Textor confident of completing Everton takeover

I find it hard to believe that Moshiri is a genuine accountant but I'm glad he had the vision to build a stadium on our city's iconic waterfront. I believe the city of Liverpool now has a waterfront that has been enhanced because of this.

It must be a major reason why he wants to purchase our club?

Looks like there are actual bars and restaurants being made ready, as well as the traditional kiosks. The concourses look spacious and there is an endless line of places to rest your drink running right along with views over the dock and Mersey.

Not finished yet, but looking good. Escalators installed as well.

Seems to be the type of person who says it how it is.

Let's get this sorted.

Jay, I don't think it's clear that it's the end for Dyche should Textor take over the club. He says he will sit down with Dyche and see if he can manage the squad Textor wants to build.

I don't know whether he is confident of selling his shares in Palace or whether he feels there is latitude around the Premier League rules? Whichever, it looks like he is keen to find a solution.

Also, good for us Blues to hear some timelines being mentioned.

I think he's probably quite pragmatic about the whole Dyche thing. If he thinks it's working, then there is no need for immediate decisions; if he doesn't, then that's a different matter.

I've said before, given the shady ownership we currently have, I see our next owners as a stopgap — call it a 'period of rehabilitation' — before we are squeaky clean on and off the pitch, and able to be sold for megabucks to someone that can take us to a real elite level.

I live in hope, although we all know what that does to you…

We were all excited about Moshiri until we observed the Moshiri - Kenwright school of "How not to run a football club".

"Watch this space" to quote a certain buffoon.

I hate this.

Getting drawn back in by warm words when will I learn?

Lyon put majority of squad on transfer market to meet sales target

That said his comments on PSR are a breath of fresh air and, with the Villa owner, he's the second high-profile owner to call out these rules.

Crystal Palace owner John Textor calls out FFP & PSR — Believes Eagles and others being mistreated

Can't work out if I hate him or love him.

Textor speaks passionately about the club and clearly has plans for it. If this isn't the right guy, then can someone tell me who is?

Yawn.

Never been my joy!

He mentions patience followed by wanting to conclude a deal before the deadline ends.

He talks about profit and then mentions Moshiri getting a substantially better offer.

The only truth in what he says is that he doesn't have all the answers.

So why comment until you know, until you have sold your shares and the Premier League's owner's test is rubber-stamped or at an advanced stage?

I'm not interested in what comes out from the mouth of a ruthless, lying, billionaire. He's interested in personal profit and enhancing his own profile.

It does make for good reading though, better than all the negativity that sport writers seen to spout to fill a column.

Let's hope that, if he does manage to become Everton owner, he does have the financial backing to do what he claims he wants.

I had to Google to see who that guy was. But with a wealth of £172 billion, he would do for me.

The important bit he's talking about is in 3 months time he may be able to be in a position to buy the club.

Yeah, and then anything can happen. Will he want to buy us if our results have us in a terrible place in the table?

Who knows, there's too many 'ifs' for my liking but suitors are not exactly forming a line to buy us, are they.

"I can handle a certain amount of PSR risk" What exactly are you getting at?

"The longer this takes... greater probability... some other smart guy... wakes up and sees this as a great deal." Does this sound like wishful thinking on Textor's part?

As an Everton supporter, I find it difficult, if not impossible, to take positives from anything I hear about the club. I'm becoming used to reading between the lines of bullshit to try and get a feeling for what is really going on.

Hopefully I'm wrong this time.

Oh for the day when all us Evertonians are singing from the same hymn sheet.

Hopefully there are genuine foundations in the negotiations for selling his stake in Palace.

Let's depart Goodison in good heart and spirit...

Hopefilly he gets in before Christmas.

But what do I know? I'm just old and love Everton. By the way, I love our city. UTFT

Let's get John on board and move this great club forward!

1. It will mean the end of Moshiri. This cannot be underestimated. Our relegation and / or insolvency is inevitable under Moshiri. It is absolutely vital that we move on from him.

2. Palace have become a stable mid-table side in recent years with a fairly strong recruitment model. To the extent that Textor is responsible, this is encouraging. To the extent that he is not responsible, he's at least seen how behaving sensibly reaps rewards.

3. It positions us as the lead club in a global group containing Lyon (one of the best academies in Europe), Molenbeek (in a Belgian league which has long been used as development league for promising players) and Botafogo (in a Brazilian league with access to high quality young players from Brazil and South America generally).

I notice that Botafogo already has two players on loan from Lyon and one from Botafogo. Although traditionalists won't like this, I strongly believe it is the future for pretty much every major football club. If you can't beat them join them...

Step 1: Sort out a high-quality right-back to join us as soon as the window opens in January.

Him saying he doesn't yet have all the info due to Chinese Walls, also gives him a plausible reason to pull out in due course.

I hope my reading of the situation is wrong, and he is the answer to our prayers.

Link

A video of John Textor talking about how he himself is buying Everton — not Eagle Football Holdings in the UK, or Eagle Football Group in France.

He talks of other partners joining him in a new holding entity — Everton Football Group.

Didn't Textor say over 4 weeks ago to Sky that he wanted an agreement in place by the end of last week for a purchase plan to be ready?

However, here we are nearly 5 weeks down the road and;

i) Textor still hasn't sold his Crystal Palace shares! Any deal breaker!

ii) Textor is still reportedly sniffing around trying to buy an extra 6% shareholding at Crystal Palace to gain the majority shareholding and as such be able to rip up the current shareholders agreement.

iii) As mentioned above, he has major financial issues with Lyon, which he mainly blames on the TV deal not being as generous as he 'expected'?

However, if he'd taken the time and correct advice, he'd have known that the Ligue 1 TV deal was on a major downturn...? Not very shrewd, and he is still not meeting the French authorities' financial requirements, as of yet. Or as such the French FA are still saying "show us the money".

iv) He may be asset-rich, but he is certainly cash-poor, and is even struggling to get an Initial Public Offering off the ground to raise money for any sort of purchase or even a potential floating of Everton by virtue of floating Eagle Holdings (or the holding company above that rather) on the New York Stock Exchange.

v) He comes across as a great guy, says the right things and all that, but to me, he comes across as more of a 'Mr Charisma' type than a serious player.

I mean he bought (unnecessarily) 45% of Crystal Palace to gain a 25% vote share?

He bought Lyon for approximately £135M more than he would have (should have could have) been bought for if he had done the correct due diligence.

His purchasing vehicle is, to me as a layman, rather over-layered and complex. To me, everything screams run away from this time-waster.

Please, John Textor, prove me wrong, but everything about you screams 'fantasist'.

As for "If not Textor, who or whom..?" Well, I won't tire you and bore myself by running down the list of potential investors and buyers since circa January 2022 (starting with the Kaminsky group if I recall correctly?) till now, but it doesn't look good does it?

Maybe the question we should be asking is, Does Moshiri actually want to sell the club? Or is he buying time for another option, or event change...?

Also, similar to some on here, I feel Sean Dyche will have to get up to speed with the players this guy wants… or leave. This tactic of owner interference worked so well with Tosun who I seem to remember was one picked out by Moshiri.

Also, I assume the players that Textor mentioned as the type of players he would like to see are currently playing for other clubs in his football group. Good luck, Sean.

Football's changed… and not necessarily for the better.

I agree, too many alarm bells are ringing for me.

And sorry Rob Tressell, I don't want Everton to be part of a multi-club model, I want Everton to become outstanding as a single club, which someone, like the Red Bull Group might consider buying as the Apex club rather than RB Leipzig in the future; and why would we want to be part of a group anyway?

Shouldn't the new owners or the club look at the feasibility of setting up a multi-club model with Everton fully central to any and all decisions?

Surely it is cheaper and much more cost-effective to develop scouting, recruitment, and coaching teams in-house that are exceptional than spreading those costs across several teams?

Get the best and develop to be the best... surely?

Fred West was a decent builder by all accounts but the absence of an alternative wouldn't make him my first choice.

I don't think anyone actually said Textor wasn't the right guy, a couple just said they basically had reservations. Which is understandable.

Get the best and develop the best is aspirational nowadays, isn't it..? It will only get you so far because you can't keep the best. They will be hoovered up by the so-called bigger clubs. Developing the best is great but you can't add to them and become really competitive because you're forced to sell and start again

Look at Brighton — the so-called best run club in England. Makes me sick to hear. What a pat on the head, eh? Best run club but with no chance of ever winning the Premier League. A feeder club with a half-decent bank balance.

And people lap this up. The press lap this up.

Until PSR is done away with, we're basically a fancy version of the Scottish league.

How he picked them in the first place is bewildering.

When I see him at Finch Farm with the scarf on...

I was meaning get the best 'C'-level management team, ie, the best specialist board, the best departmental heads, the best DoF etc; and from there, recruit the best behind the scenes team, look at the best coaches etc.

Then the players would come; or focus on and develop the Academy to be a 'centre of excellence'.

Deep pockets are required which ver way you wish to go. Else you just keep bobbing around the 9th to 15th positions — or worse… or maybe better?

Then, as you say, become a feeder club initially, but with an eye to making progress up the table, where developing an Everton multi-club model becomes possible, and affordable.

However, as you rightly say, the Premier League is to all extents and purposes a three-horse race nowadays, or as you say an English SPL, with the bonus of the 4th place and Champions League spot up for grabs.

I think this debate could generate its own thread: where do you start, how do you progress, how do you stabilise, and then kick on from a 'plateau' to break into the Top 6, then Top 4… then win the whole kaboodle...???

I agree, we should be looking at developing the best talent. 100%. It just makes me apathetic to think that is currently our aspiration.

It's like the old mantra, one game at a time, or rather one day at a time, one bill at a time.

Patience and investment is our only hope; unless Uncle Ali has a plan we all know nothing about and he is looking at reinvesting in the club and the development opportunities around the Dock Road area.

Maybe this is why Moshiri is doing what he is, and all the loan repayments etc is still being used to 'launder money', allegedly.

As long as we continue to exist as a club, we stay in the Premier League, and we have the occasional decent game of football… for now, that is all we can ask, until there is major investment in the club, however that occurs.

nb: I don't mean more loans either, I mean equity investments...

Sorry, Si, I try and keep things short and one thing leads to another... My bad!

I don't like what he had to say about the value of Branthwaite if it is to be believed. €60M is not much more than £50M and way below what we think he is worth when compared to Guehi.

Wish he would just keep his trap shut until he owns the friggin club – if he ever gets shot of his Palace wedge!

Also, there is clearly a long-term plan in the works here for the Americans as I'm pretty sure than in order to vote on anything to do with changing Premier League rules (such as relegation wink wink) it required over half the votes from club owners.

This will make around 10 clubs in the Premier League being owned by US investors so they can all collude and vote to change laws. And in my opinion, eventually get rid of relegation somehow.

Anyway, right now I'd sell us to Old Nick as long as we can rid ourselves of bloody Moshiri.

Textor seems to really wants us and says the right things, so let's hope he backs up what he has to say... Except selling Branthwaite for €60M!

Just think, Molenbeek – average crowd 8 – buy Branthwaite next summer for £100 million on the understanding they give him back to us on loan for the season with an option to buy back at the end of the season for £30…

Masters will surely endorse that as yet another crafty way around and escaping PSR.

1) He's into football. Though I imagine more from a money point of view than true love; otherwise, why sell a club he said he loves?

2) He has an interesting, and probably to many, laudable opinion of the history and tradition of the game. I think he meant it about wishing we stayed at Goodison, maybe he was at the famous Palace game. But his head would always point to BMD.

3) He is going to be very hands on, for better or worse. Hope he has more of a clue than Moshiri.

4) I don't think he is personally all that rich. Someone above said £700B plus. That's not his wealth. Not even close. Richer than Moshiri perhaps, and presumably with no Uzbeki gangster attached, but I suspect a few billion at best. His claimed talent is pulling in capital.

5) Which means we will not have an owner freeing us from debt. This buy will be debt-funded. Hopefully on better terms than currently.

6) It appears Dyche's days are numbered.

With regard to the multi-club model, I actually think it makes sense, it was the only aspect of 777's bid I liked. But it is concerning that Lyon appear to be struggling. That triggers me a bit...

What do the other Palace owners know that we don't? Apart from not liking the multi club idea? Sounds to me that they don't want him anywhere near making decisions. Reminds me of Uzmanov at Arsenal where David Dein kept him at arm's length.

I listened to his 10 minute Sky interview and like him even less. Obviously he has some strange football ideas. What is his vision for the new Everton Stadium?

I am sure that there is a lot fluff in what he says hoping to convince us that he really gets EFC. But the thought of owning or part-owning Everton Stadium is his main driving force and he gets a football team as part of the deal.

I have a sinking feeling that he will get the go ahead to buy Moshiri out, find a way to pay off our debts and we will not compete on the field.

As Don alludes to, the inevitable spanner in the works could be the Premier League, but this individual knows what he's dealing with by the sounds of it.

In terms of club, Everton, especially with the new stadium, is a much bigger prospect than Palace.

He is obviously going to be driven by business interests. Aren't all football club owners?

Strangely, I've just got involved in a think tank scenario here in Australia, regarding why the Australian team is going just about nowhere. The question was asked at a local level in a senior amateur club I coached in the early '90s.

One of the players from then made his thesis on what is going wrong in the feed chain of players, starting from an early age. Much of what you guys are talking about actually rings a bell but, of course, at a much lower level of advancement than you are speaking.

I would guess that some of what we are seeing here is happening also in the UK at junior level. Sorry if this seems boring but I do believe the "thought processing" is relevant.

Or is he just blowing smoke, ingratiating himself with the authorities, in which case somebody should explain to him Everton's recent relationship with the Premier League.

Although, as per Man Utd's allowance for its sale, perhaps this might work in our PSR discussions, or did that opportunity pass with Bill? Or maybe one of his companies might like to make an offer for Goodison but that probably only works once as well.

I'll just stop there but won't be holding my breath until the next exclusivity agreement comes along.

If you have a loan with a bank, or an HP agreement on a car, then you move that agreement, the bank or HP company will still do due diligence (a means test or credit score search) to make sure you're good for the debt.

So why would the Premier League be any different?

I don't think there is any way of properly evaluating anyone without them actually taking charge and then showing their mettle. So I'm neither excited nor worried about whether Textor takes over, but I will be ‘hopeful' if he does.

Mind you, any confidence I had in the US being a potential hothouse for excellence has been severely reduced by watching the first half of the ‘presidential debate' the other night! What a shambolic shit-show with both candidates apparently auditioning for a satire on vacuous politicians.

Textor says that he'll raise and spend money, but PSR might prevent him from doing that. Like others have said, he seems to be more of a salesman for Everton rather than a potential buyer.

If Textor doesn't conclude a deal, then who else will? It's very concerning having to wait time and time again for things to be resolved on the ownership front.

I hope we swerve him.

The Sky 6 have pressured the Premier League to ensure no one can gate-crash their cosy party, regardless of how much money they have.

Just look at Newcastle, the Geordies were crowing about being the richest club in the world, but the reality they are now facing is that they can't buy anyone because of PSR.

Man City were the last club to get that mega-owner bounce, that will never happen again because they won't let it happen again.

So some people saying this guy doesn't have enough wealth, this guy is working off debt… it doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is someone comes in, steadies the ship, makes good use of the extra revenue from the new stadium, and we have a club ran as a proper business that sees incremental growth.

But of course, we're football fans and we live on dreams… we're going to win the league next season!

Textor seems to have a larger risk appetite, therefore I don't think he will see the 777 Partners - A-CAP civil court case with Leadenhall as a barrier to acquisition (because it isn't). Equally, he will look at our debt and conclude most of the secured lending can be restructured over a longer term.

My big concern with Textor is the same as Friedkin — does he have enough money to invest in the squad and make us competitive on the pitch? Or will he need to add to the debt to do so?

All potential owners are only interested in clubs to make money. Sure they will be drawn into being supporters over time, chiefly because of thier investment.

Si @39 has it right when he says, unless PSR is done away with, we along with the other 13 clubs in the Premier League are only feeder clubs for the established big 6.

We, along with 3 or 4 other clubs, have the potential to break into the Champions League positions but now PSR has blocked the only chance we have got to beat the stranglehold we are in.

No, we need someone with a plan and vision for the future of this club.

“According to Forbes' Most Valuable Soccer Teams 2024, Palace is worth circa £610 million, which would mean that Eagle Football Holding's share comes out to around £274.5 million.

Bloomberg reported that Textor's football stable was worth around £780 million when in the process of his initial investment in Lyon. Therefore, it would have increased to around £940 million after upping his stake. Meanwhile, netwealth.biz claims that Teztor's net wealth is around £3.37 billion.”

Moshiri's net worth is £2.24 billion.

He realizes doing so requires mega money which he reckons he can get and he didn't swerve the Dyche issue. In fact, he was very detailed on questions to be asked proffering possible player solutions.

I understand the cynicism but, beyond an oil state buying us, if we must go the "investment" route, this guy seems the kiddie. He knows the Premier League, understands Everton FC as an institution, and is not Dolly Daydream – like Moshiri.

Comes over as Moshiri Mk II. Failed to take over Palace so looks for another club to feed his dreams.

Out of the frying pan. Once again!

Everton that.

Just buy it yourself if you don't trust anyone.

It must be almost a done deal for him to comment on Dyche; otherwise, it is way out of order. I know Sean has had a lot to deal with, but he has been under zero pressure for his job becasue everyone knew we were too broke to replace him.
This might keep him on his toes.

Letting Kenwright in, it's left the door open now to seven more just like him.

It might not be that. It will be a while before we know which it is.

With 45% of shares in Palace, I'm equally sure he's had a voice and influence over what was a relatively successful team by their historical standards.

Not sure about the Goodison bid or what that would achieve. I thought the Goodison plan and as recently posted the EitC release about continued commitment to L4, was included in the stadium project. I could be wrong.

On EitC, they do great work. I'd like to see them expand their footprint to other areas of the city and the city region personally.

For us, we just have to wait and see. He seems confident that both his sale of his Palace shares and takeover of Everton will happen reading his interview.

Other comments he has made included the club being financially in a fairly healthy place, also that there is no problem in funding the new stadium. He also said any other uninformed comments to the contrary were nonsense. Seems like he has looked at the books and they don't look cooked.

He obviously knows the ins and outs of the club's difficulties, does not see them as a problem for future ownership and the things that we just speculate about. Looks very promising and everything is slowly coming together.

Stringing things along with a succession of would-be purchasers has, I think, suited Moshiri. The 30 November date is significant from the current owner's point of view. By then, he will have the keys to our new home. He may feel a completed stadium will attract more interest and ultimately provide a better deal for him.

Although he makes the final decisions I am sure he has a number of Lawyers and Financial experts at hand,that have gone over all the necessary financial paperwork, rules and regulations before he signs anything.

He seems enthusiastic about owning Everton, and hopefully if it happens, we have a modern version of John Moores.