In an era where clubs are put under fierce financial pressure and owners and chairmans don't seem to understand the need to have decent players in place in order to achieve their goals, a different kind of chairman who has been around for a while arrives on the scene in England, he offers his club the chance to achieve things via an alternative method, a method which was frowned upon by footballing authority, Ian Holloway, this is of course the curious case of Watford and more specifically the Pozzo Family.
The Pozzo family, fronted by Italian businessman Giampaolo Pozzo, are the owners of three different football teams (Udinese of Italy, Granada of Spain and Watford of England), different not only geographically but different in mentality, but despite their differences the three Pozzo teams work together in harmony in order to achieve success on all three fronts, Udinese have had success in the Serie A, gaining European qualification on numerous occasions, Granada have had success in the Spanish leagues, going from the brink of destruction in the third tier of Spanish football to back to back promotions which took them all the way to La Liga after a 35 year absence, they even managed to survive albeit in 17th. And now, Watford look set to follow in their footsteps. And the Pozzo family's secret? Well, there is no big secret, just a set up which allows players to move on loan between the network of clubs so clubs get the players they need and the players get what they need, games.
But the Pozzo family aren't new to this game, Giampaolo took over his local side Udinese back in 1986, since then Udinese have been on an incredible journey which has taken them from betting scandals and Serie B football to the Champions League, and Giampaolo didn't achieve this through following a model which involved him spending big amounts of money on players, he achieved it through investing in scouts which found some of the best young talents across the world, these players would then be signed fairly cheaply by Udinese and would be developed into great footballers who could help the team grow, some of these intelligent signings include: Sulley Muntari, Alexis Sanchez, Gokhan Inler, David Pizarro, Fabio Quagliarella and Vincenzo Iaquinta.
Udinese is the base of the Pozzo network and through their intelligent signings the network was made possible and now Granada and Watford can enjoy success through this man's mentality.
I really fail to see how what the Pozzo family are doing is harmful to football, they are helping three different teams survive, compete and achieve. The Pozzo family are criticised for this when other owners spend beyond their club's means or use their club to fund for their own bank balance, go unquestioned by the footballing world.
Surely, the footballing world should be grateful that good owners who really want to help clubs grow like the Pozzo family still exist? Instead of criticising them for their alternative method.
Source: DSG
