IN his exclusive Eastern Daily Press column today City Chief Executive Neil Doncaster revealed majority shareholders Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones have agreed to personally commit £2m of funding to the Club this season to help the Club deal with the financial challenges it faces.

He also paid tribute to departing Directors Andrew and Sharon Turner for their contribution to the Club since they joined the Board in May 2007.

He wrote: "With the resignation of Andrew and Sharon Turner being announced this week, I would like to pay tribute to their relatively brief, but nonetheless vitally important, contribution to Norwich City Football Club over the 15 months that they were on the Club's Board. Andrew and Sharon joined us back in May 2007 and immediately loaned the Club £2million - a sum which enabled then Manager Peter Grant to bring in the likes of Jamie Cureton, Daryl Russell and David Marshall that summer.

"Over the intervening period, the Turners threw themselves into life at Carrow Road, working long and often anti-social hours to help the Club maximise income and cut costs - a process made all the more important by the huge increases to parachute payments to those clubs recently relegated from the Premiership.

"The influx of foreign owners, whose apparent willingness to spend their wealth in the pursuit of football success, predicates against community family clubs such as ours. And this too made the process of living within our means all the more important.

"The Turners' business acumen and huge success with the growth of Central Trust enabled them to bring to bear a wealth of relevant experience to the development of the business of the Club and our very best wishes go to them and their family for their future.

"Chairman Roger Munby conducted a series of media interviews this week following news of the Turners' departure. In those interviews, Roger was quick to pay tribute to the impact that the Turners had in their short time at Carrow Road and to thank them for the crucially important £2.5million interest-free loan that remains in the Club.

"Whilst identifying the scale of the financial challenges facing the Club, Roger also pointed out the active and ongoing talks that are taking place with potential new investors to support the Club's finances going forwards. The immediate future at Carrow Road may not involve the likes of Robinho or Dimitar Berbatov. But with Delia and Michael now committing a further £2million of their own personal funds to the Club, the future is far from bleak.

"Norwich City remains a proud, robust, family football club with majority shareholders who are happy to use their personal wealth to support the ambitions of Glenn Roeder, his squad and the phalanx of committed, loyal supporters who regularly cram into Carrow Road."