Watford board strikes again with early sacking

Watford is one of those teams that goes back and forwards between the Premier League and Championship. Whenever they are in the Premier League, they are always in the second part of the table. Somehow the Watford board feels that should do a lot better. Last December they hired Xisco Muñoz. The Spanish manager got them to second place, which automatically meant they got promoted back to the Premier League. Now seven games into the new season, he is fired by the board.

ℹ Watford FC confirms Xisco Muñoz has left his post as the club's Head Coach.

— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) October 3, 2021

Managerial graveyard

Watford has become a real managerial graveyard over the last decade. Xisco Muñoz is already the 16th manager the club had over the last ten years. All signs are heading towards Claudio Rainieri to become manager number 17 in ten years. Burnley, a club similar in size as Watford, had 3 managers in the same period, from which one was a caretaker manager for a month. This shows the big difference between the way clubs are run nowadays. Former Watford manager Sean Dyche is now in his 9th season at Burnley. Where he’s keeping them in the Premier League for quite some years in a row.

Not the worst start

The sacking of Muñoz shows how reactionary the Watford board is. The club lost against Leeds United this weekend, after getting four points against Norwich City and Newcastle United. Watford is currently in 15th place, which would be a great achievement if they are still on this position at the end of the season. So, we can’t say Muñoz has done a terrible job and deserved the sack. To give a bit of perspective, they are 3 points behind Arsenal, who look still happy with Mikel Arteta. While Arsenal is a team that used to play for the title.