Former Watford manager Xisco has insisted his time at the club was a ‘wonderful period’ for him despite his disappointing departure.
The Spaniard arrived at Vicarage Road in December 2020, midway through a Championship campaign that was threatening to tail off.
He quickly turned things around at the club, though, leading them to 18 wins in his 26 games and second place in the table behind Norwich.
Optimism was high when they returned to the Premier League, but a strong start soon tailed away, and he was sacked at the beginning of October with just seven points from seven league games.
He’s since returned to management in Spain, while Watford have turned to Claudio Ranieri to help them avoid relegation.
Xisco has spoken openly about the decision since admitting it came as a surprise and that he felt he and his squad could have turned Watford’s fortunes around.
For many, just ten months in charge could be construed as a failure, but that is not an opinion he shares.
“It was a year where we couldn’t fail, and we didn’t,” he told Marca.
“We had a very small margin of error, and I’m very happy with the group’s reaction. We had a very small margin of error, and I am very happy with the reaction of the group.
“The group learned, we demanded a lot from each other, we managed to implement very important values, and we managed to go straight up.
“It was a wonderful period. We had to arrive in the middle of the season, and it ended beautifully.”
