He saw a need to sign more midfielders, even though they were on silly money and were neither needed nor much good.

He conquered Palace and Portsmouth, even though we finished fourteenth and lost to all the relegated clubs.

Gianluca Vialli's reign could have been much worse. Starting with a Three-Year Plan To Get Back Into The Premiership, the team had enjoyed an impressive cup run and had put together some rather useful results. But then the cup run had ended. A month or three of spineless performances dispersed all hope of squeezing into the play-offs, and by April the only bright hope was the emergence from the youth team of a talented winger.

Then Graham Taylor chose to retire to tend his allotment at Aston Bungalow, and Gianluca Vialli's reign began with a brand new Three-Year Plan To Get Back Into The Premiership. After the expected, almost inevitable, shaky start, the team enjoyed an impressive cup run and put together some rather useful results. But then the cup run ended. A month or three of spineless performances dispersed all hope of squeezing into the play-offs, and by April the only bright hope was the emergence from the youth team of a talented winger.

Then Gianluca Vialli was sacked, even though he'd delivered what he'd promised (see above). And then he asked for the rest of his money. But by then the cupboard was so bare that we had to sell our ground too, or so we were told, and it was all because of the IOU Digital fiasco.

What more nice things can I think of to write about GV? Well, he was possibly the first Watford manager to make a profit on the transfer market since the days of Jack Petchey (signings: Gayle 900k + Mahon 150k = 1.050m; sales: Ward 500k + Page 350k + Smart 225k + Perpetuini 100k = 1.175m). Admittedly, that was more due to his predilection for "Bosman" signings than to any great eye for bargains. After all, why bother paying lower-division clubs transfer fees for their rising stars when you can get a Premiership player for free? You get to make a transfer profit, the board is impressed by your post-Bosman acumen, and, erm, you don't have to cope with any awkward demands for higher wages.

Look around the wonderful world of football and you'll see a pattern:

• world-class managers seem happiest signing world-class players,
  
• good old-fashioned managers seem happiest signing good old-fashioned players,
  
• ambitious young managers seem happiest signing ambitious young players,
  
• cheating managers seem happiest signing cheating players,
  
• whinging managers seem happiest signing whinging players,
  
• hopeless managers seem happiest signing hopeless players.

In fairness, GV wasn't any of these. I'm not going to write anything nasty about him, not least because I can't think of anything nasty about the man. The only thing is, we could never afford that style of manager - not even now, at a time when out-of-contract players are willing to play for free in the desperate hope of getting themselves back onto the gravy train.

Maybe GV could have succeeded if given his allotted three years. But I doubt it. To my mind, he seemed happiest signing nice, rich players who'd had a taste of glory during their careers but who appeared to feel they had "nothing left to prove at this level", as someone once said.

Best buys: Filippo Galli, Wayne Brown (loan), Neil Cox (kind of)
Worst buys: Ramon Vega, Patrick Blondeau, Pierre Issa
Best moments: A rumbustuous, Robbo-inspired Worthy Cup classic against Charlton; a win at Selhurst...at long last....
Worst moments: A 4-0 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday, just as Worthy Cup glory beckoned; a 4-1 mauling from Millwall on New Year's Day.

See also: Gianluca Vialli: a retrospective