"Be careful what you wish for" - Pundit wades in on Watford FC takeover debate | OneFootball

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, Carlton Palmer shares his thoughts on the current situation with the Hornets' owners.

Carlton Palmer has provided his take on the ownership situation at Watford FC, with the relationship between the fans and the club’s owners, the Pozzo family, at “an all-time low.”

A quiet January transfer window has once again heightened tensions at Vicarage Road, with many in the fanbase feeling several additions were needed for the Hornets to sustain their push for the top six.

Despite this, boss Tom Cleverley was only able to secure three new signings – Norwegian international goalkeeper Egil Selvik, left-back Caleb Wiley on loan from Chelsea and James Abankwah on loan from Udinese.

Watford are currently 12th and just three points behind West Brom in the final play-off spot, but their push for the top six faces competition from potentially as many as nine other clubs.

Carlton Palmer gives his take on Watford’s owners

With Watford’s quiet January window not what many fans feel was needed, the atmosphere around the club has become a little spiky of late.

The Pozzos had already come under fire from fans earlier in the season, when it emerged that they would potentially sack Cleverley, a decision which was ultimately fended off by the fans.

While Palmer admits that he generally feels sympathetic towards owners and chairmen of clubs, he also acknowledges that Watford’s January window hasn’t really helped their cause much right now.

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, the former England international said: “The relationship at Watford between the supporters and the owners, the Pozzos, is reportedly at an all-time low after a quiet January.

“It’s a difficult one, the fans have had to come out with their support for Tom Cleverley after it was reported that the Pozzos were looking to replace him. It seems that he is a fan favourite, and they feel he has overachieved with the squad during the first half of the season.

“The fans believe that it is a mid-table squad and that he (Cleverley) needs to be given the tools to do his job. I think the fans see a connection between themselves and Cleverley and they think he’s doing a great job.

“It's become a really difficult situation. They’re not a million miles off the play-offs, but they haven’t moved in the right direction in the January window to push their way into the top six.

“I’ve always said it’s a very difficult job being the chairman of a football club, in terms of the amount of money that you can spend and how much of that can go to bringing in players. The teams that will probably get promoted this season have only recently been relegated and the cost of the players that they are able to bring in is huge.

“To make that step in the Championship now is a huge financial commitment, so I always say be careful what you wish for, because if the fans were to get rid of the Pozzos, would the new owners come in and give the club the injection of money that it needs to push to get out of the Championship?”

Watford fans’ issues with their owners are nothing new

Since their takeover of the Hornets back in 2012, it’s fair to say the Pozzo family have become controversial figures within the fanbase.

The Italians also own Serie A side Udinese, which has been the source of much discussion in the English football pyramid, given how many players have switched between the two clubs on a regular basis.

Perhaps the most eyebrow-raising aspect of the Pozzos’ ownership has been the way they have handled managers over the years.

Over the course of the Pozzos’ reign, Watford have had an almost unbelievable 19 different managers in the space of just under 13 years. The Sun have even claimed that the Hornets have spent as much as £20million on managerial sackings alone in the last five years.

However, the recent suspicion over Cleverley’s future is perhaps the strangest situation of them all. Speculation that the owners were preparing to sack the former Manchester United man was met with backlash from the fanbase, prompting Watford to issue a bizarre statement reiterating that Cleverley remained in charge and that there were no plans to replace him.

Given the fact that it is widely thought the 35-year-old is doing a stellar job at Vicarage Road, that settled things down a little. But now, after a January window that left a lot to be desired, it is unsurprising that fans are once again directing frustrations towards the club’s owners.