English Premiership strugglers Sunderland announced debts in excess of £25 million today.
The figures led vice-chairman John Fickling to tell shareholders at the club's annual general meeting that manager Howard Wilkinson would have no money to spend on new players when the transfer window re-opened in January.
"There are no funds available for players and we know January will be a testing time," Fickling said.
"Transfer windows will continue to affect out business by preventing us from selling players other than in January and the close season.
"Selling players to raise funds and reduce costs is very important but we realise that the market also makes this very difficult.
"Buying players is not a question of willingness or ambition on the part of the club, it is a financial one. We are currently over 25 million in debt and expect this figure to increase in the short term.
"There is no cash available and raising new funds through loans or other means is now much more difficult in the football sector as a result of the number of clubs in trouble.
"Premiership survival is our priority but as any business we have to consider the worst case scenario. We recognise the financial implications of relegation would be very serious and implications far-reaching and that is why we will do all we can to avoid this.
"But we believe we would be strong enough to survive relegation and also deal with it if it does happen," added Fickling.
Sunderland are currently second from bottom where they occupy one of the three relegation places.