Malone consortium back in Everton takeover picture

Is that a good thing or is he another Friedkin waiting to happen?

I've never heard of this chap having an interest. Likely bollocks?

Mark.

You would think anyone interested in buying us now knows what they're getting themselves into.

Maybe this lot may be more bullish in getting past the 777 Partners problem if they are a consortium vehicle, rather than a group like Friedkin...

It's only my guess but the adverse publicity may not matter so much if it's a consortium of faceless investors fronting the money.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

The LA dodgers just beat the Redsox — it's an omen!!!

I think Friedkin has paid off Bell and Downing and therefore they are not owed anything. So we now owe The Friedkin Group.

We have loans from 777 Partners who have borrowed from A-Cap.

We have loans from MSP Sports Capital.

We have loans from Moshiri.

Anyone else??

Who were the ones backed by Dell Computers Financial?

Phil, it was reported that MSP has also been paid off by The Friedkin Group.

The outstanding loans are to Friedkin, Moshiri, 777 Partners. and Rights & Media Funding.

Downing, Bell and MSP are cleared.

Dell was backing the Bell and Downing buy-out bid, but that looks dead.

I'm still waiting for those people “waiting in the wings” to make an appearance…

As Churchill once famously said:

This is not the end, it isn't even the beginning of the end. It perhaps is the end of the beginning.

The thing I never understood about this guy is how he's made enough money to front a group that would be paying hundreds of millions of pounds for our club.

He was a Major League Baseball General Manager; those guys don't make more than $5-10M a year, I don't think. And he wasn't in the game that long.

With our luck, he's somehow made 10 times his salary earnings since leaving baseball as a mob boss in New Jersey running some organized crime ring.

This rumour feels as weak as they come, and I'm not sure I want to be proven wrong.

Jonathan, that's a weirdly specific dim view of Malone. It seems plenty of people have the same sub-conscious biases when it comes to business people.

Why do so many people seem to think ridiculous wealth can only come from organised crime? Not that something being perfectly legal can't have dubious morality but that doesn't seem to be the concern being expressed.

Why are so many people seemingly surprised when the ridiculously wealthy make some really dumb decisions?

Farhad Moshiri should have at least convinced most Evertonians that there is nothing to say a very wealthy football fan will automatically make a good owner.

Johnathan #11,

I don't really know anything about him, or anything to do with baseball actually, but I see that, with him being a former General Manager of 2 teams, he may make some investors feel confident that he could translate that knowledge into running a football club (like Ted Lasso?) so they are prepared to invest in him?

The article at The Athletic by David Ornstein has said it very clearly: it was the Proceeds of Crime Act in the US that torpedoed Friedkin's bid.

In Plain English: If 777 indeed was convicted with one of the million types of Frauds in the US, then the monies that they loaned to our club will be considered Proceeds of Crime. For an American Citizen like Friedkin, they would go outside of the Galaxy to be as far away from that.

So, another American Consortium? Yawn... their Legal Team would point out the same thing once they have read through the club's books like Friedkin's team did.

Our hope would be someone who is a not an American National and won't be affected by that as much.

Our much loved club and its bizarre owner (?) is now seen by any sentient beings world-wide as the equivalent of an already mega-shagged human being preposterously offered up to an obviously decreasing yet savvy, still, market as a highly desirable gorgeous near virginal dreamboat.

My analogy is admittedly crude but, to me at least, because of the last 30 years of Kenwright, erm, input, it means we cannot expect anything more than to be ruinously fucked over once again as Moshiri struggles to emerge with even a scintilla of credibility for those to whom he's massively answerable.

Never heard of this guy before, Ho Malone, Yes, but not Kevin. :-)

I just wish something would get sorted, so we can concentrate on 'on the pitch matters' and as the Transfer Window is running down, getting the players in we need to look something like a Premier League club.

Si 12,

I was just making a bad joke about how it would be just our luck to have another corrupt businessman fronting the next leading bid to buy the club. I don't necessarily view all businessmen as corrupt, but it also never surprises me when they are in one form or another.

My larger point was just that, if you read about this guy, he's an odd one to be leading the way to buy a Premier League club. He hasn't even been in baseball in a couple decades, if memory serves, but so it goes…

Chances are he's just the sports brain behind some mega-rich group of friends with nothing better to do than leak rumours to the media about making a bid for us, while on a cocaine binge in Vegas — there I go again, making wild accusations!

We have to drown ourselves in dark humour to make it as an Everton supporter.

While it would be nice to have an owner with some knowledge of the game or better still an already existing interest in the club, it is not essential.

What is essential is that he can put the right CEO and management team in place to oversee the financial and accounting side and reorganize the efficiency of the scouting dept and Academy. First team results should be the first criteria for changes to senior coaching positions.

Otherwise, he needs only the financial clout to start the procedure.

According to The Friedkin Group, what they found under due diligence, which no-one outside The Friedkin Group and Everton knows about, is unresolvable for a takeover to take place.

So Moshiri and his associates have to sort out that unresolvable issue or issues before the Club can be sold. Any reasons for the last takeover collapse currently being offered are uninformed or partly informed speculation, just like the previously two attempts.

Since Moshiri and his associates have never sorted anything out and been contained by the regulatory authorities, it is highly likely that the regulatory authorities will ultimately have to sort out these issues whatever way they can.

I would not be surprised if Moshiri was caught on camera in an FBI sting, dealing in drugs at this stage.

Jerome, these unresolvable issues, if they're unresolvable then how can anyone, even the magician that is Moshiri [sarcasm], resolve them???

Sounds like we're screwed.

Is there anyone we don't owe money to now? I'm beginning to wonder if at some point Everton might owe me 20 quid or so.

We've had Fat Sam. Now Bugsy Malone.

No more American consortiums wasting our time please.

Nigel #22,

That is why I think the courts followed by the regulators will end up taking action. Then proper owners can take over.

'Unresolvable' is how Friedkin Group describe the issues. That is from the perspective of a new owner trying to take over.

Friedkin will come back. If he knows the LA Dodgers' manager-led consortium are going to put a bid in, Dan will realise his impulsivity in making a bid for Everton then a few weeks later, he pulls out.

Ref: criminal case of proceeds. This law is to catch criminals benefitting when are not the principal or aiding and abeting. Everton are not criminals… though the way we play under Dyche — that could be criminal sometimes — notwithstanding the way Moshiri makes his decisions is criminal.

Criminal law always has defences in the Act (USA Code). I wouldn't give the third party a penny if 777 Partners collapses. The third party suing 777 Partners has the burden of proof of fraud. There is just a temporary injunction which is normal for interim security in cases like this.

We have now had 4 parties granted exclusivity. All have failed to take over the club for one reason or another. However, it seems they have all thrown a couple of hundred million into the pot with various terms and conditions attached.

This is making it increasingly more complex, difficult and ultimately expensive for the next party that comes along. I really fear that, unless Farhad and/or other lenders take a significant haircut, we will effectively be unsellable, and that is not good for obvious reasons.

Where are those Oil Sheiks when you need one? 😉

It's a very good question, Soren. Methinks there is something very rotten in the state of Denmark. Rotten enough to put off genuine businesses whereas 777 Partners were rubbing their grubby mits.

Something is amiss… but then I think we all know that. Something akin to "I don't actually own the stadium, it technically belongs to Alisher Usmanov, so you will have to do a dodgy deal with him if you want it because he is sanctioned."

It is going to take some undoing to sort us out.

Please stop doom looping! Put yer fucking big boy pants on and let's get ready to disappoint the haters again! And again!

If he can get Michael Scott on board then we're sorted.

I'm totally thrilled about this, because Kevin Malone is my landscaper.

If what he's been charging me is any indication, he definitely has the needed funds.

And now I'll have a great connection for tickets at BMD!

On the pitch I think we will be ok with this manager (assuming he stays), with the potential playing group we may have, and with our rabidly loyal fanbase.

Off the pitch and in the corridors, we seem to be right royally fucked in my opinion, No-one seriously showing as potential investors, debts mounting from stadium investment and day to day operations, and dark felonious goings on being rumoured.

The latter, if it's really unresolvable, could be Moshiri's (and Kenwright's) final nails in our coffin. I'm afraid the light at the end of our tunnel seems to be getting dimmer and dimmer in my mind.

Not feeling positive this morning, and my glass is always half-full.

This takeover is turning into a joke. One the one day, others the next. Is it for real? Why don't we ever hear from the current owner?

And who can turn the ship properly? We need a steady owner who's in it for the sports. Not just a place to put your sucking straw in.

Excellent - like the buses.

At least should be some competitive tension to ensure Moshiri gets a price he can walk away with.

More interest the better I say.

What an ongoing shambles Everton have become.

Cheers, Bill!

After having the worst accountant on the planet as our owner, now we are being associated with a group lead by Kevin Malone, the worst accountant in the US version of “The Office”?

Hope he doesn't spill his chilli soup all over the Bramley Moore stairs!

Journalist Ben Jacobs wrote, 22 July “Malone tells me a decision will be made soon on whether to bid again for Everton.”

According to Jacobs, Malone said, “All I can say at this time, is that our investor group is seriously evaluating the Everton opportunity.”

From Givemesport:

Malone and his investors have already made one competitive offer, believed to be in excess of £300M, and could now return with a second bid.

"All I can say at this time, is that our investor group is seriously evaluating the Everton opportunity."

Malone is known to have a passion for Premier League football and has developed a strong affinity with Everton over the past few months. His group are understood to be both football and community-focused.

However, like all prospective Everton suitors have found, doing a deal with Moshiri is not routine. Along with navigating the debt owed to 777 Partners, and effectively Advantage Capital given they are financially intertwined, there is also a £225M loan owed to Rights & Media Funding (RMF). This is subject to a 5% interest rate on top of the Bank of England base, meaning Everton are paying 10.25% overall.

Football insider:

Everton & Friedkin could now sensationally revive takeover deal — Keith Wyness

Gerry@40. I wouldn't listen to anything that Wyness says. If he said it was Sunday today, I'd have to check.

Says the person who religiously looks at Goodison News! 😀😀😀

"If" we were in an absolute financial crisis, with administration beckoning and no chance of a takeover happening, would we honestly be splashing the cash and be bringing in between five and seven players before the start of the season?

Just have a little think. ;-)

To be fair to, Paul, Rob, that awful website does seem to have more topics about Everton than any other website, and he definitely seems bang on the money with regards to Keith Wyness.

It's very easy to see why they got Keith to sign a non-disclosure contract because he never shuts up talking shite. I wonder who his alias is on ToffeeWeb!