Watford have announced the appointment of Richard Thomas as their new academy manager.

The former Leyton Orient academy boss recently spent time as Notts County assistant alongside Kevin Nolan before a stint as manager of non-league Grantham Town.

During his time at Orient, he once led the club's under-18s to a league title before Christmas and he will now be working alongside the head of academy Barry Quin.

Speaking to the club website, Thomas said it was exciting to be joining the Hornets and that Quin was someone he was looking forward to working with.

"It seems like a really exciting time to be joining the club," he said.

"The first team are riding the crest of a wave – they’ve made the cup final, they’re performing really well and they’ve been having an outstanding season.

"The manager has signed a new contract and the whole place speaks of somewhere ready to take off. The training ground has improved massively and everything about the club appears to be moving in the right direction.

"I knew of Barry’s reputation in the game and I’d met him a few times before, so that was a big selling point too. It just feels like a club that is really going to keep flourishing in the coming years."

Thomas also spoke of his hopes for those in the academy who he wants to help achieve careers in football.

He said: "We are trying to create footballers who are good enough for our first team or to have good careers in the game elsewhere, but we also have a duty of care for them.

"The way I see Academy football is that we are here to support their school institute and their parents in making them decent young people who can function well in society.

"As a by-product of getting that right we will create some really good footballers who are bright and intelligent and can look after themselves in society whenever football is over for them, whether that’s at 18 or 38."