Gino Pozzo | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1965 (age 59–60) |
| Alma mater | Harvard University[1] |
| Known for | Owner of Watford FC |
| Spouse | Carla |
| Children | 2 daughters, 1 son |
| Father | Giampaolo Pozzo |
Gino Pozzo (born 1965)[2] is an Italian businessman and managing director and legal owner ofWatford, who owns a sports investment group focused on the football sector.
He is son of Italian businessmanGiampaolo Pozzo and a member of the prominent Italian business-owning Pozzo family.
Pozzo got his start in football as soon as he left university in his early 20s and has built his career aroundtalent scouting and development of high-potential players.[2] Pozzo is reportedly heavily involved in the day-to-day running of Watford,[3] as well as negotiating transfers between his father's football clubUdinese in Italy.[4]
Over the past decade, Pozzo and his family have become notable for their multi-club ownership strategies, including transferring players between Watford,Udinese andGranada (with Granada sold to Chinese businessmanJiang Lizhang in June 2016).[5][6]
Pozzo runs an international scouting team of 25 to 30 people who seek players through attending every significant competition around the world, especially in developing markets like South America, Africa and Eastern Europe.[7][8] Pozzo is reported to have a pattern of investing small sums of money into high-risk players. His larger clubs' network has helped his business to minimize player acquisition costs while maximizing the profit from surging transfer fees as players are transferred and loaned among 'sister clubs' and later sold at a premium achieving high returns.[9][8]
Pozzo's career experience and business model has led to identifying talent at his three clubs and has been consistently applied to Udinese for over 25 years, leading some to call it the "talent factory".[10] Granada and Watford achieved promotion toLa Liga andPremier League, respectively, through Pozzo's network and transformation from distressed situations. Pozzo's success includes the development of the clubs' own stadiums.[7][8][11]
In June 2012, he and his father acquiredWatford from previous ownerLaurence Bassini.[12] Pozzo became the sole owner in 2014.[13]
Pozzo is often found at thetraining grounds and has been known to monitor all players through GPS devices that track the players' performance data while in training.[7] He is known to have minimal contact with players and addresses them as little as once per year, yet observes his teams locally on a weekly basis.[2]
All major decisions regarding the trading of players are made between Gino Pozzo, Scott Duxbury (chief executive of Watford), andGianluca Nani (sporting director of Watford). They have been known to acquire many players from South America, citing lower wage costs however still being highly skilled athletes.[2][9]
Watford were promoted from the Football League Championship to the Premier League on 25 April 2015.[11] Since 2015, Watford's annual revenues have increased by more than £100m.[9]
During his time at Watford, Pozzo has become notorious for his tendency to sack managers, having appointed 19 different managers during his 13 year tenure at the club.[14]
In 2019, Watford made it to theFA CupFinal but were beaten byManchester City.[15]
In the 2019–20 season, Watford finished in 19th place in thePremier League and were relegated to theEFL Championship.
In the 2020–21 season, Watford finished in second place in theEFL Championship and were promoted back into thePremier League.
In the 2021–22 season, Watford finished in 19th place in thePremier League and were relegated back to theEFL Championship.
In the 2022–23 season, Watford finished in eleventh place in theEFL Championship and remained in the division. In the 2023–24 season, Watford finished in 15th place, their worst result since the 2009–10 season.
Pozzo is married to Carla Pozzo and they have two daughters and a son together. They have been living outside London since they left Spain.[2]