Hornets chairman Jimmy Russo and his brother Vince have put £3.7m into Watford FC since January to stop the club from going into administration not once but three times.

Jimmy Russo also revealed at tonight's fans forum that when he returned to the club in January, chief executive Julian Winter told him the club had a £8.5m hole which needed to be filled before June 2010, even with an expected windfall of around £4m from player sales.

In an open and honest question-and-answer session with supporters at Vicarage Road, Russo did have some good news for fans though, when he told the audience he was “absolutely confident” the current claim for £300,000 from former chief executive Mark Ashton would not cost the club “one single penny”.

Russo had previously been reluctant to go into the full details of the club's finances while the transfer window was open.

He said: “The reason the fans forum now is that I felt we needed to say something to the fans. It is very hard to have one of these fans forums in the middle of the transfer window with the state of the club's finances.

“It would probably end up as a fire sale, especially if you only have one club after one player.

“The reality is and there is no spin, the facts are both my brother and myself, since January, have put £3.7m back into this club to keep it going.

“On three occasions we could have gone into administration. On three occasions, not just once. And I keep putting the money in, so I put my money where my mouth is.

“Do I want to do it? Not really. I would like other people to be doing it who have gone now.

“I have put my contribution into this football club and it is not the third time it is the fourth time, if you take the first time that we came in, that we have probably avoided a financial disaster and gone into administration.”

Russo, who was receiving questions alongside his brother and vice-chairman Vince and chief executive Winter during the first half of the forum, became chairman in March after returning to the board in January..

On his return earlier this year, Russo asked Winter for the true extent of Watford's money troubles.

Russo said: “Julian replied to me, 'even with player trading built in around £4m, we still have a shortfall of £8.5m'.

“What does that shortfall mean? It means we need £8.5m more to see to June 2010. That is what it means at the moment.

“The reality is we have sold some players and we are also trying to reduce the wage bill. What we have inherited is an extremely high wage bill and that is part of the process we have just gone through.

“It is ongoing. There is a plan for the future for the club and I am confident going forward.”

Russo informed fans he was planning to meet with representatives of major Watford shareholder and billionaire Lord Ashcroft later this month to discuss the club's finances.

The sales of Tommy Smith, Jobi McAnuff, Mike Williamson and Tamas Priskin has brought millions into Watford, although they will receive much of the money through installments over a long period of time rather than in lump sums this summer.

When asked whether most of the money will be put back into Malky Mackay's transfer funds, Russo replied: “No it won't because we have to repair the hole that we have. We still have commitments financially week on week to pay wages etcetera, so I will not commit all that money.

“Because if I committed all that money, we would go into administration and there is not one person in this room who wants us to go into administration. That is the last thing we want. So we have to be very careful.

“What everybody has to try and understand is what we inherited on this board.

“It is fair to say that when Vince and me left the club it was in a very good financial situation. When we returned, the club was not in a very good situation.

“Certain things that should happen on relegation did not happen.”

Russo insisted that had he been chairman when the club gained promotion to the Premiership then the derelict East Stand would have been built immediately after the club's return to the Premier League.

His brother Vince, who is overseeing the stadium development, said he is speaking to rugby club and 'tenants' Saracens over the possibility of re-building Vicarage Road.

Vince was adamant the East Stand will be knocked down eventually but said it could not be done until the bottom level of the South West corner development was completed, but work on this part of the stadium has been halted due to a lack of money.

He also revealed the club was looking into building a 'Watford village' at the Red Lion pub on Vicarage Road, which would include a crèche and restaurant.

On the subject of the current legal dispute between Watford and former chief executive Ashton, Jimmy said: “It has been well reported that Mark Ashton is suing the club for circa £300,000 in a compromise agreement that the club had set out with the previous regime.

“Julian and myself have done an incredible amount of work on this one and it is still in the hands of the lawyers.

“But I am absolutely confident that it will not cost this club one single penny.”

Russo claimed Watford's wage bill had been reduced by roughly a third since his return and that the club didn't need to sell any players in January, although they may if they feel it is right for Watford.

One fan criticised te Hornet's decision to sell fans-favourite Smith this summer but Russo insisted the forward did not want to discuss a new three year contract and wanted a new challenge.

However, the Hornets chairman was full of praise for Smith, who he claimed was one of four or five players at the club on Premier League wages, and stated he was welcome back at Vicarage Road “any time”.

Manager Malky Mackay headed the second part of the fans forum, with assistant Sean Dyche and first team coach David Kerslake either side of him.

Mackay refused to comment on whether the club wanted to sign former Hornet and QPR striker Heidar Helguson but did reveal they were still in discussions with five of the six targets they were talking to prior to last week's transfer deadline.