Watford’s interim head coach Tom Cleverley has drawn from those around him at London Colney to form his coaching staff.

Having been placed in charge of the first team on Saturday evening, Cleverley has appointed Damon Lathrope and Armand Kavaja as Assistant Coaches and Jimmy Gilligan as Technical Consultant.

Lathrope was the current Women’s team head coach, Kavaja has been working with Cleverley in the Under-18’s and Gilligan is the club’s Academy Head of Technical Development.

The club have also added Chris Douglas to Cleverley’s staff as First-Team Analyst.

At 34, Lathrope is the same age as Cleverley but his career came to an end a little earlier as a serious leg injury sustained playing for Woking against Boreham Wood in 2018 curtailed his playing activities before he was 30.

The Stevenage-born midfielder began his professional career with Norwich City but made the vast majority of his appearances for Torquay United.

He made more than 150 outings for the Gulls in two spells, initially in League Two between 2010 and 2014, and then in the National League from 2016 to 2018.

Lathrope also had spells as a player with Aldershot Town, Hereford United and Bishops Stortford.

After his injury he spent time as manager of Hitchin Town’s Under-19s and gained his UEFA A License.

Having worked in Watford’s Academy he became Assistant Coach of the Women’s team towards the end of the 2021/22 season, and then was appointed Head Coach in June 2022.

In his first season he steered the team to the National League South title and then won the Promotion Play-Off to take Watford Women back to the Championship.

Kavaja has had three spells as Head Coach of Watford Women and was the club’s Under-18s assistant coach, where he would have worked with Cleverley this season.

The UEFA A License holder first joined Watford as an Academy coach and has worked alongside each age category, ranging from Under-9s to Under-16s.

The experienced assistant has previously coached the current crop of first-year scholars in younger age groups.

Gilligan, who recently turned 60, will always have his own slice of Watford history as he scored the club’s first goal in Europe when he netted in the 3-1 away defeat at Kaiserslautern in the 1983 UEFA Cup.

The striker was also part of the Watford team that beat Manchester United 7-6 on aggregate to win the FA Youth Cup in 1982.

He made 35 first-team appearances for the Hornets and played under the great Graham Taylor, who brought him back to Vicarage Road at the end of a playing career that included spells at Cardiff, Swansea, Portsmouth and Grimsby.

When he returned to Watford, Gilligan oversaw the Football in the Community scheme before becoming youth team manager and eventually Academy Assistant Director.

He left to become assistant manager to David Platt at Nottingham Forest and went on to hold the same post at MK Dons.

In 2007, Gilligan became a scout for the England national team as well as the Under-21s, playing a central role in developing the scouting system.

He returned to Forest in 2014 to become their Lead Professional Development Coach and also spent time coaching the first team before heading back to the FA as national coach educator.

In 2019 he gained his UEFA Pro License from the FA, having been on the same course as Steven Gerrard and Peter Schmeichel.

Two years later he was appointed as Watford’s Academy Head of Technical Development, where he has worked alongside another former Hornets player in Academy Director Richard Johnson.