Austin, a former defender for Tottenham and Crystal Palace, has held this job since 2022. Prior to that, he held coaching and recruitment positions at Watford, Northampton, and Bolton.
The 53-year-old was at Vicarage Road on Wednesday to see the Championship match between Watford and Swansea. Wesley Hoedt’s header in the second half gave the Hornets the advantage and negated Ryan Andrews’ own goal in the first half, as the game finished 1-1.
This Saturday’s game between Watford and Coventry is their next opponent.
After the game, one user decided to post the three screenshots that the Hornets supporter had taken of Austin’s phone on social media. The fan was seated in the Vicarage Road stands.
The images seemed to capture a conversation between Austin and Mark Robins, the manager of Coventry, in which they touched on a few areas of Watford’s performance.
There was also talk about Valerien Ismael, the Hornets boss, and his future. During Ismael’s brief stay at Selhurst Park in 1998, Austin was a member of the Crystal Palace team and participated in 13 Premier League games with the Frenchman.
According to The Athletic, Austin and football agent Rob Segal, whose correspondence with the Sky Blues’ head of recruitment was also made public, are “extremely alarmed” by the disclosure and feel their privacy has been violated.
According to reports, Austin is also thinking of filing a lawsuit in response to the pictures’ release. Individuals have the right to privacy and the protection of their personal data, according to UK laws.
After defeating struggling Rotherham 5-0 at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry is now three points outside of the play-off spots in the Championship, in eighth position.
With 12 games remaining, Watford is only seven points ahead of the Championship relegation zone despite having only won two league games in 2024.
