Sacked after seeing Watford as stop-gap
MARCO SILVA lost his job yesterday but he lost the Watford dressing room and the backing of the board months ago.
Silva has been living on borrowed time after clashing with his club owners, the Pozzo family, when they refused to allow him to join Everton in October.
And while Watford were reluctant to pull the plug on Silva’s spell midway through the season, a slump in form made it a relatively straightforward decision.
It is understood players had questioned Silva’s commitment.
They believed an unsettled Silva, just 12 games into a two-year contract, wanted out.
He also alienated those fans who had once idolised him by refusing to make a public statement snubbing the Everton offer.
Tellingly, in the last home match, those same supporters who had cheered Silva’s name began to turn against him. They questioned his substitutions by booing him and he was saved by Abdoulaye Doucoure punching the ball home to earn a draw with Southampton.
Saturday’s 2-0 loss at Leicester proved the final straw.
Executive chairman Scott Duxbury and owner Gino Pozzo, who had fought so hard to keep him out of Everton’s clutches, had been ready to wait until the end of the season before a change was made.
They had considered Malaga manager Jose Gonzalez, who is known to the Pozzos after saving Spanish side Granada from relegation from La Liga in 2016, as their man. Instead they believed they had to act. And fast.
Silva improved Hull in his six months there but failed to save them from relegation last season. There was increasing concern a repeat was on the cards.
Before their season began to unravel Watford were eighth in the table. A shock Europa League place was being mooted.
Two months later Watford have been dragged into a relegation battle and are bottom of the Premier League’s form table after collecting just eight points out of a possible 36.
Defeats, and the manner of the performances, against fellow strugglers Huddersfield, Brighton and Swansea only accelerated his departure. He becomes the ninth manager to be sacked by the club’s trigger-happy owners in less than six years.
Watford legend Luther Blissett was not surprised to see Silva go.
“It’s turned out to be the correct decision when you look at the run of results since the Everton approach,” said Blissett. “He never came out publicly and stated that he wanted to stay. That’s when all the results started to go wrong and ultimately this was always going to happen.”
It is still an incredible fall from grace for the 40-year-old who could do no wrong in the autumn.
But from the outside it looks as if Watford are having a typical season.
Under Quique Flores in 2015-16 they were seventh in December before fading to finish 13th; with Walter Mazzarri in charge last term, they stayed up by the skin of their teeth after ending up 17th.
The pair knew they were dead men walking before the end of the season.
For Silva, the axe has fallen even sooner.
With the wheels falling off, the tension has been mounting. Silva has found his influence waning in recent weeks.
Clear-the-air-meetings with staff and players to discuss their slide took place.
Yet within days it is understood club bosses went over his head to hand errorprone defender Jose Holebas a new contract earlier this month.
Silva, who wanted three players this month including Leicester striker Islam Slimani, failed to make inroads and the friction was bubbling under the surface.
He spent heavily last summer and was looking to the transfer market to solve the problems but was never backed, to suggest the writing was on the wall.
Significantly, Silva’s expected replacement Javi Gracia will be handed funds to invest in during the remainder of the transfer window.
The question is how long will he be given at the revolving door of Vicarage Road?
BEFORE AND AFTER EVERTON APPROACH
BEFORE AFTER
Players questioned commitment of Silva