Circle of life turns again at Watford

Perhaps the giant images of Sir Elton John on the walls had a subliminal impact as Quique Sanchez Flores eased back into the Watford groove by talking about the unforgiving circle of life for modern managers.

The world of football revolves more quickly than ever, that was his theme. August was not over and anxious owners were preparing to wield the axe. Managers come, managers go, often with indecent haste.

“Unfortunately our life now is like this,” said Flores. “A couple of times I have replaced managers and managers have replaced me. This is a circle. You need to be ready.

“You realise when you are working that you need to get a good result. If not, it’s very difficult for the clubs to hold the coach. It is completely unnecessary for a coach to think about what happens next year or even in six months.”

Watford move faster than most and reached out to Flores after a 3-1 defeat at home by West Ham, last month.

“I was at home from China for about one week,” said the 54year-old, who resigned as manager of Shanghai Shenhua in July. “I was told someone wanted to talk with me, and I said, “Watford?” and they said “yes” and I said, “OK, I can guess”.

“I didn’t even know the result of their last match, against West Ham. I’d recorded the match because I was travelling and when I received the text I thought maybe they didn’t win.”

Javi Gracia was on borrowed time because of his failure to tackle defensive frailties. Watford had been humiliated on the world stage when they lost 6-0 to Manchester City in the FA Cup final, and had not kept a clean sheet in the Premier League since February.

Owner Gino Pozzo and chief executive Scott Duxbury made their concerns clear but were astonished to find the full-backs pushed higher than ever up the pitch against West Ham when Michail Antonio punished them on the break.

Gracia’s reluctance to involve record signing Ismaila Sarr also worked against him. Sarr debuted as a substitute against the Hammers and impressed in the League Cup against Coventry but was back on the bench at Newcastle.

When Gracia opted against sending him on in the 1-1 draw and seemed satisfied with a point at St James’ Park it proved the final straw. One week later and he was fired.

Flores was available and attracting interest from other clubs. Watford figured he would be snapped up if they delayed.

So Pozzo made a 10th managerial change in seven years since his family bought the club and sacked Sean Dyche.

The return to Flores is intended to minimise the risk of a new manager requiring time to adjust to the Premier League and the idiosyncrasies of life at Vicarage Road. He will need an instant impact or he will again be reflecting upon the manager’s circle of life.