Watford boss Cleverley nominated for Manager of the Month after Bamford Contract agreed pending his arrivals
Tom Cleverley has been nominated for the Sky Bet Championship Manager of the Month award for August.
The recognition for the Watford head coach comes after the team won all three of their league fixtures during the opening month of the season.
Having had such an awful record at home last season, Watford needed to change that quickly and so the 3-0 win over Stoke City at Vicarage Road on August 17 was a huge stepping stone.
A week later they backed that home win up with another one when they beat Derby County 2-1 at Vicarage Road, overcoming going a goal down in the first couple of minutes.
In addition to the excellent league form, Cleverley also oversaw Carabao Cup wins against MK Dons and Plymouth Argyle in August to end the month with a 100 per cent record and 15 goals scored.
The five victories gave Watford the best start to the season of any team in the Football League.
Sunderland’s Regis Le Bris, West Bromwich Albion’s Carlos Corberan and John Eustace of Blackburn Rovers have also been nominated for the prize, with the winner due to be announced shortly.
Watford were active in the summer transfer window as they added a multitude of new players to their squad. The Hornets also received around €30m from selling Yaser Asprilla and Ismaël Koné to Girona and Marseille respectively.
The Championship side signed Antonio Tikvic, Vakoun Bayo and Festy Ebosele on loan from Udinese.
Watford and the Serie A side are owned by the Pozzo family and Gianluca Nani is a director for both teams. This connection makes it relatively easy for the two clubs to carry out deals.
TuttoMercatoWeb have had a chat with the Italian to understand his role with the two teams and discuss other topics. The 61-year-old said he had “very little” sleep during the last window.
The outlet suggests it’s not easy to have the task of shaping up the squad of two different teams simultaneously. When responding to that, the Watford official insists his job is made easier by having the same owners and a good set of people at both clubs.
“It’s a commitment. But I am facilitated by the fact that I work with the same group. The owner is the same and we always talk to each other,” he said,
“It is certainly challenging. It wouldn’t be possible if I didn’t have the help of the entire working group present in Udine such as Collavino and Gokhan Inler. At Watford, however, I spend more time. The secret is to have good people around you.”
TMW also asked the director if he’s ‘already thinking’ about the January window for both Watford and Udinese.
“Yes. But also in June. This is the moment when we are already thinking about the future and anticipating the competition. Then the negotiations certainly don’t start now. January is early, let’s hope we don’t need to intervene. We have two complete squads. Both at Udinese and Watford,” Nani explained.
