Hornets reveal star sale reasons

Darius Henderson had to be sold to Sheffield United in order to cut the wage bill at Watford, according to chairman Graham Simpson.

The Hornets faithful have been left disgruntled by the departure of the club's top striker to a rival Championship side, while defender Danny Shittu could also be offloaded to Glasgow Rangers in another big money exit from Vicarage Road.

Despite criticism over the decision of the club to sell some of their top players, Simpson insists the end of their parachute payments means they had no option.

He said: "I reiterate this club will never return to those dark financial days of 2002 and hopefully fans will have that thought at the forefront of their minds when reflecting on this deal.

"A club of our size cannot sustain a massive wage bill without Premier League funding or additional investment.

"It is well documented our parachute payments run out at the end of this season and we simply have to reduce our wage bill ahead of that. If we didn't then we wouldn't be doing our jobs.

"We will continue to make decisions we feel reflect the current board's intentions to run this club on a sensible and financially solid basis."