Everybody is ganging up on Watford - Leeds, Nottingham Forest, QPR, Leicester...

 

This is so unfair! Poor old Watford, already robbed of a place in the Premiership by on loan geriatric Kevin Phillips's extra time penalty, now find the whole Football League ganging up on them to prevent a repeat Play Off Final appearance next season.

I started complaining about the Lend Lease policy employed by the Pozzos very early in the season, and I received threats of legal action as a result. It took the likes of Holloway and the powers-that-be at the Football League a little longer to catch up - and Leeds Legend Peter the Poodle Lorimer didn't appreciate what was going on until the final game of the season - but it now seems that the rules are to be changed, and the "loophole" that everybody associated with Watford claims isn't a loophole, is about to be closed. Suddenly Watford will have to play players that they own, rather than players owned by the Pozzos!

Watford fans will of course squeal. But as a West Ham fan, I struggle to understand why we were fined  six million quid for the Tevez deal sanctioned by Mr Scott Duxbury, whilst Watford have been allowed to populate a squad with players they do not own and over whom, the Pozzos could conceivably exercise a Third Party influence.

Of course, I have to stress that Watford have not broken any rules and have not cheated - yet. However, following next week's vote,  that will no longer be the case if the rules are changed and Watford continue with the same policy. And meanwhile, Watford's options will be further restricted by a transfer embargo that applies until the end of August because of rule breaking by the former owners.

Poor GianFredo has been painted into something of a corner here and the Watford fans may just discover that the Pozzos may not be the best thing since sliced pane after all!

All together now at the Football League, "Gangnam Style"!

What does the Stoke chairman know that nobody else does?

Mark Hughes? Come on! What a joke after his monumental balls up at QPR. I know that following the Warnock into a job isn't easy, as poor McDermott is likely to discover at Leeds United, but Sparkless's record at the Hopeless Hoops has to be considered one of the most inept managerial performances in the history of the game. Worse than Avram at West Ham. Worse than 'Arry at Southampton. Worse even than McClaren and Revie in the England job!

Never mind the Wally with Brolly, or the Wally with Canine Tax Shelter, or the Wally with the Dossiers or the Wally with the Circumcision or the Wally with the Laptop, Hughes was the Wally with the Mountain of Dosh, and boy how he blew it!

How on earth does somebody get another job in the Prem so quickly after that performance? Stoke players will have received texts warning them about their new manager's inability to people manage already. What the hell does Coates think he is up to?

Stoke are all of a sudden a bloody good bet to go down next season!

Is Pogatetz destined for a place in the West Ham Hall of Fame?

We have had some shockers down the years, but Pogatetz has to be up there as one of the worst players ever to pull on a West Ham shirt. Mind you, we do seem to specialise in crap centre backs. Off the top of my head, giving it hardly any thought at all, I can think of Breen, Song, Hilton and Davenport - and I'm sure others could add to that list of horrors without taxing their brain cells too much.

In fact, it doesn't say much for Allardyce and his team of scouts that Pogatetz and Chamakh both arrived in the same window, and given the wages they were on, it seems probable, even without a loan fee, that the club chucked away over £1m to pay for them to keep the bench warm.

Hall of Fame? Yep in the Claret & Blue Chamber of Horrors!

Suarez about to bite Liverpool on backside and head for Madrid

So poor little Luis is upset because the Big Bad British Press keep picking on him! How unfair. He hurls racist abuse at an opposition player and the nasty old press criticise him. He boasts about cheating and those terrible hacks write negative things about him. He bites an opponent and the newspapers scream foul. It's victimization, pure and simple.

So Suarez wants out! Never mind that Liverpool have backed him to the hilt. Never mind that the fans have treated him like a god. He doesn't want to hang around at Has Been Liverpool when Happening Real are expressing an interest.

Of course, it has nothing to do with the money and Luis loves the fans of the club so nobody should feel bitter about his decision. Poor Suarez has been left with no other choice!

Massive injury blow to Leeds United's Green

What a shame for Paul Green and for Leeds United Football Club. It's not often, these days, that any player associated with  the club gets the opportunity to play at Wembley, so the hamstring injury that has ruled Green out of Ireland's game with England, and subsequent games against the Faroe Isles and Spain, is a huge blow.

Still, it will give Green a longer summer break and, from a selfish Leeds perspective, that may be good news in the longer run.

Playing for your country has not always been a huge deal for Leeds players anyway. Those with long enough memories will recall Paul Madeley telling Ramsay where to stick the World Cup when he was offered the opportunity to replace Reaney in the 1970 squad for Mexico. Madeley had already made plans for the summer you see, so going to the World Cup just seemed like a terrible chore.

You had to love the players in that Revie squad!

Irony and Karma Strike Pozzos and Watford in bucketloads

Oh the irony! I've only just realised that goal scorer Kevin Phillips is still on loan to Crystal Palace! Talk about being hoisted by your own petard!

So, with the world and his wife outside of Watford and Udinesi Calcio expressing concerns about the Lend Lease policy of the Pozzos, along comes a loan player to consign Watford to another season in the Championship!

Shame for Zola, shame for the Watford fans, but it serves Pozzo and Duxbury right in my book. What goes around comes around as they say.

How about a new television series entitled, 'My Name is Pozzo'?

Heartbreak for Watford and Zola

What a shame. I don't agree with the Lend Lease policy employed by the Pozzos and will never forgive Scott Duxbury for his part in the Tevez affair and subsequent events at Upton Park, but I wouldn't wish a play off final defeat on anybody, unless West Ham were the opposition of course.

We have suffered defeat in the Final against Palace ourselves but made it up the following year. Chin up to the Watford fans. There's always next season.