Sport Football
Gracia has until October
break to save Watford job
Abraham to earn
£100,000 a week
in new Chelsea deal
Lampard faith paying off
after first goals for club
Right-back James also
in line to boost contract
By Matt Law
FOOTBALL NEWS CORRESPONDENT
Tammy Abraham is in line to earn a
new Chelsea contract that could
more than double his wages of
£50,000 a week. The striker scored
his first Chelsea goals in the 3-2
victory over Norwich City on
Saturday, after being backed by
head coach Frank Lampard.
Chelsea were already planning to
open negotiations over a new deal
with Abraham before his double
and the 21-year-old’s goals will have
only strengthened the club’s desire
to secure his long-term future.
Abraham has three years to run
on the contract he signed before
going on loan to Swansea City in
the summer of 2017.
Since then, he scored
26 goals on loan at
Aston Villa to fire
them to promotion
from the Champi-
onship and has now
taken Chelsea’s No 9
shirt.
With Callum Hud-
son-Odoi out injured,
Abraham is the lowest
earner in the Chel-
sea first team,
after Mason
Mount and
Ruben Loftus-
Cheek signed
new contracts
By Matt Law
Javi Gracia is fighting to save his job
at Watford, with the club’s head
coach needing to turn around his
team’s terrible start to the season
over the next six games.
Watford made it three defeats
from their first three Premier
League games with a 3-1 home loss
to West Ham United on Saturday.
The club’s losing run has now
stretched to seven games, including
last season’s FA Cup final thrashing
at the hands of Manchester City,
and they have not won since April
20, their worst run since 1999.
Watford face League One team
Coventry in the second round of
the Carabao Cup tonight, before a
run of five crucial Premier League
games. Defeat at Newcastle at the
weekend would leave Gracia in se-
rious trouble and possibly facing
the sack. But, even if he gets
through the next international
break, which follows the Newcastle
game, Gracia’s position is set to be
assessed during the October period.
Watford play Arsenal, Manchester
City, Wolves and Sheffield United
between the September and
October international breaks.
Gracia, who was given a four-
year contract in November, is hop-
ing his team can use tonight’s game
to kick-start their campaign. “Every
game is a good chance in this mo-
ment for us to do better and to feel
better, with more confidence,” he
said. “We had 23 shots [against
West Ham] and we only put three
on target. We need to improve and
be more precise and more clinical.
But we need to defend better from
set-pieces and in all the different
phases of play we need to improve.”ntract he signed before
loan to Swansea City in
er of 201 7.
en, he scored d
on loanaatt
la to firee
romotion n
Champi--
d has nowow
elsea’s No 9Callum Hud-
out injured,
s the lowest
the Chel-
team,,
ason
and
ftus-
igned
ntractsover the summer. Mount signed a
deal worth around £77,000 a week,
while Loftus-Cheek is now earning
more than £150,000 a week after
agreeing his latest contract.
Hudson-Odoi will earn more
than £100,000 a week once his
new five-year deal, which is close
to being signed off, is confirmed.
Chelsea will most likely add a
further two years to Abraham’s
contract, to take his commitment
to the club to five years, and he may
earn upwards of £100,000 a week,
including bonuses.
Reece James is also set to earn a
new contract, having become
Chelsea’s understudy to Cesar
Azpilicueta at right-back.
Like Abraham, the 19-year-old
has three years left on his deal and
is well down Chelsea’s first-team
pay scale.
Lampard has been working with
Abraham in training and his second
goal was proof of the former
midfielder’s influence.
Abraham had never scored a
senior goal, on loan at Bristol City,
Swansea City or Villa, from outside
the penalty area before his strike at
Carrow Road. But Lampard, who
was renowned for his long-dis-
tance shooting, has encouraged
Abraham to take more shots from
outside the box.
Mount was also on target against
Norwich before being
forced off with a dead leg
and bruising, but the
midfielder is hopeful of
being fit for Satur-
day’s visit of newly
promoted Sheffield
United.At the double:
Tammy AbrahamMalaise and mutiny at s
Demise of a once-proud club
20
15
10
5
1
5
10
1
15
20
24
2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18Championship
Relegated from Premier League
35.50 Win percentage 13.33 31.03
19
13
9 9 9
Premier League
Mark Hughes
May 30, 2013 – Jan 6, 2018Paul Lambert
Jan 15, 2018 – May 18, 2018Gary Rowett
May 22, 2018 – Jan 8, 2019Time is against manager
with club on slide after
highs of spell in the top
flight, writes John Percy
T
here must be some
private moments,
in times of
introspection, when
Nathan Jones
wonders whether
quitting Luton Town for Stoke City
was a good career move after all.
Shortly before his appointment,
Jones had won 10 matches out of 11
in League One, with his reputation
as a shrewd, progressive young
manager on the rise. His move to
Stoke in January was a reward for
successive promotions, a deserved
recognition for his diligent work in
the lower leagues and journey up
the ladder from his first steps
coaching at Yeovil Town.
Seven months later, Jones has
won just three of 25 Championship
games, with the 3-0 home defeat
by Leeds United on Saturday
leaving Stoke bottom of the table.
The Welshman faces a rematch
with Leeds in the EFL Cup atElland Road tonight, before a huge
game against Birmingham City on
Saturday which could have severe
repercussions for his future as he
attempts to avoid becoming the
third Stoke departure in 15 months.
“We have to change certain
things because the players and staff
are underachieving,” Jones said on
Saturday. “We have to find a reason
for that because momentum is
difficult to change if you keep
letting the same things happen.”
Stoke’s owners are reluctant to
dismiss another manager,
following the exits of Paul Lambert
and Gary Rowett, but are
becoming seriously concerned,
with the patience of supporters
starting to wear thin. Some fans
want him sacked, while others are
demanding to know whether
diamond formations are forever.
The malaise seems to run deep.
Remember, this is a club which
finished ninth in the Premier
League for the third year running
in 2016 under Mark Hughes. So
where has it all gone so wrong?
Why are so many experienced
players, many signed at high cost,
finding it so difficult to perform? It
is like Superman’s struggles withKryptonite when many of these
players pull on the Stoke jersey.
When they leave, their powers
seem to return. Benik Afobe, a
£12 million signing, already has
three goals on loan at Bristol City.
Erik Pieters is now at Burnley, with
his new team-mates finding it
inexplicable that he was jettisoned.
Then there are the tales of poordiscipline and mutiny. These
stories were rife during Stoke’s
relegation campaign and continued
last season. One player allegedly
refused to take part in a warm-
down session after a game as he
had a flight to catch. Another, out
of the first-team picture, told
Rowett during talks over his future
that he was happy to stick around
as he was convinced the manager
would soon be sacked. One otherOne player racked
up fines over the
season of more than
£100,000. It all
bred resentment
10 *** Tuesday 27 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
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