Everton set concrete takeover deadline as new £50m obstacle emerges

Everton supporters are desperate for some certainty when it comes to the future of their club following two botched takeover attempts.

After 777 Partners were forced to pull out of talks to buy the club earlier this year, the more credible Roma owner Dan Friedkin was expected to have more luck.

However, Friedkin has decided that potential legal issues relating to Everton’s £200m debt with 777 Partners are simply too much of a risk to shoulder.

Several more buyers are waiting in the wings to buy Everton, but the complexity of the situation means that a deal is unlikely to be completed any time soon.

To discuss the latest in the increasingly nebulous takeover sage, TBR spoke exclusively to Liverpool University football finance lecturer and Price of Football author Kieran Maguire.

Relationship between Premier League and Everton has soured

The Premier League and Everton are probably sick of the sight of each other when it comes to matters of governance.

As well as the long-running PSR drama, which will see Everton face another hearing later this year, the Premier League will also be involved with ratifying the takeover when it eventually does happen.

And the relationship between Everton and the Premier League has reportedly soured to the point that the club voted against a £37m pay package for the league’s employees.

Could this have an effect on how the takeover process pans out for Everton?

“It is a bit like a divorce when you both have to go to the solicitors together,” he said.

“You know you have to be there, but they are the last people on the planet you want to see.

“The consensus at Everton is that the PSR punishment was disproportionate to the extent of the offence.

“They feel they have been unfairly singled out by the Premier League.

“Ultimately, the decisions in terms of how they are going to vote are coming from Moshiri.

“He is unpredictable. He is a loose cannon in so many ways.

“He has betrayed Everton fans in terms of his very poor ownership of the club.

“This is part of a broader issue. He is trying to claim that he is not the problem and wants to lay the blame for Everton’s issues at the door of the Premier League.

“If you talk to Evertonians, they don’t like the Premier League but they see Moshiri as a far bigger issue in terms of the broader financial challenges of the club.“

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Moshiri’s £50m demand will be a stumbling block in Everton takeover

It also emerged recently that current owner Farhad Moshiri is demanding £50m for his 94 per cent stake in Everton despite the club’s enormous debts, which are in excess of £600m.

If the British-Iranian businessman is unwilling to budge from that valuation, it could seriously affect the number of buyers willing to do a deal, claims Maguire.

“My perception of the value of the club is that I can’t see much, if anything, beyond the outstanding debt.

“That means that the equity value is close to zero.

“I have had long conversations with well-connected people at Everton, and they say that there is not a lot of interest in Everton for the price that Moshiri is trying to get.

“The problem is that Moshiri is so skint. He probably needs £25m to £50m to sort himself out, and that is proving to be a stumbling block.

“As well as that, there is the overhang from the 777 Partners debt.”

Moshiri sets Everton takeover deadline

Elsewhere, it has been reported that Moshiri has set an eight-week deadline to get a takeover deal over the line.

Is this realistic? Maguire doesn’t think so, and it looks as though Everton fans will have to deal with the uncertainty for some time yet.

“I think getting a deal over the line in eight weeks is unrealistic given that we don’t even have a preferred bidder at the moment.

“I do agree that Everton will have some cash flow challenges as we get into late autumn. That is where my concerns lie.

“To date, we have had both 777 and the Friedkin Group come in as preferred bidders and be so confident of getting a deal over the line that they have lent the club substantial sums of money.

“I think any potential owner will not necessarily be as keen to go down that route having seen the last two failures as a cautionary tale.

“Moshiri’s second deadline is just sort of him shouting into the void. He doesn’t have anything to back that up.”