In Monday’s Daily Mail, Chris Sutton in his “My Verdict” column said “good for football that Watford went down” blaming the “revolving door” policy of the owners in sacking three managers this season and so many before that.

However Troy Deeney in clearly his best ever interview immediately after the Arsenal game was absolutely clear when he said at the end of the day “we just weren’t good enough”.

So why is the dream over? Well these are my reasons:

1) You just can’t run any business with a continual change in line management, especially in a sport like football that is so dependent on the performance of the manager.

2) It’s my belief that some of the players have just “not turned up” for games. Looking at the season overall it is simply unbelievable that the team which smashed Liverpool’s unbeaten record in such convincing style also just rolled over in the first half of a crucial game against West Ham which really was the catalyst to relegation and the subsequent sacking of Nigel Pearson.

3) I have previously stated in these columns that the board’s desperation in attempting to keep the club in the Premier League would eventually come back to haunt them. What else therefore can the policy of replacing manager after manager be other than the toxic smell of desperation?

4) And finally to the sacking of Nigel Pearson. Pearson was obviously furious with the backs and the team in general at half time in the West Ham game, but when, in any business situation, does an owner have a knee jerk reaction and, knowing there were only two games left, summarily dismisses the manager on the spot? Surely there‘s more to this than meets the eye unless I’m very much mistaken, otherwise this was sheer madness?

And what now about next season? In what will probably be played in stadiums with a third of the capacity, there will most probably be a very different Watford team turning up. The likes of the underperforming Ducoure and Pereyra will leave for foreign climes, Sarr will go to a top ten club, and there will be a clear-out of those defenders who were simply not up to the grade.

And so the board have a lot to answer for. It’s now up to them as to how they handle the next few weeks, but will the fans have confidence in their ability to get us back quickly? On the latest showing I very much doubt it.

Neil Frais

Hazeldene Drive, Pinner