Brentford boss Mark Warburton believes he was treated badly by Watford and admitted tonight's game was the first he looked for when the fixtures were released.

Warburton's rise through professional football has been remarkable and his full-time coaching career started at Vicarage Road.

Just over a decade ago, Warburton was a currency dealer who would trade between £1.5billion to £2billion a day.

Then at the age of 40, he took a huge gamble by quitting his city job and attempted a full-time career in football.

The former Leicester City apprentice and part-time footballer at Enfield climbed the ranks quickly at Watford and became Academy manager just a few years after quitting his former profession.

However, he was then demoted to assistant academy manager for 17 to 19-year-olds before he left the Golden Boys the following year.

Warburton admitted: "I had a fall out with one or two people [at Watford]. I was treated very shabbily but they have gone now so I've got no grudges against the club.

"I'm looking forward to going back there. I worked with some very talented people like Aidy Boothroyd, Malky Mackay Sean Dyche and Brendan Rodgers.

"It was the first fixture I looked for because of what happened but it will be a great feeling on a personal note to be in the dugout.

"After leaving Watford we set up the NextGen Series and then I came and started working at Brentford. Everything happens for a reason and I'm very happy how things have turned out."

When Warburton decided to quit his city job, he used some of his accrued wealth to travel around several of Europe's biggest clubs to learn from their academies. Sporting Lisbon, Ajax and Barcelona were just a few.

At Watford, where his son Jack was a scholar, he rose from part-time coach, to looking after the nine to 16 year-olds before eventually becoming Academy manager in 2008. It was a period of time which saw Watford create a link with the Harefield Academy, which Warburton described as "my baby".

However, a club reshuffle in 2009 resulted in Warburton being moved to assistant academy manager and left a year later.

The Hornets, who at that time were under the stewardship of chief executive Julian Winter, claimed Warburton departed to pursue other sporting interests and with the club's best wishes but the Brentford boss has since admitted he left on bad terms.

Alongside sports TV producer Justin Andrews, Warburton helped launch the European football competition, the NextGen Series, in 2011 and in February that year joined Brentford as an interim first-team coach alongside Nicky Forster.

But that summer he became Brentford's first sporting director and his rise since has been meteoric to say the least.

After turning down a similar role at West Bromwich Albion in December 2012, a year later he was promoted to manager following Uwe Rosler's decision to join Wigan Athletic.

This summer his incredible rise continued as he guided the Bees to promotion into the Championship.

The 52-year-old was unlikely to be the only Brentford staff member who went hunting for the fixture at Vicarage Road when the fixtures were announced. He has built a staff and squad which is full of former Watford employees, who tonight will return to Vicarage Road for the first time as an opposing team.

He has surrounded himself with several former ex-employees, both on the pitch and off it. Warburton brought former Hornets Ose Aibangee (now Brentford's academy director), Neil McIlhargey (head of performance analysis), Neil Greig (head of medical), Matt Springham (head of conditioning) and Bob Oteng (kit logistics manager) to Griffin Park. Richard Lee, Tommy Smith and Toumani Diagouraga are part of the playing squad, whilst chief executive Mark Devlin, who joined Brentford the same summer as Warburton, held a senior position at Vicarage Road in the late 1990s.

Former Watford fans' favourite Smith will have a late fitness test on a knee injury ahead of a potential return to Vicarage Road, although he is likely to only be on the bench even if he does recover in time.

Ex-Golden Boys goalkeeper Lee is out with a shoulder problem, striker Scott Hogan is a long-term absentee and midfielder Nico Yennaris will have a late fitness test.