Former Watford midfielder Ross Jenkins has been appointed the new manager at recently-relegated Boreham Wood.

He has installed Hornets legend Lloyd Doyley as first-team coach, meaning the former defender extends his time at Meadow Park having been assistant manager to Luke Garrard since 2021.

At 33, Jenkins is even younger than Watford head coach Tom Cleverley, who is 34.

The pair played for Watford 17 times together, including Cleverley’s debut on loan from Man United in August 2009: a 4-2 win at Nottingham Forest in which Cleverley scored the last goal and Jenkins got the assist for Tommy Smith to put Watford 3-1 up.

Jenkins and Doyley played together 75 times for the Hornets between 2008 and 2012.

The new manager has brought Wood legend Mark Ricketts back to the club as first-team assistant manager following his decision to hang up his boots at the end of last season.

Jenkins began his playing career with a two-year Academy scholarship at Watford in 2007, and made his first-team debut on November 15, 2008, in a 2-1 defeat away at Barnsley.

He ended up making 95 appearances, scoring two goals in the process – and also earned five England Under-20 caps while at Vicarage Road.

After loan spells at Plymouth Argyle and Barnet, Jenkins left Watford in the summer of 2015 and joined Crawley Town.

His career then took in spells playing in Bulgaria, Romania and Norway, before he moved back to the British Isles in 2018 when he joined Scottish side Hamilton Academicals.

However, persistent injury problems led him to retire from playing in 2018 at the age of just 28.

Jenkins’ coaching journey began at Oxford City as assistant manager before becoming manager, where he then guided the Hoops to promotion to the Vanarama National League for the first time in the club’s history during the 2022–23 season after a 4-0 win against St Albans City in their play-off final.

However, they were relegated at the end of the season just gone, and Jenkins left Oxford to take the job at Boreham Wood.

The Wood have become known as cup giantkillers in recent seasons, beating the likes of Blackpool, Wimbledon and Bournemouth and acquitting themselves very well in a 2-0 FA Cup Fifth Round tie at Everton in 2022.

They reached the National League play-offs in 2023, but lost to Notts County in the semi-finals.

Garrard’s departure was confirmed before the end of the season just gone, during which Wood were relegated from the National League after nine seasons.

They drop into National League South, meaning they will face fellow Hertfordshire sides Hemel Hempstead and St Albans City next season.