CITY Chief Executive Neil Doncaster says the loss of £2.3m revealed in the latest NCFC annual accounts released today shows the financial situation at Carrow Road is stable, although investment over and above the revenue generated by the Club remains essential to support Glenn Roeder's ambitions.

Taking into account the financial year ending in May 2008 and post balance sheet events which cover the period since the end of the financial year, joint majority shareholders Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones, with support from Michael Foulger and former Directors Andrew and Sharon Turner, have committed more than £3m to the Club - and that has facilitated a robust playing budget of £8.5m for Roeder and his staff to work with this season.

Considering the financial year under scrutiny is the first without approximately £7m of Premier League parachute payments, Doncaster said many could have been forgiven for expecting a much higher annual loss figure.

He commented: "The figures in many ways should be a slightly pleasant surprise to many people who would have expected them to be a lot worse than that.

"With the loss of the parachute payment bringing down our turnover substantially last year, I think there would have been a number of people expecting a loss of six or seven million, so to be able to report a loss of £2.3 million is encouraging.

"The situation at Carrow Road remains stable and under control. It's not half as bleak as some would have you believe, but clearly there is a continued need for investment into the Club if we're to support the ambitions of Glenn Roeder and supporters, which we all want to see happen."

Doncaster confirmed the playing budget for the season has already been met and therefore any further transfer activity would need to be financed by the sale of players or other Club assets - or further contributions from current or, potentially, new Directors.

He told First News: "We make available the maximum amount that we can and then it's up to Glenn to spend that as he see's fit. We've already said we've met the player budget of £8.5 million that's been allocated this season, and any future spending this season will therefore have to come out of sales of assets or indeed further financial support from the Board.

"Finances are never straightforward at Championship clubs but it remains the case that if we're in the situation where further investment is required going into the transfer window, we'll do whatever we can to support Glenn as we have done with every manager over the past 11 years."

The Club remains in talks with a number of individuals interested in potential investment - and Chairman Roger Munby said the Club's special relationship with its supporters and with the wider Norfolk community are a key factor for the Board during those talks.

He commented: " If you look at stats from a UK football club point of view, we would say based on the interpretation of those stats that we have a supporter base of some 150,000 people. About 40,000 will attend Carrow Road in any one season, and the casual supporter comes four or five times. The fact that we work so closely within the community via organisations such as Football in the Community and Canaries for the Community - there are few clubs who can claim that degree of community involvement and reputation in respect of their catchment area.

"So to bring a potential investor into that, the kind of people we want have to have the best long-term interests of the Club at heart.

"When it comes to fresh ownership of football clubs generally, there has to be representation of the ownership on the ground and close to the Club; people who live and work in the local community. That doesn't have to be the case for the investor themselves, but I think they have to be alive to the idea that the heart and soul and the future of successful football clubs continues to lie in the community."

Munby added that this should not be interpreted as a closed door to foreign investors, provided those foreign investors appreciated the value of the Club's relationship with its local community: "I think television companies would argue that part of the product that they project is dependant also on a full and vibrant stadium - you can't really show football successfully or pretend that it's the national game full of vibrancy if there are empty seats as part of the television picture. I don't doubt that there are people from abroad involved in Premiership clubs who have their own feelings about the sense of community from where they come from themselves."

Giving American Aston Villa owner Randy Lerner as a good example, he added: "Mr Lerner is clearly someone who understands the importance of the relationship between the club and its fan base - therefore its no surprise to me that they have been getting excellent crowds at Villa Park lately."