Canaries chief executive Neil Doncaster has insisted there is money available to bring new players in and help the club out of its current crisis.He said the club was facing a challenging financial year, with the loss of the £7.

Canaries chief executive Neil Doncaster has insisted there is money available to bring new players in and help the club out of its current crisis.

He said the club was facing a challenging financial year, with the loss of the £7.1m parachute payment from the Premier League and the gap between the richer and poorer clubs was continuing to get wider.

But he insisted the club's debts were manageable and reducing and the club was looking at more ways of generating income to support the team.

He said manager Peter Grant had funds available to sign players on loan, or on a more permanent basis, like the deal which brought Dickson Etuhu to Carrow Road, for an initial loan period with an agreement to sign permanently in the January transfer window.

“Those who believe that the club is just days away from financial meltdown are simply wrong,” he said. “Yes we have a debt that is higher than we would ideally prefer - but it is structured and manageable.

“And yes while we remain in the Championship, the financial climate will remain very challenging - as it will for other clubs as well, but we have funds available to strengthen the squad.”

Doncaster said the board had continued to support Grant's quest for new players - and had yet to refuse an attempt to land a player.

“The situation remains very challenging, we are in a position very much akin to Crystal Palace and Southampton who came down at the same time as us,” he said.

“The truth is the wages of the Premiership and Championship players we are all competing for are continuing to increase, and that shows no sign of ending.

“We know that some clubs are prepared to pat massive wages and that is having a massive inflationary affect on the overall market.”