Slavisa Jokanovic thought the going rate for a Premier League manager should be £1.3million a year. His club, Watford, disagreed. They wouldn’t budge above an annual salary of £520,000, so will now start the season with a new manager.

Strange, isn’t it, what a football club prioritises? There will be good money thrown after bad in the transfer market this summer. Agents will be paid commissions and bonus fees that would be considered extravagant in the world of high finance. Yet Watford won promotion and offered their manager a £1,000-a-week pay rise.

All told, the parties fell out over much more, a difference of £780,000, multiplied by two or three years. It sounds a lot of money, but not in football. Watford won’t be able to secure a half-capable left-back for that. And they will lose Jokanovic, who guided the team from chaos to the Premier League. It makes no sense.

Slavisa Jokanovic’s promotion joy, shared with Watford keeper Heurelho Gomes (right), was short-lived

Don’t doctor Heysel truth about Platini Michel Platini celebrates his goal in the final The ghastly details of the Heysel disaster still shock even 30 years on, but not as much as the rewriting of history around the man who is now president of UEFA, Michel Platini. The families of the victims wanted their own reading at last week’s memorial service. The words were sent to Juventus for approval. Back they came, censored. Gone was criticism of the Belgian authorities, who hosted the game, and UEFA, who decided on the venue. Juventus are in the Champions League final next week and do not wish to embarrass the governing body. Yet most abject of all was a passage the club had inserted. Platini, it said, scored the winning goal that night with tears in his eyes. As the footage shows, he did no such thing. He celebrated with abandon. He would have given Mike Channon a run for his money. He went nuts. Platini has always claimed that once the game was allowed to go ahead, his only thought was of winning for the supporters. This may well be true. Certainly, he isn’t the villain of the piece. There are many more who need to examine their behaviour that night, and in the build-up to the match. Yet Juventus have no right to embellish the truth simply to flatter UEFA mandarins. Platini celebrated. Not with inner sorrow, or any emotion more complex than untrammelled joy. He celebrated because his team were going to be champions of Europe. Make of that what you will; just don’t make your version a lie. The families have suffered enough. Advertisement

Jokanovic took over a club in a strong position, but not a strong club. Watford may have been third in the Championship, on the same points total as the leaders when he arrived, but Jokanovic was their fourth manager of the season.

It says something for his insight and acumen that he leant heavily on Dean Austin, who was made his assistant in January, and became only the third foreign manager to win promotion to the Premier League. It is doubtful any single player could summon that influence on Watford’s season. For all their individual heroics, Charlie Austin could not keep Queens Park Rangers up and Danny Ings could not save Burnley. Yet club owners will think nothing of dropping £780,000 — or £1.5m, even £2.2m — on a player this summer.

Put it like this, for Watford to give Jokanovic what he wants over two years — a difference of £1.56m — would be the equivalent of the fee Burnley paid for Lukas Jutkiewicz from Middlesbrough last summer. Jutkiewicz, a striker, did not score in the 26 games in which he was involved.

To give Jokanovic a three-year deal would cost Watford less than the £2.5m Hull City paid for the services of Sheffield United defender Harry Maguire, who played six times and was sent on loan to Wigan Athletic, later relegated from the Championship.

And Watford could award Jokanovic close to four years for the £3m Burnley paid for George Boyd of Hull. Boyd had a reasonable year but it wasn’t enough to merit survival — and certainly his contribution wouldn’t equate to four years of Burnley manager Sean Dyche.

Now Watford must feel managers are important, because they ditched the one that preceded Jokanovic, Billy McKinlay, in eight days. The man they want to replace Jokanovic, Quique Sanchez Flores, is no slouch, either. He won the Europa League in 2010 with Atletico Madrid and reached the final of the Copa del Rey.

So it is not as if Watford think anyone can run their team - more that they do not apportion the value to the manager that they might place on a dud striker, or two.

West Ham have been mocked by some for over-reaching in their search for Sam Allardyce’s successor but at least there is ambition and a sense of priority in what they are trying to achieve.

Troy Deeney scored 21 goals for Watford on their way to promotion - but Jokanovic had the biggest influence

If Watford had offered Jokanovic a three-year deal it would have cost less than the £2.5m Hull City paid Sheffield United for defender Harry Maguire (right) who later went on loan to Wigan

Former Atletico Madrid manager Quique Sanchez Flores is the man that Watford want to replace Jokanovic

They have lost out to Real Madrid for Rafael Benitez — no shame there — approached Carlo Ancelotti without success and have told Jurgen Klopp to name his price.

The next tier of candidates are still among the most successful coaches in Europe: Jorge Jesus at Benfica, Unai Emery of Sevilla, Guus Hiddink, Frank De Boer.

There have been conversations with Marseille manager Marcelo Bielsa, but his lack of English is seen as a barrier. With a 56,000-capacity stadium to fill in 12 months’ time and Europa League football due to begin in July, however, West Ham continue to think big.

They were ready to pay Benitez as much as £6m-a-year — an indication of how important the role of manager is to the Olympic Stadium plan. Indeed, the manager is vital to any project of this size, including that of securing a place in the elite, as Watford must do.

West Ham are searching for a new manager after Sam Allardyce's contract was not extended

West Ham were keen on Rafa Benitez but he looks set to take over at Real Madrid while they told Jurgen Klopp to name his price

Think of Roberto Mancini at Manchester City, Kenny Dalglish at Blackburn Rovers, Jose Mourinho’s two stints at Chelsea, but also what Tony Pulis did at Stoke or how Allardyce established Bolton Wanderers and later West Ham. Managers alter the potential of clubs. Watford could have been in turmoil last season with a lesser man in charge.

Only fools like Massimo Cellino at Leeds United treat managers as stooges these days. Maybe Giampolo Pozzo feels bosses are interchangeable because he had four last year, and Watford were still the first club promoted from the Championship.

Leeds United owner Massimo Cellino has built a reputation of hiring and firing managers

Yet it can’t and won’t be as easy this year. Watford found it hard against their promotion rivals - and every opponent will be at least of that standard this time around.

The players Watford will bring in to fight the fight will cost a relative fortune. Jokanovic, by comparison, was a snip.

It is funny what owners consider a bargain these days.

Give all clubs a chance to join elite

Advocates of Financial Fair Play invariably tout the same line. If there are no controls, what’s to stop Chelsea and Manchester City buying all the best players, they ask? The answer: nothing.

But it won’t happen because that’s not how football works. Manchester City can still only field one player in 11 positions, so there will always be talent left for their rivals.

Some of those signings will not work, other clubs will buy wisely or produce the odd gifted youngster and, most importantly, the owner will not wish to be forking out £100million every year on new arrivals. That’s why the clubs with sudden wealth also invest fortunes in academies. The bosses don’t want to keep spending indefinitely.

Christian Benteke dominated the talk before the FA Cup final with speculation of a £32m move to Liverpool

So why the outrage? Rich clubs have plundered their inferiors since football began. Old money was no less aggressive.

The build-up to the FA Cup final was dominated by talk of Christian Benteke. Whether he could score the goals to defeat Arsenal? No. The buzz surrounded the chances of a £32million transfer to Liverpool.

So it isn’t just the disproportionate financial clout of Manchester City and Chelsea that dominates the market. Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United — the self-righteous red elite — have been raiding smaller rivals for years. Every club takes advantage of its size. Aston Villa are bigger than Genk of Belgium. That’s how they got Benteke in the first place.

Liverpool have also bid for Southampton defender Nathaniel Clyne

The argument is that FFP allows clubs to grow organically, but Liverpool have also made a bid for Nathaniel Clyne of Southampton. Little chance of that much-vaunted natural growth on the south coast if Liverpool swoop every summer for their best players.

The easing of FFP doesn’t place the game under threat from new money; it merely gives the upwardly mobile the chance to exploit the market as vigorously as the grand old traditionalists.

And while we’re at it...

When the subject of a new contract was raised this week, Roy Hodgson was adamant he would not wish to outstay his welcome as England manager. Is he serious? Having recorded the worst World Cup finals performance in half a century, Hodgson clung on in the knowledge that the qualification process for the European Championship was so generous it would be nigh impossible to fail.

England manager Roy Hodgson watches the Championship play-off final alongside Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore

Sure enough, England have breezed through a soft group — needing only a top-three finish to secure a play-off place anyway — to the extent that the manager is now being asked about extending his stay. Brian Clough had it right.

‘They claim it’s the hardest job in the world, but none of them ever want to leave,’ he said of England managers. ‘They all end up getting dragged out by their feet.’

Stop being friendly with these crooks

To the amazement of Michel Platini, the Football Association and many of those in attendance at the FIFA Congress last week, France voted for Sepp Blatter on Friday.

They were among a number of UEFA countries, including Spain, Turkey, Finland, Iceland, Cyprus and Russia who broke ranks and cast their vote for the godfather of FIFA corruption.

England are scheduled to play France in a friendly on November 17 at Wembley. So what are we waiting for? Call it off. Let the boycott begin. We don’t play Blatter’s boys unless we have to.

FA chairman Greg Dyke and UEFA president Michel Platini voted against Sepp Blatter - but France did not

England are due to play France in a friendly at Wembley in November

Given the attendances of friendlies across Europe, they need us more than we need them. There is time to find a new opponent, less at home with corruption.

The Under-18 team is due to play two games in Russia on June 8 and 10. Late notice, but those fixtures should go, too. And say why. We don’t play finks, we don’t play crooks and we don’t play the friends of crooks.

We did once, and it was a shameful period in England’s football history, now condemned to the garbage. This is a chance to start afresh.

Unilateral boycotts of tournaments are worthless, but the FA are most certainly within their rights to decide who England play. If they choose not to be contaminated by association with Blatter’s allies, fair enough. Let France go kick ball with someone else.

If they’re on the side of football’s bad guys, it’s not as if they’ll be short of company.

You may feel this is a statement of the obvious but, for nine years now, no British tennis player, male or female, has lasted longer in any Grand Slam tournament than Andy Murray. Obvious, maybe. Brilliant, yes.

Andy Murray has been the best performing Brit at Grand Slams for the last nine years

David Gill has decided not to take his seat on FIFA’s executive committee, so it appears the task will fall to Trefor Lloyd Hughes of the Football Association of Wales, beaten out of sight previously in UEFA elections. Hughes has been a whining, whingeing presence ever since, claiming the English FA failed to recognise his turn. As if that is what FIFA needs — another useless time-server, with a sense of entitlement. Anyway, with Gill nobly absent, Lloyd Hughes will get his chance. Expect plenty of nothing, as usual.

David Gill poses with Sepp Blatter - but he will not take his seat on FIFA’s executive committee

Following a dire Aston Villa performance at Wembley on Saturday, does this mean West Ham get their No 1 fan David Cameron back?

Lord Triesman says UEFA should boycott the 2018 World Cup in Russia, insisting England could host a marvellous tournament in their place. Why doesn’t he shut up? Why don’t they all shut up, in fact, those that insist England would make successful and appropriate hosts? It merely adds credence to Sepp Blatter’s lie that criticism of his regime stems from sour grapes over the English bid. It was nothing of the sort. Blatter could promise England every World Cup this century; FIFA are still crooks.

Former FA Chairman Lord Triesman has called on England to boycott the World Cup in 2018

How queer that the FA spends all its time banging on about the marvellous traditions of the FA Cup, before removing the thrill of its build-up, with unnecessary pyrotechnics and loud music that drown out the excited Wembley crowd.

There was plenty of loud music and pyrotechnics at Wembley ahead of the FA Cup final



