Two promotions to the Premier League as a player give Rob Edwards first-hand experience of what it takes to get out of the Championship.

However, the Watford head coach arrived at Vicarage Road without the burden of a target or over-expectation.

“Nobody has told me we have to do anything,” he explained. “I have my own ambitions and the players have theirs, and I’m sure the supporters do too.

“Everyone wants to get promoted. I'm not going to hide away from that, but what I will say is I know how big that challenge is. Nothing is a given. We were in the Premier League last season but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to bounce back up.

“However, we have some very, very good players and we’ll be competitive. I think we are in good shape, but there’s probably a dozen other clubs saying the same thing.”

Edwards’ determination to get to know his players as people and help to engender a positive, honest atmosphere is founded in his own promotion experience.

He said: “I’ve been lucky enough to be promoted from the Championship twice as a player and on both occasions we had an unbelievable spirit in the group. We had a winning environment where everyone pushed each other but they also backed each other. So firstly I think spirit is really important.

“Then I’d say you need to be able to select your best players as often as possible. Sounds obvious, but you need fit, strong, robust players that you can keep putting out on the pitch. You need a lot of players who can handle 40-plus games. That enables you to be consistent in your work.

“Both times I was involved in successful Championship campaigns we had that combination of a great environment and consistency.”