As one of the longest-serving Watford players, Craig Cathcart has done more than his fair share of meeting new head coaches. However, this time around, it was a reunion rather than an introduction.

The Northern Ireland international defender was in the same Blackpool squad with Rob Edwards during the 2010/11 season, and saw back then the signs of someone who would one day be a leader.

“I was still fairly young when I went to Blackpool and Rob was a bit older than me,” he said.

“I still kept in touch with him when he left, all the way up until now. He was a great teammate, and I knew he’d be a good manager. He was really good with people. Even when I came into the team and we were competing for the same position, he was brilliant with me.

“When Rob wasn’t in the starting team at Blackpool, he was great to have around. He loved talking football and was very easy to get on with. You could definitely see that he would stay in the game after he finished playing. He’s a real people person.

“He’s been exactly the same since he came here. He treats everybody the same. You can see he understands people are different with different personalities, and from what I’ve seen so far he’s a manager who is very aware of that. He is trying to get know people as quick as he can so he can help get the best out of them.

“He wants people to enjoy their football, and he’s made it clear so far that he wants us to enjoy our football as that gives us the best chance of getting results.”

The Hornets head coach spoke about the importance he puts into speaking to each of his players, knowing them as people, understanding how he could help them. Cathcart says that approach goes down well.

“Players do like that. Any player just wants a bit of honesty,” he said.

“If you’re not playing you want to know why. Players generally don’t mind knowing the truth. I think the truth is important because you can accept it - if you’re not in the team and you can’t find out why then it plays on your mind. Honesty is very important.

“I think the lads can relate to him too, he’s been there as a player and has the experience.”

Watford Observer:

Cathcart and the Hornets boss were teammates at Blackpool

At 39, Edwards is only six years older than Cathcart, and seven older than Tom Cleverley and Dan Gosling, but the Irishman says age is no barrier to being a successful coach.

Cathcart said: “He retired quite early and so he’s been coaching and managing for the last eight or nine years. He may be a younger coach but he has a lot of knowledge already and he knows what he wants from each session.

“So far the sessions he’s put on have been brilliant. Bearing in mind it’s pre-season we haven’t been doing too many long runs. It’s been a lot of football related sessions and the boys enjoy that. You find you’re still working hard without actually having to think about it.

“So yeah, his sessions have been really good. I think sport science plays a part in the change to pre-season, and nowadays lads don’t come back after summer in too bad a shape. We might have a rest for a couple of weeks and then we’ve got our off-season programmes to do. Then you’re back in training, and the lads generally come back in a decent state of fitness these days.

“When we leave we’re given targets for when we come back, so if you’re overweight or anything then it means extra training. Nobody wants to do that.”

Players often say that the best way to get over a bad defeat is to get back out on the pitch for the next game. So, after a bad season, is being back in training the best antidote to relegation?

“Yeah, you need a break and time to reflect on things, but then you really just want to get back. New manager, new faces, new coaching staff. It’s a good, fresh start really,” said Cathcart.

“I’ve been relegated before so I know the feeling and I think the more experience you have, the more you learn not to dwell on things too much.

“When we came down the last time that hurt a lot as we’d been in the Premier League for five seasons. We knew when we got straight back up it would be difficult because any time you go up first time you really just want to stay there. More often than not, teams who come up go back down again.

“I think you just learn to live with the lows and focus on bouncing back.”

Watford Observer:

The defender is seeking to move on from the disappointments of last season

Having welcomed being back at the training ground, Cathcart answered with a resounding ‘no’ when asked if he enjoyed pre-season.

“I think any player who enjoys pre-season would have to be a bit mad! It’s a hectic schedule with a lot of days with double sessions, and you’re just trying to get through it,” he said.

“The thing is it’s important, because as the manager said already he’s trying to build a resilience into us so that we can get through 46 league games plus cup games.

“Those extra eight games in the Championship will make a difference. A lot of science has to go into when we get a break, when we step things up and so on.

“You’ll have to adapt during the season with those extra league games, as obviously matches take priority. You’re playing two games a week most of the time, and the lads who are playing every game won’t train much in between. If you’re playing you've just got to make sure you stay fit, and if you’re on the bench then you have to do that bit more in training.”

This is the start of Cathcart’s ninth season at the club, plus he had a spell on loan in 2009. He’s well positioned to judge how Watford Football Club has changed.

“From when I first came here we’re definitely in a much better place as a club,” he said. “The new stands were being built when I came here, and now we’ve got a brilliant stadium that’s fully enclosed with an amazing pitch.

“The training ground keeps improving every year, the Academy has its own building too. The club is definitely going in the right direction.

“We’ve had six seasons out of the last eight in the Premier League. If you take a step back and look at things, the club has had a good time in my years here.

“There are loads of clubs who want to get into the Premier League and then stay in the Premier League. But that is getting tougher and tougher. There is so much money that goes into the Premier League, and even into the Championship. It’s got so much more competitive.”

Readily admitting he’s one of the older players, Cathcart was fulsome in his feedback on the younger players at the club.

“The attitude of the younger lads in the group has been excellent in pre-season,” he said. “You’ve got some young lads who haven’t been involved before, and others who have been away on loan and returned. I think we’ll sign some younger players too.

“It’s good to have that mix. We've got five or six older lads in their 30s and then you need those young legs around you. If we get the right balance we’ll be in for a good season.”

Has he noticed a difference in the young players who spent last season out on loan?

“You can definitely see the difference that game time has made. You look at someone like Joseph Hungbo, who went about as far away as you can get from here to play regularly, right up to the north of Scotland. He just wanted to play games, and from what I saw he did really well. He’s come back and looked really good in pre-season.

Watford Observer:

Joseph Hungbo was on loan at Ross County last season

“It’s the same with Mattie Pollock. He’d played for Grimsby before he came here but he wanted to get more game time last season and went to Cheltenham where I think he played 40-odd games. That is great experience.

“You can tell these younger lads can play men’s football now, they understand the right things and what they need to do.”

Does someone like Pollock seek advice or guidance from an older fellow defender like Cathcart?

“To be fair, Mattie is really good. He talks a lot, he asks questions,” said the Irishman.

“There is no shame in a young player asking questions and I’m happy to help him and anyone else who wants it.

“He’s got a lot of experience already and, being a defender, the more games you play the more you learn your own way around the pitch. You see patterns better, you know what to do in particular situations. He probably doesn’t need to ask me too much now to be honest!”

Behind Cathcart in training games has been new keeper Maduka Okoye “He is certainly a big lad, he’s massive,” the defender said. “He looks very good in training, and he’s really good in one-on-ones because he spreads himself so well. I’m looking forward to seeing him get time in the pre-season matches.

“Players develop in their own time. You get some keepers who don’t start playing first-team football until they’re 27 or 28, you get others like Maduka who start really early. He got a lot of experience last season and I’m sure he’ll be pushing for the starting spot.”

Having played in both, what are the main differences between the Premier League and the Championship?

“The first thing that comes to mind about the Championship is the amount of games and the schedule, because it’s relentless.

“There is obviously a quality difference too. In the Championship any team can beat any other team, but in the Premier League you very rarely see the top teams lose to the teams nearer the bottom. Going to Anfield or the Etihad is very, very difficult.

“I think the Championship is much more competitive. Even now, it’s hard to see who is going to be up the top and who will be down the bottom.

“I think the actual physicality is probably more in the Championship. You may get elbowed a bit more. But the Premier League is still tougher, particularly mentally, as you have to be right on your game for every single minute.

“In the Premier League, if all the players in the team aren’t 100 per cent focussed for the entire game every week, then you’re going to struggle to win a match. That was part of our problem last season. We’d be focussed for 70 minutes but switch off for 20 minutes and concede goals, and then you’ve lost the game.

“In the Championship while physically it’s demanding, you might get away with lapses more than you do in the Premier League.

“Even then, the standard in the Championship is getting stronger. You see clubs with money and you see players who need to drop down from the Premier League to get games. There are a lot of quality strikers, and international strikers, in the Championship.

“Every game is going to be tough and we have to try and focus on every match in order to get back to the Premier League."