‘It’s minus 14 in Kazan... so I’m happy to be here’
EXCLUSIVE IT WAS minus 14 degrees in Kazan yesterday. So no more questions about how he is coping with the dodgy English weather for Javi Gracia, please.
Appropriately, it was a balmy afternoon at the training ground with the sun low in the Hertfordshire sky when we sat down to chat about his impressions of his first month as manager of Watford.
“People had told me it was going to be cold and rainy in England,” said Gracia, smiling. “But every morning when I get up I look up the temperature in Kazan on my phone – and then I’m very happy to be here!”
Spaniard Gracia comes across as a genial man. His last job before arriving at Vicarage Road on January 21 was manager of Rubin Kazan, who he left last June after finishing ninth in the Russian Premier League.
Now, he has picked up the perilous manager’s baton at Vicarage Road, where if a coach lasts a season these days he is regarded as a long-stayer.
His predecessor Marco Silva did not even make it that far, lasting just eight months.
But is Gracia worried about his future prospects? No chance. Just like that Russian weather, the PAUL LAMBERT is backing Saido Berahino to end his goal drought.
This weekend marks exactly two years since Stoke City’s £12 million striker hit the net, his last goal coming on February 27, 2016 when he scored for West Brom in their 3-2 win over Crystal Palace.
Stoke boss Lambert said: “The boy can score, there’s no two ways about it.
“He knows where the net is. He just needs a wee bit of confidence and game time.” 47-year-old is taking it all in his stride. Mind you, only two of his nine managerial jobs so far have lasted more than two years, so he should be well prepared.
And there is another key factor in why Gracia, the Pamplona-born former Villarreal and Real Sociedad midfielder, hopes to become one of those ‘long-stayers’ – so he can bring his family and three sons, Jon and twins Mikel and Inigo, over from Malaga this summer. “I speak to them every night on Skype but I miss them all,” he said. “Jon and Mikel love football and play, Inigo is more into art. But they are all Watford fans now – they all have the shirts.” His short time here so far has certainly been eventful. Appointed to the surprise of most just hours after Silva was sacked, Gracia has had to adapt fast. Four matches in, his side have been knocked out of the FA Cup, achieved a stunning victory over champions Chelsea, drawn at Stoke and lost at West Ham. Tomorrow, the Hornets face Everton at Vicarage Road and the following week meet struggling West Brom. Wins in those two games should make things a lot rosier after just two victories in 14 left them just four points above the drop zone.
Gracia, though, is sure his squad have got what it takes to keep out of trouble. In fact next season he intends to take Watford into the top 10.
“I want to take Watford to another level,” said the former Almeria, Osasuna and Malaga coach. “I would like to put the club into the top 10 of this league. I watched all of Watford’s matches before I came here, so I knew the players.
“I was not surprised at their level. I knew we had the capacity to get results.
“Outside of the top six here everyone has the same first objective – maintain your status in this league. But there are a lot of teams fighting for that.”
Gracia is the 10th manager to have held the reins at Watford since the Pozzi family took over the club in 2012.
Walter Mazzari left last year after one season, finishing 17th, Quique Sanchez Flores went the year before despite finishing 13th and reaching an FA Cup semi-final.
But Gracia, who made his name with two top-10 La Liga finishes at Malaga in which his side took four points off Barcelona one year, including a win at the Nou Camp, and the next went unbeaten against Real Madrid, is not worried.
“The possibility to come to England and work in the Premier League was a chance I could not miss,” he said. “Malaga as a club is similar to Watford. We brought together