Blog
TAKE 3: Laurence Bassini to answer fans questions
1. Why did you decide to ‘invest’ in football?
2. Why Watford?
3. As owner, what will represent a successful tenure?
4. What are your plans for the Stadium redevelopment and the timescale for completion?
5. Where is the money for bond repayments, stadium redevelopments and future player purchases going to come from?
FTRE on the Telly
Did we want to be on the telly? YES WE DID!!
Blame in on the weatherman
This January 1997 fixture was a game in the early stages of what was then known as the Auto Windscreens Shield. Only one stand was open – ironically the East Stand, and due to treacherous and unwelcoming conditions, the crowd was a low one. It was in danger of getting lower as the game wore on, with numerous spectators, myself included, feeling like death from hypothermia was a very real danger. As the game wore on, the pitch began to visibly freeze before our eyes; it was as if “Iceman” from the Fabulous Four comic had turned his attentions to the Vicarage Road turf. Oh what the assembled few would have done for a visit from his superhero companion “The Human Torch”. It was cripplingly cold and the game should never have been played. It was though and I am one of only a couple of thousand to be able to say I was there. Worth risking limb loss to frostbite for? You betcha.
A win is a win…
Well, it’s nice to be back isn’t it? In my eyes, International football is no replacement for seeing the Hornets in action, even if we did see the National side beat the World Champions (Spain) and a Country we haven’t had a win against for over 40 years (Sweden). Give me a home win against Portsmouth any day of the week…
Laurence and the Machine
What a week it’s been as a Watford fan. We at FTRE have been open to Laurence Bassini as the owner of the Watford FC, even with some worrying thoughts in the back of our mind. With a no show at the fans forum and a threat of resigning from the board the following day we at FTRE felt we needed to talk about our current owner.
Keeping the dream alive
After enduring a tough start to the season, Watford find themselves, perhaps not unexpectedly, struggling at the wrong end of the Championship, and as us Hornets fans look back up the table towards our rivals, we could be forgiven for feeling that the Premier League has never been further from reach.
What Football could learn from Rugby?
I’m one of those blokes who can watch any sport that comes on the TV. As long as I have an idea of how a team can win a game I’ll sit and watch it. Baseball, American Football even Kabadi I will watch it. I like to pick out the best things in a sport and imagine how they might improve my favourite sport – Football. Watching the Rugby World Cup these past few weekend mornings has been brilliant. How great is it to wake up and be able to watch world class sport? And there are many things I think Football should adopt from Rugby immediately, most are to do with the referees.
Why I’m Laughing At Arsenal
That lunchtime incident made my brain over sensitive to Arsenal fans moaning and whinnying. Over the next few days I seemed to turn the radio on just as Gooners were ringing in with calls for Arsene to start spending some money. Facebook was full of Arsenal supporting friends status updates taking some sort of sadistic comfort in the fact that at least they had a point more than Spurs. And the workplace still managed to throw up the odd “Arsenal are hopelessrubbishuseless” from their armchair brigade. None of them were very happy and even the most optimistic were simply clutching at straws. The burden of expectation appeared to be weighing them down. So I began to wonder, perhaps my colleague is right. Maybe it would be worse being an Arsenal fan?