Graham Simpson has revealed there are parties interested in buying Watford, the Hornets are sustainable until the end of the season but are likely to slip back into the red sooner rather than later, and that further player sales cannot be ruled out.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Watford Observer, the chairman also confirmed that he cannot guarantee funding will be found to finance a new East Stand as the global financial crisis continues to bite, but remains committed to ensuring that the club remains on a stable footing.

It is now three months since Simpson announced he was willing to step down from the Hornets helm and, along with major shareholder Lord Michael Ashcroft, was prepared to sell his stake in the club.

Speaking yesterday the chairman confirmed there have been up to ten enquiries for the business from “very wealthy” parties, based both in this country and abroad, while presentations have been made to around half of these.

“We still have interest in the club, there are still discussions and presentations going on, but I cannot honestly tell you whether we will have an offer,” Simpson said.

Asked if a deadline had been set for the sale of the club, the chairman responded: “I suppose there is. I haven’t actually put a date on it, but what we have to have is a club that’s sustainable going forward.

“So there comes a time when you say if we’re not going to get any interest then we will move forward and deal with the way we want to deal with the club because at this moment in time we have no offer coming through to us, so I have to think what are we going to do.”

But if no formal offer for the club is forthcoming, the chairman explained that ways will have to be found to ensure the club can continue to operate in the longer-term, although that process is currently on the back-burner.

“We are completely sustainable for the rest of the season, but we must be sustainable as a club for longer than that because we are a Plc, so we have to look further ahead to make sure that for the following year we are sustainable as well and that’s what we will do,” said Simpson.

“We can’t do that at the moment because if you’ve still got interest from people who want to buy you, you can’t really starting thinking about ‘what am I going to do in the summer of 2009?’ and forward, when actually it may be irrelevant.

“So that’s parked until we say ‘at this moment in time if it happens, we’re not going to have a buyer, therefore let’s look beyond the summer which we’ve already looked at and let’s look at the following year without the parachute payment as to how we make sure that the club is sustainable’?

However, the chairman is acutely aware that the longer time goes on without firm news of a new buyer or investor, the more it will fuel speculation and a sense that the club is unstable.

“The fact of the matter is we will have to live with that because we are trying to find somebody with deeper pockets than mine – I haven’t got the funds – but people will speculate and everybody has got their point of view,” he said. “But fans need to get real.

“Whether it’s the fans of Watford, whether it’s the fans of West Ham or wherever I am absolutely convinced I am doing the right thing and acting responsibly for this club to make sure that we have a sustainable club going forward.

“The world has changed, but I’ve been pointing out that’s going to happen for some time now, and it’s my job to make sure this club remains as a club and doesn’t disappear off the face of the earth. And I think perhaps, for the first time ever, you may see clubs disappearing.”

And to ensure Watford does not become one of those clubs, Simpson confirmed that if he is still in charge in January he would consider further player sales if he feels it is in Watford’s long-term interests.

“What we will do in January is look at the picture because there will be a number of things it will be dependent on such as if we haven’t found an individual investor, whether we’ve found other people that will put money into the club, but we do have a good relationship with our bank so we have funding in place,” he explained. “That’s excellent and I think in the current climate that should be appreciated – we have a really good relationship with Barclays.

“They look at all the accounts in absolute detail and they’re comfortable to support us moving forward.

“But I will look you in the eye and say if I feel it is necessary – and I don’t know which player, and I don’t know how much, because it depends in January where we are and whatever investment we’ve had in – but if I feel it is the right thing to do to make the club sustainable I will consider that definitely.”

Returning to the Hornets’ relationship with Barclays, Simpson confirmed the club do have an overdraft facility which they are likely to need to dip into within a matter of weeks, unless new or unexpected sources of funding come into the Hornets in the meantime.

Turning to the money required to build a new East Stand, Simpson, who has previously admitted that the money ring-fenced for it “was spent last year,”, said: “Do we have the funding to build the East Stand at this moment in time? No we don’t.

“Are we still looking at ways, clever ways, to raise the funds to do it because we don’t have the funds if we don’t find an investor? Absolutely spot on.

“Can I guarantee that will happen? No. Not in this day and age. Absoloutely not, but we’re doing the best we can.”