Chief executive Scott Duxbury 'finally starting to understand what makes Watford tick'

7:00am Monday 5th November 2012 in Watford FC News Photograph of the Author By Frank Smith, Deputy Group Sports Editor

Picture: Holly Cant Picture: Holly Cant

Watford’s chief executive Scott Duxbury says he is “finally starting to understand what makes the club tick” and insists the Hornets will retain their own identity despite the influx of foreign arrivals from Udinese.

The change in personnel at Vicarage Road, both on the pitch and off it, has been substantial, with a whole new backroom team, 16 summer signings and several office staff leaving the club.

While the Golden Boys are owned by the Pozzo family, the men leading the club now are CEO Duxbury and technical director Gian Luca Nani, who worked together at West Ham United and took the proposal of buying Watford to the Italian family.

Duxbury has been in charge of the Hertfordshire club for four months, although by his own admission “it feels like longer”, and says he is settling in well.

Speaking to the Watford Observer on Thursday morning, Duxbury said: “I feel now that I am finally starting to understand what makes the club tick.

“For me the turning point was the Open Day in August, which was a fantastic day. The amount of children and families that were at the event was just remarkable. I was there with Gian Luca and we were walked around for hours just watching everybody have a good time.

“I was taking pictures on my iPhone and sending them back to Gino Pozzo and he was like ‘wow’,” he continued. “It gives you complete confidence in the future because this club can be massive without losing our identity. Gino gets that and sees what we need to be doing.

“That day focused my mind that this really is a family club. Lots of clubs say they are a family club but our core value is family and that day really demonstrated what we are about. It translates to the staff here as well. There are people who have been here a long time and understand the club and where we need to go.

“We need to be self sufficient, we need to be successful and move the club forward, but not at the expense of losing our core values. Everything I am trying to do involves trying to retain the core values.

“When Gino Pozzo bought the club, he said ‘yes, we are part of a group but each club retains their own identity’. There isn’t a group stamp on it. Yes, we use their resources but we have our own identity.

“The question when we came in was what is our identity? Now I am starting to understand it.

“I want this club to be in the Premier League and competing,” Duxbury added. “But I want to keep what is wonderful about this football club. That is probably what I have learned most in the last three or four months.”

Duxbury was chief executive at West Ham during a difficult period, which included the Carlos Tevez affair that reportedly cost the club £30m. He resigned from his position at the East London club in January 2010, just a couple of weeks after the arrival of David Gold and David Sullivan.

When asked about the differences between running West Ham and Watford, Duxbury said: “I don’t think it is healthy to look back and do comparisons. All I can say is that you learn through your experiences, good and bad, and I am a better chief executive now because of those experiences. Gian Luca Nani is a better technical director because of those experiences.

“Through many years of running a Premier League club, I have learned a lot and I am confident that I can help in a small way to drive this football club forward and deliver an experience for the supporters that is second to none.

“It is an amazing football club, it really is, and we all need to work hard to get the club to where it needs to be and I am confident we can do that.”

Duxbury stressed it is not former managers and players who are the “embodiment” of Watford, describing them as “transient”, but the supporters and the family ethos of the club.

There has been considerable change among the office staff in recent months, with commercial director Raj Athwal, head of marketing Leigh Brooks and Neil Price, who was part of the sales team, all leaving the club.

Duxbury restructured the way the Hornets operate and there have been two “primary” additions to the commercial side of the club; with Alan McTavish arriving from Glasgow Rangers as head of partnerships and former Leyton Orient employee Chris Pope heading up the match day sales department.

Martine Capitelli, who helped looked after corporate guests, has been given a more senior role and head of media Richard Walker now has a wider remit.

Duxbury explained: “When I came in I noticed that one individual was in charge of five or six areas of the business and there didn’t seem to be any strategic directional growth within each area of the business.

“I have come in and separated the divisions, creating clear heads for each area in retail. Whether it is partnership or corporate sales, we want strategic direction in each area of the business.

“The people I have brought in are not just charged with increasing revenues, which is something we obviously need to do, it is also about increasing the supporter experience and delivering a product – for want of a better word – that is better than we have been delivering.”

He continued: “I have a team in place now that I am really confident in. We have a good mix of people who have been here for a while and new people with new ideas.

“I am confident that over the coming years we will make this football club a club who are challenging, a club people respect and a club the supporters are proud of.”

- Adult tickets for tomorrow’s home game with Millwall are £19, or £24 in the Upper Rous, if they are purchased in advance of the game. Also, two adult and two under-16 tickets in the Family Stand cost £40 for the next five home games, although Duxbury has indicated that scheme may be extended for the rest of the season if successful.

Comments(42)

Bringe says...
8:21am Mon 5 Nov 12

What many of our and certainly most of West Ham fans don't understand is at that time Duxbury and Nani were employed by billionaire owners that had absolutely no qualms about them spending huge amounts to try and gain Champions League football and the 30m compensation to Sheff Utd over Tevez wouldn't have been a major concern had the Icelandic banks and the WHU owners not gone bust overnight. Had that not happened they could well have been where Chelsea are now, would they have moaned about wasted money then? ... Somehow I think not.
Duxbury is a businessman, he works to budgets and forecasts and whatever they might say, he certainly didn't cause the global financial market collapse.

Report this post »

piemagico says...
8:31am Mon 5 Nov 12

All good stuff but Duxbury needs to understand that Watford will never be a "massive" club. The club has a realistic limit of 20,000 supporters in the very best of times.

Report this post »

Bringe says...
8:48am Mon 5 Nov 12

piemagico wrote:
All good stuff but Duxbury needs to understand that Watford will never be a "massive" club. The club has a realistic limit of 20,000 supporters in the very best of times.
Not at all, our location is a very good one and if we are successful we have a populous and prosperous catchment area which far wealthier and much more accessible than in the eighties. Naturally we would need to come out of Arsenal and Spurs' shadow but that will not be the impossible task it was under GT, particularly as the media was so set against him and his tactics. This isn't going to be a problem under Pozzo ownership, they are bringing a style that the whole of British football aspires to. Moderate success and we will soon lose the "unfashionable" tag.

Report this post »

TilliDie says...
9:21am Mon 5 Nov 12

Love the ambition, you can see it on the pitch as well. Plenty of passion, enthusiasm and drive. Well impressed this season so far and we will only get better. Had a few dodgy decisions against but that's football, we seem professional and focused and I'm sure this is a result of the new regime.
What will happen in the future I don't know but as long as Mr Duxbury keep their vision we can only get bigger and better. God bless ya Watford!

Report this post »

gloryhornet4 says...
9:35am Mon 5 Nov 12

piemagico wrote:
All good stuff but Duxbury needs to understand that Watford will never be a "massive" club. The club has a realistic limit of 20,000 supporters in the very best of times.
I remember when WFC broke gate receipts as a 2nd tier club playing Harlow in the FAC Rd 4 in the 1980's. It is about having a successful side that in time has clout to stop glory hunters going in to London to watch Spurs Arsenal & Chelsea. Despite Southampton being 3rd tier recently you will see lots of Saints shirts etc, mainly multiples more than any Premier League clubs.

Saints home gate for every Prem game in 1999/2000 was less than every WFC home gate, but having mega bucks from TV and sponsorship made the problem of a small ground no more than an irritation. That said WFC will have to in time also move ground or find a way to expand Vic Rd

Report this post »

Bush Hornet says...
10:23am Mon 5 Nov 12

We're on the up for sure. Our main rivals are certainly the big London clubs. Chelsea is accessible very easily now from Watf Junc without needing to go via Euston. Same goes for QPR (Sheps Bush BR so easy). But it works the other way and I'm gonna be hopping on that train to Watford tomorrow (prob sharing a carriage with some delightful Millwall fans).

Report this post »

jimbowfc says...
10:36am Mon 5 Nov 12

piemagico wrote:
All good stuff but Duxbury needs to understand that Watford will never be a "massive" club. The club has a realistic limit of 20,000 supporters in the very best of times.
I agree with pieman to an extent; we are unlikely to ever get 40K+ crowds, but I see no reason why we cannot have ambitions of 25 to 30K.

To that extent we should build a new stadium or extend The Vic to house around 30K+. And who knows what might happen in the future, we might even have to extend again?

Report this post »

dolly33 says...
10:58am Mon 5 Nov 12

Things look to be on the up & up.
I am really excited even though I dont live in watford now, I started watching the boys when they were called the The Blues, about 1941 when you could go from school for free in a enclosure.
Then i took my sons who still watch. One who lives in california still comes over to see a match or two once a year.I pour over the teletex on saturdays, UP THE HORNS FOREVER

Report this post »

CARDIFFHORN says...
11:02am Mon 5 Nov 12

Just put up a new stand and make the capacity to approx 22-25000, after all that's roughly what we took to the playoffs and we will never attract more home support.

Report this post »

Bringe says...
11:10am Mon 5 Nov 12

Mark Ashton reckoned the Vic could be maxed out to 26-28k tops. I would suggest a cheapo kit type East stand that has a chance of paying for itself while we explore a move to somewhere near the motorway junction. Whether this encroaches on green belt I'm not sure but it a worthwhile communal project would mean we should expect support from the town hall.... There should be scope enough to match Arsenal and Spurs' gates though I do not suggest we build anything that big.

Report this post »

Bush Hornet says...
11:10am Mon 5 Nov 12

Think BIG, people of Watford and BEYOND. I'm glad the Pozzos are ambitious. They never bought us to be a "maximum 20k" club

Report this post »

Andrew1963 says...
11:42am Mon 5 Nov 12

On location, while clubs in London benefit from great public transport, a move from the current location would mean a car based supporter base. Not sure an M1/M25 location would work. With the Croxley rail link, suddenly Vicarage road is a lot eassier to get to from North West London. I think the club knows it needs to be the premiershiop club for NW London/West Herts and Bucks - but that is long term to build a supporter base. Ultimately it will be on field success that will grow interest beyond those who follow the club. No doubt capacity/pricing is a key issue as will be the ability to grow non matchday income. All in all things really are looking up, the football is far better!

Report this post »

Mickey Quinn, not so thin says...
12:11pm Mon 5 Nov 12

Bringe wrote:
Mark Ashton reckoned the Vic could be maxed out to 26-28k tops. I would suggest a cheapo kit type East stand that has a chance of paying for itself while we explore a move to somewhere near the motorway junction. Whether this encroaches on green belt I'm not sure but it a worthwhile communal project would mean we should expect support from the town hall.... There should be scope enough to match Arsenal and Spurs' gates though I do not suggest we build anything that big.
Not sure they will want to incur the cost of a new stand (even a cheapo one) IF they are thinking of relocating, given it would have no impact on attendances/revenue at the moment.

Report this post »

Only 2 Ross Jenkins says...
12:13pm Mon 5 Nov 12

Just under 19,000 average in 2006/7 prem season, with a 4 sided ground. Regularly averaging 25,000 or 30,000 I imagine is possible (never say never), but would be a very long time in the future in my opinion.

Report this post »

Travelling Hornet says...
1:09pm Mon 5 Nov 12

We need to move to a new stadium to reach our potential , only because the access and parking problems at the Vic, prevents any real attraction to grow a larger fan base .

We played Cardiff recently and their new stadium complex was very impressive with the ease of access , ie. close to motorway,parking and facilities around the ground .

They have retail/ outlet units,pub and fast food restaurants on site.

Surely the Watford area could be benefit from this type of sports/ retail centre.
Holly I think mentioned the old Leavsden airfield , which Warner Bros have bought, would of been ideal, but there is plenty of land close by bordering on M25/ Hunton Bridge spur road , which is also close to Kings Langley station , be perfect for football ground and outlet village, as its an out of town position with no houses close by.

Report this post »

lutondown says...
1:29pm Mon 5 Nov 12

Travelling Hornet wrote:
We need to move to a new stadium to reach our potential , only because the access and parking problems at the Vic, prevents any real attraction to grow a larger fan base .

We played Cardiff recently and their new stadium complex was very impressive with the ease of access , ie. close to motorway,parking and facilities around the ground .

They have retail/ outlet units,pub and fast food restaurants on site.

Surely the Watford area could be benefit from this type of sports/ retail centre.
Holly I think mentioned the old Leavsden airfield , which Warner Bros have bought, would of been ideal, but there is plenty of land close by bordering on M25/ Hunton Bridge spur road , which is also close to Kings Langley station , be perfect for football ground and outlet village, as its an out of town position with no houses close by.
Woodside, being a natural valley was being thrown about on Eltons inception.
Be a big thing moving from the Vic mind! ;-(

Report this post »

andyhooked says...
1:38pm Mon 5 Nov 12

We spent so much money and time exploring a new site for a ground. Land prices have increased substantially since then and would the Borough Council grant planning permission? NO I THINK NOT. We are stuck with what we have got at the VIc. A new stand and filling in what is left of the corners after parts of the ground were sold off and dveloped. Pushing back onto the allotment was ruled out ars ago and now we have the housing developement in place.. ll this apart, Duxbury is making the right noises and putting over a good message.

Report this post »

Bringe says...
2:12pm Mon 5 Nov 12

Land prices are only a problem if there are too many existing properties on them and you cannot ignore that the Vics A1 location values it far above any sites that we'd be considering, it would infact contribute most of the development costs. The current government is itching to bring in revenues from green belt area's and selling off public land though they have much opposition, particularly from borough councils. However there may be joint opportunities for WBC and WFC to benefit the community and usually where there's a will there's a way.
Mickey, should there be a sharp increase in demand for match tickets a prefab stand would be essential for the 5 or more years it would need for a new development elsewhere to transpire, not forgetting the bolt together stand could at a pinch be transported to the new site and incorporated as part of the stadium.

Report this post »

Bringe says...
2:26pm Mon 5 Nov 12

Only2Ross' you have a selective memory. Make that a 3½ sided ground which was sold out often enough in our prem season and in the latter part of the previous one. And anyway I suggest the Zola brand can improve on that considerably.

Report this post »

Mickey Quinn, not so thin says...
2:34pm Mon 5 Nov 12

Bringe wrote:
Land prices are only a problem if there are too many existing properties on them and you cannot ignore that the Vics A1 location values it far above any sites that we'd be considering, it would infact contribute most of the development costs. The current government is itching to bring in revenues from green belt area's and selling off public land though they have much opposition, particularly from borough councils. However there may be joint opportunities for WBC and WFC to benefit the community and usually where there's a will there's a way.
Mickey, should there be a sharp increase in demand for match tickets a prefab stand would be essential for the 5 or more years it would need for a new development elsewhere to transpire, not forgetting the bolt together stand could at a pinch be transported to the new site and incorporated as part of the stadium.
Maybe....but i expect they will only redevelop the stand after we have won promotion, possibly May 2014 ? If they were serious about moving they would have plans in motion by then so your 5 years might only be 2 or 3. Who know though. Exciting times !

Report this post »

Bringe says...
2:36pm Mon 5 Nov 12

Another missed point re. a bolt together stand .... you can also sell/lease them.

Report this post »

gloryhornet4 says...
2:45pm Mon 5 Nov 12

Glad the talk here is of a makeover of the ground or a move. If Watford progress in the FA Cup this season and are blessed with say 3/4 home games, it is so depressing to have a max gate of 17k.

Report this post »

Only 2 Ross Jenkins says...
3:02pm Mon 5 Nov 12

Bringe wrote:
Only2Ross' you have a selective memory. Make that a 3½ sided ground which was sold out often enough in our prem season and in the latter part of the previous one. And anyway I suggest the Zola brand can improve on that considerably.
The point is that our average was under 19,000 whereas the capacity was approx 22,000. Yes, we may have sold out a few times (literally a few), but it wasn't regular. Just stating facts which are there for all to see. Agree that Zola's brand may entice more people however.

Report this post »

Bringe says...
3:44pm Mon 5 Nov 12

Only 2 Ross Jenkins wrote:
Bringe wrote:
Only2Ross' you have a selective memory. Make that a 3½ sided ground which was sold out often enough in our prem season and in the latter part of the previous one. And anyway I suggest the Zola brand can improve on that considerably.
The point is that our average was under 19,000 whereas the capacity was approx 22,000. Yes, we may have sold out a few times (literally a few), but it wasn't regular. Just stating facts which are there for all to see. Agree that Zola's brand may entice more people however.
We were bottom of the league ... I think our new owners have a little more ambition. We sold out home areas a couple of times in our promotion season too but that didn't get 22k, half empty away stands and segregation accounted for most of the deficit.

Report this post »

Mickey Quinn, not so thin says...
3:47pm Mon 5 Nov 12

Bringe wrote:
Another missed point re. a bolt together stand .... you can also sell/lease them.
Didn't miss your point at all - there's still a cost to leasing, building, and then dismantling etc which i'm sure they'd prefer not to incur unless they were guaranteed the additional income, ie no point doing it now. This might be an option i we get a quick promotion ie this yr or next, otherwise they'll be looking at a permanent soluion at the vic or a move away.

Report this post »

Bringe says...
4:02pm Mon 5 Nov 12

Only 2 Ross Jenkins wrote:
Bringe wrote:
Only2Ross' you have a selective memory. Make that a 3½ sided ground which was sold out often enough in our prem season and in the latter part of the previous one. And anyway I suggest the Zola brand can improve on that considerably.
The point is that our average was under 19,000 whereas the capacity was approx 22,000. Yes, we may have sold out a few times (literally a few), but it wasn't regular. Just stating facts which are there for all to see. Agree that Zola's brand may entice more people however.
The fact is we had a three sided ground and a capacity of less than 20k in the premiership season, we sold out exactly half of those.
Your memory evades you.

Report this post »

DuffmanWFC says...
5:53pm Mon 5 Nov 12

The maximum we can expect from WFC and the Pozzos in the short term is to build the East Stand and tuck in the corners either side! This will give us a capacity of around 23-24,000 and will give us a nice looking ground that matches mid table premiership standard!
This is to the same standard as Norwich, Swansea, Reading, Stoke, WBA etc etc!
From then on we can build, we can only look at a bigger/new stadium if we can regularly sell 24,000 tickets week in week out!
I'm so excited and hopefully we can build on this seasons expectations and hopefully get into the Premiership! Then we can start to rebuild our stadium to really attract more fans!

Report this post »

Boosey says...
6:28pm Mon 5 Nov 12

Am I correct in saying the Rous stand can take another tier?

Report this post »

Bringe says...
7:27pm Mon 5 Nov 12

I don't think so but the Vic Rd and the Rookery stands have strengthened substructure to allow it. I doubt they would double the capacity of each stand tough, more like 50% for each.

Report this post »

Bringe says...
7:27pm Mon 5 Nov 12

though*

Report this post »

Harrydownunder says...
7:40pm Mon 5 Nov 12

I recall a home game against Plymouth a couple of years back. Just landed back in England and headed to the Vic. I was informed the game was a sell out and no tix available. So, I paid cash to get into the away end with the Plymouth fans. There were stacks of empty seats around the ground. How many others were turned away? I am so glad we have SD at the helm as he will sort out the business / admin side!

Report this post »

Harrydownunder says...
7:42pm Mon 5 Nov 12

Oh yeah, cash turnstiles are a must.

Report this post »

Harrydownunder says...
7:42pm Mon 5 Nov 12

And in-reserved seating. That will get the atmosphere back too.

Report this post »

The Rover says...
8:32pm Mon 5 Nov 12

Boosey wrote:
Am I correct in saying the Rous stand can take another tier?
I dont think so. When the Rous opened it only had the upper tier. The lower tier was added about 5 years later.

Report this post »

bushey tales says...
9:29pm Mon 5 Nov 12

I very much doubt our Borough Council would grant permission for a new ground - there's nothing to suggest that would be the case. But given the ambitions of the new ownership group, together with the fact that proximity to London was apparently a major selling-point when they settled on Watford, what's to stop them building a new ground outside the borough? They have no loyalty to Watford as a town - Duxbury made it very clear last week that they had no idea what they'd bought, in terms of what we all know to be a proper football club. What if, say, Barnet or Hillingdon or somebody made an approach offering a 35,000-capacity site adjacent to a motorway? Difficult to imagine them saying they'd prefer to remain at a 90-year-old ground surrounded by a hospital, a cemetery and allotments.

Report this post »

DuffmanWFC says...
9:53pm Mon 5 Nov 12

All this talk of a new ground and one that will hold 30,000 is a bit premature isn't it?
First of all we need to get promotion - may take two seasons if goes to plan!
Then we need to get our average gate from 12,500 to 16500!!
After one of the above the Pozzo's will agree to build/improve the ground and this will only ever reach 24,000 MAX!
And only after we can maintain Premiership status AND fill the modernised Vic only then will a new ground be discussed..... REALISM is maybe 10 years!

Report this post »

D.unstable says...
11:50pm Mon 5 Nov 12

Lets sort out some hot running water in the Vicarage Road stand before we start talking new purpose built stadia.

Report this post »

Hornet sting says...
12:50am Tue 6 Nov 12

i think we should stay put ..with a new east stand and corners our capacity could be 24.000 maybe more. I agree uneserved seating for a area of the rookery woul increase atmosphere massively. The atmosphere died in the rookery when stewards got over zealous and stopped the youngsters all standing together at the back of the rookery. if a new stan was built an unreserved or singiarea woul be good.
Our gound is traditional surrounded by terraced sreets a pub easy to park in town centre and home fans will find the best way t do so ...if it is a little more difficukt for away fan well so be it fa better than a souless ground out of town.

I remember our gates going up in the old days under GT reaching 15,000 im sure we were in the3rd of 4th div then. we are not a big club ut could realisticly get 25.000 if we were in the premiership.we are a small town but a 10 mile radious would give us a few million people and the new rail link would help no end.

Bit pie in the sky at the moment but you cannot help we are gong somewhere with this lot U Orns !!

Report this post »

Hornet sting says...
12:53am Tue 6 Nov 12

omg a few spelling mistakes ...its my keyboard plus a few beers... bad combinaton

Report this post »

Only 2 Ross Jenkins says...
10:45am Tue 6 Nov 12

Bringe wrote:
Only 2 Ross Jenkins wrote:
Bringe wrote: Only2Ross' you have a selective memory. Make that a 3½ sided ground which was sold out often enough in our prem season and in the latter part of the previous one. And anyway I suggest the Zola brand can improve on that considerably.
The point is that our average was under 19,000 whereas the capacity was approx 22,000. Yes, we may have sold out a few times (literally a few), but it wasn't regular. Just stating facts which are there for all to see. Agree that Zola's brand may entice more people however.
The fact is we had a three sided ground and a capacity of less than 20k in the premiership season, we sold out exactly half of those. Your memory evades you.
Yes you are absolutely right about the capacity at the time being about 20,000! I think we had half of the East stand open (there was I thinking that the owners couldn't possibly let something like that happen, but then I remembered who was in control!!!) I still don't think we sold out that many times, so we'll have to agree to disagree! I'd love for us to get 25,000 or more regularly - if the management can do it then hats off to them.

Report this post »

Travelling Hornet says...
12:09pm Tue 6 Nov 12

Hornet sting wrote:
i think we should stay put ..with a new east stand and corners our capacity could be 24.000 maybe more. I agree uneserved seating for a area of the rookery woul increase atmosphere massively. The atmosphere died in the rookery when stewards got over zealous and stopped the youngsters all standing together at the back of the rookery. if a new stan was built an unreserved or singiarea woul be good.
Our gound is traditional surrounded by terraced sreets a pub easy to park in town centre and home fans will find the best way t do so ...if it is a little more difficukt for away fan well so be it fa better than a souless ground out of town.

I remember our gates going up in the old days under GT reaching 15,000 im sure we were in the3rd of 4th div then. we are not a big club ut could realisticly get 25.000 if we were in the premiership.we are a small town but a 10 mile radious would give us a few million people and the new rail link would help no end.

Bit pie in the sky at the moment but you cannot help we are gong somewhere with this lot U Orns !!
Easy to park in the town centre!

Where?

I normally park in school car park next to Victoria Passage, but if you're a bit late like I was at the Peterborough game and because we had a few more on the gate , it was full. Spent the next ten minutes sitting in town centre car park queue , it was full!!!

The parking is a nightmare !

With 20000 plus forget it !

Report this post »

Andrew1963 says...
1:13pm Tue 6 Nov 12

The club should consider a more proactive approach to parking if they want to expand the ground capacity, (I am sure by the way the Rous stand can have another tier put on it if required). How about a park and ride scheme from Croxley business park. It is virtually empty on a Saturday - but a long walk - perhaps a scheme with a bus link. Or possibly from a site near M1 - Leavesden? Not sure what will happen with Health Campus. Presumably there might be extra parking that could be used for matches?

Report this post »

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree