Ray Lewington believes Billy McKinlay has “more in him to be a number one” and fully expects Watford’s new head coach to make the most of the opportunity he has been given at Vicarage Road.

The former Hornets boss is well placed to judge McKinlay’s ability as a coach, having played a significant role in the former Dundee United player’s progression during seven years working together at Fulham, and singled out his team organisational skills as his biggest quality.

The England assistant coach spoke to the Watford Observer on Wednesday, two days after the 45-year-old was promoted following Oscar Garcia’s decision to stand aside, and he recalled how they first started working together in 2005 when Lewington was offered a role that had “no defined job to do” by current Wales boss Chris Coleman after being sacked by the Hornets.

The 58-year-old initially helped out with first-team duties, including scouting, but was then asked by Coleman to help McKinlay with the reserves as well as overseeing the Fulham academy.

“It was his first job, he’d just retired as a player, so Chris said to me as well as the academy, could I keep an eye on Bill and we ended up more or less doing the reserves together,” Lewington explained. “I was splitting my time 80/20 with Billy, 20 per cent being with the academy so I got to know Billy quite well.”

“When he first started he was really raw,” Watford’s manager from 2002 to 2005 continued. “He’d done his badges but he hadn’t done much coaching, so basically he was starting from scratch. I thought it was probably good for him that he had someone who’d been in the game a long time [and could bounce ideas off].

“Basically, I just kept an eye on him to point him this way and that, but Billy grasps things very quickly. I saw the transition in him from when I first joined and when I left and he’d become a very, very good coach.

“He’s got a strong personality, he can be a bit spikey sometimes which I don’t think is a bad thing, but I think his main asset is his coaching ability.”

Asked what McKinlay’s specific coaching qualities are, Lewington responded: “His organisation is excellent. He can do his back four sessions, he can do his attacking sessions, he’s a very good all-round coach but I think his asset is team organisation.

“I haven’t seen Watford to be fair but I do know from now on they will be very, very organised. If they weren’t organised before they certainly will be now.

“He’s not frightened I think like all good coaches to keep doing it [repetition]. He doesn’t just do it once then throw it away.

“He does it and does it often, a bit like Roy Hodgson where he did a lot of repetition in his coaching on purpose so that players were doing things as second nature basically.”

As well as Lewington, Hodgson and Coleman, McKinlay served under Mark Hughes and Martin Jol at Craven Cottage and the former Hornets boss has no doubts the ex-Scotland international is ready for the step up.

“He’s a very single-minded person, he’s not really suited to be a number two to be honest,” said Lewington.

“He’s got more in him to be a number one because he is a decision maker, he is not frightened to express his opinion. I think he’s just been waiting for the opportunity.

“My one fear for him was that in modern-day football you need to have a name almost and I often feared that would go against him, but it’s just the opportunity he’s been waiting for and I fully expect him to take it with both hands, I’ve got no doubt about it.”

McKinlay spoke highly of Lewington at his first press conference as Watford head coach on Monday.

He said he was fortunate to learn the coaching ropes at Fulham under the guidance of the now England assistant coach. He added “I have a huge amount of respect for Ray as a man and as an outstanding coach.

“He spoke highly of his time at Watford. He had fond memories and still has a lot of friends at the club – anyone I’ve come across in the last four days has spoken highly of Watford.

“I will probably speak to Ray in the coming days and pick his brain about one or two things.

“I owe him a lot though, in terms of how he helped me in my coaching in my early days at Fulham.

“He was generous with his time and knowledge which is one of the most important things you can get off anybody. So I’ve got a lot to thank Ray for.”

When asked what style of head coach McKinlay believed he would be, he replied: “Everybody would tell you they take various aspects off everyone.

“I mentioned Ray because he helped me a great deal with the coaching side of it.

“I’ve played under a lot of managers but Ray and Roy were the main ones when it comes to coaching.

“I worked under a lot of managers at Fulham and picked up little bits and pieces.

“You try and mould them into a style and work ethic that will be successful and you then add your own characteristics.”