A few years back, around the start of the  Moshiri era, I promoted the phrase ”Everton, the Senior club in the City”. I put it to the people who ran our marketing, commerce etc. and the view was it was too contentious, too bold a claim even….

Well to this day, I believe it to be the case, and I will always do so despite whatever we face in the future and whatever any other club from the city goes on to achieve.

The fact is we are the Senior club – co-founders of the Football League, co-founders of the Premier League, the only ever-present club to hold both distinctions, the club with the greatest number of seasons in the top division and still the 4th most successful club in terms of League titles. A whole litany of firsts, the first Merseyside club to win the Division 1 Championship, to win the FA Cup. Nationally the first to go on an overseas tour, to build a purpose built stadium, have four double tier stands, the first triple tier stand, dug-outs, matchday programmes and under-soil heating. To have the world’s greatest goal scorer and arguably, the world’s greatest goalkeeper, to have the greatest, most loyal supporter base..

Our greatest asset is our fan-base. Liverpool, the city, is a unique city. I had the good fortune to be born in this city, to be brought up even in the desperately tough Thatcher years. To have grandparents and parents who had lived through the 1920’s depression, the second world war, post-war austerity and then experienced the joys of the 1960’s Liverpool. I’ve equally had the good fortune to travel a fair bit and I’ve yet to find a part of the world who doesn’t know our city, its people, its culture, its reputation and acknowledge its global influence and qualities. We are a tough group of people, brought up on hardship, often on the wrong-side of the establishment, achievers and owners only of what we have earned – nothing has ever been given to our great city. Everything we have, everything we stand for has been earned – our global standing is the result of our people’s labour and graft. A result of our character, and yes, integrity.

That’s true in culture and sport too – globally recognised as leaders. In football, we house two great football clubs, two, not one, and the city is richer and stronger for that being the case. It’s also a reason why the future of Everton, the building of Bramley-Moore and the as yet unfilled development opportunities around it are so important, more of that in a moment.

It’s also why whoever owns our club – I say “owns” in a legal, economic sense, the company that holds our assets and generates the income for us to maintain and fulfill our status and objectives – is so important.   Ownership, particularly in the context of Everton is custodianship – the owners own a lease, temporary and with the grace  and goodwill of Evertonians, the freehold belongs to us the fans, generation after generation. 

There’s a tendency to bemoan the fact that football today is being determined in the boardroom by accountants, lawyers and monied people, but the truth is that that has always been the case. All football clubs’ periods of success coincide with the advantages of greater financial resources and higher quality management than their peers. The best owners create the best strategies for success, have the means to support the strategies and the ability to recruit on and off the pitch to execute their vision. There’s not a period in football history when that’s not been the case. These are the key components of sustained success.

All of which brings us to the Everton of today. Still the Senior club in the city, but facing more challenges than at any time in our history. We are not the first club to face these challenges, challenges so severe that they are existential by their very nature. Sadly, some clubs fail to overcome those challenges as the fans of many such clubs could tell us. 

Everton’s problems didn’t begin with Moshiri, our competitive decline and the gradual erosion of our identity, and yes I will say it, self-belief started many years earlier. Arguably it coincided with the Moores’ reduced interest in the club post the 1969/70 Championship, although the Howard Kendall inspired domination of mid-1980’s football briefly bucked that trend. What is undeniable is that the competitive decline and tendency to follow rather than lead, accelerated throughout the Kenwright era, despite the huge efforts of Moyes and the footballing personnel he gathered. The tipping point though was Kenwright’s unwillingness to sell to better resourced owners and ultimately his choice of Farhad Moshiri in 2016.

Moshiri has been an unmitigated disaster as an owner. What appeared to be quaint, almost eccentric behaviour in his early days were actually only warning signs of much worse to come.

The absurd loyalty to the former Chairman, a failing board and executive. I’ve documented over hundreds of pages and podcasts, his financial failures, his bizarre recruitment decisions – his willful ignorance and disregard for sensible finances and as we now know and are suffering from, for financial regulation.

We are a hollowed-out shell currently. Massively indebted – to the tune of £1 billion. Moshiri’s shareholder loans, treated as equity, signed off as equity by directors and auditors remain loans. Unlikely in the extreme ever to be paid off, but alongside £550 million of external debt and rising, debt. The paucity of talent, home-grown or recruited, the selling of our best players, our inability to compete financially on the pitch, hamstrung by sanctions – sporting sanctions as a direct result of our owners disregard for financial probity – all down to Moshiri, his failed directors and executive. Sure, we have a gleaming stadium nearing completion, subject to finance, but what use is having a Ferrari on the drive (on HP) if you can’t keep the lights on, feed and clothe your kids?

Which brings us to perhaps his greatest folly – the choice of 777 Partners as prospective owners. The organisation (in his words) who “are the best partners to take our great Club forward, with all the benefits of their multi-club investment model”.

This an organisation that has failed to satisfy (even) the Premier League of its suitability as fit and proper owners after 25 weeks. An organisation that is beset by financial difficulties, credit rating downgrades, operational uncertainties, and legal challenges. An organisation that is called out for being disruptive by one of its major funders (and previously closest allies) for its mismanagement  – listen to or read the transcript of Kenneth King here

An organisation that within its football operations has on several occasions paid its employees late. This is Liverpool, the city that for centuries that has campaigned, challenged and at times suffered for the improvement and recognition of workers’ rights. How do those two opposing philosophies sit together?

An organisation, whose principle partner, founder, Josh Wander purportedly questioned should fans show gratitude for 777’s financial support (loans by the way)? Excuse me? How dare you? How dare anyone walk into Goodison Park and question the motives and behaviour of Everton fans?  How dare expect gratitude? For what? Failure to satisfy the Premier League as to your suitability? If, as claimed by Moshiri and yourselves you are the best option for Everton, why is this process taking so long? Why don’t your finances and business practices present a slam-dunk case? Why is the overwhelming evidence elsewhere the contrary to your claims? Respect, gratitude is earned in our city, and when won, is remembered for a long time. Evertonians still to this day quote the words of John Moores “We’ve a very good crowd and our crowd are very loyal. But, of course, they pay money and they expect to see us do well.” He earned the respect of some of the toughest, but fairest people in our country.  The people who have kept this club in the Premier League for the last two seasons and God willing, will do so for a third time this season.

We are the Senior club in the city, our status rising from the ambition, drive and achievements of our founders and successive owners, players and employees. A status today that flickers, but still (just) burns and burns because of our supporters. Our relevance is nothing to do with our position within the game based on contemporary achievements or current/prospective owners. We remain relevant because of the 40,000 who turn up at Goodison every match, the tens of thousands who live in the city, don’t go to the match but identify as bluenoses, the hundreds of thousands outside the city who love our club as much  as a Lower Gwladys Street season ticket holder.

We deserve much more than Moshiri has delivered. We deserve, the club and city requires, much more than Moshiri promises in terms of his potential new owners in 777. We, the fan base, the people of Liverpool and all Blues globally have to fight for what’s right for our club. We need the owner, the authorities, politicians, the media, those that love the club to recognise Moshiri’s choices present not only a current existential threat but a future one also. There are options,  other investors, solutions worthy of our city, club and fan base. Our motto demands nothing but the best – for years we have not lived by it, we cannot, we must not allow Moshiri’s preferred option of ownership to continue that.

It’s time to reject 777 Partners, allow other ownership options, time to behave like, to act like, to enjoy once more the status of Senior club in the City.