There's good news and bad news for Watford fans today. Aidy Boothroyd has announced that he will not be bringing in an assistant to help him - and Derby County are hopeful of signing Nathan Ellington from the Hornets.

The first news is, in my opinion, disastrous for Watford FC. Boothroyd had the experienced Keith Burkinshaw alongside him through his successes at the club and, indeed, Watford were top of the Championship this season until Burkinshaw left.

After that, in the second half of the season we won just five games out of 23. We somehow still got to the play-offs but a 6-1 demolition by Hull City kind of summed things up.

'We paid a preposterous £4m for a man who struggled to make the West Brom bench. Surely it must have struck Boothroyd as unusual that fellow promotion chasers were prepared to sell this man to one of their rivals?'


Boothroyd has many great qualities and I hope he stays in charge at Vicarage Road for next season. But I think he has made a big mistake here. He needs help. He has shown himself to be tactically naïve and his efforts in the transfer market, despite some successes, have on the whole been abysmal.

I have no doubt that Boothroyd needs someone alongside him who he respects and trusts, who can advise him when necessary and not just be a yes man like Bradley Walsh to Ricky Tomlinson’s Mike Bassett. Somebody needed to persuade Boothroyd to change the style of play long before the end of the season. We were being beaten by everyone yet he stubbornly refused to make changes. Where was the experienced voice of reason to assist him at that difficult time?

Boothroyd's inability in the transfer market leads me on to the second piece of news concerning Ellington. This player was brought into the club to score the goals to take us to promotion. We paid a preposterous £4m for a man who struggled to make the West Brom bench. Surely it must have struck Boothroyd as unusual that fellow promotion chasers were prepared to sell this man to one of their rivals?

I remember seeing comedian Frank Skinner, a big West Brom fan, saying on the television that he wanted to thank Watford so much for taking Ellington away from the Hawthorns.

Ellington had a great season at Wigan where in total, he scored 59 league goals in 134 games. That’s a pretty good strike rate. In 2005 he joined West Brom where he managed just 15 goals in 68 appearances. Tony Mowbray must have thought it was Christmas when Boothroyd came calling with his cheque book. Get rid of dead wood. Earn four million quid and give a useless lump to one of our main rivals. Not a bad deal.

Of course, Ellington went on to prove all the doubters wrong. Oh no, wait a minute, he didn’t. Four goals in 34 games for the Hornets equated to £1m a goal.

Derby County are welcome to him. I hope he recaptures some form for them, but if I were a Ram, I wouldn’t be holding my breath!