Three Managers One Season As Watford Sack Ed Still
Watford’s turbulent season has ended with another managerial departure, as the club dismissed Ed Still just hours after their 2025/26 Championship campaign closed, marking the third head coach to leave Vicarage Road within the same season.
A short statement issued by Watford FC on Sunday confirmed the decision: “Watford FC have this morning parted company with head coach Ed Still. First-team coach Karim Belhocine has also left the club. We wish them all the best in their future endeavours.”
Still, appointed in February following the resignation of Javi Gracia, managed only three wins in 15 matches. His tenure ended on the back of a 4-0 home defeat to Coventry City, a result that sealed a run of five consecutive losses and left Watford 16th in the Championship standings.
The closing stretch of the season proved particularly damaging. The club conceded 16 goals and scored just once across those final five matches, a sequence that has been widely described as their worst end to a second-tier campaign in statistical terms.
Managerial instability had defined Watford’s campaign from the outset. The season began under Paulo Pezzolano, who was dismissed in October after securing three wins in 10 games. Gracia returned for a second spell but stepped down within three months, with the club stating he “felt he no longer had the motivation” to continue following a defeat to Swansea.
Still arrived with prior experience in Belgian football, including roles at Charleroi, Eupen and Kortrijk, and had also served in a caretaker capacity at Anderlecht. He signed a two-and-a-half-year contract and initially oversaw a modest upturn, collecting 11 points from his first seven matches, including a win against Wrexham. That progress, however, quickly faded, with only two points taken from the final eight games of the season.
Beyond results, underlying structural concerns at the club were brought into focus during his tenure. Still publicly pointed to issues with discipline, including repeated lateness among players, and suggested that deeper cultural problems extended beyond the coaching staff. He also indicated that frequent managerial changes had contributed to a lack of cohesion within the squad.
The latest dismissal continues a long-standing pattern under owner Gino Pozzo, alongside chairman Scott Duxbury and sporting director Gian Luca Nani. Since the Pozzo family takeover in 2012, Watford have made 23 permanent managerial appointments, a figure that underscores the club’s reliance on short-term coaching changes.
Attention now turns to the search for a new head coach, a process that has become a recurring feature of Watford’s operations. The club’s leadership faces renewed scrutiny over whether continued turnover can deliver stability or further entrench inconsistency in performance.