seems to have taken an interesting tack to that quick drop.
Instead of spending money last January to try and stave off relegation, he sold Ashley Young to Aston Villa for £9.65 million and saved up the rest of the club’s top-flight riches and FA Cup winnings for the summer. Then he went out and spent that money on new players that could help his Hornets win the Championship and get right back into the Premier League.
So far, this strategy seems to be working; Watford looks poised for promotion to the top flight for the second time in three years, and Boothroyd is doing everything he can to keep his current squad together, including fighting off overtures from bigger clubs for striker Marlon King. Says Boothroyd:
“We’re not a club that needs the money. We need to build, not to be taken apart.”
Is Boothroyd’s long-term plan the new model for smaller clubs looking to grow into Premier League clubs? Win promotion, take your knocks, save your money, then build a team that can return to the top flight quickly? It looks like a process that might take several years of bouncing back and forth, but given the riches that await clubs in the top flight — the TV contracts alone can add about £45 million to a club’s coffers — it certainly looks like a viable long-term strategy, especially given the number of clubs at the bottom of the Prem table that look awfully vulnerable to relegation these days.
Perhaps Derby County should adopt this same strategy. Then again, perhaps they already have.
RSS Feed
I think this strategy, rather than making it easier for promoted clubs to stay afloat, will end up solidifying the existence of a class of clubs that are too good for the Championship but not good enough for the Premiership. Watford is joining that group - right now including Birmingham, Sunderland, and West Brom to some extent. We may not be seeing too many interlopers like Derby in the Premiership if that group solidifies. This may or may not be a bad thing.
Might as well grab some of those parachute payments from the Premier League every other year.
Don’t you have to pay those parachute payments back if you get promoted within two years or so?
I sometimes wonder if the EPL, which I understand to be duly impressed by the marketing acumen of the NFL, wouldn’t LOVE to have a core group of ‘tweener clubs endlessly cycling from the Championship to the Top Flight and back. Would make things much more predictable for the suits.
European soccer, and especially English soccer, remind me a lot of College gridiron here in the states, in ways that are both good (passion, history, relative club stability) and bad (haves & have-nots, powers that be who pretend to standards of fairness they can’t meet).
As a Watford supporter living in Canada, I read this with a great deal of interest. Nice to see the Golden Boys attract some attention!
“Watford is joining that group - right now including Birmingham, Sunderland, and West Brom to some extent. ”
The aim all along has been to establish the club as a Top 10 Premiership side in three years - i.e. next season. I frankly think that’s not going to work - the side looks a reasonably good bet so far for automatic promotion (knock wood - our record’s fantastic but it’s better than our play so far) but still lacks the midfield quality that will be necessary to win consistently in the Premiership. (Adam Johnson’s been a rip-roaring success so far but he’s a loanee… I can’t believe that Boro would prefer to continue to trot out the miserable Stewart Downing rather than give Jonno a chance.)
However, if promotion is gained I think survival for one or two more years is a possibility, with a breakthrough into being a top side coming in 2010 or so. Survival will depend on getting a good season from the strike force and finding a world-class ‘keeper like Watford had in Ben Foster last season (and even then, we still went down).
I agree that it’s more likely Watford will become a bounce club, separating itself from the bulk of the Championship (thanks to relatively rude financial health - how far the club has come since the ITV Digital fiasco and a disastrous flirtation with Luca Vialli as manager almost sent the club to the wall just a few years ago) but not being able to crack the top of the Premiership at least until the Academy starts producing top-notch players. That’s about four years away, if you’re optimistic.
Of course, if you ask the supporters, many want absolutely no part of the “not, not” (not Premier, not a ship), but as an overseas fan I would embrace being able to see the Yellow Army on TV much more often. So I’m hopeful that Aidy Boothroyd’s endless audacity will continue to pan out.
In reality, the club has come so far since Vialli’s days in charge (I shudder to remember them) that it’s barely recognizable. Not long ago, I was convinced that we were headed into the Third (i.e. League One) so to have had a season in the Prem and to be flying at the head of The Real Division Two… it’s wonderful.
“Don’t you have to pay those parachute payments back if you get promoted within two years or so?”
I’m not sure; they may get to keep the one year’s payment if they go right back up. In any case they get the use of that money while they are competing in the Championship.
@Tybalt
Saw your Hornets play my Cardiff City boys at Ninian Park earlier this season when the wife and I went to the UK for a wedding. Unfortunately for me, Watford looked very good indeed that day.