Watford manager Roy Hodgson has described the appointment of Rob Edwards as a step in the right direction for the Hornets, after it was announced he would be taking over as head coach in the summer.

Edwards guided Forest Green Rovers out of League Two at the first time of asking, getting them promoted as champions earlier this year.

His task at Watford will be a similar one, with the club hoping to make an instant return to the Premier League after their relegation to the Championship was confirmed last weekend.

Speaking after his side ended a run of 11 consecutive home losses, Hodgson said that he wished his successor well in the role.

"They've obviously appointed a very talented young coach," he said. "I know exactly what he's done at Forest Green and I know the success he's had there and I think that maybe that will be a good move for the club.

"I haven't had any input into the direction the club should take, but if you ask me does it seem to me like a good direction? I would definitely say yes, it does.

"All I can do is wish him well and I hope if he's seen the game tonight, he would have seen enough in that group tonight and knowing perhaps a little bit about the players who aren't anywhere near the team tonight to believe that he can get this team back into the Premier League."

Hodgson said that Edwards will find a club set up to facilitate that first-time return to the top flight and said he hoped that the new coach would be able to put an end to the "yo yo situation" the club has slipped into in recent seasons.

"Unfortunately, in the last four seasons, they've been up, down, up and now down, so I suppose you could argue that at the moment we're in that yo yo situation," he continued.

"But if you go back a little bit further, the club had a much longer and a much more secure spell in the Premier League. I think that the structure of the club, everything that he will find here will be everything a coach could wish to find in terms of the facilities, in terms of the way the club is set up to provide help to the coach, in terms of sports science and nutrition, and all of those modern things which are so important.

"The club is as good as any out there in that respect. And what I hope also he'll find is a group of players who will be stung by the fact that they weren't able to keep the club in the division this year, alongside the coaches that they had, and that next year they'll be determined to show that they are actually better than maybe they've been able to show at times this season. That this performance of theirs and this talent of theirs will help the new coach, work with them and get them back into the Premier League."