There are only two things certain in life – death and taxes Reece James knack and Watford managerial news – and Football Daily’s bingo card lit up with both on Friday. But while Chelsea’s statement on their crocked right-back having successful knee surgery was a cut-and-paste job from the last time James was injured, the quotes by Watford manager Alessio Dionisi were much more exciting, mainly because it contained an actual apology to Elton John and the remarkable news that the club’s trigger-happy owners have not already sent the Italian the same way as an apple in Michael Owen’s house. Having already made four managerial appointments in 2026 and 28 since the Pozzo family purchased the club in the summer of 2012, the owners have shown uncharacteristic restraint despite Watford winning just three of the last 21 Championship games (even Oxford United have more victories in the division during that time despite being relegated to League One in April).
Pressure on Dionisi has now increased after John – which feels like an inappropriately underwhelming way to refer to one of the most talented and flamboyant pop singers of all time – admitted he was “upset” at the club’s form in a now-deleted post on a Social Media Disgrace on Sunday. Things worsened for Dionisi on Tuesday with struggling Cardiff romping to a 5-1 win to leave the Hornets in the Championship relegation zone, with some reporting – incorrectly, as it turned out – the Italian had been sacked during the game. But despite the unconfirmed reports of his demise, Dionisi remains very much in post.
In this case for the moment, it is fake news [that I have been sacked] but I don’t decide,” he told the BBC on Friday, not wholly convincingly. But football is wonderful because everyone speaks [their mind]. I have been a coach for 14 years, and it is normal.
In my past there was negative and there was positive moments. At the moment it is a negative moment. Inside the training ground there is only one mentality, only one street for everyone.” Absolute goosebumps, Alessio.
We know not of the cryptic road you speak – Vicarage? The road to nowhere? – but we’ll have to see if Dionisi becomes the latest Watford manager to find himself out on the street, kicked to the curb through a front door marked ‘Do One’, following Saturday’s visit of Charlton Athletic. I’m actually fortunate to be alive at all.
I was 20 and playing for Dortmund when three pipe bombs went off right next to our bus on the way to a Champions League match. A lot of young people probably would not even believe that it happened, or how bad it was, but it marked us all. There was a deafening noise, and then I remember the bus nearly tipping over.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
