The arrival of Julian Dicks as Watford’s new Assistant Coach reunites Slaven Bilic with someone he has worked closely with both as a player and as a head coach.

The West Ham legend started work at the training ground this week after leaving his previous job in America.

“It’s important to me to have Jules here,” said Bilic.

“He has been part of my footballing life in England. The only time he wasn’t with me was when I went to play at Everton.

“I played with him at West Ham and we were room-mates. He was on my coaching staff at West Ham and at West Brom, and now at Watford also.”

When asked if he had brought Dicks in to bring toughness and help the Watford players be the hard and fearless player he was for West Ham and Liverpool, Bilic laughed.

“We should never be scared of any game or any opponent,” he said.

“We have been in good form, and while there is always an issue around how you will perform after a break like we have just had, the same question can be asked of Hull and every other team in the Championship.

“Jules brings many things to the club, most of all he is an excellent guy.”

One thing Bilic steered clear of discussing too much in his pre-Hull press conference was the ongoing World Cup.

“Of course I’m watching it. I’m not going to lie and say I’m not. Every football fan in the world is watching it,” he said.

“But the priority for me is our game with Hull. I have watched a lot of Hull matches in the last week, more than I have watched World Cup matches.

“The focus is on getting three points on Sunday. Have I watched Croatia at the World Cup, have I watched England at the World Cup? Of course I have.

“But it would be disrespectful, and wrong, to be spending a lot of time talking about the World Cup when we have a match coming up, and another one the week after.”

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