HEIDAR HELGUSON, the club's most expensive asset, has committed himself to Watford's First Division cause. The Icelander saw Graham Taylor and assured the manager that he would not be looking to quit a sinking ship, but also stressed he did not want to be sold.

'He came to see me,' said the manager. 'People had been running stories about Watford selling players in the event of relegation. He wanted to ask if we were looking to sell him, because he does not want that to happen.

'He has come with his partner and young son and they have rented a property and are now looking to buy and settle in.'

Said Helguson: 'I heard rumours about players leaving and I wanted to make sure what my future was. I want to stay here. I signed a three-and-a-half year contract and my aim is to fulfil those three-and-a-half years.'

The striker, who has good command of English but picks his words deliberately, added: 'I believe we will be up there, at least in the top half of Division One next season. I think, as a player, I will develop and I don't think it will do me any harm in the First Division, only benefit me.

'I am looking to buy a house. We have not found what we are looking for, but, when we have, we will hopefully put down some roots as you say.'

Taylor welcomed the commitment but also acknowledged that while it is not the club's intention to part with Helguson, 'if someone came in with a £5m bid, it would be rather foolish not to take that bid. That is unlikely to happen. We are not looking to sell him; he wants to stay and he wants to be reassured he will stay.

'This is another of the positive things to come out of the season.'

THE Watford boss pointed out the youthful elements of his current squad.

'David Perpetuini is more and more assured and more confident. He needs to open his game up a bit more. He is very neat and assured on the ball but he needs to look for opportunities, such as the ball Tommy Mooney hit for Tommy Smith to go through and score against Manchester United,' he said.

'Paul Robinson is of the same age and probably didn't have quite such a good game at Middlesbrough. He has been been about for a couple of years now and, sometimes, you forget what age a player is when you have been a regular for a couple of seasons.

'Dominic Foley has found himself involved, and, although only 22, is young in terms of football experience. He has excellent first touch, athletically he is good and has a hammer of a left foot, but he has to pick up what professional football is all about. Sometimes he waits for things to happen, instead of going in and making them happen.

'He needs to have a bit of what Tommy Mooney has got. He will make things happen. Tommy will go for it; Dominic will think it's not quite within his reach and won't go for it. But you will be surprised how many times you will get it, if you go for it.'

With Helguson only 22, Watford have a group of young players, 'a nucleus of people you would like to think will get better'.

WATFORD'S players will be attending HMS Raleigh and handed over to the Physical Training Instructors on July 16 to July 23, as part of the pre-season training.

'A number of football clubs have done it: Leicester, Manchester City have been. It is an excellent, demanding week,' said Taylor, who has yet to break the news to the players.

'They will be finding out about it through your column. It is an excellent, demanding week. And, in case you are wondering lads, there are a lot of early mornings, getting up at 6.15am.'

The manager sees it as 'a bonding week', plans to be there 'if only to observe', and says it will be down to him what time he rises in the morning.

'After the kind of year we have had, we ought to go away together for a week in a different environment with different people, looking at physical training. As well as being hard, it will be fun,' he said.

It is understood you can never stand still; everything is undertaken at the double - queuing as well.

Watford have pencilled in two cricket matches in the first week of pre-season (commencing July 10) and are awaiting confirmation.

The first team will have a friendly, away to Barnet on Saturday, July 29 (3pm), and are then away to Northampton on the evening of Wednesday, August 2.

The following day (August 3), the first team squad departs for Holland, playing on Friday, August 4, Sunday, August 6 and returning on Monday, August 7.

'I was over there again on Sunday, watching the game and meeting the organiser. We are in negotiations with four clubs at the moment, but don't know who they are. The opponents from the top and/or secondary division will be sorted in the next fortnight,' said Taylor.

The Nationwide League programme starts on Saturday August 12.

ALLAN SMART is fit and has been training this week, ready to contest a place in the squad on Sunday.

'Coventry are looking for their first away win: need we say anything else,' asked Taylor this week. 'They will be looking to end that run because, in the main, there is the view that we are Premiership fodder. Our performances have shown we are not that but it would be exceedingly nice to go out and finish with a win.

'Coventry themselves have stayed in there over the years. They are putting themselves and establishing themselves in that middle group. They have gradually hauled themselves into that middling group and have had to spend a lot of money to do that.'

Nicky Wright was upset when some newspapers mis-read Taylor's comments as suggesting the player is set to quit.

'He is not due to retire, as some have indicated,' said Taylor. 'What he has got is an injury in his knee, and it can develop into a condition that is not going to go away. That can be career-threatening.

'That is not to say he won't or can't play football for the next ten years. Time is needed. He got a second opinion and that confirmed the opinion of the first specialist.'

Next week, Taylor will be seeing all his players on an individual basis, as is usual at the end of his campaigns. 'There just wasn't the time last summer,' he said.

Darren Ward last scored a goal two years ago in the Reserves. 'I saw the ball go over to Smithy and I moved into the centre of the goal and it came to me. I enjoyed playing against Ricard. He's a strong lad.

'The games and the time at QPR really put me in good stead. It is a shame the season is coming to an end. I think I have come back more assertive and I am feeling better with every game,' he said.