How Moshiri can end Everton’s paralysis now

Administration would be a disaster for both Moshiri and the club surely.

Is that still the case?

What's your opinion on this Paul?

What's the betting the appeal decision will arrive on Tuesday 27 February!

And, arguably from that, everything else has followed.

Paul, regards this sentence, I hadn't thought of it in these terms:

"All whilst waiting for 777 Partners to provide the evidence which supports their acquisition of Everton. Failure to provide the evidence, means no approval – the Premier League doesn't reject it just doesn't give approval."

So, lack of evidence that satisfies the Premier League can mean not just no approval, but also no rejection.

The question then is: How long could that go on?

All in all, it's difficult to see when Evertonian life might return to some form of normality.

No businessman of any calibre would act the way Moshiri has. I can only think that this is some form of sportswashing/money laundering or he just thought his oligarch mate would bale him out. And likewise, Kenwright thought he could schmooze his way out of trouble with his Teary Bill act.

I'd love to know what makes Moshiri think 777 Partners are the best option for him, never mind the club.

I would go for your final option, and hope that 777 Partners fail. I do not think that our club should be sold out to dubious investors, and therefore Moshiri should park that takeover and support the club financially.

In the interim, he should find new committed owners who can see that the future prospects for Everton look good and rewarding as a business investment, in the medium term.

Moshiri should act now, and understand that he has a responsibility for the future prospects of Everton Football Club.

Under the Profit and Sustainability Rules, Moshiri had to provide a letter guaranteeing that he would cover any shortfall in funds in that season. I take it subsequent letters of guarantee have been provided for subsequent seasons? Though, with no AGM, we are not informed.

Where and when do they come into play?

When Liverpool were sold to FSG, I recall that a third party was appointed to handle the sale. I seem to remember that Hicks and Gillette had no say in the final decision. Am I correct, and if so, what was the reasoning behind it?

The current war between Russia and Ukraine can't last for ever and, when it ends, they will all be shaking hands, and all good friends, just itching to sign the multi-billion contracts which, after all, that's what the war is all about, money.

Usmanov will be welcomed back as a top billionaire investing in the UK. We will be legally owned by him and all will be rosey in the Bramley-Moore Dock garden.

Everton's situation seems very underhanded and just a little bit dodgy to be totally legal and above board.

I doubt it!

Seeing as he's had his yacht and various other assets seized, I highly doubt he'd risk injecting more cash into the UK knowing, if his scheme is uncovered, he will lose the lot.

Moreover, what's in it for him? He's not even an Everton director and he's hardly likely to make a profit on such an investment any time soon, especially once he's paid off all his intermediaries who are shielding his ownership stake.

If he had any interest, wouldn't it be easier to finagle some paperwork to make it look like his money has belonged to Moshiri all along?

The truth is, of course, that the mysterious governing body is us. We are the ones making these judgments for each other and for ourselves. Even if we stand firmly and claim, “No way, I'm not normal!”

We are viewing ourselves through a lens which sees everyone else around us as, in fact, normal. It's a false dichotomy. Things like sense of humor, gender, home ownership, or the appropriate firmness level of a banana, and the deduction of 10 points from us, after they were legally won, will forever be subjective to anyone who cares to question normality.

Usmanov would be lucky to sell second-hand parts in a local market.

I've just bought a second-hand Aurus Senate from him in a very dark street off the Dock Road.

Also Bill, the so-called intelligence departments of all nations are the most currupt of all but answerable to no one.

It is always difficult to get a true gauge on net worth but I would have thought that putting another £150M into Everton would be a sizeable percentage of what is left.

It seems to me he is going to take a sizeable haircut no matter what happens and hoping he makes any decision that would benefit Everton might be wishful thinking.

I imagine he is well and truly over EFC and thinks of Everton fans as nothing but ungrateful moaners and couldn't care less about the club's fate. The depth of that feeling might influence the size of the haircut he wants to take.

They were stretched before Everton was entered into the equation.

Trying to piece together some things I've read or heard about the OADT, you make an interesting statement that 777 Partners (or specifically the persons put forward by them as new Directors and Owners) would not be rejected per se, but would just not be approved.

My cursory reading of Section F: The Owners' and Directors Test, lists a series of very specific conditions, which are either met or not met. These are meticulously laid out under the introductory text that reads:

A Person shall be disqualified from acting as a Director and no Club shall be permitted to have any Person acting as a Director of that Club if: …

Let's just say, for example, Messers Wander and Pasko, do not actually fail any of the provisions in Section F. So they go ahead and take ownership of the club, but without receiving the Premier League's formal approval. After all, if there's nothing that specifically disqualifies them under Section F, so what's to stop that happening?

I have always thought that a possibility. There are millions of pounds of property in London that HMRC cannot find the beneficial owner off. The same problem exists in the US.

Your suggested influence could explain the decisions that Moshiri has made and Paul has outlined as being a problem. It could also explain the path that Moshiri has taken and why he maybe unlikely to follow Paul's solution.

One thing that stands out in this discussion is that the valuation of the money is based on as we all know it. What if the money was gotten for nothing, what valuation has it to Moshiri and his so-called friends?

If they lose it, their attitude could be "So what!"

Actually this rule F.5.4 would seem to say the opposite of what Paul is saying above about rejection:

the Person shall not become a Director, and the Club may not permit them to do anything which brings them within the definition of Director, until the Club has received confirmation from the Board pursuant to Rule F.5.3, above, that the Person is not liable to be disqualified as a Director under the provisions of Rule F.1 or F.2.

So the club does indeed have to receive confirmation from the Premier League before Wander and Pasko can become Directors.

He was allegedly a 20-year-old billionaire, and he turned up a few times in a car worth around half a million pounds, but his money was allegedly in crypto, and this wasn't good enough for the EFL.

I don't think Moshiri was required to provide any letters of assurance in terms of P&S. They simply wouldn't factor into the calculation.

He did provide "assurances" in terms of Everton being able to continue as a "going concern" in respect of the annual accounts.

Nothing to to with P&S though, I thought.

Perhaps I missed something...

It was stated at the last public AGM,( now they are not public ) that a letter of guarantee had been provided under the Profit and Sustainability Rules to the Premier League by Moshiri..In the Profit and Sustainability Rules of the Premier League It states that on monitoring the Premier League may require such a guarantee letter from Owner / major shareholder.I am assuming that letters of guarantee were sought by the Premier League in subsequent seasons ,as the Profit and Sustainability Rules require, given that Everton has been referred to a second Commission.Since there is no AGMs they may not be required to be made public.

My question to Paul was to establish whether this had any bearing on Moshiri funding responsibilities of the Club.A personnel guarantee by a Shareholder in Company Law circumvents Limited Liability.

Explanation:

'The Premier League may require a letter of credit from a club under their Profit and Sustainability rules. This letter of credit serves as a guarantee of funds that the club has available to meet their financial obligations. It helps ensure that the club is financially stable and can meet the requirements set by the league.'

Somehow I don't see him throwing £75-100 Million of 'good money' after 'bad' as a prefered option.

Edit; Rather, I see him as already mentally consigning us to history (thrown under the.bus) with his only aim being to keep one step ahead of the falling dominoes, rolling under the door Indiana Jones style, hat...and a semi decent wedge...in hand

and like Kaiser Soze - He's Gone!

Good tackle. You should ask him which of the various P&S Rules actually requires such a letter?

But he'll probably just make something else up.

Would like to think that Moshiri is concerned how he will be remembered in the history of Everton. So it would surely be in favor of his overall legacy for him to act in the best interest of Everton until his tenure of Everton finally ends.

I will repeat here what I wrote in the comment section in the "Latest Everton Stadium Footage" released by Everton FC on YouTube five days ago:

"Farhad Moshiri, you will be remembered with this great stadium, but also how the new ownership of Everton develops. The onus is on you to secure everything goes in the best interest of all parties. And for all Evertonians what matters here most is of course our beloved club."

Something stinks at a very fundamental level.

I wouldn't be surprised if part of the takeover holdup relates to the question of why a businessman deliberately costs himself money?

I also don’t see Moshiri committing another dime towards Everton. Even if it were to result in more money back for himself in the long term, he’s too stupid to think that way or to execute it accordingly

Sadly, Moshiri wants out and wants out ASAP irrespective of the health of Everton

NB to the conspiracy theorists above thinking 777 is a front for Usmanov….are you forgetting that MSP nearly bought us before there was some conflict of interest. Had that sale gone ahead then how does your master plan work in that scenario?

It's said that in the financial world you have to have 2 out of 3 qualities, you have to be; 1) very clever, 2) very honest, or 3) very lucky.

Our chap appears at first glance, to be eminently under qualified on at least two fronts.

Nice idea but I think it’s time we turned to a real hero: The Milky Bar Kid.

Nor do I think it is probable the stadium will be sold seperately to the club given as Paul says, without an anchor EPL tenant, its value is moot, to put it mildly. Who would want to take on such a major third party risk?

It has to be the whole shebang but with large baths all around for existing investors. The intrinsic value of the club has to be substantially lower than £500m, less than half the investment made so far. I'd argue a fair bit less unless we can find a trophy hunter at the last minute. The Bahrainis?

I have us 50:50 to be relegated, with slightly over half of that attributed to administration, the rest just our poor team and the possibility of more points deducted.

Fair point I guess with his local connections McCartney could get the fan base to Come Together

Are you related to the late Dennis Stevens who once played for EFC? Thanks.

It took the Premier League 18 months to finally approve the Saudi takeover of NUFC. Masters will do everything in his power not to approve 777 Partners and to delay and delay.

Unless a white knight turns up with a spare billion, ,we are headed slowly into administration albeit we may get through this season.

The death by a thousand cuts has seen this squad lose Richarlison, Gordon and Iwobi. This summer, we will lose Branthwaite and Onana.

There will come a point when 777 Partners stop putting in money. As much as Paul hates them, their input of money has stopped administration.

We will replace our sales with free transfers. Next season, Leicester City, a Leeds and probably Southampton will come up. Then we really are in trouble.

We face our first season in BMD in the Championship. We become another Sunderland. The “Bank of England” and the “Mersey Millionaires” outside the Premier League? That is the legacy of Bill and Farhad.

My outside bet is the new stadium attracts a real investor with the interests of the club at heart who is prepared to pay off our creditors. My real fear is humiliation just as the stadium is completed… typical Everton!

My understanding was that MSP were forced to withdraw from an equity transaction because of an objection to the proposed terms from R&MF?

There are two aspects of that which I find, if not inexplicable, then odd:

1) Why did they then decide the invest their money into the stadium? I know I am especially bearish about its viability, in a financial sense, but it does seem to me to be a very risky transaction, given the potential for administration and a distress sale.

2) What was different about the 777 bid that led R&MF to feel this did not threaten their status as lenders, whereas MSP did?

In the absence of Moshiri showing any sign of putting his hand in his pocket, we continue to be reliant on 777 Partners for cash top-ups to keep the club solvent and stadium build afloat.

That being the case, it would help us if the Premier League decision on 777 Partners didn't arrive until after 14 June – that is the opening date of the summer transfer window and the earliest opportunity to start completing sales of the few saleable players we have left.

Even if Dave Abrahams and others are correct about other bidders lurking in the shadows they too will need to go through the lengthy Premier League approval process, thus our cash-flow problem is likely to continue.

Listen to what the man said – "it's clutching at straws time"; sadly it's a long and winding road, mate.

The Club argued that they should have allowed spending on the new ground to be taken into account, unsuccessfully.

So an unfair sporting advantage. Could that also be applied to the more or less free grounds given to Man City and West Ham?

The club argued that interest on loans should also be taken into account. But the Premier League pointed to the fact that the loans themselves stated that they were for the running of the club and not for the stadium.

Plus we hadn't attempted to capitalise the interest. Plus we said that even if we could do it, we wouldn't have done it.

I have seen it posted on ToffeeWeb a few times that anybody purchasing the new stadium, for one reason or another, doesn't help Everton's financial situation.

If somebody came in with £750M and purchased the stadium, leasing it back to Everton on an acceptable financial arrangement, why would that not assist the club?

I understand the argument that nobody would undertake such a commitment but the truth is that the stadium on its own could be a genuine investment for activities beyond football.

Presumably Moshiri decided to sell to 777 because at the time he judged that led to the best financial outcome for him personally. In practice that means the club is currently relying on cash injections from 777 to stay afloat. However, if 777 funding stops either because they fail OADT or because they walk away, Moshiri’s best option would be to resume funding himself (assuming he still has the resources to allow that) giving him time to line up another buyer. The alternative would be administration where he’d find himself at the back of the creditor queue. Is that reasoning correct?

Secondly, despite the nine point penalty and almost inevitable relegation, under the circumstances is administration an attractive option for the club as a business?

My layman’s understanding is that the independently appointed administrator has a duty to achieve the best possible outcome for creditors alongside a duty to ensure the business is in the best possible financial shape going forward, which I appreciate is a tricky balancing act. A package including both EFC and BMD unencumbered by historic debt, albeit starting in the Championship, would surely be an attractive option for prospective buyers.

My haziness is around BMD. Following administration is there a genuine risk that the stadium and the club might be sold separately meaning in practice the club become tenants and miss out on the commercial upside? I’d assume the administrator’s preference would be to sell club and stadium together as they’d be selling a more valuable asset thereby maximising creditor return while simultaneously enhancing the viability of the business going forward. However, is it possible a buyer for BMD alone might emerge knowing they’d have the club as anchor tenant, or can that possibility be discounted as an obviously bad investment? Other than liquidation, being tenants at BMD following administration would surely be the worst outcome.

Finally, I’ve read elsewhere that the fixed price contract with Laing O’Rourke would be at risk if the club defaults on stage payments or goes into administration. Is that correct? Should we be worried?

Paul, any clarification to the points above would be appreciated. Thanks for your contribution to this debate.

Brendan already knows about the relevant Profit and Sustainability Rule.

Given the extent of debt, as outlined expertly above, the Club will be in financial peril for many years to come, saving some sovereign wealth fund comes to the rescue. We are hogtied well and good. The on-field implications will see us struggle for many years.

You are right, there was two letters. The first one was a letter of guarantee, the second was a letter of assurance to shareholders.

At the time, I thought the same as you, but then came across that in Profitability and Sustainability Rules procedure for dealing with Clubs who were in danger of breaking the Profitability and Sustainability Rules.

The order of the procedure is: a monitoring period, a letter of credit from the owner guaranteeing funds if required, referral to an Independent. Commission.

Interestingly in the Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Handbook, the reference to the Letter of Credit requirements is in the FFP section of the Handbook.A letter of Credit is a similar requirement under the Uefa FFP Rules.

It seems that, in this case, there is an overlap between the Profitability and Sustainability Rules and the Ueafa FFP Rules. I suggest that to enter a European Competition it is a requirement that funds are in place.

Both the letters you mentioned were highly spun at the time. In the case of the first letter, IMO this was to hide it's true significance. It had to be made public, but now since there is not a requirement to have an AGM, such a letter would not have to be made public.

'A Letter of Credit is a financial document issued by a bank or financial institution guaranteeing that the payments will be made to the seller under certain conditions. It is not the same as funding by the owner of a Premier League Club. Funding by the owner is a commitment by the individual or entity to provide financial support as needed.

Whether it is legally binding depends on the terms and conditions outlined in the Letter of Credit or the funding agreement. It is recommended to consult with a legal professional to fully understand the legal implications of such documents in the context of Premier League Clubs.'

I can't dispute what you say. Dependent on Michael providing legal funding.

Mayor Joe Anderson made a commitment to use government funding named 'Building Schools for the Future' to knock down the Gwladys Street school and rebuild a better school in the area.

In addition, he offered the club the lease on land adjacent to the Park End so the stadium could be expanded. The cost would have been a fraction of the three quarters of a billion pound the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock is costing.

The new stadium will not produce more than £30 million per season in additional revenue and the financing will swallow most of that.

Blue Union focuses on redeveloping Goodison Park

'Alan McGuffog 18 Posted 13/07/2015 at 19:31:22

My friends... nothing will happen, whatever we may dream. Everton FC has no plan, for the foreseeable, other than to merely exist in the Premier League.'

How true that post proved from way back then.

The problem with all sensible business ideas is that they are not the priority of a self-serving Board. In fact, there is always a 5% chance that, even if they go aheadm there will be some self-serving buggers, though hopefully in the minority. This has been my experience.

When self-enriching people are involved, possible backhanders, Russian money and incompetence, the logic simple solution can be drowned out. But then we would all be denied the analysis of the outcome that we have been discussing most of our lives.

The objective had one goal, keep Bill, nothing else. I also personally think that the endless employment of ex-players as they "Get Everton" in very important roles has also held the club back. Run like the old chums' club rather than a professional forward-thinking Premier League club.

Greame Sharp on the board just about sums it all up. I wish Kenwright was still alive just to see to see the damage he's left us with, through his own narcissism and selfishness.

He can provide the opportunity for others to deliver the solution. He needs to act now."

If what we are hoping for is in anyway related to the likelihood of Moshiri doing the right thing and putting the interests of Everton Football Club in any way before his own, then I hold little faith. There's been almost no communication from him for a long time, despite the challenges. He has disconnected.

People like Kenwright can never see themselves. He only sees people in terms that best serve his ends. I doubt he ever thought for a moment he did anything wrong.

He surrounding himself with yes-men, reliant on his patronage. He had Moshiri's full unquestioned support. Even prepared him for his Everton PR outings. Kenwright could handle the Premier League which even resulted in a deluded defence during the Commission.

He made a huge amount of money out of Everton, He had done everything right. He was a self-proclaimed Evertonian. He would never have seen what you and the rest of us could see. He gave us Good Times… Al Capone only wanted to give people a Good Time.