He played 382 games in his club career, was capped 13 times by England and even registered four appearances at the London 2012 Olympics.

Yet Tom Cleverley said yesterday he feels he has greater belief in himself as a coach than he did as a player.

The 0-0 draw with Preston was his fourth game as Watford’s interim head coach, and he spent the first part of the season in charge of the club’s Under-18s.

It’s a fledgling coaching career but clearly the 34-year-old has great confidence in his ability to be able to take the learnings from that excellent 16 years on the pitch and convert it into something even better now he’s in the dug-out.

And, whatever happens after this season is over, the nine games he has been given provide a shop window for his coaching ability whether his future lies at Vicarage Road or somewhere else.

“I’ve got a lot of belief in myself, probably more as a coach than I did as a player,” Cleverley said.

“I’m confident we can do a really good job and I suppose it is a platform for me.

“It’s probably a platform that has come before I expected it, but I’m not thinking of any personal gain.

“All I think about is trying to get as many points as I can before the end of the season.”

Former striker Danny Graham was at the game and spoke on the pitch at half-time, saying that when he played with Cleverley (who was still a teenager at the time), he hadn’t predicted then he would move into coaching – but added that his ex-teammate looked comfortable in the dug-out.

“Yeah, I do feel comfortable in the dug-out,” Cleverley said.

“It wasn’t something that was on my horizon until I came back to Watford as a 27-year-old.

“I thought then I had a role to play in developing young players, and it was then that I really got a passion for coaching.

“So I agree with Danny – as a 19 or 20-year-old lad I don’t think I could have seen myself as moving into management.”

As with every game since he took over, and possibly for the rest of the season, the Watford boss was asked afterwards whether he had thought about the possibility of getting the job permanently.

“I’ve not put too much thought into it being honest,” he admitted.

“My two objectives since I came in have been to win the next game and to make sure the belief comes back through the whole club so it can be a promotion contender next year.

“Personal circumstance have been put to one side a little bit, but whether it’s this summer or at some point in the future I would love to manage this football club.

“I’m never going to deny that, but for now I’m concentrating on the job in hand.”