The Watford team was picked by committees until 1903 which was the year that the former England player John Goodall was appointed player-manager. The effect was immediate as Watford gained promotion in the Southern League First Division in 1903-2004. Goodall quit as an athlete in 1907 and quit the club in 1910. The club replaced him with its captain Harry Kent, who became famous for his financial oversight of the club. Under Kent, Watford frequently made an income from transfers. Kent was the manager of the club who won an historic Southern League title in 1914-15 but missed out on winning a second one in 1919-20 due to a goal-adjusted average before resigning in 1926. His immediate successors who succeeded him - Fred Pagnam, Neil McBain and Bill Findlay - all played for Watford prior to and in the beginning of their management tenures. None of them could manage the team to advancement to in the Third Division South, although Findlay did manage Watford to an historic Third Division South Cup win in 1937.
Prior to the departure of Findlay at the end of 1947 Watford were managed by five different managers over the course of 44 years. All of them were players with the squad. Six managers ran the club between 1947 and 1956. Only two of them were ex- Watford players. After another 3 years of management with McBain from 1956 to 1959 the Watford's next three managers led more improved teams. Ron Burgess led Watford to advancement out of in the Fourth Division in 1959-60. Bill McGarry was only in charge for a single season (1963-64) however, Watford finished 3rd in the Third Division, the club's highest Football League finish until that date. The successor Ken Furphy matched that achievement in 1966-67and guided Watford into winning its first Third Division title in 1969 and then led the team towards its debut FA Cup semi-final in 1970. After Furphy's departure in 2001, Watford entered a period of decline, suffering decline under the subsequent manager George Kirby and Mike Keen.
Graham Taylor took charge of Watford in 1977. He guided the club to advancement into the Third Division in 1978, the Second Division in 1979, and finally, the First Division for the first time in the history of Watford in 1982. After finishing second within the First Division in 1983, Watford took part with the club in European contest for the first time between 1983 and 1984 and reached an final of the 1984 FA Cup final. Taylor was dismissed from the club at the close of the 1986-87. The six permanent managerships (Dave Bassett Steve Harrison, Colin Lee, Steve Perryman, Glenn Roeder and Kenny Jackett), Watford slid from 9th in the top division in 1987 to 13th in the third division in 1997. Taylor was appointed manager at the beginning 1998-97 season. Taylor led the team to successive promotions, however, he was not able to prevent the club's relegation to the Premier League in 1999-2000. After Taylor's departure at the end of 2001 Watford were ruled by twelve manager. Of them, Aidy Boothroyd took Watford back to the Premier League in 2006, however, Watford were dropped in 2007 before Boothroyd left in 2008.
After Watford's acquisition through the Pozzo family, Gianfranco Zola was appointed the head coach. He replaced Sean Dyche, who was the centre back's coach in July of 2012. Zola led Watford to third place during the Championship in 2012-13, but resigned on the 16th of December, 2013. Zola was replaced with the fellow Italian Beppe Sannino, who joined the team in December 2013. Sannino led the team to the final league spot 13th.
Despite winning four of the five league games during the 2014/15 season and having Watford being in second place the position of Sannino was the focus of speculation due to rumours of dressing room disturbances and players becoming discontented with his method of coaching. Sannino quit his post as the head coach on 31 August 2014, after just eight months as head coach. The final game he was in charge of was a 4-2 victory at home against Huddersfield Town the day before.
Sannino's departure triggered an unsettling sequence of events that resulted in Watford being able to hire three more head coaches within less than one month. On September 2, Watford confirmed the appointment of the former Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Oscar Garcia as the successor to Sannino and beat off the competition of the rival Championship club Leeds United for his services. Garcia was, however, forced to resign of his position on the 29th of September, 2014 due to reasons of health, after being admitted to hospital for chest pains only a couple of weeks before. Billy McKinlay, who had just been appointed the first-team coach on September 26, 2014 He was appointed his successor immediately on the same day . It was his first management position. The following week, McKinlay was released by mutual consent , and the former Partizan head coach Slavisa Jokanovic was appointed to replace him, possibly since the club wanted the head coach with more knowledge.
On the 4th of June, the 4th of June in 2015 Quique Sanchez Flores named his new coach, the replacement for Jokanovic who was unable to agree on terms for his contract. Despite leading his newly-promoted Watford to an impressive mid-table spot within the Premier League and the semi-final of the FA Cup, it was revealed on May 13, 2016 the news that Sanchez Flores would be leaving the club at the conclusion of the season.
After the departure of Sanchez Flores, Walter Mazzarri was announced as Watford's new head coach on the 1st of July, 2016. Mazzari's time as manager came to an end at the close in the current season. On May 27, 2017, Marco Silva was appointed head coach. On January 21, 2018 Javi Garcia was named the head coach after Silva's departure. Gracia was greeted with great acclaim following his appointment following an extremely successful year in 2018-19 Premier League campaign which saw Watford achieve their highest number of points during English Premier League football. After an unsatisfactory beginning to the 2019-20 season Javi Gracia was dismissed and replaced by former director Quique Sanchez Flores. After that, Quique Sanchez Flores had to be dismissed following a loss of 2-1 to Southampton on December 1. The 6th December of 2019 Nigel Pearson agreed to take the role of manager and Craig Shakespeare as his assistant who was on a contract for a short time until the end season. The club fired him on the 19th July of 2020, with two games remaining after which Hayden Mullins appointed as interim coach until the close in the current season.
In the 2020-21 season there were two additional coaches. The first was Vladimir Ivic, and followed by Xisco Munoz who later guided Watford toward being promoted towards the Premier League. Xisco continued to be the coach of the team through in the 2021-22 Premier League campaign until October 2021. He was then later replaced by Claudio Ranieri from October 2021 until January 2022. A former England coach Roy Hodgson took hold of the team from February 2022 to the season's conclusion, when Watford ended up 19th and were eliminated out of in the Premier League.