Luke O'Nien relished every moment of Watford's promotion parade and was one of the last players to get on the team coach when the squad left Cassiobury Park. After all, it wasn't that long ago that he used to be the one asking for autographs from the likes of current team-mate Lloyd Doyley.

The 20-year-old has not been part of any Watford matchday squads this season, partly down to his season-long loan at Wealdstone, but trained with the Golden Boys most days and was one of several academy graduates who took part in the open-top bus parade yesterday.

O'Nien joined the Hornets at under-nine level and was rewarded with a second professional contract last summer, before joining the Conference South side on loan in the summer.

The energetic midfielder was signing autographs when he spoke to the Watford Observer yesterday afternoon.

"It is unbelievable," he said, with his seemingly continual smile beaming. "I have never seen anything like it before. It is brilliant to see everyone out here.

"I would happily sign this stuff all day. I can’t believe I am signing things. I remember growing up I used to ask Lloydy (Doyley) for his autograph about 50 times and now people are asking for mine. It is surreal."

He continued: "Days like today make you want to train harder and work harder for all these fans and get more great days like today. Getting into the Premier League is fantastic to see."

O'Nien, who is renowned for his incredible work rate and desire to improve, only has a couple of months left on his one-year contract and admitted: "I’m not too sure what is going to happen. I’m going to keep training hard and working hard every day and see what happens."