Can Watford ever return to the top flight?

It has been a third consecutive lacklustre of a Championship campaign for Watford FC, continuing a further journey inside the EFL.

Earning promotion during the Covid struck season, Watford endured a terrible return return to the Premier League, finishing the league on 23 points and collecting 27 losses, the most of any team that season.

'It's not about today, it's not about the last week. It's a reflection of the whole year.' 😔

Troy Deeney says Watford's relegation is 'heartbreaking' after their 3-2 loss to Arsenal and looks at what the club can do to bounce back. pic.twitter.com/0lgQerfSoD

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) July 26, 2020

With their chances at playoffs non-existent, it begs the question of what is is going to take for the Hornets to return to the Premier League.

Discover yet another season to forgot for Watford FC and what have been some of their biggest setbacks over the last three years in the Championship.

Season Preview

Expectations have steadily been decreasing in the Watford camp and after finishing in 15th place separated from the relegation by a mere six points last season, fans were not getting their hopes up for this season.

Being the first manger to reach a second season at the club since their relegation from the Premier League, former Watford midfielder Tom Cleverley currently boasts a negative record with 25 losses to 20 wins from 57 games since taking charge of the Hornets.

(Original Source: Fotmob)

Only picking up one loss from their first five league games, it seemed as though Watford were on for a good season. However, with this and a six-game unbeaten run through November, Watford’s season would end in nothing but dismay.

Following a 2-1 defeat on the road to Blackburn Rovers at the weekened, Watford have only managed two wins in their last ten matches, collecting four consecutive losses from their last three games.

With only two games left of the season, the Hornets are outside the top 10 for the third season running, occupying the twelfth spot in the table with a record of 16 wins, 8 draws and 20 losses.

Their main issue has been their form on the road, recording their most away defeats in a league season outside the Premier League since 2009-2010, only managing four wins from 22 games away from home. Scoring just 13 goals of their 51-goal total for the season, Watford have been outscored away from home for the last three seasons.

Setbacks

Constant Managerial Changes

Between their return to the Championship and this present day, Watford FC are currently on manager number four in three seasons.

Former West Ham and Croatian National Team manager Slaven Bilic was brought in after an abysmal run from Roy Hodgson ensured the Hornets relegation.

Lasting six months, Bilic saw success in his first game in charge, but the performances and results began to decline and with one win from his last eight games, Bilic was replaced by Chris Wilder.

The current Sheffield United manager currently resides in third place with the team as they have continued to fight at the top of the table all season long. However, the same cannot be said about his short and unsuccessful spell at Watford.

Watford were sat in tenth position when Wilder took over and his job was to get promotion playoffs, with his team four points away with eleven games still to play. But he would not get the results he needed as Watford would end the season in eleventh, as Wilder would pick up three wins over his two-month period in charge.

Looking to start the 2023/2024 season fresh, Frenchman Valerien Ismael was appointed head coach following some decent spells with Barnsley, West Brom and Besiktas.

He began with promising, picking up a club-record of 17 points from their first eight league matches. But his final ten matches in charge would only bring in one win from the club, leaving Watford down in 13th place with nine games left to play.

Before the season reached its end, the Watford board decided that Ismael would not finish the season and replaced the Frenchman with interim manager and former midfielder, Tom Cleverley.

Cleverley featured in 181 matches for Watford before announcing his retirement on 1st July 2023 due to injury. The former Manchester United midfielder has been adored by the Watford fans for a long while as fans were happy to see Cleverley lead the team on the field and now off the field.

While he only managed two wins, his side also only lost out twice as they ended the 23/24 season down in 15th place and only six points above the relegation zone. However, the board had decided that being a positive influence in the dressing room was the one thing previous managers did not have while Cleverley did, and Cleverley was made permanent manager.

Currently sat down in 13th, Cleverley has not enjoyed the greatest success as head coach but has had moments of brilliance, leading me to believe Cleverley will get another season to prove his worth.

Goal-Scoring Troubles

With financial struggles going on behind the scenes, Watford have lacked the funds to boost an ever so struggling attacking line. Promising young forward Kwadwo Baah has been out for over two weeks with a thigh injury while their fit strikers have been lacklustre to say the least.

Their current top goalscorer, Vakoun Issouf Bayo, has been branded by fans as “one of the worst strikers in football” after missing a simple chance against Plymouth Argyle on the 29th of March. Bayo has not managed to find the back of the net since the 14th of January.

I think I am better than Vakoun Bayo, I’m in good form at the moment

— Hornet Boy (@BoyHornet91121) March 29, 2025

19-year-old Mamadou Doumbia has found more game time at the club and managed his first goal of the season on the 5th of April and has only found the back of the net one more time on the 18th.

Supported by regular starting forwards Thomas Ince who has only scored once from 32 appearances and Tom Dele-Bashiru who has scored four times from 26 games (24 of those in the starting xi).

It was a similar story last season, with Mileta Rajovic finishing the league as Watford’s top goalscorer with only ten goals from 41 appearances. Attacking midfielder Giorgi Chakvetadze has improved but only slightly, managing one goal and three assists from 34 appearances last season to two goals and six assists from 39 appearances this season.

You cannot win games without scoring goals and Watford need desperately to fix their attacking line.

How Can Watford improve

The main area to fix is squad depth. Kwadwo Baah has committed to a five-year contract at the club and 19-year-old Mamadou Doumbia is also signed on to a five-year contract. But this is not enough.

With such a strict budget, Cleverley may choose to look for help from parent club Udinese or turn to free agents as some proven Championship forwards are likely to be leaving their teams on a free at the end of the season.

Emil Riis and Rhian Brewster could be two options to turn to with Riis tipped to be leaving Preston North End at the end of the season despite scoring ten goals this season. Brewster has struggled emmensly with injuries and with Sheffield United building a Premier League quality team, the former U17s World Cup winner may be squeezed out of the squad.

Trusting in Cleverley could prove to be good for Watford as he has shown flurries of brilliance for Watford and has ensured his players have stayed motivated despite their run of poor results.

However, football is a cutthroat sport, and Cleverley needs to improve desperately as results are the most important thing and he is not getting them currently.

Can Watford return to glory in the near future of are Hornets fans in for more disappointment.