Everton chairman Bill Kenwright insists he is desperate to bring in new investment.

Kenwright rubbishes claims that Portsmouth's plight is a sign that mega rich owners are not the way for clubs like Everton to go.

“The truth is Everton do need a billionaire” he told the Liverpool Echo. “Of course that’s a stock phrase, but we do need major investment.

“One of the difficulties of being a chairman who has had to use money as wisely as he possibly knows how, is that it’s hard when you get bombarded, as I have been in the last three AGMs, with questions like “Why can’t we have what Newcastle have? West Ham? Portsmouth?”

“I even got Notts County last year. A former Everton employee had gone there and evidently there was some rumour mill that I turned down Arab millions beforehand.”