Bilic on Saudi League, Watford's 'clear identity' and Pozzo ownership

In part one of our exclusive interview with the former head coach, which you can read here, he talked about what happened during his time at the club – both on the pitch and behind the scenes – from his perspective.

The Croatian left Vicarage Road in March and it was anyone’s guess where he might go next, given he had managed in his homeland, as well as England, Turkey, Russia and China.

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Having had time to draw breath and spend time with his family, Bilic took the manager’s job at Al Fateh of the Saudi Arabian league during the summer – a place he had experienced before having managed Al Ittihad in 2018/19.

While his re-arrival attracted attention, he was some way down the pecking order as the likes of N’Golo Kante, Jordan Henderson, Karim Benzema, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Neymar followed a path already trodden by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick against Al Fateh (Image: Action Images)

“The league has 18 teams, and four big clubs have been taken over by private funds,” Bilic explained.

“I don’t know exactly how it works, but that doesn’t matter – there has always been good money in this league because I managed here five years ago and I saw that.

“Now it’s a bit crazy, as anyone who follows football will know. The rest of the clubs are local clubs and are run by local people from the area.

“There are no private clubs though, they are all state clubs. Some just have that additional private funding.”

Bilic has no megastars in his squad at Al Fateh, but they are in the top half of the table.

“It is difficult to compete but you know in England in the Premier League there is also a situation where you have teams like the three clubs promoted from the Championship, going up against clubs like Manchester City and Newcastle,” he said.

“Over here, other clubs still have a chance, but it’s the same sort of chance as that.

“Ultimately it is football 11 against 11, but it is difficult all the same.”

Bilic steered Al Fateh to a 5-1 win over an Al Ahli side that was full of familiar former Premier League names.

“Yes, we beat them 5-1 at home just before the last international break, and they had Firmino, Saint-Maximin, Mahrez, those sort of players,” Bilic said, almost nonchalantly.

“But as we showed in that game, although it is difficult you still have a chance.

“We only lost 2-1 to Al Ittihad and they had Kante and Fabinho in midfield. We were leading 1-0 too. If everything clicks then you can win these games, if they don’t then you get what happened when we played Al-Nassr and lost 5-0. Ronaldo scored a hat-trick and Sadio Mane got two.

“It’s not a walk in the park for these bigger teams, no way. If everything goes their way then you might get smashed, but it doesn’t happen often.

“The league is very competitive, but of course those four teams are strong. But you can question any league in the world, even the Premier League.”

Bilic on the touchline last season (Image: Action Images)

One allegation that has been levelled at many of the big names now plying their trade in Saudia Arabia is they are doing it for the money, not the football.

“I think they take it seriously. The big stars are big stars not just because they have big talent but also because they have a top mentality,” said Bilic.

“I spoke to Marcelo Brozovic, who when he was leaving Inter had an offer from Barcelona. He decided to come here and play for Al Nassr and of course one of the reasons was the money.

“But he is running hard every game and taking it dead seriously, just as he was in every game for Inter.

“Let’s not pretend otherwise, they attract you with money. But it’s not only money, the league is very competitive.

“I’ve been around and it is easy to under-estimate every league when you’re not there. If you think of the Portuguese league but don’t follow it properly then you might think it’s only Porto and Benfica and Sporting. You think of the Turkish League without knowing about it and you think only of Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Besiktas.

“Those teams are the big ones, but the league is harder than just those teams. Every league is difficult.

“You could look at Man City and say that four of the five last seasons have been a walk in the park for them. But they weren’t because every game is difficult.

“The Saudi League is not the Premier League in terms of quality of course, but it is competitive.

“Of course the big players have come here, and if the money wasn’t better than in their previous club then they almost definitely wouldn’t come.

“But that still doesn’t mean they came only for the money. Maybe some individuals did, but you have the same kind of examples when players make a big move to the Premier League.”

Bilic believes the Saudi League will not be an expensive flash in the pan.

“I think this league is going to last,” he said.

“It’s not like in the United States after the 1994 World Cup, or even China, over here you don’t need to explain to people what football is because they like it anyway.

“Football was their only joy and only sport here for ages, and they have passion for the game. The clubs have fanbases and the people have a passion for it.”

One key reason why many people don’t like the thought of working in Saudi Arabia is the country’s record on human rights and equality.

“I was here in 2018 after the World Cup, and the country was starting to open up. I’d say now it is really properly open,” said Bilic.

“My family has come here, I know a lot of players who have brought their families here. It is a great country to live in.

“One thing about this country that I know for sure is that the people here are very good and extremely friendly.

“It is a very safe country. I feel safe here. Safety is not even a question for me here.”

Despite being several thousands of miles away in a totally different time zone, Bilic has still kept a watching brief on Watford.

“I’ve not seen whole games because most of the time we are travelling or playing, but at minimum I watch the highlights of every game,” he said.

“The team has an identity. I am also reading about Watford too, and many people say the same as me, the team has a clear identity.

“The results have not been good, but there is a clear identity. They know how they are playing, they have energy and intensity.

“It’s the results that are missing at the moment, clearly.”

Football is a results-driven business more than ever these days, and if managers don’t achieve them then they are always at risk of losing their job.

Unfortunately for Watford fans, the club’s constantly spinning door on the manager’s office means they have become the butt of many jokes about the subject.

Bilic feels it has to be time for the Hornets hierarchy to change their ways.

“Don’t go back two, or three or five years. Look back one year. Four managers: Rob Edwards, myself, Chris Wilder and Valerien Ismael,” he said.

“The other three are definitely good managers, and I won’t talk about myself.

“I will always defend managers. The key thing is, give any manager time to do the job. If you give them time, they do the job.

“It’s not only a problem for Watford. I read in the media all about Watford changing managers a lot, and I always say ‘who isn’t?’

“To be fair to Gino, which clubs aren’t changing managers often?”

Bilic says the Watford owner 'cares' (Image: Holly Cant)

Of course, because of his predilection for a change of head coach, the Watford owner’s motives have often been questioned by fans and pundits alike.

“One of the reasons why I came to Watford in the first place is because the Pozzos care,” said Bilic.

“In football you have some owners who buy the club to be their hobby, to try and have fun.

“But for the Pozzos it is their job. Udinese has been one of the most stable clubs in Italy, they haven’t been relegated for many years.

“And that is because they are stable, and they are stable because Udinese is Pozzo’s business. And it is the same with Watford.

“They care, of course they care. They can’t afford for the club to go down, or not to go up again one day.

“They definitely care, and that is one of the reasons why I came to Watford.”

Nonetheless, Bilic also felt that the lack of stability had driven poor results which then culminated in fans at Vicarage Road becoming frustrated by what they were being served up on the pitch.

“The Watford fans are great, just like most of the fans,” he said.

“The only thing I noticed was there was a big difference between the away fans and home fans.

“At home if we didn’t play good for 20 minutes I would feel a little bit of noise. Away fans were always behind the team, unless we were crap of course!

“But I think the way the home fans were was not because they don’t love the club or support the team, I think it was frustration created by the performances and results at home over a long time.

“Having said that, I remember the games like Blackpool when Tobi came on and scored, the fans recognised the difficulty of the situation we were in and that the team were giving everything. They were unbelievably behind us.

“Even when we didn’t play good, they were behind us big time and that is why we were able to win games in those difficult moments.”

Bilic struggles to believe Watford failed to make the play-offs last season with players of the calibre of Joao Pedro in their ranks (Image: Action Images)

One thing Bilic very much has in common with many, many Watford fans is a question he admits still swirls around his head many months after leaving Watford.

“There is one thing that disappointed me then, and still now: how can a team that has Joao Pedro, Ismaila Sarr and Imran Louza not get to the play-offs?

“Forget about all the other players for a moment. How the hell can a team with those three players that, in their positions, were by far the best players in the league, not go and reach the play-offs?

“If I was the owner, or if I was the fans, I would blame the manager.

“But that is a shallow way of viewing it. What I would do is look at how many games did we have the chance to play those three players together – or even two of them.

“I think then the answer may be different.

“And that’s not just the case for me, it was the same for Chris and Rob too.”

Back to this season, and Bilic feels it is far, far too early for anyone to say definitively that Watford are set to struggle.

“The good thing about the season is there is still so much of it to go, and every Championship season is up and down,” he said.

“Last season Carrick and Middlesbrough were kings, this season they have started really slowly.

“It’s a league where you can have a fairly average season until February, and you will still have a chance.

“But the results have to improve. In every Watford game I have seen fragments of things where you would say ‘oh they are good’.

“The art is to either improve what you achieve in those fragments and score goals during them, or increase the number of fragments so they make up a larger part of the game.

“Watford have the time. They seem to have a pattern of playing. They just have to start producing.”

This was an interview I wanted to conduct with Bilic from the moment he lost his job. We’ve stayed in touch, regularly exchange messages as well as the occasional chat on the phone.

He knew I wanted to interview him, but he had also asked me to wait until he felt the time was right.

“My sacking literally happened overnight and I didn’t want to interrupt the remainder of the season by saying anything,” he said.

“I also didn’t just want to say a few words or issue a short statement. It has to be a bit deeper than that. The club and the people deserve that.

“So this whole interview is my message to the Watford fans, the things I want them to know and what I wanted to say to them. Because it will be used in the international break, I am not speaking when the focus should be on the team.

“All I am asking of the Watford fans now is to stay behind the team, and to stay behind the manager.

“Doing that is the only way they can help the team.”