Watford has finally gotten a permanent replacement for their former manager Nigel Pearson. They have appointed Serbian football manager Vladimir Ivic to head the team’s battle for Premier League return.
Vladimir Ivic’s mission is solely to return the club to the Premier League at the end of the 2020-2021 season. He was given just a year contract which could be extended if he is able to perform the magic of giving them another chance to play in the Premier League.
Road to Vladimir Ivic’s era in Watford
After stunning the world by stopping Liverpool’s unbeaten run in the just concluded 2019-2020 Premier League season, Watford felt Nigel Pearson would not be able to achieve his sole mission, which was to keep Watford in the Premier League, hence he was sacked before the club could be confirmed relegated.
The sack of the 56-year-old English tactician shocked most football fans because it was looking like he could save the club from going down. Unfortunately for the club, Pearson’s sack didn’t change anything as they went down with a little fight.
Pearson who just spent 7 months at the club was the third manager that was asked to leave within the space of a year. Javi Gracia, the manager that started the 2019-2020 season with Watford was the first to take the ax, followed by Quique Sanchez Flores and then Pearson.
The challenge before Vladimir Ivic
Vladimir Ivic was very successful in Israeli league but football in England is extremely competitive that sometimes, success is hard to come by. Ivic certainly knows this as he has brought his three-men coaching crew from his days in Israel to England.
“First of all, from the beginning, I have a big expectation of myself and of my coaching staff,” Ivic told the club’s website.
“It’s my first time in England and I need to adapt as fast as possible, to do the best for the club is very important to me.
“I’ve worked with my coaching staff for three years, so I know that we will ask the most from ourselves so we can help the players to achieve the club’s goals.”
Vladimir Ivic and his three-men tactical crew have no other job than to lead the club back to the Premier League in line with the promise the owner of the club, Gino Pozzo, has made to the fans of the club. Anything short of that, he will become the 4th football manager the club would sack in less than two years.
Ivić unveiled ✅ pic.twitter.com/GtILezlcT2
— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) August 15, 2020
Why Watford chose Vladimir Ivic
Since Pearson was sacked, many names have been thrown up as possible replacement but Watford‘s board decided to go for Vladimir Ivic who has never coached in mainstream Europe.
From all indications, the Serbian tactician is as hungry as any young football manager in Europe. He decided to leave the Israeli league because of his thirst for a bigger challenge.
While at Israeli league, the 43-year-tactician was the head coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv. He won the Israeli Premier League with the club for two straight seasons, 2018–19 and 2019-2020 seasons. He has also managed Greek club PAOK where he won the Greek Cup in 2016-17 season.
