CHELMSFORD City manager Jeff King has added extra bite to his midfield with the capture of former Watford and England Under-19 player Jamie Hand.Hand, most recently with Blue Square Premier outfit Ebbsfleet United, is a tall, tough-tackling and steely central player who recently celebrated his 25th birthday.

CHELMSFORD City manager Jeff King has added extra bite to his midfield with the capture of former Watford and England Under-19 player Jamie Hand.

Hand, most recently with Blue Square Premier outfit Ebbsfleet United, is a tall, tough-tackling and steely central player who recently celebrated his 25th birthday.

He has already racked-up around 150 Football League appearances as well as international honours.

Hand spent five years as a trainee under Gianluca Vialli and Adie Boothroyd at Watford from 2001, making over 50 appearances and earning the Hornets' 'young player of the season award' in 2002/03.

Hand - who made his debut for Watford as an 18-year old substitute in an FA Cup tie against Arsenal - subsequently spend periods out on loan with Oxford United, Livingston (near where he lived in Scotland as a young child) and Peterborough United before a controversial spell at Blue Square South club Fisher Athletic in early 2006.

Hand didn't play a minute of football for Fisher, fuelling speculation his move was purely to enable him to spend the rest of that campaign with Northampton Town on loan to exploit a loophole in the transfer window.

Regardless, Hand helped the Cobblers out of Coca-Cola League Two and was reluctantly released before joining Chester City.

He made over 50 appearances at the Deva Stadium prior to a sideways move to Lincoln City in 2007/08, followed by another loan period with Oxford United.

Hand signed for Ebbsfleet United at the start of this season, making 24 appearances, one of his final games being the recently snow-abandoned home match against Burton Albion live on Setanta Sports.