Slavisa Jokanovic has revealed that he only left Watford last month because the Hornets’ owners did not want him to stay.

The 46-year-old Serbian, who was appointed as the new manager of Maccabi Tel Aviv earlier this month, left Vicarage Road despite guiding Watford to promotion to the Premier League.

At the time of his departure it was claimed that he left the club because he was not offered a pay rise, but the former Tenerife and Chelsea player has set the record straight.

Jokanovic, who became the fourth manager to leave Vicarage Road in just 12 months, was replaced by Quique Flores in early June.

He told The Sun: “I felt there was no real will to renew my contract. My priority was to stay after promotion. It made sense to think that way. What happened next made me realise there was no real intention to renew my contract.

“I never demanded a pay rise like the one that was reported. I can guarantee you that it is completely false. I simply understood that we all deserved to improve our terms after the team’s success and the promotion to the Premier League.

“I felt I was being offered probably half of the lowest wages of a manger in the Premier League.”

Jokanovic was confirmed as Watford boss in October 2014 after Beppe Sannino, Oscar Garcia and Billy McKinlay had all had short spells in charge.

Watford are 4.75 to win their first game of the season against Everton and 1.60 to be relegated from the Premier League in 2015-16.