Ed Still reacts after his Watford players and staff face anger from fans after the 2-0 defeat to Oxford United.
The result was massive for the U’s, moving them within a point of Championship safety while also continuing their unbeaten run at the Kassam Stadium to five matches.
For Watford however, they still find themselves out-of-form, without a win in their las§t four, and sit 12th with 57 points from 42 games played, and are 11 points from the playoffs places.
Some chants of ‘you’re not fit to wear the shirt’ directed at Watford players post-match. #watfordfc pic.twitter.com/bfA8R66HoN
— Adam Drury (@Adam_Drury1) April 11, 2026
Was dire. Irankunda also wasn’t entirely rancid but another cheap booking pic.twitter.com/kLtHCid3eU
— Duncan Radband (@DuncanR_95) April 11, 2026
Ed Still told BBC Three Counties Radio, per Watford Observer: “You have to accept it.
“There’s nobody who’s reacted in any kind of way. That [the performance] isn’t good enough and we haven’t done the basics well enough to be able to say anything after the game.
“The dressing room is extremely disappointed and we’re just going to put our head down, not speak, and move on to Sheffield United next weekend.
“There’s always reflection, otherwise you’re not honest.
“There needs to be reflection, analysis, and again to make things even more crystal clear than what they have been.
“You’ve got to grow and learn from that.
“OK, there are a lot of young players, but it isn’t just a team of young players.
“It’s everybody who’s got to step up, take responsibility for it, not point fingers and start saying, ‘It’s his fault, it’s his fault’. It’s everybody.
“Everybody inside the building, all of us, have got to come even more together and push harder and buck the trend that’s been happening over the past seasons and now over the past weeks.
“We knew what Oxford were going to do, it’s not for not knowing.
“We’ve not been caught by surprise. We know how windy it is here today, we know how bobbly the pitch is, but you’ve got to deal with it. End of story.
“It’s far too much of a familiar story to what’s gone on in previous seasons as well, so to be repeating that trend now is just terrible.
“I’m not going to go into too much analysis of that now but there are patterns and trends, something needs to be changed in the future.
“You have to match your ambitions and all of the talk and everything that you say. That I say as well.
“I know I am one to be open and communicative but you need to deliver on the pitch. We haven’t done that today and it was the same in games at Stoke and Sheffield Wednesday.
“This is a moment in the season where you have to stand up and compete, put everything on the pitch.
“Those performances weren’t gritty enough, and we haven’t been gritty enough or powerful enough today either.
“Not enough [did they showed they wanted it].
“Everybody had that feeling. We haven’t been able to match them and to create sufficient amount of moments where we could dictate the play.
“There’s a period in the first half and a period in the second half, but overall it’s not enough.
“They’ve exploited their strengths to the utmost. The set-pieces, the bobbly pitch, the wind as it is, they’ve dealt with it much better than we have.
“We haven’t been good enough, basically. We haven’t matched Oxford in terms of aggression, in terms of adapting to this type of game at this moment of the season.
“Everything becomes more intense, more power-based, and we haven’t been able to deal with it well enough.
“To lose the game on a set-piece, very similar to how we’ve conceded against Charlton only a few days ago, and then for it to be killed off by a mistake at the end is extremely frustrating.
“It makes you angry and all the rest of those negative emotions.
“It is what it is, fans are always entitled to voice their feelings.
“They’ve been unbelievable for us and when things go badly, as the past couple of weeks have, you have to stand up and take it.
“All of the players, staff, everybody, needs to put their head down now and show a much better side to us in the last few weeks of the season.
“It’s the worst thing sending your fans home with those emotions. It is the worst.”
Mattie Pollock said he wanted to speak to reporters, saying, per Watford Observer: “Firstly, I want to apologise to all the fans.
“I know that’s easily said but people are spending their hard-earned money and coming to support us.
“I can’t stress how much it hurts. I’ve been here five years now and this is probably the lowest point of my Watford career, seeing the fans like that.
“I know an apology will only go so far and it’s down to us on the pitch, but a game like that can’t go unspoken about.
“As a senior player, who’s trying to be a leader, you have to take accountability. That’s not good enough.
“We’re sorry. The fans don’t deserve that. For us to put that on show is not acceptable. For us to get bullied like that is not acceptable. We have to fix it.
“I’ll do everything in my power to help the lads be ready for the next game. There’s no messing about, no waiting, it has to be right for the next game.
“I have the same feeling as every fan, I hate the season fizzling out.
“It’s not acceptable. I feel ashamed that this happens towards the end of the season and the saddest part is that fans come to games expecting us to lose.
“It’s become too easy for us to be beaten by teams who just bully us. Football-wise we can go toe-to-toe with teams but if a team sticks it on us, we have to be able to roll our sleeves up and fight for the club.
“We’re falling short when it comes to what it means to play for Watford. I’m a northern lad, I’m brought up that you never roll over – you fight, you win the battle first.
“You’re only good players once you’ve won the battle.
“Nobody cares who can play well, it’s about who can win the fight. We have so much ability but we’re falling short.
“For fans to come here expecting us to lose is a disgrace.
“We were in the Premier League when I signed and I don’t want to play in the Championship for the rest of my life, half these players don’t want to either.
“We signed to come and play for one of the biggest teams in the league and we’re falling short. It’s so frustrating.
“He [Still] has got us training, it’s energetic, he’s pushing a lot from us.
“We’re letting him down, he can only do so much. It’s when you step over the white line. It’s too easy to come here and get rolled over.
“We train hard, we work hard, the lads try hard. But on the pitch we’re letting people down, we’re letting the club down, we’re letting the fans down.
“There’s nothing more the manager can do.
“At some point us as players have to look at ourselves because it’s happening every season.
“You can change managers, you can change other people at the club, but ultimately if it keeps happening you have to look deeper than that.
“Oxford are fighting for their lives and you can see it, we stroll on the pitch. We can’t just think we’re going to get three points. It doesn’t work like that.
“For me, that’s where as a leader of the team it’s too easy for it to happen and I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure we don’t keep allowing this to happen.”
Here’s the social media reaction as Ed Still reacts after Watford players and staff face anger from fans after a 2-0 defeat to Oxford…
@wfccaity: This club is rotten to the core. Players & manager should be embarrassed and ashamed, I definitely am
@SamJames198: No one cares, sack him and move on to another mid table season next year until the cunts upstairs are gone
@mikolibich: I’m starting to get seriously concerned about next season. Think we’ll be right up against it.
@WrightyTheDJ: Really glad we sacked Tom Cleverley 😑
@rio_woolf: Can’t believe it’s taken 3 wins in 18 for a bit of uproar, well overdue.
@watfordspeak: Sack him tonight and give it back to Daniels and co. for 4 games. That was beyond embarrassing. Our only saving grace is we mathematically can’t go down. 18th looms with the games we have left. Another season of fucking nothing
@duzza007: Bye bye Ed Still, you was crap and was a awful appointment, club in a mess. Clueless, Duxbury & Gino can F*** off and never return. Awful 🤬🤬
@markcjones_79: I’m just trying to think when standing in front of the fans when you’ve lost became a thing. I know people will say they go over to show appreciation to the supporters, but give a clap then get off the pitch. It seems to be the modern way to stand there and wait to be abused?!
@graham130476: Who don’t you all just fuck off!!! Youre already thinking about your holidays so play the U21’s instead!!
@Howgozza: I’ve watched a lot of shite from Watford this season…. But that tops it. Seems like we are checked out, on the beach. What a waste of money. 🐶💩
@LeeJackson_1: Irankunda didn’t just take his shirt off and walk off he did stand towards the front for a while, don’t make him the scapegoat. There were others including Ince that just walked off
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