Rob Edwards says that any club worth its salt has a strong link between the academy and the first-team - and that is something he wants to develop at Watford.

The Hornets manager has been impressed with what he has seen since his arrival at the club and believes the talent is there.

It just needs patience and a little bit of time to nurture.

He said: "We have is a really good relationship with [Richard Johnson] who runs the academy and Jimmy Gilligan.

"It is good to be able to pop my head around there and see them. 

"I’ve had a number of chats with the youth team players, we had a few of them training with us especially in the early part of pre-season. 

"We keep talking about unity and togetherness and we want a good link from the youth team through the U21s and then to us. 

"That is how a club should work. 

"What is hard, and this is where we have been honest with the lads, it’s difficult when you have a big squad and it is competitive and you want to win matches, to introduce players into that can be a challenge. 

"But it is something we want to do. We want to give them the experience of training with us and seeing what the level is so they can take it back to their mates.

"We have some really good players here and there are some really good staff working with them and we want to support them and work together. 

"There is nothing better than seeing a young and homegrown youth product coming through and representing the club. 

"That could take some time but we certainly feel we have some good ones that could do that."

Learning about the youth set-up at The Vic is just one of the many different aspects he has had to get used to since joining.

And it has been a baptism of fire for the former Forest Green Rovers boss.

"Where do you start," he said. "The football is slightly different in terms of quality and speed and there’s a lot more going on off the pitch, which is obvious and normal. 

"The size and the structure of the club is bigger so I’m collaborating with a lot more staff but in the end it all comes down to how you deal with people. 

"That’s probably a strength of ours."