THE Hornets were offered the chance to schedule tomorrow's (Saturday's) kick off at noon, but Luca Vialli turned this down.

It would have resulted in the players staying overnight at a hotel and being awakened at 7am and then having their pasta three hours before the kick off.

By maintaining the 3pm kick off, even though it clashes with the England friendly, the players will be able to have their pasta at noon, as normal.

"Luca preferred to go for the normal kick off time," said assistant manager Terry Byrne.

"The last I heard, the club were attempting to arrange the highlights of the England first half so they could be shown on the big screen at half time."

Former Hornets' midfielders Carlton Palmer, who had a loan period with the club last year, and Kevin Richardson have taken over as manager and coach at tomorrow's opponents Stockport County.

"We played against Carlton Palmer when we met Sheffield Wednesday, and I know he came on loan to the club last year," said Vialli. "He is young, and this is his first experience as manager.

"He will have plenty of ideas, but I hope he is not going to work miracles in two or three days and give us any awkward moments."

* Allan Smart has joined Stoke City on a month's loan with a view to a permanent deal.

His three months at Hibernian were curtailed as the Scottish club did not have a further first team game before the loan period officially finished.

* Dominic Foley, who picked up a hamstring injury while on loan to QPR, underwent a minor arthroscope operation on his knee, to wash out the joint. The latter operation was in the pipeline, so Watford jumped at the chance to speed it through while the player was already laid off.

* Promising young wide player Lee Cook is expected back in training within the next two weeks. He is undergoing extra fitness work with Luke Anthony.

* There is no light at the end of the tunnel for Allan Nielsen. He has seen the specialist, but is continuing work building up for a return.

However, reports he is out until after Christmas are wide of the mark.

"It is not going to be a quick job, and hasn't been," said the manager. "But I would hope he will be back before that."

November 9, 2001 10:30