Former West Brom manager facing the sack ahead of Albion reunion
Watford have a penchant for sacking managers, and ex West Brom boss Valerien Ismael is reportedly set to become the next
Former West Bromwich Albion manager Valerien Ismael is reportedly set to be sacked by Watford, just nine months after the Frenchman was appointed before the culmination of this season. Ismael has led Watford to just three wins in 14 matches since Christmas – one of those being against non-league Chesterfield in the FA Cup – and they lost their third straight home game on Saturday to Huddersfield Town.
Ismael was appointed in May 2023, when replacing Chris Wilder who had had a short period in charge after the club had sacked Slaven Bilic and, prior to that, Rob Edwards, who ultimately joined the Hornets’ rivals Luton Town and guided them to promotion. Watford have a reputation for hiring and firing managers and Ismael – following the likes of Bilic, Roy Hodgson, Nigel Pearson and Claudio Ranieri – is the club’s tenth boss since 2020.
What makes the matter all the more bizarre is that Ismael signed a new contract at Vicarage Road in October, months after he arrived at the club and despite there being quite a slow start on the pitch. Having initially improved the results, Ismael hasn’t been able to have as much of an influence since Christmas and now talkSPORT report that he is set to become the latest club to suffer the Watford axe.
The Hornets, who drew 2-2 with Albion in an entertaining encounter back in September and who visit The Hawthorns on 1 April, have slipped down to 11th in the Championship table, having at one stage appeared to be a prominent threat to the Baggies’ own play-off aspirations. They’re now a sizeable 11 points behind sixth placed Hull, 12 behind Albion and, indeed, they’re closer to the relegation zone than the top six at this moment.
It’s a familiar turn of events for Ismael; having been brought in to replace the outgoing Sam Allardyce in the summer of 2021, on a four-year contract, after guiding Barnsley to the play-offs against all the odds the year before, things turned awry after a record-breaking unbeaten run at the beginning of the season. By January, having been issued with the blow of losing new signing Daryl Dike to a serious injury, Albion slipped out of the top six and Ismael was fired. He has since had a spell in Turkey with Besiktas.
“We need to re-focus straight away; we have a tough game next week at Millwall,” Ismael said post-match. “It’s about us picking the players who have the right mentality for the game. I understand the fans in the stands today. I expected more, the fans expected more, and the players themselves wanted more. At the end of the day, it was not enough, and we accept getting criticised by the fans.”
