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12:50pm Friday 9th November 2007

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WATFORD could start recruiting for next season in January if they continue to pull away at the top of the Championship.

The Hornets ended a mixed week - a 3-0 defeat to West Brom followed by a 3-1 away win over Norwich - a further two points clear at the top of the table and a similar cushion at the turn of the year would enable Aidy Boothroyd to entice potential targets with the lure of Premiership football.

"I am clear in what I want to do but obviously it depends on results," he said. "If we keep doing what we are doing then we can look ahead to next season but, at the same time, I don't want to disrupt what we are doing at the minute."

Mindful of the destabilising effect Faustino Asprilla had on Newcastle United in 1996 and Rodney Marsh on Manchester City in 1972, Boothroyd will not risk doing anything that might prompt his team to implode in the run-in.

But he is aware that the quicker he can get players in, the longer he will have to bed them in for next season. The manager is thought to be eyeing as many as seven new faces should his side reach the Premiership.

"We've been looking since August so we are prepared if we need to buy or bring players in on-loan in January," he said. "That fresh face in January always gives everybody a lift. But I'm happy at the minute. We've got a nice bit of momentum going, some nice rhythm to our play and a team that is winning."

In last season's transfer window, Boothroyd had great difficulty in selling the then Championship-bound club to players of the required calibre. Does he think the Hornets are a far more attractive proposition now they are on the up?

"It depends which players you are trying to sell it to," he said. "If you went for the type of players that I think we need then I think people will still be undecided.

"We are not proven at Premiership level yet and these are the type of players we need to add to what we've got. I don't want to get to a position where I know what my best team is because I've got much of a muchness. I'm thrilled with the quality of player I have got here but I feel we need that next level of player."

Watford flexed their financial muscles in August when they set a new club record by signing Nathan Ellington. You get the impression Boothroyd is setting his sights even higher to land the "exceptional" player that could cause a snowball effect and prompt other players of a similar ilk to follow suit.

"I don't think Nathan is a big enough hitter," said Boothroyd. "He is a big hitter but not big enough. We need that catalyst player that others will follow here.

"We have learnt some major lessons from last year about how we go about our business," he added. "I feel more equipped in terms of how we recruit, who we recruit and how we bed them in. But whether they come or not is another matter."

One player with the kind of Premiership quality that Boothroyd will be looking for is Adam Johnson, and the manager revealed there is no further developments on whether the winger will be allowed to stay beyond the end of his loan spell in December.

"We are taking it week by week and it will boil down to injuries, Boro's form and Gareth's thoughts as to whether he will come back or not," said the manager. "It's too early to tell at the minute and I'm sure it will be 11th hour stuff."