Watford Football Club, a housing association and a charity are in line to take over the last three community centres under the management of Watford Borough Council.

The council last year signed over control of Holywell community centre to the Watford CVS, while Watford YMCA now runs the Orbital community centre in Haines Way.

Now the Hornets’ Community Sports and Education Trust are set to adopt the Meriden community centre, Watford Community Housing Trust will take over the Leavesden Green community centre, and youth charity First Rung is expected manage Centrepoint community centre.

The deals are expected to be confirmed next month.

Watford Mayor Dorothy Thornhill said: “I’m really excited. They’re all different. It will really be interesting to see how they develop and to see where they take the community centres.

“They will still be supported by the council and they will still be our clients.”

The mayor described Watford FC’s involvement as a “coup” for the council.

“They really want to go places with it,” she said. “They will pull in kids from all over town. That one we want to be a real flagship.”

Watford FC’s community trust has previously run projects for aspiring footballers and other young people at the Meriden centre, in Garsmouth Way.

Rob Smith, community director, said: “We’ve done a community project there before and felt it had lots of potential as a facility and part of our future is having community ‘hubs’. So we put a tender bid in and we are now the preferred bidder.”

Meanwhile, Susannah Brunert, head of housing services for Watford Community Housing Trust, said: “We’re very excited by the prospect of managing Leavesden Green community centre. We look forward to shaping the future of this fantastic community facility with our local residents and partners.”

The council’s decision to hand over the running of its community centres, made in 2009, aimed to help the venues “fulfil their potential” after a 2005 report suggested they would be better managed by third party organisations.

Mayor Thornhill said: “You only need to go to the other two to think it was the right decision to do. The places are buzzing now. They’re well run with community activities at their core.

“I’m looking forward to them all being different. The town is so small you can get to any of them in ten minutes.

“It’s not a council’s core business to run community centres. There are other groups that for them, it is their core business and they can do it much better. That’s not to be disrespectful to the staff working there.

“Our staff are still there but they’re working for a new organisation. It’s like they’ve been given a new lease of life.

“They will all have their unique point and that will be what makes them successful.”