Deep in his programme notes for his first game as Watford manager, Claudio Ranieri made a couple of significant points.
Having got his delight at returning to the Premier League out of the way, spoken of the warm reception he had received at Vicarage Road and addressed his new club's brutality at getting rid of managers, he turned to the task at hand.
The first point he made was to state, quite clearly, that "being safe is not a fairytale for Watford". The second was a request: "Stay with us please."
After watching the 90 minutes that followed, it was clear that while it might not be a fairytale, Premier League survival would be a pretty notable achievement for Ranieri given the squad he has to work with.