Watford coach Xisco Munoz is SACKED just seven games into the season

Watford have swung the axe on yet another manager as Xisco Munoz was sacked just seven games into the Premier League season after their 1-0 loss to Leeds. 

The Spaniard was hired 10 months ago and guided the Hornets to an immediate return to the top flight, but the board have decided to pull the trigger after a poor recent run that has seen them lose four times. 

Sacking managers is nothing new for the Hertfordshire outfit – Munoz is now the seventh boss to bite the dust in the last five years. 

Watford have sacked head coach Xisco Munoz after just seven games of the new season  

It comes just six months after he guided them to Premier League promotion in his first season

Watford owner Gino Pozzo is never afraid to swing the axe – he has sacked seven managers in the last five years

Munoz departs with Watford in 14th place on seven points – four above the drop zone after two wins, one draw and four losses. 

In a statement, the club said: ‘Watford FC confirms Xisco Munoz has left his post as the club’s Head Coach.

‘The Board feels recent performances strongly indicate a negative trend at a time when team cohesion should be visibly improving.

‘The Hornets will always be grateful to Xisco for the part he played in securing last season’s promotion and wish him well for his future career in football.

‘No further club comment will be available until the imminent announcement of a new Head Coach.’

Watford finished the 2020-21 Championship season with 91 points under Munoz’s leadership, finishing as runners up to Norwich City. 

That impressive run looked to be continuing into the new Premier League campaign as they caused a shock by downing Villa in the season opener, but results have looked shaky ever since. 

The club said recent displays under the Spaniard ‘indicate a negative trend’ with just two wins

Watford started the campaign with a win but have since stuttered and are now in 14th place

They lost their next three games in a row against Brighton, Tottenham and Wolves before beating relegation rivals Norwich 3-1, before a draw against Newcastle and then a loss to Marcelo Bielsa’s men, leaving them in 14th in the league.

He became the 17th boss to take charge of the club in the reign of owner Gino Pozzo, who has never been afraid of sacking a manager when things are going badly. 

The Italian once sacked Billy McKinley after just two months, with a coach rarely lasting one season under his tenure. Quique Sanchez Flores was sacked after one year in May 2016 before being rehired in September 2019 – and sacked in December of the same year.

Nigel Pearson was hired to save the club from relegation in that 2019-20 season but was shown the door just two games before the end of the campaign amid a reported row with the owners. 

Vladimir Ivic was chosen to begin the rebuild project in the Championship that summer but lasted until just December, with Munoz coming in and putting the club on a superb run before running out of momentum in the top flight. 

Former Leicester City and Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri is the bookmakers’ early favourite to take the helm at Vicarage Road, with Fabrizio Romano reporting that the Hornets have made contact with the Italian veteran. 

It continues the farcical nature of Watford appointments – Quique Sanchez Flores was sacked twice, his second spell lasting just two months