Little did he know it then, but when Chris Wilder saw his Middlesbrough side beaten by a late, late Vakoun Bayo goal at Vicarage Road at the end of August, that wasn’t going to be his final involvement in the club’s 100th season at Vicarage Road.

Indeed, the next time he heads to WD18 and sets foot inside the stadium, he’ll be using the home dressing room and sitting in the opposite dug-out.

Wilder’s side had good reason to feel somewhat hard done by following that 2-1 defeat, and although he was disappointed after the game he also referenced the fact it was the stadium’s 100th anniversary, saying it was probably written in the stars for Watford to win in the manner they did.

“We lost that night and when I reflect on the match it was an emotional night for Watford in terms of the historic reasons of the game,” he said.

“Having seen it up close and personal, for 25 or 30 minutes we (Middlesbrough) couldn’t lay a glove on Watford. Their forwards really flicked the switch and were outstanding.

“But it can’t be just for 25 or 30 minutes. I’ll be looking for 90 minutes of performance of course. Does it usually come? Not really because the opposition will have a part of the game.

“But for a period that night we couldn’t lay a glove on Watford.

“We led, Watford got level and then to get done in the 95th minute was extremely disappointing but that’s how the game goes.”

Wind forward little more than six months, and Wilder will be hoping that Watford’s opponents over the next 11 games will also not be able to lay a glove on his side.

“When this opportunity came up, I was delighted to be offered it by the chairman and the owner,” he said.

“If they believe I can succeed, it gives me a great sense of encouragement and belief in myself.

“There are some experienced operators at this football club in the owner and the chairman, and there are many other directions they could have gone in. But they wanted to talk to me and I’m delighted they did.

“I will be doing everything I can to repay Scott and the owner, and the supporters too.”

The short-term nature of the contract with the Hornets doesn’t bother Wilder.

“If it was a three-year deal or 11 games, it gets me back in work and I can influence a group of talented footballers at a club that wants to do well,” he explained.

“This club gives the players and staff everything it needs to succeed via a great infrastructure, and they do have success because they had a sustained spell in the Premier League. I had two years there and it’s an incredible division but a ruthless one that is hard to stay in.

“Teams can quite easily drop out of the Premier League, whether they do or don’t spend a lot of money.

“Trying to get back is the hardest thing, given how tough the Championship is. There’s no doubt Watford has a target on its back because they were tipped to go up.

“It’s a club with a hell of a lot of qualities, particularly on the pitch. It’s my job to galvanise the players and see where it goes, sit down at the end of the season, look at what we’ve done and if we’ve done enough then I’m sure there’ll be a conversation.

“But honestly I haven’t thought about anything else apart from getting myself in, get into the players, trying to do the work that needs to be done for the first game tomorrow.”

Of course, for every newly-appointed manager there is usually another one clearing his desk through no choice of his own.

“Slav is a guy I know really and someone I have a huge amount of respect for. But these things happen,” said Wilder.

“When a manager takes over, there is always sympathy for the previous manager and that’s the case with Slav, because he’s not only a good football man he’s a really good guy too.

“I think he was extremely unlucky with injuries. He had a huge amount of injuries and his best players were not available to him.

“The club has made a decision to change things, and we’ll look to see what can be done differently. But there were a lot of good things happening under Slav, and I think he was unfortunate. When your best players are out it’s a big struggle.

“They just couldn’t seem to get going and I imagine Slav would be the first to admit that.”