Charlton provide the blueprint for Watford

Watford, deep in debt but through to an FA Cup semi-final with Southampton at Villa Park, want to become another Charlton.

The First Division club, who almost went into administration earlier this season, still have serious financial problems despite a lucrative Cup run which has already seen them defeat two Premiership clubs, West Brom and Sunderland, on the way to the semi-finals.

The £700,000 Watford earned from their quarterfinal will ease their predicament but the Vicarage Road club still face major problems in the months to come, with a total of 19 players out of contract at the end of the season. Watford chairman Graham Simpson was delighted with Sunday's 2-0 quarter-final victory over Burnley and said: "We have been to The Valley and spent some time there listening as the club's chief executive, Peter Varney, generously imparted information which they have learned and utilised through years of hard work. Like us, Charlton are a communitybased club and we must look to follow their example because we have similar potential."

Simpson, who took over last season, also paid tribute to manager Ray Lewington, who succeeded Gianluca Vialli last summer. "We had a short-list of nine candidates," he said. "But I felt very strongly at the time that we got the right man and that opinion has since been reinforced. Ray has a great in-depth knowledge of the game and he's a great man-manager. Put simply, he had all the qualities we felt we needed."

Included in the club's long-term plans is the construction of a new main grandstand and the re-purchase of the stadium, currently on a sale and lease-back arrangement.

First, however, Watford will be looking at ways of repaying part or whole of the 12 per cent which the players agreed, six months ago, to forfeit from their monthly salary in order to help the cashstrapped club.