Urgent Request to the Premier League

FROM: 

‘THE CONCERNED FANS OF EVERTON FOOTBALL CLUB’  (TCF.0.EFC)

In light of various new allegations surrounding 777 Capital Partners and their international business operations, this note is an official request to The Premier League on behalf of a large group of highly concerned fans of Everton Football Club, to immediately reconsider, reverse and withdraw the ‘approval in principle’ made by The Premier League, that 777 Capital Partners are fit and proper to own and run the business and institution of Everton Football Club. 

The wider fanbase of Everton supports yesterday’s Everton FC Shareholder Association’s request to the club, to finally end this failed acquisition and promptly move to secure another buyer. We have no confidence that the club's majority shareholder intends to do that. Today, we also fully back the Everton Fan Advisory Board statement, requesting action from The Premier League as well as the club Chairman. The reason is simple: though The Premier League may be minded to accept that the ownership of our club is transferred to 777 Capital Partners based on certain conditions being met, we, the fans, are definitely not so minded for the reasons set out below.

Within the last week, The Premier League will now be aware that:

1/
Reports from Belgium state that creditors to FC Standard Liege are requesting an assets seizure in order to extract repayments on loans made to 777 Capital Partners, who are the majority owners of FC Standard Liege. This is an active stance by the club’s creditors, therefore a commercial reality within the football sector, demonstrating a failure by Everton’s current bidders to properly run a professional football club.

2/
In London, a seemingly credible financial services company, Leadenhall Capital, is accusing 777 Capital Partners of financial fraud in a detailed lawsuit that makes several worrying legal claims, and they cite an alleged Ponzi style business model at the heart of their dealings.

3/
In Australia, Bonza, a regional Airline owned by 777 Capital Partners, has entered administration, with assets frozen and personnel having lost employment

Despite these quite incredible revelations, Everton’s Chairman is reported to still be in discussions with 777 Capital Partners, but there appears to be a total inaction by The Premier League to re-examine its previous findings, and halt that process. It is not for Evertonians to highlight any commercial mishandling or wrongdoing by the club’s buying entity, instead hundreds of journalists are reporting as such. This bears huge significance because unfortunately, it is also widely reported that the current takeover deal was made under an exclusivity arrangement, a quite normal practice, but it may still be in place, restricting the ability of the club’s Chairman to manoeuvre seamlessly to a new bidder.

Whether the Chairman can or cannot move on from his current sale agreement with ease, The Premier League appears to be the entity, the one that is duty-placed, to make an urgent decision based on streams of newly published allegations, and issue a new statement to all stakeholders, urgently.

To summarise, we now expect The Premier League to contact the club Chairman in order to end a sham of a process; it is vital to act to protect the club, and show speed, integrity and sincerity. If the Premier League fails to act, there is a shared fear that a drawn out process would mean:

 

1/ Either, our Chairman will wait too long in the hope of concluding the current deal, for it never to happen, and then in order to finance the club, all major playing staff assets, and other club assets, will need to be sold in the imminent transfer window to raise capital, whilst he pitches to new bidders.

2/ Or, notwithstanding that scenario, 777 Capital Partners demonstrate financing from a resource that may convince The Premier League to be viable, but in practice is too costly to service. This could mean that soon as the group takes control and requires fresh funds, the first team squad and other club assets would again be an immediate avenue for funds.

3/ Or, each day of indecision by The Premier League leaves the club incapable of entertaining a fresh bidder with new capital to support our cost base, in turn increasing our loan requirement, making it more likely that our debt level rises, with administration the outcome.

Currently, Everton fans have no confidence in the Premier League’s process to vet new owners for our club. 

With new, more compounding allegations now evident, we revert to the request made in the very first paragraph of this correspondence: that The Premier League moves promptly, in the coming hours, to officially reverse its strange decision ‘to be minded’ to accept 777 Capital Partners as Everton Football Club’s new guardians. 

In parallel, we also request that the League makes a full disclosure and publishes its findings/justification as to why 777 Capital Partners were considered to be trusted in such a role, after its own lengthy investigation, when third party outsiders for months now, were being fed swathes of reasons why not to consider their bid appropriate for Everton Football Club and all its stakeholders.

Please receive this request in good faith and expedite all necessary actions. 

We await an official response from The Premier League at your earliest.

Yours Sincerely,

The Concerned Fans Of Everton Football Club

(TCF.O.EFC)

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