Watford man talks Millwall, Huddersfield and Blackpool
Monday 3 November 2014 15:55, UK
Watford's Keith Andrews is back with his weekly FL72 blog on life in the Championship. This week he looks at relationships with refs, plus the form of a club he nearly joined in the summer - Huddersfield Town.
It was a weekend of contrasting results for the Championship’s current promotion candidates.
You just have to look at how Derby dropped from first to sixth in the table with Brentford getting an injury-time winner and Bournemouth propelling themselves into second place with their sixth win in seven games to see just how competitive this league is this year.
Although we [Watford] are currently sitting top of the league we are by no means getting complacent as we genuinely feel we aren’t near where we need to be or can be performance-wise.
We have shown different qualities this year that have maybe surprised other teams - we have shown that we can win without playing particularly well, when going behind in matches and when we have had to deal with key players missing through injuries.
Like I’ve said before in previous blogs, we are a very focussed group that now has a very nice balance in terms of technical ability, pace, power and experience.
I knew Millwall wouldn’t be the traditional side we have faced in recent seasons that play a certain way to try and intimidate opposition. Ian Holloway is trying to change the philosophy at the club by introducing a more possession-based passing style but still trying to keep that steely resilience and they proved to be exactly that on Saturday as they gave us a very tough match.
There was a lot made of the referee’s performance by the Millwall camp on Saturday but I remember thinking during the game that there wasn’t much I saw different to the decisions that he was making - and that wasn’t being biased.
We all know that they have a very difficult task on their hands and I know I’ve been guilty of arguing with them on occasions throughout my career but I have always said that I can deal with them making wrong decisions as long as they communicate with me.
I think if you speak to the referee in a respectful manner then it’s what you should get in return but when they ignore you and refuse to speak to you it usually magnifies the tension. On Saturday I felt the referee conducted himself in a very dignified manner as he could have easily dished out more cards to certain players that were venting their frustration in an over-zealous fashion.
Huddersfield’s improvement since Chris Powell’s appointment has been nothing short of magnificent as they have now gone seven games unbeaten and risen to a respectable 14th in the table.
They have achieved three times as many points in the last seven games as they did in the opening eight to highlight what impressive form they are currently in.
Grant Holt has been a very astute signing by Chris Powell as he is a player with vast experience and also one that has had a bit of a tough time at Wigan, so he was always going to want to prove a point to people that he is far from finished.
He is proving the perfect foil for Nahki Wells as he has blossomed by playing alongside a senior pro who will lead the line and take a lot of the physical burden away from him so he can concentrate on using his speed to greater effect.
I was strongly linked with a move to Huddersfield Town in the summer and there was certainly more to it than the proverbial ‘paper talk’.
They were probably the first club who showed real intent to sign me and I have to say after meeting them I was very impressed with the owner and chairman Dean Hoyle, who’s passion and ambition for the club was clear to see and also very infectious.
I don’t really think it’s fair to go into details as to why it never happened and in truth I’m still not entirely sure why, but at one stage I thought I would be playing at the John Smith’s Stadium this season as Watford hadn’t made contact at that stage.
Lee Clark took charge of his first game at Blackpool and I’m sure he realizes the enormity of the task he has to keep them in the league.
It was a very brave decision by him but he obviously feels he can do it. He will need backing by his chairman to get new players in the building to help the current crop who have had to endure a very tough start to the campaign with off-field fan protests and constant public spats between the previous manager Jose Riga and Karl Oyston.
It would be a real shame to see Blackpool just fizzle out of the Championship without any real fight at boardroom level.
