Watford legend Troy Deeney believes the club are in "real danger" of being in a relegation battle next season, claiming the quality of the squad is getting worse every year.
Deeney criticised the constant turnover of head coaches at Vicarage Road, after three different incumbents were hired and fired during the 20252/6 season.
The Hornets have finished in the bottom half of the division in each of the last three seasons and most recently ended a second-tier campaign with five straight defeats for the first time in their history.
And their former skipper, who scored 140 goals in 419 appearances between 2010-21, is concerned about what comes next.
He told talkSPORT: "The quality of the group has gone down year on year.
"There's no real identity now as to who and what they are, other than they sack their managers.
"I think they need to be really, really careful. Last season was a poor Championship and they struggled.
"I think those guys now are in real danger of being in a relegation battle - and it doesn't seem to me like they see it coming.
"Year on year they keep changing and they sell the fans the same PR tripe every single year.
"'Right, we've got the players, we're going to have this new Italian guy, he's going to make sure they train properly and they're ready'.
"October, they get rid of him and they get a Spanish guy in. 'He was too strict we need to give the players more freedom'.
"January, they sack him and get an English guy in because 'we just need to stay up'."
Alessio Dionisi has been appointed to replace Ed Still, who claimed at the end of 2025/26 that a "reset is needed on many, many points".
Still revealed that the lack of togetherness in the dressing room was a key factor in a run of five straight defeats to end the campaign, with players reporting late for training among the cultural issues he was alluding to.
Chairman Scott Duxbury has claimed the next hire - now confirmed as Dionisi - must be one who "controls the dressing room" and "makes his mark", with more experience and leadership required to inspire the young talent at the squad.
But Deeney questioned whether the level of the squad is strong enough for Gino Pozzo to achieve his ambitions, whether that's a long-term future as Watford owner or not.
He said: "From an ownership point of view, you need a framework. I understand you keep sacking the manager [if they don't perform] but at some point that reflects on you. You're doing bad hires continuously.
"But then also, as a business - and I don't want to get into the ins and outs of it - if you want out, you want to sell from a place of the squad being half-decent, or 'we're trying to get to the Premier League'.
"When I was there we had a great group of me, Ben [Foster], and everyone was an international bar me, basically.
"Every player was doing what they needed to do. Then you had the staff and you had the ownership - and if a cog came out, so the manager changes, you put another cog in and everything else just kept going.
"The problem is they've taken away all of those players, the ones who could hold it together. In my case, they thought I had too much power.
"Remove that, bring in lesser quality, lesser leaders - I think that's a football thing now, there are not too many leaders - and it's just the blind leading the blind, unfortunately."
What do you make of Deeney's comments? Let us know in the comments.
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