Watford CEO and Chairman Scott Duxbury has defended the club's record of hiring nine coaches in the last seven years and said that he believes it is the right thing for the club to do.

Talking to former Match of the Day commentator on John Motson on TalkSport on Sunday evening, Duxbury said that while the record is not the club's proudest achievement, it is a model they stand by and that the Hornets could have possibly found a coach for the long term in Javi Gracia.

He said: "It’s not our proudest record and there’s obviously been individual examples that aren’t our fault.

"There’s been coaches that have retired due to ill health, there’s been coaches that have retired, there have been coaches that haven’t renewed their contract on terms that are acceptable to us, but yes it has been a number that we’re not proud of.

"We’ve been searching, as every club is, for the right fit cause we see benefits of stability from the head coach side and hopefully with Javi we’ve now found that."

While the club seems to find it easy enough to hire head coaches, sourcing new players can often be a little trickier, but the Duxbury revealed that the Hornets have help finding talent from none other than former owner and honourary life-president Sir Elton John.

He said: "He absolutely has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the lower-division players, it is incredible.

"He is in constant communication both with opinions of how the team has played, opinions on players, who we should be signing.

"I will probably hear from him on a daily basis on one matter or another.

"He recommends players that I have not heard of. He watches everything and he has a real knowledge of players and an absolute passion for the football club, it's not superficial."

Finally Duxbury talked about the importance of Graham Taylor and how his attitude and values still shape every decision he makes at the club.

He said: "Graham is fundamental to the DNA of the football club, but he’s also fundamental to me personally.

"When I first arrived at the club he was one of the first people to take me to one side and explain the values of the football club.

"He was always the barometer of what was right and what was wrong. Now he’s gone I’ve lost that barometer, but there’s still some really good people at the club that share Graham’s values and you always have that soundcheck.

"For me personally having Graham’s values ingrained in the football club, it’s a simple road map to where we need to go because his values, his ideals, it’s the way the football club will grow and develop and I’ve never forgotten that and I never will."