The Premier League might be the most followed and publicised football league on the planet, but for the most part its clubs prefer to keep their day-to-day business a closely-guarded secret.

But for the past week Telegraph Sport Chief Football Correspondent Jason Burt has been granted rare, exclusive access behind-the-scenes at Watford as they prepared for tomorrow’s game with Newcastle, where he was able to record everything from training sessions to the players’ games of pool, and interview everyone from manager Javi Gracia to the physios who dole out specially-formulated tuna wraps.

This is his diary of a week in the life of a Premier League club.

Tuesday

8.30am

Javi Gracia, Watford’s head coach, is sitting in his office at the club’s training ground in London Colney.

The quietly-spoken, workaholic 48-year-old has already been there for close to two hours. It gives him thinking time and, as he puts it, “I like being here alone,” even if company is never far away for top-flight football managers. An hour previously, he has already had his first meeting of the day with his staff over a coffee; there will be another this afternoon.

Gracia is invariably the first member of staff to arrive and will be the last to leave at around 7pm. He likes it that way. “Every day, every moment,” he says when asked how often he talks to his assistant Zigor Aranalde, a fellow Spaniard - one of many on Watford’s staff.