Pride in the badge is something fans cling on to even when everything they see, hear and read makes it hard to – and that’s certainly been the case at Watford for a few seasons now.

Similarly, lack of pride has often been at the root of some of the worst performances seen on the pitch, the visibly poor attitude of players and the ultimate failure of many head coaches at Vicarage Road.

Since Tom Cleverley took over, that pride has quickly been restored.

At Ipswich on Wednesday, there were gritted teeth, clenched fists and sweat-stained shirts all over the pitch as the players gave a performance that showed they had the same pride in the badge as the 1,500 or so fans who had made the trip to Portman Road.

Unlike tactics, playing style, game plans or anything else that can worked upon on the training pitch, pride is something not so easily passed from coach to player.

Cleverley himself was a player who gave everything for Watford and it was obvious he did so with immense pride.

“It was one of the things I looked at when I came in,” he said.

“You could perhaps see a team that was winding down, lacking motivation: no real fear of going down, no chance of going up.

“So firstly I look at personal pride in each player, and alongside that the work that me and my staff has done has always been positive.

“I think it helps that I was a good teammate to 90% of these lads and I was always respectful.

“I always tried to do my best for the team and I think that plays a part because you can see the lads are working for me, and I am very appreciative of that.

“There is a lot of hard work going into everything behind the scenes on the training pitch, and ultimately you then come back to that personal pride - and the lads have shown a lot of that in the five games.”

Cleverley stressed that while he is the public face of the new coaching team, the likes of Armand Kavaja, Damon Lathrope and Jimmy Gilligan have all played their part in restoring pride in the group.

“As a coaching staff we’re very streamlined in what we do, as well as very, very hard-working,” he said.

“We try to reinforce the key messages on a daily basis and you have to be relentless with that.

“The first signs of any bad habits creeping in and you have to nip it in the bud straight away, because they can have a negative effect straight away.

“I’m very experienced in seeing the dynamics of a good dressing room and a bad dressing room, and any bad habits have to be addressed.

“But, to be fair, those things have been minimal in the time since I came in.”

As he did on Wednesday, Cleverley will face a fellow 30-something at St Mary’s tomorrow.

“Coaches like Kieran McKenna and Russell Martin have gone on a different journey to me and have a bit more substance in terms of experience,” he said.

“But it’s just like with players – if you’re good enough, you’re old enough.

“So I do feel I am ready for this role, and I feel at home doing it.

“I see that in the coaching world, and I really respect the journeys that Kieran and Russell have been on so far.

“They are both really top coaches who have been doing great things with their teams.

“Russell’s style of play has been there at MK Dons and Swansea, and he is really respected by other coaches.

“McKenna, Farke, Corberan and Martin are four of the best coaches outside of the Premier League that have got really bright futures and are top coaches now.

“So it’s been a really nice challenge personally, but we all know that this league is about 46 games and they’re all important as each other.

“Just because we’re playing the bigger teams doesn’t mean we should take the other teams any more lightly.

“This league poses different challenges and threats in every game.”

The other characteristic of Cleverley’s teams so far has been belief – in each other, in the team and in their ability to take on the best opposition.

“It’s a mentality,” he said.

“The ability of the squad is never questioned, but sometimes the mentality of the squad can be.

“Bad experiences in games earlier in the season can make you lose that belief, and lose the vision of where you see yourself as a team.

“I want to rebuild that, because I see us as competing at the highest level in this league.

“So I want to start gathering that belief back, and that begins with commitment and character, which we’ve seen plenty of in my first five games.”