Watford's head of academy Chris McGuane believes Under-21 coach Harry Kewell has learnt a lot from his first season at the club.

It was a difficult campaign for the team with the Hornets finishing bottom of the Under-21 Professional Development League Two with just five wins.

But results understandably do not carry as much significance in youth football compared to player and team development.

McGuane has been impressed with the Australian since his arrival last July and thinks the former Leeds United and Liverpool midfielder will have benefited from the experience he has gained during his first year with the Hornets.

“Not just Harry but anyone working in football and coaching learns every day,” McGuane said. “No two days are ever the same and Harry has come in and worked tremendously hard.

“He’s got a real desire to improve himself and develop in areas he wants to improve in and he’s come in with a lot of quality.

“He has great knowledge of the game and he cares a tremendous amount about the boys individually and how they progress.

“He’s making sure everything is in place for them to go out every day to perform. Anybody in this environment is learning all the time so you’re always going to pick up new things.”

McGuane added: “We’re at the stage of the season where we sat down as a group of staff. We locked ourselves in a room for four days and literally went over all of our players in our programme and looked at what we could do better and learn from last year to enhance the programme we offer.

“He [Kewell] has learnt loads and obviously excited now for next season.”

Watford’s Under-18s enjoyed a memorable campaign after finishing top of the Professional Development League Two South.

David Horseman’s side kept 11 consecutive clean sheets and managed a 15-game unbeaten run during the second half of the season.

McGuane said: “We always want to be better and strive to be better but overall as a group of Under-18 players but also as an academy as a whole we’ve been really pleased with the progress we’ve made.”