Watford confirm Gilligan joining Al Jazira in Abu Dhabi.

Watford are in advanced talks with another former Graham Taylor player to replace Jimmy Gilligan in one of the club’s top positions within the academy. Last month, the Watford Observer claimed that Gilligan was ready to leave his position as Head of Technical Development to accept a job offer in the Middle East. The Hornets have officially verified that the 61-year-old former striker has left to join Al Jazira team in Abu Dhabi, rather than a team in Saudi Arabia, as this publication previously reported.

Watford has moved quickly to appoint Gilligan’s successor to work with Academy Director Richard Johnson at London Colney. Although the transfer has yet to be officially, we hear it is a former player who, like the guy he will replace and Johnson, played for Watford under the club’s greatest manager. As a result, he will understand the importance of the youth system to the club’s heritage and community culture. Gilligan returned to work at London Colney in the summer of 2021, and his tenure coincided with a greater number of ‘homegrown’ players breaking into the first team.

Ryan Andrews is the most renowned of these, having made nearly 100 games since his debut in 2022/23. More recently, Zavier Massiah-Edwards, Amin Nabizada, and Leo Ramirez-Espain all emerged from the Under-18 squad last season to become first-team regulars and earn senior minutes. Gilligan, who was seen as a child by Tom Walley and brought into the first team by Taylor, made Watford history when he scored the club’s first goal in European competition, netting in a 3-1 defeat against Kaiserslautern in the 1983/84 UEFA Cup.

The striker had previously helped Watford win the 1982 FA Youth Cup, scoring in the second leg at Vicarage Road as the Hornets defeated Manchester United 7-6 on aggregate. He departed Vicarage Road in 1985, and has since played for Grimsby, Cardiff, Portsmouth, and Swansea. After retirement, Gilligan helped to establish Watford’s Football in the Community Scheme and eventually became assistant academy director. He worked with David Platt at Nottingham Forest before becoming a scout for England’s senior and under-21 teams.

In 2019, he received The FA’s top coaching accreditation, the UEFA Pro License, after completing the course with Steven Gerrard and Peter Schmeichel. Meanwhile, Watford have confirmed that assistant coach Zigor Aranalde has departed Vicarage Road, along with Damon Lathrope and Paul Robinson. The Watford Observer earlier claimed that assistant head coach Lathrope was fired following Tom Cleverley’s dismissal, while club legend Robinson’s contract had been terminated. The former left-back returned to the club in October 2024 as a member of Cleverley’s coaching staff, before being promoted to scouting at the end of January.Their departures have now been formally confirmed, as has Aranalde’s return to Vicarage Road as assistant coach in January, after previously serving in a similar role from January 2018 to September 2019.

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