At this time last year, Watford was in a promotion battle in the English Championship. It took to the final week of the season but Watford finished 2nd and earned the final automatic promotion spot to the English Premier League.
Once in the Premier League, Watford hired Quique Sanchez Flores with the hopes to keep Watford afloat in the Premier League. Now that they are solidly staying in the Premier League, that apparently isn’t enough for Flores to save his job.
Yeah, you heard me right. There were actual reports this past weekend that said that Flores may get sacked at the end of the season. A season in which Watford went from newly promoted to being a solid midtable team as well as making the FA Cup semifinals, thanks to Quique Sanchez Flores.
Despite all that, Watford seems keen to at least entertain the possibility of sacking their manager because Watford has only won three games in their last 17 EPL games since late December and dropped from the top seven to currently 12th. Yeah, 12th in the first season after promotion to the Premier League is really bad.
I don’t know what Watford was expecting when it came to their goals from the beginning of this season but I would’ve thought that survival would’ve been enough for the board to be doing cartwheels down the halls at Vicarage Road. In a realistic worst case scenario, Watford would finish 16th in the EPL and is sure to comfortably survive. Not to mention, Watford got to Wembley Stadium and to the FA Cup semifinal. What more do Watford want?
Is this a case of “what have you done for me lately” and Watford would be happier if they had this slump in the beginning of the season and the surge of wins now? Is this a case of Watford looking at Leicester and thinking to themselves that they can do the same thing? Whatever it is, it’s insane for Watford to even consider sacking Quique Sanchez Flores and would show that the team would just be a bunch of ungrateful brats. They may think a managerial move would turn them into the next Leicester City, but they would more than likely be the next Swansea City.
I’m not saying Flores is necessarily the long term solution at Watford, but at least wait until the second season of Premier League play before sacking the guy. Congratulations Watford, you survived the EPL for the first year. Enjoy that, regardless of what position you were in earlier this year and appreciate another season of top division action. If you want to have loftier goals and look toward a top 10 finish next year, go ahead. But for this season at least, just be glad you didn’t relegate.
