Everton's reliance on billionaire owner Farhad Moshiri was underlined on Saturday as newly released financial figures for last season showed they made a loss of £24.3m.
The deficit - at a time the Premier League clubs have never been richer - was due to a combination of transfer spending, a year-on-year wage bill increase from £77.5m to £80m, and reduced income across areas from gate receipts to commercial income to European revenue.
Club CEO Robert Elstone admitted: 'The results reflect a challenging year for the club.'
The club also confirmed that Moshiri had provided an interest-free loan of £80million, since the end of May this year to 'reduce the club's long-term debt' and to cover 'exceptional' items like sacked manager Roberto Martinez's pay-off.