Watford have confirmed long-standing goalkeeping coach Alec Chamberlain has been retained following the appointment of Giuseppe Sannino on an 18-month contract.

There were question marks over whether Chamberlain would remain on the coaching staff after the Hornets this morning confirmed Paolo De Toffol, who has been a goalkeeping coach at previous clubs, was one of the men hired.

However, the Golden Boys have this afternoon confirmed to the Watford Observer that Chamberlain will remain on the coaching staff.

Chamberlain has worked for Watford for 17 years as a player and goalkeeper coach and helped develop England goalkeeper Ben Foster, plus Under-21 internationals Jonathan Bond and Scott Loach.

The club initially announced the appointment of Sannino and three assistant coaches – De Toffol, Francesco Troise and Giovanni Cusatis - this morning.

But the Hornets have also confirmed Alberto Sebastiani has become the fourth assistant coach. The delay was because his arrival had not been formally completed when the club announcement was made this morning.

Watford also confirmed Gianfranco Zola’s ex-assistant coaches Dodo Sormani and Bastiano Porcu have left the club, as indicated by the latter’s message on Twitter last night.

Three of the coaches – Cusatis, Troise and De Toffol - all worked with Sannino at Chievo and Sebastiani knows him from their time together at FC Sudtriol more than a decade ago.

Watford Observer:

Cusatis played for nine different clubs in Italy - mostly in the third and fourth tiers.

He was a midfielder and enjoyed his most successful spells at Teramo, Siracusa and Legnano, where he also worked as a coach under Attilio Lombardo, who went on to coach at Manchester City.

The 46-year-old has since coached at several lower-league Italian teams, including a spell in charge of third tier side Pro Patria, of the Lega Pro, and Lega Pro second division team Alessandria.

De Toffol, 52, is a goalkeeper coach who played at a number of Italian clubs including Monza, Padova and Catanzaro in Serie B.

As well as Chievo, De Toffol also has experience working in Serie A with Treviso and most recently Cagliari.

Little is known about Troise as he has worked mostly in Italy’s amateur leagues, including a spell in charge of non-league side Torrecuso, but he had a meteoric rise to join Sannino’s coaching staff at Serie A side Chievo this summer.

Sebastiani was youth team coach at FC Sudtirol, who play in Lega Pro. The 48-year-old worked for FC Sudtirol for 16 years and is a club legend having helped the side secure promotion during the 2009/10 season whilst head coach.

He worked with Sannino between 1999 and 2001.