Sporting Director Cristiano Giaretta is believed to have left the club with immediate effect.

I believe Watford will be looking to hand more influence over wider football aspects of the club to head coach Rob Edwards.

Giaretta joined the club in August 2020 but little over two years later he has moved on – the club has declined to comment.

At this early stage it is hard to know exactly what has led to the move, but clearly after a disappointing start to the season which culminated in Tuesday night’s debacle at Blackburn, it was always likely that something had to give.

In the past, such a poor run of results would have often led to the club showing the head coach to the exit – that Rob Edwards is still at Vicarage Road but another key member of the senior leadership team has gone instead is perhaps vindication of the statements made earlier in the summer that the head coach would be supported “come hell or high water”.

My best hypothesis is that the way Edwards wants to operate is incompatible with the remit Giaretta had – if I’m right, then the board sacrificing Giaretta for Edwards is a huge step change…and certainly one that I would welcome.

This move is the sort of quantum leap fans were hoping for following the proclamation earlier in the summer that there would be changes, both visibly and behind the scenes, with culture at the top of the list.

It’s definitely not something many would have predicted though and is certainly a change in direction in terms of reaction to previous disappointing runs of results.

It isn’t yet clear whether the club will look to replace Giaretta or not.

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