Watford could clinch promotion to the Premier League tomorrow and Hornets stalwart Lloyd Doyley will be in contact with a few former colleagues who could play a critical role.

Gianfranco Zola’s side know a win against Leeds United at Vicarage Road on Saturday will be enough if Hull City fail to defeat Championship champions Cardiff City.

The Bluebirds have a large contingent of former Watford players in their squad and Cardiff boss Malky Mackay spent six years with the Hornets as a player, assistant boss and manager.

Mackay will be just one of the people Doyley will be in contact with prior to the weekend fixtures.

Speaking on Tuesday the Hornets defender said: “I haven’t done it yet but I’ll be texting Malky, Don Cowie, Andrew Taylor and Jordon Mutch. I’ll be asking them to do their job properly and do us a favour.”

He added: “We need to go and get a positive result against Leeds though. A win would be brilliant and then hopefully Cardiff will do a good job against Hull.

“I don’t see any reason why Cardiff can’t win. They are the champions and we expect them to put on a good show.

“If we don’t get a positive result and then Hull lost we would be gutted. We know Leeds are a good team but we have to go into the match in a positive frame of mind and knowing that the game could take us to the Premier League.”

Tomorrow’s game is a sell-out and Doyley, who has made more than 400 appearances for the Hornets, has been inundated with requests for tickets for what could to be the vital game of the season.

“Loads of people have been asking me for tickets. It is a game that is in high demand,” he said.

No matter what the outcome tomorrow, Doyley believes the Watford supporters will be proud of what the team have achieved after a fairly indifferent start to the campaign.

He said: “We had only won three games after nine matches and we were down at the bottom of the league but we changed formation and the boss found his starting 18 so to speak.

“We have built on that and we are third at the moment, so it has been a good season.

“We have built a very good squad here over the last year and have become a very good team.

“People talk a lot about the different nationalities and the loanees but we are now as one.

“It would be awesome for the whole club, especially for the manager in his first year, to get us to the Premier League.”

The Hornets are guaranteed a play-off spot; it is the route Watford took to secure their last promotion to the Premier League in 2006.

“We are prepared for the play-offs if we have to be there,” Doyley explained.

“I have experienced them before and, if we get past the semi-final, then we get a cup final at Wembley which would be awesome.

“If we do not go up on Saturday that would be something to aim for to look forward to.

“We will just have to see where we are at three o’clock on Saturday afternoon.”

Doyley was part of that Hornets side which achieved promotion to the Premier League.

He described playing in the top flight of English football as a great experience despite Watford finishing bottom of the table.

He added: “It was just a shame that season that we didn’t do better as a team.

“You do not enjoy it when you lose regularly but I think it made us stronger as a group.”