The complexities around the sale of Everton appear to show no signs of reducing. During the international break, there was of course, considerable excitement of a prospective bid by John Textor, the current largest shareholder of Crystal Palace, and majority owner of the multi-club group, Eagle Football Holdings. The potential for which was heightened (on the one hand) by news that Aliya, based in Miami, Florida backed by the Safra family and with close connections to a significant Brazilian banker family, had raised US$ 25 million in an offering related to the potential purchase of Everton, plus John Textor’s own press conference in Paris, France on Wednesday 11th September “There’s a 90 percent chance of this happening, but the current owner also has other choices,”

Yet this excitement was balanced on the following day, Thursday 12th September by Colin Chong, Everton’s Interim CEO. In a statement released on Everton’s official site he said “The Club is aware of the comments made by John Textor in relation to a potential purchase of the Club. While positive conversations and progress continues to be made with Mr Textor to formalise any deal with him, there remains some work to be done to complete the transaction.”

The primary work, the initial solution to the Gordian Knot of Everton’s ownership and financial affairs is that in order to be even eligible to acquire any holding of any size in Everton Football Club Limited Company, John Textor, or more precisely Eagle Football Holdings have to dispose of their Crystal Palace holdings – regardless of whether Textor acquired Everton through Eagle Football or his proposed new entity, Everton Football Group.

Eagle Football Holdings’ stake in Crystal Palace is one of a number of blocks of shares representing minority or in some cases, majority stakes in Premier League football clubs that are currently available for sale. Be it a function of unrealistic valuations, concerns over the competitive integrity of the Premier League and growth prospects for future revenues or strategic or investment disagreements amongst owners a potential investor in a Premier League club has a choice of sellers to buy from.

Currently, it is widely accepted that Tottenham, Chelsea, Liverpool, Brentford, West Ham and Wolves, aside from Everton and Crystal Palace have large shareholding blocks or the complete club available for acquisition by new investors. That’s 40% of the current Premier League looking for new investors or owners.

It is a buyers market.

In Everton’s case this presents significant challenges both in terms of the current preferred choice (as chosen by Moshiri) and the condition of the asset (Everton Football Club) he is trying to sell.

In a buyers market the sale of a 45% shareholding that only offers 25% control in a club that faces relatively heavy capital calls in the near future is a challenge for John Textor. (It would be a challenge for any seller, not just John). In Textor’s case the knowledge that the sale of his shares is necessary for the seller to then acquire a competing Premier League club gives a potential buyer a distinct negotiating edge. Equally, Textor has to take into account his duties to the near 35% minority investors in Eagle Football Holdings when accepting an offer for his shares. He has an obligation to act in the interests of all EFH shareholders, including their institutional shareholders – some of which are also lenders.

Everton’s and Moshiri’s position as seller

If one accepts the premise that it is currently a buyer’s market for Premier League club investors, how attractive is the purchase of Everton?

The bulls ( a stock market term for those presenting the most positive case) would point to the Bramley-Moore stadium entering its final construction phase, the fitting out and the prospect of playing Premier League football from August 2025 as the compelling and conclusive evidence of the opportunity Everton presents. The case is that the newly constructed 52,888 seat stadium will generate the required matchday and future sponsorship revenues to close the competitive gap.

The reality though is different. The new stadium will be mid-table in capacity and mid-table in terms of future match day revenues. Everton’s commercial performance will be no better than mid-table either. Whilst this represents an improvement on recent revenue performance does it warrant the capital commitment from a new owner?

The juries are out

The juries are out on this point. Particularly when one considers the current debt position of the club, the remaining funding re the stadium and the considerable squad re-building, including football management, required from the end of June 2025. All of the above before one considers Everton’s status as a Premier League club – will the club survive the third successive relegation scrap? and the still to be determined outstanding potential PSR breaches relating to the treatment of interest costs.

On top of all the above, there are the untested and difficult to qualify potential legal issues surrounding (i) any potential future liabilities surrounding the current ownership position – still untested but concerns over the past financial relationship between Moshiri and Usmanov, now potentially complicated by the knowledge of a dispute between related parties before the Moscow Arbitration Court and (ii) the potential issues arising from the 777 Partners/A-Cap loan in terms of amounts due, to whom, and potential issues arising from how the funds were generated by the originators.

The creditor position

Everton have three main creditors (ignoring the Moshiri shareholder loans), all of whom believe their individual positions to be secure. The loans are not repayable immediately but they are short term, especially in the context of the prolonged ownership issues and the market conditions as described above.

None of the creditors believe they have to accept a “haircut”.

Friedkin are in the strongest position. Owed circa £200 million plus accumulating interest costs their debt is secured against (i) Everton Stadium Development Company and (ii) the entire share capital of Blue Heaven Holdings – the Isle of Man Company that holds Moshiri’s 94.1% stake in Everton. This loan is believed to be repayable before the financial year end (June 2025). In default, Friedkin could take control of Everton Football Club.

Rights and Media Funding Limited have a charge over the club’s bank accounts, meaning effective control in default over revenues and player trading receipts. The loan is a revolving credit facility currently expiring in Summer 2026. There is some talk that the current outstanding balance has been reduced due to player trading receipts but this is difficult to balance against obligations to pay previous player acquisitions from the summer of 2023.

The 777/A-Cap loan, (a similar size loan as to the Friedkin debt) administered and with a subordinated security arrangement via Rights and Media Funding is also due for repayment prior to the summer of 2026.

Moshiri’s shareholder loans

The working assumption, and certainly part of previous buyer proposals was that Moshiri’s £450 million of shareholder loans were to be written off (potentially creating a future tax liability for the club) or capitalised. These loans have been provided by Bluesky Capital – an Isle of Man company controlled by Farhad Moshiri, but not wholly owned. There has never been an explanation as to (i) who the other shareholders of Bluesky Capital are (ii) who provided the capital for the shareholder loans and (iii) why Bluesky capital did not receive an equity stake in Everton when previous loans were capitalised. That equity stake went to Blue Heaven Holdings, not Bluesky.

Leadership, reality and the reasons for publishing the above.

There are many attributes to leadership. Apart from competence, courage, honesty, the willingness to speak out, a true leader steps out when others take a step back.

Moshiri should be addressing the issues above. He should be talking to the fanbase, talking to his employees (afterall he has a duty of care), talking to stakeholders about the solutions to the problems we face. He should be seeking the appropriate solution providers, regardless of his desire to step away.

We, the fans, need honesty – we will do, and continue to do our part in keeping our club afloat, but we need more from the club and its owner. Not just vague promises about a brighter future, about appropriate, most suitably qualified future owners but about who is addressing the issues surrounding a change of ownership as well as the multitude of operational and footballing issues swirling around the Royal Liver Building and Goodison Park.

Albeit under very different circumstances the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. stand true and true of Moshiri and anyone buying our club:

“The ultimate measure of a man (or woman) is not where he (she) stands in the moments of comfort, but where he (she) stands at times of challenge and controversy.”