Watford the surprise package in Premier League

LONDON: While it is no surprise to find Liverpool and Chelsea with 100% records after three Premier League matches, few would have expected the name of Watford to be right up there with them.

Like Chelsea, the humble Hertfordshire club, whose only season in European football was 35 years ago, completed their third victory from three games on Sunday, when they beat Crystal Palace 2-1 to add to victories over Brighton and Burnley.

Yet their constant turnover of managers and players appears to contradict all the received wisdom about the importance of stability in football.

The late Graham Taylor was once in charge for 10 years, from 19771987, as he took the team from the fourth tier of English football to the first with the financial backing of local rock star Elton John.

In 1983 they finished runners-up to champions Liverpool, earning that one shot at the UEFA Cup, and a year later were FA Cup finalists.

In the past decade, however, Watford have run through no fewer than 13 managers, some of whom – like Brendan Rodgers at Scottish champions Celtic, Burnley’s Sean Dyche and Slavisa Jokanovic at Fulham, have gone on to great things elsewhere. One of those in charge, Billy McKinlay, lasted just eight days.

The Pozzo family from Italy, who took over in 2012 and immediately sacked Dyche, also own Udinese in Italy and at one time had Granada of Spain in their portfolio, giving them a club in the top tier of three leading European countries.

Moving players between clubs, often on loan, added to the sense of flux but the intake this close-season has been smaller than in some previous years, making them along with Newcastle the biggest net profit of any Premier League club thanks to the sale of Brazilian forward Richarlison to Everton for a reported £40mil (RM210mil).

Meanwhile a home game next weekend against Tottenham, who finished third last season, will provide a genuine test of whether Watford can improve on last season’s 14th place. —