Updated March 17, 2026
Three managers and counting as the Pozzo merry-go-round spins on
Watford's 2025-26 season has featured three head coaches in seven months, continuing the Pozzo family's infamous managerial carousel. Paulo Pezzolano lasted ten matches before being sacked in October, Javi Gracia returned for a second stint only to resign in February after twenty-one games, and Edward Still was appointed a week later on a two-and-a-half-year deal. The revolving door has now seen 23 managerial departures since the Pozzo family took control in 2012, a rate of instability unmatched in English football.
Vicarage Road patience wearing thin under Pozzo ownership
Watford's fourth consecutive Championship season has tested the loyalty of supporters who remember the club's five-year Premier League run from 2015 to 2020. The Pozzo model, which relies on cycling through managers and leveraging the family's network of clubs for player recruitment, produced results at the top level but has failed to engineer a return from the Championship. Fan protests against the ownership have grown louder, with one prominent supporter calling the operation a circus that shows no sign of changing.
Edward Still tasked with bringing stability to a chaotic club
Belgian coach Edward Still, who previously managed Charleroi and had a brief interim spell at Anderlecht, represents Watford's latest attempt to find stability in the dugout. Still signed a two-and-a-half-year contract, longer than most Watford managers survive, and his early results will determine whether the club can push toward the play-off places or drift into the bottom half. At Vicarage Road, every new appointment carries the same question: how long before the next one?