Former head of medical Richard Collinge is taking Watford to court on grounds of racial discrimination over his sacking in September 2016.

There was surprise when Collinge departed Vicarage Road a month into the 2016/17 season, and at the time the club stated he had departed as a result of setting up a new medical centre at their London Colney training ground, which meant there was no longer a place for his role.

Then head coach Walter Mazzarri also distanced himself from the decision, and suggested those above him had made it.

Collinge disputes the club's official position and, according to a report in The Times, alleges he was sacked because he was English, rather than Italian.

His case, which is anticipated to last 12 days, will be heard at Watford Tribunal Hearing Centre in September.

Collinge's successor as "head of physiotherapy" was Giorgio Gasparini, an Italian, who had been at the club since almost day one of Gino Pozzo's ownership. Gasparini followed Gianfranco Zola from West Ham, where they had both worked together, when the latter was appointed Watford head coach.

Gasparini is still listed as Watford's head of physiotherapy, but the club's medical head has already changed twice since Collinge's departure, with Lucca Gatteschi lasting less than a season before his summer departure, and Gavin Benjafield, who arrived in July, also leaving the club more than two months ago.

Collinge, meanwhile, is now a senior clinical fellow at the University of Hertfordshire.

He spent two spells at Watford, first serving as first-team physiotherapist from 2005-2009, and then as head of medicine until 2011. He departed the club but returned in February 2015 as head of medical.