FM10: A Watford thread - "Come on you 'Orns!"

My first ever team thread so be kind! If Ive done aything wrong, or theres another thread for Watford I wont be offended if this gets deleted.

A Watford thread

Watford Football Club (often referred to simply as Watford or Watford F.C., and often nicknamed The Hornets) are an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. They play in the Championship. The club was founded in 1881, and played at several grounds before moving to a permanent location at Vicarage Road in 1922, where they remain to this day. Since 1997, they have shared the stadium with Saracens Rugby Club. Watford have a long-standing rivalry with Luton Town.

The club is best known for two spells under the management of former England manager Graham Taylor. The first lasted from 1977 to 1987, when the club rose to the old First Division from the Fourth Division. Once in the highest division of English football, Watford finished second in the league in 1983, reached the FA Cup final in 1984, and competed in the UEFA Cup in the 1984–85 season. The second period spanned from 1997 to 2001, when Taylor took the club from the renamed Second Division to the Premier League in successive seasons. Taylor is currently a non-executive director of the club, and honorary life president alongside Sir Elton John, owned the club during both of these eras and has continued a long association with the club. Watford compete in the Football League Championship, following relegation from the Premier League in 2006–07. Their current manager is former Watford and Scotland central defender Malky Mackay, who was appointed on 15 June 2009.

Stadium

Vicarage Road. 19,900 all seater in Watford, Herts.

Squad

Players marked with * are decent and should be kept hold of if possible.

1 England GK Scott Loach

2 England DRC Adrian Mariappa

3 Slovenia DL Jure Travner

4 Scotland M/FC Scott Severin

5 England AMRL *Henri Lansbury (on loan from Arsenal)

6 U.S.A. DC *Jay DeMerit (captain)

7 Scotland AMRLC Don Cowie

10 England FC Danny Graham

11 Iceland FC Heidar Helguson (on loan from Q P R)

12 England DR Lloyd Doyley

13 Wales GK Jonathan North

14 England MRL Ross Jenkins

15 England D/ML Jon Harley

16 England GK Richard Lee

17 England DF Dale Bennett

18 England FC Will Hoskins

19 England FC Liam Henderson

20 England AMRLC *Tom Cleverley (on loan from Manchester United)

21 England FC Lewis Young

22 N Ireland DC *Craig Cathcart (on loan from Manchester United)

23 England DRL Jordan Parkes

25 England FC Nathan Ellington

27 England DL Mat Sadler

28 England MC John Eustace

29 N Ireland MR Michael Bryan

30 England DF Rob Kiernan

31 England FC Marvin Sordell

32 England AMRL Billy Gibson

33 N Ireland DR Lee Hodson

34 England DF Eddie Oshodi

35 Hungary GK Bo Antal

36 England MF Kurtney Brooks

37 England GK Jonathan Bond

Tom Cleverly is your best attacking player, I usually play him on the left with Lansbury on the right in an advanced attacking winger role. 3 in the middle and 1 up top. I bought Ezquerro on a free and he seems to be doing the business a few games in. Hoskins is also a decent striker, only 12 finishing though.

Since writing this, Ive changed to 2 up front and Hoskins has 5 in 5. Fantastic striker!

I would get rid of Ellington, hes a big drain on funds on £10k a week, not many teams want to touch him though, so you may struggle offloading him.

A couple of clubs sometimes come in for Jay Demerit, its up to you whether you sell but I would get as close to £2m as you can for him.

I also got Rodney Sneijder on loan and Flavien Belson on a free. They are half decent with plenty of potential in Sneijder as his PA is -9 *highlight to see.

John-Joe O'toole looks useful but hes on loan at Colchester until 31/12/09 - Im keeping an eye on him.

The thing with Watford is, they have 3 very good players on loan from Man Utd and Arsenal. When these players go back to their clubs is when problems are likely to set in unless you can fill the voids left by them.

Cathcarts loan expires 4/1/10 - however his contract with United runs out in June 2010 so if your lucky, he might come on a free. Same with Cleverly, so if you are indeed clever, you may be able to get both of these players.

No such luck with Lansbury, his contract ends in 2012.

Staff

* Manager: Malky Mackay

* Assistant Manager: Sean Dyche

* First Team Coach: David Kerslake

* Head Coach: Martyn Pert

* Goalkeeping Coach: Alec Chamberlain

* Head of Academy: Mark Warburton

* Physio: Richard Collinge

Not much scope for change here, Dyche deals with the media pretty well and Kerslake is half decent.

good thread mate would also add that getting rid of eustace might be a good idea as he is on alot of wages and jenkins can take his place. Has anyone managed to get Watford into the prem yet.

Also add best starting eleven from the starting team if possible.

When playing as the Hornets, you'll have your hands tied behind your back-you can't buy anyone as there are already too many expensive waged players in the side!

I can't see a way up from there!?

Well its all part of being a manager aint it? Just look at Sheffield United in real life i bet blackwell don't like it but he has to put up with it! Just stop complaining and get playing with a n00bie team such as notts county or man city if you are mardy about it.

It's easily worked around aswell its all the experiance being a manager.

Craig (I'm making the Harpenden Town game atm btw )

Yeah, I have to agree. How do you think Malkay feels in real life?

I'd sell some of the big earners (from memory, Jay DeMerit, John Eustace etc) and try and get some young loans in like we have Cleverley and Lansbury. If you can get a couple of free transfers too, you should be able to get a decent place finish in the Championship.

Then, after a couple of seasons, you can build up and go for promotion.

By the way, if you're hoping for this to be the official Watford thread, it's going to need a little more work... EDIT: Just seen it's been moved into one

Just read through the OP - Hoskins has 5 in 5?! That's some bad researching there

Good thread though - a best 11 would be useful. Imo it's;

GK - Loach

DR - Mariappa (Doyley when Cathcart is gone)

DL - Travner

DC - DeMerit

DC - Cathcart (Mariappa when he's gone)

MR - Cleverley (Jenkins when he's gone)

ML - Cowie (Harley when Lansbury is gone)

MC - Jenkins (Eustace when Cleverley is gone)

AMC - Lansbury (Cowie when he's gone)

ST - Graham

ST - Helguson (Ellington when he's gone)

It's annoying that 4 of the best players in the team are on loans, it means that a lot of restructuring has to happen after their departures.

I started as Watford when I bought the game, but for the first 5 months I could not get any consistency at all! I was 19th in the league before Christmas and was close to getting the sack, but I had an incredible 2nd half of the season, going 16 games unbeaten and even went as high as 2nd before just missing out on the playoffs and finishing 7th. All in all a great season, but if I found some consistency then I might be playing in the premiership right now.

Some signings I would recommend are:

Jordan Spence (CB) on loan West Ham

Jamaique Vandamme (ST/RW) Roja JC

Ondrej Svejdik (CB) FC Groningen

Craig Conway (RW) Dundee

Gary Deegan (CM) Star player. You will need to have the Irish leagues loaded up though.

Angel (FC) Tenerife

Ritchie De Laet (CB) on loan from Man Utd

Currently in my 2nd season now,22 games in, won 9, drawn 9, lost 4 but STILL bleeding way too many goals at the back. If I go up next season I accept I will have less than £5m to spend, hard times :/

I finished 12th in my first season with Watford then just finished 4th and won the playoffs:), the budget for fighting against relegation in the prem is 14 mil and you get a high wage budget so thats plently to buy a new back four and get some extra players. Also i have just signed Owen on a free transfer. A few players that i would recommend are Calum Davenport-free, Craig Conway-500k, Javier Potilla-free, Cory Evans-60k.

I can never get Deegan to come to Watford. how much didd you offer his club and what wages did you offer?

in the second season do watford have any money?

must say this is going to be a hard season as Watford. shows how well Malky is actually doing

I can't remember to be honest mate, I don't think I had much trouble getting Deegan to come to me to be honest. In my 2nd season I got a transfer budget of £0!!! haha it was quite a challenge. I am annoyed though that Cleverley and Hansbury AND Helguson are all so bad on FM. They should be much better.

I can't remember to be honest mate, I don't think I had much trouble getting Deegan to come to me to be honest. In my 2nd season I got a transfer budget of £0!!! haha it was quite a challenge. I am annoyed though that Cleverley and Hansbury AND Helguson are all so bad on FM. They should be much better.

Cleverley has been doing ok for me to be fair. better than his states would suggest anyway. just cant get him to extend his stay. Which should be sorted in the patch as he is now with us for the season IRL.

I am hoping at the end of the season there will be a lot of good freebies to pick up.

worried I may have to sell Jenkins of Loach at the end of the season.

one thing I have noticed is that faster players always seem to be better than slower ones. even if the only attribute that is good is pace.

anyway COYH

Well Doyley has just scored his first ever goal for Watford tonight just wondering if in your football manager game has he scored for you yet.

Well Doyley has just scored his first ever goal for Watford tonight just wondering if in your football manager game has he scored for you yet.

I'm a Watford fan and LOVED that!!

For the record, I had Watford smashing up the Champions League on the last FM, took me something like 8 seasons mind you.

No experience of them on 2010 but I can tell you John-Joe looks immense again - he became your best player on the last FM09 - I have no idea why Malkay doesn't like him...

I think I'll be Watford on my next save, an incredible challange though - for sure.

You should get decent money for Scott Loach if you decide to sell.

Has anyone bought Watford on anybodys game? I don't think we would be bought in the game until Watford get back to the premiership, but just interested to see who takes over the club(if at all) on the game...

Has anyone bought Watford on anybodys game? I don't think we would be bought in the game until Watford get back to the premiership, but just interested to see who takes over the club(if at all) on the game...

Nope and the chairmans says he wants to stay for along time.

Nope and the chairmans says he wants to stay for along time.

Watford on verge of administration

Russo's have left the club in turmoil demanding a return of their cash (£4.88m)

Graham Taylor acting Chairman.

10 point deduction imminent unless Sir Elton stumps up big cash.

Bad bad times.

Watford on verge of administration

Russo's have left the club in turmoil demanding a return of their cash (£4.88m)

Graham Taylor acting Chairman.

10 point deduction imminent unless Sir Elton stumps up big cash.

Bad bad times.

yup indeed and i cant see sir elton bailing us out again he is already putting a concert on for us next year if we survive that long.

Nope and the chairmans says he wants to stay for along time.

What season are you in fullylove007?

yup indeed and i cant see sir elton bailing us out again he is already putting a concert on for us next year if we survive that long.

There's all sorts of rumours flying about... Ashton wants to maintain control... Simpson is coming back full time blah blah. It's complete turmoil, I hate to say.

I am going to go home from work, listen to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road repeatedly, and start a new save on FM with Watford so I can recall some good times. Saying that, I'll probably end up getting us relegated.

What season are you in fullylove007?

At the start of my 3rd in the championship got 2.5 mil to spend although i have just had to sell cleverly, jenkins and cathcart as Russo feels the offers we to good to refuse.

Right Guys, here;s some knowledge for Watford big wages problem.

The following players

Eustace

Ellington

Demerit

Hoskins

Can be negoiated contracts down to 5k a week each. You have to give them £150k-£250k signing on fees... but in the long run you save money... like buying in bulk.

On the first day extend the 3 loanees till the end of the season and you can then sign them all on a free.

Leave Lansbury too late and he'll sign an extension at Arsenal.

ALSO, has anyone else got Helguson on their game? Cos i got all the patches and still don't have Helguson and am mighty miffed about it as I was holding out starting a game with Watford because they had no Helguson and there is a glitch with Graham Taylor in that he dissapears after about a month and it's just not the same without them...

That's my rant over... maybe one day I'll manage Watford and enjoy it... rather than loathe that i have no good striker to partner Graham...

I'm currently playing my hometown Watford save and with Ellington in the squad and being an absoloute pile of garbish no matter how i play him i was thinking of bringing in Jason Roberts to see if that livens him up.

My question is, anyone tried the combo on FM10 yet?

Or had any luck with the Duke in general?

Really something for your club thread mate

Had Roberts in the Championship in season 2. Did quite well, Mind I bought him in January. 10 Goals in 16 Games.

Being honest, Ellington is pretty garbage in real life.

Did it used to be those 2 together at Wigan in there League 1/Championship days where they ripped it all apart? Suddenly went down hill from then though.

They were together at Bristol Rovers in what was then division 2 and ellington was a fantastic prospect, unfortunately the prolific roberts moved on to wigan I think but we managed to keep hold of ellington even as we went down into division3/league 2 and he was still banging them in including a hat-trick against premiership derby county!

HH is back at QPR now in real life anyway. We're trying to extend the loan mind you. Give it a week and big 'fake injury' Mike Williamson might be back on loan as well.

You heard it here first.

Right Guys, here;s some knowledge for Watford big wages problem.

The following players

Eustace

Ellington

Demerit

Hoskins

Can be negoiated contracts down to 5k a week each. You have to give them £150k-£250k signing on fees... but in the long run you save money... like buying in bulk.

On the first day extend the 3 loanees till the end of the season and you can then sign them all on a free.

Leave Lansbury too late and he'll sign an extension at Arsenal.

ALSO, has anyone else got Helguson on their game? Cos i got all the patches and still don't have Helguson and am mighty miffed about it as I was holding out starting a game with Watford because they had no Helguson and there is a glitch with Graham Taylor in that he dissapears after about a month and it's just not the same without them...

That's my rant over... maybe one day I'll manage Watford and enjoy it... rather than loathe that i have no good striker to partner Graham...

You heard it here first.

Actually I didn't, heard in a lot of places. Watford Observer, Sky Sports and TEAMtalk rumours.

Sorry.

what tactics do you guys use? away from home I seem to struggle badly. bit like the real team.

also where is the lowest you have finished and not got sacked?

what tactics do you guys use? away from home I seem to struggle badly. bit like the real team.

also where is the lowest you have finished and not got sacked?

The tactic im currently using is 4 defenders 1 defenceive mid 2 wingers 2 central attacking mid and 1 up front, also im my first season i finished 17th and didnt get sacked i think as long as you dont get relegated the watford board should always give you another season to try and improve things.

Alright fellas. Started as Watford and in my first season won the championship, scored 99 goals and conceded 60. Dicked the league basically for two reasons.

1. I ALWAYS listened to my assistant manager during games. If he said our passes our connecting badly, I would go from long/default passing to short.

2. I played 4-4-2 but instead put Cleverley and Lansbury as attacking left and right wingers respectively, not wide midfielders.

I highly recommend signing Francisco Sandaza from Dundee. He scored 21 in 31 for me. Hoskins got 16 in 36 with 11 assists and Graham got 25 goals in 34 appearances for me. These are just the league stats aswell!!

Now in the premo and looking for good attacking left/right wingers to sign for £2/2.5m. Any ideas?

Anyone Started with Watford on the new patch? I tell you it is harder than ever. no money and hardly anyone to sell to make money. Plus Taylor is injured for 5 months.

on the bright side though we have some good midfielders.

should be a challenge

I'm planning to start a save with them at some point. Seems the challenge will be to do well in the first season before flogging players in Summer '10 and starting over.

Anyone Started with Watford on the new patch? I tell you it is harder than ever. no money and hardly anyone to sell to make money. Plus Taylor is injured for 5 months.

on the bright side though we have some good midfielders.

should be a challenge

Do the board still want promotion in the first season.

Do the board still want promotion in the first season.

no mid table finish. which IRL I would glady take

is anyone playing on 10.3 patch

loaned sparv and holla from FC Groningen had them before and think they can do a good job

loaned cathcart from man utd to strenghen defence

loaned muamba from bolton too

alson on 3 month deals i got borcini and kakuta from chelsea they are parent club

signed thomas mhyre on a free as back up

sold eustace to free up wages as midfield is covered

playin a variation of 4-3-3 similar to chelsea or arsenal

played 6 lost 6 scored 3 conceded 9

dont know whats going wrong on paper should be beating teams easily nut cannot score

help please

Im playing with them on 10.3 and i managed to finish 12th in the 1st season. i did pretty similar to you actually brought in a few loanes and sold off a few of the higher earners, i kept things simple with the formation 4-4-2 with 1 of the center mids playing defensive. i played quite attacking football with a high line of defence and always sed to get the ball out on the wings to cowie and kakuta. once in a game i would set the orders saying keep possension and work ball into box this seemed to work against most sides but i did struggle when playing other top half sides and when playing away from home.

have been playin a attacking 4-4-2 formation at home and against the lower leams

then a 4-5-1 style with wingers away or against bigger teams like (newcastle west brom etc)at home

really struggle to score goal hegusonn a waste of time and wages,been playing the young lad buckley top scorer with 6 in 13

yh most of my goals have come from midfeild ( cleverly,Lansbury and cowie) perhaps try playing 1 of them 3 just behind the the 2 strikers.

Hi,

I'm currently managing another team but Hodson looks interesting. How does he turn out? Arsenal are keeping an eye on him in my game too.

Thanks

Hi,

I'm currently managing another team but Hodson looks interesting. How does he turn out? Arsenal are keeping an eye on him in my game too.

Thanks

He gets pretty good at everything to do with defending apart from heading and never reli gets gd at attacking he eventually got called up to the n.irland squad my board accepted an offer from villa of 5 mil in Jan.

Ok nice one, thanks. Sounds like they are better options out there. Mis read the flag, thought he was English, even less appealing now.

is anyone playing on 10.3 patch

loaned sparv and holla from FC Groningen had them before and think they can do a good job

loaned cathcart from man utd to strenghen defence

loaned muamba from bolton too

alson on 3 month deals i got borcini and kakuta from chelsea they are parent club

signed thomas mhyre on a free as back up

sold eustace to free up wages as midfield is covered

playin a variation of 4-3-3 similar to chelsea or arsenal

played 6 lost 6 scored 3 conceded 9

dont know whats going wrong on paper should be beating teams easily nut cannot score

help please

I am also with Watford. Made a couple of signings mostly unknowns to fill the squad. Also sold Harley and sent back Landsbury to save on wages. After the transfer window Demerrit excepts a 3500 pay cut.

My signings

D Murphy Free (left Back)

Herrem (SP) Norwegian Striker very cheap 25k and is my top scorer with 6 goals in 10

Brennan (LW) 20k from Bohemians

I am midtable after 10 games. a few points of the play offs and going along nicely. Using variation of 442.

I think you may be suffering from having to many new players. A problem I used to suffer until I realised that it is best to bring in new players slowly. Not that I am amamzing at this game I may add.

Good luck anyway mate

I've just started FM10 with Watford as they are struggling with debt and have a decent youth system + have always had a Watford save since...I can remember.

So;

GK - Lee, Loach, North

DF - Taylor, Doyley, Mariappa, Parkes, Hodson, DeMerit, Cathcart(Loan), Travner

MF - Cisse(Free), Bryan, Lansbury(Loan), Mehmet(£170), Eustace, Jenkins, McGinn, Cowie, Cleverley(Loan), Young

ST - Rigano(Free), Helguson(Loan), Hoskins, Graham, Obika (Loan)

The loan rules have meant Ive struggled to bring many in;

Limit of 4 domestic loans per season under23

Limit of 4 domestic loans per season over23

So, they already had Lansbury, Cleverley and Helguson (over23) and I brought in Cathcart and Obika.

I put the little transfer budget I had onto my wage as I started around 6k OVER.

No transfer budget left, around 3K OVER on wages

My 3 biggest earners are Helguson (11k) - DeMerit (9k) - Hoskins (7.5k)

So should I cancel Helguson's loan and make my wage budget a whole lot better and maybe bring in a free or loan a player over 23

OR

Keep him and hope he fires me up the table...?

Any ideas/suggestions are welcome!

I'm sure Helguson has only half of his wages paid by Watford so I'd keep him. Players like DeMerit might take a wage drop as well if you negotiate now.

I'm paying all of his wages...Does anyone know how good he is/isnt? If he's going score a decent amount of goals I'll keep him, if not 11k a week could be used elsewhere.

Thanks, will try to negotiate now

I'm paying all of his wages...Does anyone know how good he is/isnt? If he's going score a decent amount of goals I'll keep him, if not 11k a week could be used elsewhere.

Thanks, will try to negotiate now

You've already got Danny Graham so I'd get rid of Helguson as they offer the same.

I haven't played as Watford on FM10 but have done on previous versions and speaking as a fan that is my DEFINITE recommendation!

yh get rid of helguson he isnt very good in the game and only scored 5 goals for me in the first season, also if you wanna reduce the wage bill further i suggest getting rid off R.lee as for a back up keeper he is on high wages and Eustace as jenkins is ready made to replace him.

yeah get rid of Helguson. for 11k a week you can do much better. Demerrit always takes a 3k pay cut if you offer him a new contract after the transfer window shuts in Sept.

anyone signed any amazing players as watford? bit like real life I am struggling to string wins together. doing ok at home and woeful away. who said this game isnt like real life