EVERTON have announced a record turnover of almost £80million following their on-field success last season.

But chairman Bill Kenwright admits the pressure is becoming too great to keep the team challenging at the top end of the Premier League without new investment.

Kenwright was speaking at the first Shareholders’ Forum last night at Goodison in which the club’s unaudited accounts were presented. They revealed a landmark turnover figure of £79.7m, up 5.3% from £75.7m the previous year and an increase of 55% from two years earlier.

During a lively meeting in which shareholders were given the chance to pose questions to the board and manager David Moyes, chief executive Robert Elstone reaffirmed Everton’s commitment to the proposed move to Kirkby.

But while Elstone warned the level of debt at the club had “increased quite substantially”, Kenwright accepted Moyes will once again be forced to work within financial constraints during the transfer window.

“We can just manage our debt but we are punching above our weight all of the time and that is why something has got to be done about it,” said the Goodison owner. “I do not understand why football clubs have such big debts, it is a mystery.

“Our debt is a big debt and a worrying debt, but it is manageable because of our performance on the field and because we do well each year as a business, thanks to David (Moyes). But it is too much debt that every year is going to be added to.

“Every summer it’s the same problem. David must think ‘every summer, how can I do it?’. He must be sitting there looking at these figures thinking ‘they have given me nothing again and they want the Champions League’.

“But we do manage to sustain the debt. We have a good bank and we have had to go to them again this summer. All we can do is borrow and that’s what we are doing again this year to give David not nearly enough money to take a club that’s finished fifth in the last two seasons even higher.

“When I get the texts saying ‘are we signing Kaka or Messi?’ then of course I would love to but the truth is we couldn’t even afford their wages. This club needs money. I can’t go on like this every year because the pressure is far too great.”

Kenwright denied rumours he had turned away potential investors, and said: “There is no-one out there with the kind of money we need. If there was, the last priority would be me and the first priority would be the club.”