Astonishing amount Watford have spent on sackings revealed with owners’ 21st manager Tom Cleverley at risk of axe

WATFORD have coughed up nearly £20million on managerial sackings over the past five seasons.

The Championship club is known for its lack of patience and current boss Tom Cleverley is edging closer to their ruthless revolving door.

Watford have had 19 different managers since Gino Pozzo took over in 2012 – including three last season.

Cleverley is now at risk of becoming the 21st redundancy of that time, as Quique Sanchez Flores spent 15 months at the club across two different spells.

But constantly hiring and firing managers comes at a price.

The club’s accounts have often been hit by termination payments for sacked managers.

Pozzo was forced to fork out £1.1m to Valerien Ismael and his staff when he dismissed him after 10 months in charge.

That figure is significantly down from the £7.8m paid in 2021-22 when Xisco Munoz, Claudio Ranieri and Roy Hodgson were all axed.

That exceeded the £6.76m in matchday revenue the club brought in for games at Vicarage Road during that entire campaign.

In all, it means Watford have squandered around £20m in settlement payments over the last five seasons.

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And Cleverley is at risk of becoming their next causality, despite the fact that Watford sit eighth, just one point off the play-off places. 

On Thursday, talkSPORT claimed the Hornets were set to add the Englishman to their long list of managerial redundancies.

Spanish media outlets reported that Pacheta, who formerly managed Villarreal, is a contender to replace the former Man Utd midfielder.

But Watford then issued a bizarre statement regarding Cleverley’s future.

Rather than announcing Cleverley had been axed, the club confirmed he would be in charge of the next game against Coventry.

While Cleverley’s side are well-placed for a promotion push, they have won just two of their last eight Championship fixtures.

The concerning run, which stretches back to December 15, prompted rumours that he may not be at the helm for much longer. 

But 97 per cent of fans want Cleverley to survive his stay of execution, according to a poll run by a Watford Observer reporter.

Meanwhile, Watford’s £58m revenue last season is some £90m lower than the heydays of life in the Premier League during 2018/19 term.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk