THE Watford Academy has produced some terrific talent over the years and to this day continues in the fine tradition of the club in producing top-class young footballers.

Boss Brendan Rodgers has a large number of homegrown players at his disposal at present, including Richard Lee, Adrian Mariappa, Lloyd Doyley,  Tommy Smith, Jordan Parkes, Theo Robinson, John-Joe O'Toole, Liam Henderson, Lewis Young and Ross Jenkins.

Here is a selection of players who have progressed from the youth team and gone on to become professional footballers.

Darren Bazeley

Debut: Versus Hull City (02.10.1990)

Watford Career Stats: 221 (60), 27 goals

Left: May 1999 to Wolverhampton Wanderers

Part of the youth setup since 1989, Bazeley was a converted right back and spent 10 years at Watford. A particular highlight was his hat trick against Southend. In 1999 he snubbed the Premiership in favour of a move to Wolves before moving on to Walsall after three years.

During his time at the Saddlers he was invited for a trial by the Auckland Kingz but remained at Walsall. He did, however, return to New Zealand to sign for the reformed Kingz, the New Zealand Knights.

After playing every minute of every game during his last season for the Kingz, he moved to take up an area coach/player position for Waitakere United and is still a regular.

David Connolly

Debut: Versus Scarborough (17.01.1995)

Watford Career Stats: 23 (10), 15 goals

Left: October 1997 to Feyenoord

The striker began his Watford career in 1994 and went on to score 15 goals in 34 appearances. He left when his contract was up in 1997 to go to Dutch giants Feyenoord and had two loan spells to first Wolves and then a two season loan to Excelsior Rotterdam where he scored 42 goals.

Moved on a free to Wimbledon and displayed his natural goalscoring ability to once again score 42 goals in two seasons. West Ham snapped him up for £285,000 but after one season he joined Leicester City for £500,000.

Newly promoted Wigan signed him for £3m to aid their fight to stay up, but he did not make many appearances. Then Roy Keane took him to Sunderland for £1.4m where he played regularly in their promotion winning side.

Bruce Dyer

Watford Career Stats: 82 (32), 23 goals

Left: March 1994 to Crystal Palace for £1.1m

Dyer played for his ninth club when he joined Rotherham on loan in September 2007.

In his first full season with the 'Orns, Dyer notched 8 goals in 35 appearances before becoming the first teenager to be sold for over one million pounds as Crystal Palace forked out £1.1m.

In his four years there he proved a lethal finisher but was allowed to leave for Barnsley. In 200 games for the Tykes he managed 64 goals in all competitions. He then returned to Vicarage Road after Ray Lewington snapped him up on a free. Several injuries and the form of Heidar Helguson and Danny Webber restricted his appearances and he was allowed to leave by the newly appointed Aidy Boothroyd in 2005.

He joined Stoke, then Millwall on-loan, then Sheffield United before signing for Doncaster Rovers.

Clint Easton

Debut: Versus Sheffield United (Coca Cola Cup) (16.09.1997)

Watford Career Stats: 57 (19), 2 goals

Left: June 2001 to Norwich for £100,000

Left sided midfielder who played 79 times for Watford after joining the youth setup in 1994. Could not become a regular and was sold to Norwich for £100,000. When the Canaries gained promotion, he was released and joined Tony Adams at Wycombe. He then moved to Gillingham on a free transfer.

After his release from the Gills, he joined Hereford United in the summer and is playing a key role in helping them gain promotion from League Two.

David James

Debut: Versus Millwall (25.08.1990)

Watford Career stats:

Left: July 1992 to Liverpool for £1m.

International Career: England U21 debut versus Republic of Ireland (13th November 1990), full debut versus Mexico (29th March 1997). James has won over 30 England caps

Since leaving Vicarage Road the goalkeeper has played for a number of top clubs including Liverpool, Aston Villa, West Ham United, Manchester City, and now Portsmouth.

Although he made his international debut in 1997, he remained as David Seaman's understudy until 2002 where he finally became England number 1. James also made history in 2003 whilst playing for West Ham after their relegation to The Championship. He did this by becoming the first player since Michael Gray in 1999 to win an England cap whilst playing outside a top flight league.

He currently holds the record for the highest amount of Premiership clean sheets and also holds he record number of Premiership appearances for a goalkeeper.

During his spell with Watford, James won the Player of the Year award at the club for his efforts in the 1990/91 season.

Outside of football he has a keen interest in charity work and has been involved with raising AIDS awareness as well as setting up the David James Foundation in order to develop better farming practices across Africa.

Gifton Noel-Williams 

Debut: Versus Sunderland (24.09.1996)

Watford Career Stats: 127 (66), 41 goals

Left: June 2003 to Stoke City

Beginning his career in 1996, the tall, lanky forward was a regular in his opening seasons and he looked a real prospect. Unfortunately, a horrendous tackle from Paul Butler led to a badly damaged knee and now he has arthritis in both.

Noel-Williams then moved to Stoke. Whilst there he regained some of his lost pace and slowly began to return to something of his previous self. A free transfer to Burnley followed but he was targeted by certain areas of fans and was transfer-listed.

Spent time on loan to Brighton and used this to improve his performances. He did so well he was removed from the transfer list. In January 2007 he was surprisingly snapped up by Spanish second division side Real Murcia for £50,000.

Despite Real reaching La Liga, Noel-Williams was not destined for Spain's top flight and was sold to Elche in the Segunda Division.

Gary Porter

Debut: Versus Wolverhampton Wanderers (03.12.1983)

Watford Career Stats: 429 (57), 57 goals

Left:  May 1997 to Walsall

This Watford legend started in the youth team in 1984. A creative left footed midfielder, who was never one to shirk a tackle, he made 464 appearances in 13 years at Vicarage Road.

In his last season he broke his leg and a free transfer to Walsall followed his recovery and he later had spells at Scarborough and Boston. Is now a football agent.

Paul Robinson

Debut: Versus Luton Town (29.10.1996)

Watford Career stats: 231 (21), 9 goals

Left: October 2003 to West Bromwich Albion for £375,000.

Robinson made his name for the Hornets as a hard man as well as a dependable, reliable full back. He was in the team in the successful play-off final victory over Bolton in the 1998/99 season.

By the time he moved to WBA, 'Robbo' had firmly established himself as a fans' favourite due to his passion and work rate. He has since become a cult hero at WBA for those same reasons. During his spell at the helm, Bryan Robson even led the calls for the player to receive an England call up.

Darren Ward

Debut: Versus Luton Town (20.04.1997)

Watford Career Stats: First spell - 63 (4), 3 goals, second spell (2008 on loan) - 9, 1 goal.

Left: 13th October 2001 to Millwall for a fee of £500,000.

Ward signed for Watford in 1995 and made eight appearances in his first season before a broken leg saw him manage just one game in each of the following two campaigns.

He was then loaned out to Queens Park Rangers where and upon his return to the Golden Boys found himself in the first team. Ward played regularly in the final two months of the season and following Watford's relegation to The Championship he retained his place in the side playing 40 times.

However, the appointment of Gianluca Vialli as club manager brought huge changes to the playing staff, of which Darren would become a casualty. He was sold on to Millwall and his last game for them came in the FA Cup Final against Manchester United.

The following season saw him sign for Crystal Palace for a fee of £1.1m; he managed 63 games for The Eagles before being snapped up by Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer of 2007 for an undisclosed fee.

Ward returned to Vicarage Road in late 2008, as the Hornets suffered an injury crisis. He arrived from Wolves and made nine appearances.

Ashley Young

Debut: Versus Millwall (13.09.2003)

Watford career stats: 83 (27), 22 goals

Left: 23/01/2007 to Aston Villa for £9.65m.

International Career: England U21 debut versus Switzerland (6th September 2006), Young received his first full international call-up in August 2007 but finally made his England debut on the 16th Nov in a friendly v Austria.

Young was born in Stevenage and attended the John Henry Newman School alongside Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton. He was originally turned away from the Watford academy but his hard work paid off when he managed to prove himself and was offered a professional contract by the club.

Ray Lewington handed him his debut as a late substitute where he came off the bench to score in a 3-1 victory over Millwall. He managed to win the club's Young Player of the year award the season after and in the 05-06 season he truly came to prominence under the guidance of Aidy Boothroyd where he made 41 appearances, scoring 15 goals in the process as Watford were promoted to the Premiership.

A number of impressive displays in the Premiership caught the eye of Martin O'Neill and the youngster left Vicarage Road to join Aston Villa, which is the record fee for a player departing the club.