The idea of familiarity breeding contempt is one which Watford’s Craig Cathcart pays little credence to heading into the first settled summer at the club in recent years.

A rapid turnover of head coaches has seen a new man installed in the Vicarage Road hot seat at the end of each of the last two campaigns.

Javi Gracia, though, has bucked the trend and looks set to remain at the helm throughout the summer after arriving at the club in January.

For Cathcart, the Spaniard’s continued presence at Watford can only be viewed as a positive and he feels the Hornets will benefit from knowing their boss heading into pre-season.

“In pre-season, if you have a new manager, it takes a couple of weeks for him to get his ideas across to him and that makes it harder,” Cathcart said.

“We know the manager form this season and know what he wants from us and that stand us in good stead going into next season.

“We will push as hard as we can and work in pre-season, so we can try and do well next season.”

Cathcart speaks highly of Gracia and the Watford boss is clearly a fan of a player he has been able to deploy precious little in his short tenure to date.

The 29-year-old was injured when Gracia joined, having suffered a thigh strain while trying to make a return from a knee complaint suffered in the campaign’s opening exchanges.

He played the Hornets’ final five games of the season after recovering full fitness and formed a strong partnership with Christian Kabasele at the heart of Watford’s defence.

Kabasele has also had troubles with injury, and Cathcart says Gracia’s faith in both of them has helped with the seamless return to action.

“It has been really good [playing with Kabasele] and the manager has shown his trust in both me and Christian, who came back from injury as well,” Cathcart said.

“I think we perform quite well together, and we have a lot of quality centre-backs in the squad.”

While the season ended in productive fashion for the Northern Irishman, there were moments during the 2017/18 campaign in which such a conclusion looked unlikely.

The knee injury picked up in the 0-0 draw with Brighton in August came on the back of fitness problems in the previous campaign.

A relapse, which saw Cathcart tear his thigh, halted talk of a January return and patience proved a virtue for Cathcart’s recovery.

He credits the Watford medical team - so often criticised for the Hornets’ injury-plagued squad - for helping him come back stronger and ready to impress.

“When you get injured it is really difficult and the season actually feels longer than when you are playing every week,” he said.

“It is really difficult and sometimes it is hard to see how you are going to get out of the momentum of getting injured.

“When I came back from the thigh problem after having the knee injury, the medical team here made me take my time.

“That really helped me make sure I was ready for training and build my fitness up before I came back to training and playing my first game. Not rushing back was important.

“For me, mentally as soon as I am fit I want to go back into training as I can and sometimes the body isn’t ready.

“That bit of extra time was important and made sure my body was ready to deal with the demand of playing matches.”