[Official Site] TRIP TO VICARAGE ROAD CANCELLED

Man City had their game cancelled, against Troyes, and wanted to play a high-pressing side. They came to an agreement to cut El-Ahmad's notice period short if we agreed to play them instead.

Good job we're signing this kid from France, because I very much doubt Watford would be willing to deal with us over Stipe Perica now.

 

don't agree with the club's decision if that article is correct. We certainly can't then complain if it happens to us.

 

Fully agree. That's completely lacking in honour. By both Man City and Barnsley.

 

Any chance of a copy and paste?

 

Watford are used to being left heartbroken by Manchester City, but being outmuscled for a pre-season fixture is a first.

The Athletic has learnt why Barnsley made a last-minute switch from travelling to Vicarage Road on Saturday to instead opting to play the Premier League champions. It’s a tale that involves anger, high pressing and a few favours along the way.

On Tuesday afternoon, the news broke that the pre-season game between Watford and Barnsley had been cancelled. In a short statement, Watford outlined that tickets would be refunded and they would now “revert to training plans for this weekend.” Barnsley, meanwhile, thanked Watford for “their patience and understanding in this matter” as they revealed they would now play Pep Guardiola’s side behind closed doors at City’s academy stadium on the same day. But that’s only half of the story.

Behind the scenes, The Athletic has learnt that Watford are disappointed that City have “thrown their weight around”, as one source put it, and Barnsley have reneged on an arrangement that not only leaves Watford out of pocket but also, and more importantly, without an opponent to practise against as they ramp up preparations for the start of their Premier League season on August 14. Roughly 3,000 tickets had been expected to be sold, meaning a loss of somewhere between £20,000 and £30,000. It’s unlikely another team will be able to fulfil a fixture.

City were originally due to play French side Troyes, one of their sister clubs, this weekend but when UK travel restrictions made that unworkable they went in search of an alternative. Meanwhile, Barnsley were searching for a new CEO after the departure of Dane Murphy to Nottingham Forest and settled on Khaled El-Ahmad, an executive at City Football Group (CFG) since 2016, the holding company of both Manchester City and Troyes. He has a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and has held several footballing roles, including CFG’s lead for the Scandinavia and CONCACAF regions and chief scout at Djurgardens in his homeland of Sweden.

Discussions between Barnsley and CFG centred on the speed at which El-Ahmad would be able to take over at Oakwell due to him having to serve a period of gardening leave. When City’s desire to face a high-pressing side was thrown into the mix it’s understood a solution surfaced that would be suitable for both parties. El-Ahmad would be able to take over before the scheduled start date if Barnsley could extricate themselves from the Watford friendly and play against CFG’s jewel in the crown instead. Everyone would be happy — apart from Watford.

One source at Vicarage Road described the situation as a “disgrace”. It now leaves them with only one official pre-season fixture remaining at Crystal Palace on August 7, a week before the start of the season. They faced training ground neighbours Arsenal in a behind-closed-doors friendly on Wednesday morning. It was rated as “unlikely” that alternative plans would be able to be made at such short notice, especially due to complex pandemic protocols that need to be followed.

Barnsley have got used to losing things they value in recent years, including their last two managers in Gerhard Struber — who Watford were interested in before appointing Vladimir Ivic — and Valerian Ismael (now at West Brom), so in this instance, they prioritised their own interests.

City have got their high-octane warm-up as they prepare to face Leicester in the Community Shield on August 7, Barnsley have top-level opposition before the start of the Championship season and Watford have to lick their wounds after losing out to City, who have an aggregate score of 18-0 in the club’s last three meetings.

 

Thank you.

 

Well done to our club in this instance. Football is a dog eat dog world and Watford wouldn't have thought twice about taking Struber last summer if he'd been their preferred candidate, they wouldn't have considered us. We've been bullied so many times in this league, it's about time Barnsley FC stood up for themselves and it's got us the result of a new CEO in place very quickly.

Having said that, I'd hope that the club would do something for any fans that had arranged tickets/transport to the Watford game to recompense them.

 

I completely understand that but football is a dirty business and if it secured us a CEO quickly I'm happy to take the colateral damage. If it was purely because Man City asked us and there were no further benefits then I'd be more inclined to agree, but their was a massive benefit for us on this one.

I completely agree it's morally wrong btw, but so much of football is unfortunately.

 

Bit of a s h I t trick imho.

Not just because we had a full coach and people had booked days off work etc and were all looking forward to a day out at St Albans then the match

Just not the way to operate for me.

 

We weren't given any tickets by Watford. They actually told us no away fans. I'm assuming you bought for the home end?

 

Whilst I do not know the truth of the fixture triangle involved here, it is somewhat sad to see posts that advocate that we or indeed anyone else behave in an immoral or dishonourable way.

But not surprising.

 

Can you have a word with our incoming CEO and see if they can make access free for a couple of hours on Saturday?

 

It’s hardly crime of the century.

 

A bit faulty of us but not getting my hair shirt on or feeling driven to self flagellation.

And aren’t Watford the club that sack managers at will and without compunction. Hardly pillars of virtue entitled to play the poor us card.

 

That's true.

I'd like our club to show a bit of class though.

 

I phoned Watford Supporters Services on Monday afternoon, and explained to the lady that I was a Barnsley fan, and would like a ticket.

She told me that away supporters were going in the Graham Taylor Stand, and sold me a ticket.

I'm now waiting for a refund.

 

Interesting to learn.

Sympathy for you and others affected, but we were told no away fans, no tickets for us to sell.

Whereas for the upcoming away games at Cardiff and Bolton, whilst we're still waiting to hear from Cardiff's Safety Advisory Group, they've given us an allocation to sell, as normal. They aren't telling us no and then selling them themselves on the sly.

 

Your whole experience could thus be summed up with "Do I not like that"?

 

I can't find where it says Barnsley tickets but this is what West Brom had to say about tickets. We also rang Watford told them we were Barnsley fans and they happily sold us 5 tickets in the Graham Taylor stand. Waiting for refund now

https://www.wba.co.uk/news/watford-friendly-tickets-sale