Category Archives: Vladimir Ivic

19th December 2020- Championship, Huddersfield Town 2 Watford 0 after which Vladimir Ivic was sacked as the Hornet’s Head Coach

BBC Sport: Huddersfield capitalised on first-half mistakes by former England goalkeeper Ben Foster and Etienne Capoue to beat Watford.

Sky Sports: Goalkeeper Foster dawdled on a backpass from Ben Wilmot, allowing Isaac Mbenza to chase him down in the box. The veteran’s attempted clearance only ricocheted off the shins of Mbenza and into the path of Campbell who gleefully tapped into the empty net.

Official site: Now, after defeat in West Yorkshire in the second tier of English football, the Hornets are down to fifth in the Championship in the depths of winter and the good folk of the town are facing further restrictions on their freedom amid the introduction of Tier 4 because of a spike in coronavirus cases. The outlook appears bleak, it always does after a defeat, but things will get better. They always do. There will be good times ahead. You have to take the rough with the smooth, put up with the rain to appreciate the rainbow.

BHappy: And then he was gone.

Watford Observer: Watford head coach Vladimir Ivic has been sacked this evening following the 2-0 defeat to Huddersfield Town.

BBC Sport: The Hornets, who have won nine of their 20 Championship games this season under Ivic, are fifth in the table, four points off second-placed Bournemouth and nine off leaders Norwich.

Sky Sports: Before arriving at Watford, Ivic had great success in Israel at Maccabi Tel Aviv, winning the Israeli Premier League in back-to-back years in 2019 and 2020 – ending a run of three seasons without the title for the most decorated club in the country. Before his arrival there, he had also won the Greek Cup with PAOK in 2017 in his first senior management role.

The Guardian: His overly defensive tactics have been unpopular with Watford fans, though, and the team’s style of play has not been easy on the eye.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55283941

15th December 2020- Championship, Watford 1 Brentford 1

This would be the final game of the season that Watford fans were allowed to attend as a rise in Covid cases brought the relaxation of government restrictions to an end the following weekend. The attendance was given as exactly 2000.

BBC Sport: In a frantic five second-half minutes at Vicarage Road, Brentford’s Ethan Pinnock was sent off for bundling over Ismaila Sarr in the box and Troy Deeney drilled home the resulting penalty. Toney then sent Ben Foster the wrong way after Christian Kabasele was penalised for handball.

Sky Sports: Substitute Stipe Perica had a header ruled out for Watford in the 82nd minute for offside – a call the officials also appeared to have got wrong as the striker was level with the last defender.

Official site: It was Deeney’s 137th goal for the club and he seems as hungry as ever. It didn’t end up as a winning penalty this time, as it really should have done against a Brentford side who played nearly half an hour with a man less, and that’s what will disappoint the captain the most.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55225496

12th December 2020- Championship, Birmingham City 0 Watford 1

BBC Sport: A late Troy Deeney penalty was enough for Watford to win a game of few chances at Birmingham City.

Sky Sports: It was a case of third time lucky for Deeney, who missed two chances of glory in the second half, lobbing into the arms of goalkeeper Neil Etheridge when clean through, before glancing another chance well wide.

Official site: It was a key goal as the Hornets had looked set to drop down to fifth and allow leaders Norwich to open up a six-point lead at the top. Instead, they are only four off the top and just one off second place Bournemouth. Again, this wasn’t a classic. In fact, it was a tough watch for large parts but there is no astérix next to it in the record books. It’s all about grinding them out at this stage of the season, especially when it’s cold and miserable, and moving onto the next one.

BHappy: It’s a stultifying game of football. All the more so in contrast with that most epic of awaydays which it’s impossible to navigate this fixture without reflecting on. I’ve only been to St Andrews once in the 21 and a half years since… but this one could scarcely be in sharper contrast to that encounter. Most obviously where the was rabid, deafening noise coming from the stands in 1999 here there’s silence, punctuated only by what must have been a consciously noisy Blues entourage. Where there were intimidating walls of Bluenoses there are now plastic cut-outs, statically swaying down one side of the pitch. I was hoping that Watford would instigate something similar but I was wrong – the sight is melancholy, a silent parody of how it ought to be. And on the pitch… in 1999 it was furious intensity, no quarter asked or given by either side. Drama and epic conflict. Nothing epic about this. It’s blancmange. Nathaniel Chalobah and Lukas Jutkiewicz appear to shake hands as the game kicks off for pity’s sake.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55196875

8th December 2020- Championship, Watford 2 Rotherham United 0

For the second game running a limited number of fans were allowed to attend. The official attendance was 1,976.

BBC Sport: Watford climbed to third in the Championship as two early goals were enough for them to see off out-of-form Rotherham United.

Sky Sports: Deeney flicked on Ken Sema’s delivery and centre-back Kabasele stuck out a long leg to net from five yards.

Official site: Christian Kabasele gave the team the early goal you always need against a lower-ranked team who set their stall out with plenty of men behind the ball and then Troy Deeney, having had a major hand in the first, scored the second around ten minutes later to drive home the advantage. This is what the fans came back to see, what they had been teased with on Hive Live during the behind-closed-doors Championship games. It felt like a long way back for Rotherham at that point.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55140393

5th December 2020- Championship, Watford 0 Cardiff City 1

For the first time since the pandemic began a limited number of home fans were allowed to attend the game. The attendance was 1,973.

BBC Sport: Kieffer Moore’s fifth goal in five games ended Watford’s unbeaten home run as fans returned to Vicarage Road.

Official site: So, the team win six out of seven without the fans, scoring 16 goals in the process and yet the second the supporters are gradually and welcomely phased back in, the Golden Boys finish a home game pointless and goalless. You couldn’t make it up, really. It’s just been that sort of year, hasn’t it?

BHappy: With the benefit of hindsight there’s an inevitability about a miserable 1-0 defeat on the day on which supporters are first let back in.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11686/12151171/watford-0-1-cardiff-city-kieffer-moore-fires-bluebirds-to-victory

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55111590

15th August 2020- Vladimir Ivic appointed Head Coach

Vladimir Ivić is the new Head Coach of Watford, the club is delighted to confirm. A two-time league winner as manager of Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv, in both 2018/19 and 2019/20, Ivić also led PAOK to Greek Cup glory in 2016/17.

Official_-Ivić-Appointed-New-Head-Coach-Watford-FC Download

Vladimir Ivic: Watford confirm appointment of new head coach

Things are starting to happen at WD18, so naturally there is a new From the Rookery End podcast! With the arrival of Vladimir Ivić seemingly imminent, Mike and Jon spoke to a couple of experts on his career. Middle Eastern football expert Ben Jacobs and Israel based journalist Raphael Gellar joined the boys to provide fascinating insight into Ivić, his philosophy, career, methods and perhaps most importantly of all, to confirm whether or not Watford fans should be excited by the appointment!