Ed Still: New Watford head coach sets promotion target

Still has taken over with Watford in 12th place, only three points away from the play-off places, but without a win in six games.

And he said that in the short term, whatever his preferred approach might be “doesn’t matter”.

He continued: “This isn’t about style and philosophy and massive principles and all of that, it’s about how we’re going to win at Preston on Saturday.

“Everything we do between now and Saturday is just about that, about how compact and how aggressive we’re going to be without the ball, how fast our transitions are going to be.

“We’re going to do it by being aggressive and playing fast, attacking football – we’re not going to be a slow tempo, possession team and hopefully the fans can identify with that, enjoy it, and hopefully that’s going to energise them as well.”

The former Anderlecht assistant manager is the 14th person, not counting interim bosses, to take charge of Watford since September 2019 when Gracia left the club for the first time.

But he has made it clear to owner Gino Pozzo and other senior club officials exactly how he sees his role.

“I am 100% a head coach, I am definitely not a manager – I am just a cog in Watford FC, the players are more important than me, the fans are more important than me,” he said.

“I was really clear with that, ‘if you’re looking for a manager, don’t call me. I’m not your guy if you’re looking for a manager’.

“One of the things in the chats and discussions we’ve had is that one of the jobs I’ve got is to bring all the people behind the scenes together, to make sure all of the departments are working together, which maybe hasn’t been the case previously with the different coaches or managers that have been here.”