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Watford are in the play off positions in the Championships and still have hopes of an automatic promotion place. Their financial future looks brighter after they were acquired in a £6.2m deal. Lord Michael Ashcroft, the rich and sometimes controversial deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, has acquired a 42 per cent controlling stake in the club through his investment company, Fordwat. The money raised will be used to pay off £4m of debts, including a £2m overdraft with Barclays Bank and a £1.5m loan to chairman Graham Simpson. The rest of the money will not be used to strengthen the team, but will be used as working capital to help the club break even in the future. Ashcroft said he hoped his backing could help take Watford into the Premiership, perhaps alongside another London ring town, Reading, whose place in the top flight already seems to be booked. Ashcroft described Watford 'as a good business that is making steady progress ... My investment will hopefully enable the management to take the club to the next level and beyond.' Ashcroft was already a minority shareholder in the club, having bought around six per cent in a 2001 rights issue. Watford has emphasised that Ashcroft does not intend to get involved in the day-to-day running of the Hornets. The investment is a major step forward for an unfashionable club that had its most glamorous years when Elton John was more directly involved. The singer raised £1.3m through a special concert towards the £8m cost of buying back the freehold of Vicarage Road last year. In the three years since the Simpsons took over operating losses have been reduced from a massive £10m to £2.1m last year. It is not known whether Conservative leader Dave Cameron will make an appearance at Vicarage Road which is located in a marginal New Labour constituency.
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