Board provides updates on finances and stadium progress at AGM

However selling Lukaku Delefeou and Barkley, has not done so on the pitch. It may be that the club had literally no realistic way to keep them and keep harmony in the team and prosperity on the pitch.

However, with Koeman's failed three year project on the Scrapheap, hopefully this AGM will unveil a new vision to get us back among the Elite, that we can all passionately believe in and get behind.

From my perspective, the Club appears to be on a much better financial footing and the stadium issue seems to be progressing – albeit slowly. However, where it matters – on the pitch – personally, I feel like we have gone backwards.

It is not Moshiri's fault Koeman went backwards after his initial first season's relative success. At least Moshiri does not suffer fools too long by the looks of it.

If Big Sam is not the man, he will doubtless try another. He needs to back the managers with proper money though of course in today's money-dependent success formula.

Sadly some of the other changes such as Koeman and Walsh haven't born fruit.

Recruitment the most obvious concern for me – how did we end up with such a strange squad post summer?

Do they believe Everton have moved on from this time 5 years ago? My answer would be No.

If some had ask that question in 2007, have Everton moved on as a club since 2002 then the answer would have been an emphatic Yes.

But the club , with one exception in Martinez first season which yielded positive feeling that glass ceilings were no more (the win at Old Trafford felt like the breakthrough), has now roughly spent almost a decade in mediocrity and failing to “take the next step”.

The glass ceiling feels well and truly back above our heads again now. We have clearly fallen behind clubs we were on a level pegging with this time 10 years ago, clubs like Tottenham etc.

We cannot even compete when we face these teams in 90 minutes anymore; 16 matches without beating a top 6 club suggests this.

It's all well and good Everton always telling the suffering fans to “be patient tomorrow will be our time” but with Everton tomorrow never comes, the club exists in roundabouts, it gets back to a decent place then, within a year, it's back talking of struggles and mismanagement coupled with the failure to ever produce anything positively unexpected.

On the playing side there doesn't appear to have been much improvement as we're in a similar league position to 2016 and have lost Stones, Lukaku and Barkley.

The Koeman project was a failure which was a real setback but a huge plus has been the emergence of the young English players like Kenny, Calvert-Lewin, Davies, Holgate etc with, hopefully, more to come.

So, overall, I'm reasonably optimistic and yes, we're certainly in a much better place with Moshiri on board.

Going back to last season:

Tottenham: Lost 2-3
Liverpool: Lost 1-3
Manchester United: Drew 1-1
Chelsea: Lost 0-3
Arsenal: Lost 1-3
Manchester City: Drew 1-1
Chelsea: Lost 0-2
Manchester United: Lost 0-4
Tottenham: Lost 0-3
Arsenal: Lost 2-5
Chelsea: Lost 1-2 (Cup)
Liverpool: Drew 1-1
Chelsea: Drew 0-0
Manchester United: Lost 0-2
Liverpool: Lost 1-2 (Cup)

I beg your pardon – it's 16 games if we don't beat Tottenham on Saturday (which you may as well say it's 16 then anyway... do pigs fly?)

That's why I say we can't even compete over 90 minutes against the top 6 sides anymore, let alone over a season.

Jon, Moshiri has done much more than act as a guarantor. He paid off all the loans, getting rid of the lawnmower money in the process, has mapped out his vision for the future – a stadium on the banks of the Royal Blue Mersey – and an ambition to be amongst the top 4.

The only things he hasn't achieved yet is to surround himself with capable people and get rid of Kenwright.

He clearly said he went back to last season, 15 matches with 16th coming with Spurs. He listed the results.

Sorry if it doesn't suit the theory!

As a money man I feel he's preparing the club for a new chapter, he has put 𧵉m in according to the lads on EBM, having sifted through the accounts.

He has absolutely failed to get any traction in the football arena. His failure to land a competent well known Director of Football has contributed to a flawed transfer policy, erratic management choices leaving us unbalanced as a squad and lacking direction.

It's perceived that he has lent on Kenwright for the football part but still the key moments belong to him. Sacking Martinez, hiring Koeman and Allardyce, don't feel like Kenwright's MO.

The sale of players, many undervalued, is irksome and might not directly be Moshiri, but he's accountable for it being sanctioned.

I do believe, based on his financial movements, we will have a new ground, but to the footballing side, unless he takes steps to get top people in the field into key positions, it's hard to see anything more than what we have now.

Think he'll back Sam when asked?

We have gone what will be after the Wembley trip on Saturday, 16 matches without beating any of those so-called “big six”.

For anyone still confused check our results, google it or whatever, stretching back to last March in order starting with the defeat at Tottenham.

Since we beat City 4-0 last January, there have been 15 games against Man City, Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea without a win!

For those who are interested in the business side of things, I have added a couple of links (up top) to the Annual Report, and to an analysis put up by 'the esk' of Everton Business Matters podcast – the EBM that John (#20) refers to.

Does anyone not wish his Uncle had been a redneck then they would be suffering from his misty-eyed "days of yore" syndrome.

These meetings had a ritual grovel from someone on the ESHA and when the floor was opened the same few asking the same questions and, not liking the answers, getting angry. The whole exercise was pointless as a result. They served no useful purpose.

Problem outside these meetings is that there are many who continue to ask daft questions and don't understand or like the answers because they prefer to fuel conspiracy theories about board members ripping off the club. The "Arteta money" and "other costs" being just two examples.

"
Jim Bennings

Posted 05/01/2018 at 21:54:26

That's me done for it all now...
All the best, people"

😂🤣😅😆

N0! Without Elstone around, I might sink into apathy! I sometimes dream of seeing that smug, false grin accidentally falling onto my fist, so that the police won't do anything about it. More often, I wish I'd be more active, and that it was the real world!

Luckily, I quickly fall back into dream-land before I get sued for intent... :D

Hard to call on Allardyce. I wonder why he gave him an 18-month contract.

Was it
a) Because he had been stung by the payoffs to Koeman and Martinez.

or b) Because he want to see if we can attract a top name in the summer but needed someone to steady the ship and create a stable and inviting environment.

David,

there was never any detailed explanation for the other unexplained operating costs which rose from £1m to over £20m a year within a year or two of Kenwright's takeover.

That is why there is a constant sarcastic reference to how many lawnmowers we now have at Finch Farm because Elstone had apparently suggested Finch Farm accounted for a large part of the increase –even though the rent is shown elsewhere in the accounts.

If Allardyce does what's required and no more, he gets paid off at the end of the season and Moshiri looks elsewhere.< If he exceeds expectations, he may see out the full contract and even be offered an extension.

Win/win for Moshiri, and possibly for us supporters too.

As for Moshiri, I'm still not convinced and am sceptical about whether they'll actually deliver a stadium. Got the feeling they were in it for what they could get out of it in terms of all the Commonwealth Games infrastructure they'd have benefited from.

It's probably Blue Bill's continued involvement that makes me suspicious. I've said it before he doesn't have to spend a penny on real bricks and mortar so long as he has the latest drawings on his desk. I really do hope my gut instinct is wrong. If it is, it will be for the first time in 20 years.

I'll be there, Ian.

I do believe in Moshiri, even though I think he naive and easily mugged by Kenwright.

But, like Paul Gregg, he will cotton to Bill's bullshit eventually and this time Bill doesn't have the power to fight him off.

More suspicious questioners asked if any of those were accounted for by transfers to directors. The answer was always "No". Kenwright made a point of emphasising that no dividends were paid, shareholders knew that, they'd have got them if they were. He also stated quite clearly that he and other directors at the time, pre-Moshiri and with Elstone not a director, took no payments.

Plenty of opportunities to call him out on this for the conspiracy theorists, nobody did. The Q&A went on until there were no more questions. The only time anyone was stopped was when, rather than ask a question, they set off on a statement about their own concerns.

We now have paid directors do this is a difference in the latest set of accounts over those earlier sets. Two would feature anyway, Elstone and Denise Baxendale. Whether their pay is greater as a result of being directors I wouldn't know.

The highlights I would say are as below. These carry my world view of matters, so I encourage all posters as well as those attending the AGM to have a read of the analysis by ESK:

1. The suspicion that hung around Moshiri injecting funds into the club as zero interest bearing debt has hopefully evaporated, as these funds are clearly classified as equity. The analyst paints some scenarios where the money could be paid back but he does this for sake of fullness; in reality the funds injected cannot be called at Moshiri's discretion because there is no fixed repayment date, and no interest, i.e. no circumstance which would trigger a repayment where the club is just carrying on trading. Hence the auditors of the accounts were satisfied that these could be treated as equity. The injection of the funds as non interest bearing debt is because a share purchase or share offering would increase his stake (assuming other shareholders do not fund alongside him) and, whilst I do not know the contents of the shareholders agreement, it does appear as if Moshiri increasing his shareholding above 49.9pc is not on the agenda (for now). Otherwise he would have taken shares in exchange for the cash.

2. Personally, I am interesting in obtaining at least a little bit of information on the shareholders agreement. Attendees at the AGM might be in a position to do this through the Q&A (although I doubt much will be revealed). Does Moshiri plan to acquire more shares? What are the terms (if any) of such an acquisition? For how long will he continue funding the club in the form of non-interest bearing debt with no fixed repayment date? It is the worst possible way for him to fund the club (for him), because he gets no interest and no additional shares. So he can't be economically happy to keep doing this?

3. The analysis also provides a short counter to the "sell to buy" theory many posters have put forward. We are not a sell to buy club out of necessity, but as a result of the operating model the club has adopted under Moshiri. Our poor commercial revenues and decision to invest heavily in the playing squad has required Moshiri to fund a shortfall. As we know, FFP provides limitations. One of the comments below the analysis by ESK also adds that selling unwanted players at a decent fee, which frees up wages to re-invest, ends up reducing the net spend of the club. As an example, the fees quoted for the sale of Barkley (6 months of contract remaining) and Mirallas' loan fees, if true, represent good business from the club, as they offset the outlay quoted on Cenk Tosun.

4. Naturally, one imagines that the stadium issue will dominate the discussion. Linking the issue back to Moshiri's ownership, where shortfalls do arise, I just cannot see Moshiri underwriting all of the shortfall for the stadium using interest free loans. Assuming he is still willing to keep pumping cash in if the planned funding structure has gaps, at some point surely he will want to take more shares. This takes us back to the shareholders agreement - at what point does he take majority ownership? When will Kenwright and his cronies sell down further, and at what price? My hope is that this does not become an impediment to funding the stadium project if Moshiri is needed to come up with more cash.

On the football side of things there has to be so much to talk about, although not relating to the prior year, but the current one (for which the accounts ofcourse are not done).

It would be good if Steve Walsh is put under the microscope.

Shouldn't we be making it as intimidating as possible?

There is a live feed on the club site here, for those interested:

Link

Link

“How does a proper People's Club exit its community after 125 years?" she asks. "It's simple. We won't. We will never abandon our home. Everton Football Club will never leave Goodison Park.”

But then comes the punchline...How so? A ‘Civic Inheritance Project' will be initiated by building 3 tower blocks there!!! One facing Anfield (to our past), one facing Goodison (to our inheritance) and one facing the docks (to our future).

I was asked what was said about Other Operating Costs. I repeated what was said. You either don't believe what I heard or don't believe my account.

All I have done is described what happened. It is backed up in the podcast link that involved the Esk. That's half-an-hour long. Listen to it if you want a view from someone you might be prepared to accept as neutral. I have not defended anyone or anything.

Before you criticise me, or indeed anyone, take the time to read the thread and the responses that build over time. If there are things that you are not clear about ask. Failing to do these basics means you'll be ignored and ignorant.

He has allowed purchases and sales, I am sure everyone on here doesn't want him interfering in transfers. He employs so-called experts for that.

I am looking forward to the next 5 years. Let's get behind Sam – we might surprise ourselves!!!

We'll see what happens in the real world, as we go along. I agree, though, with Mike Dixon, I'm determined to start enjoying Everton again rather than enduring them.

The voodoo story is so bizarre it has to be true!!

I'm just glad Kenwright didn't come out with it, imagine the performance that would have been!!

I'm getting more and more concerned when I see stunts like this. It was a clear attempt at deflection, which they are admittedly grand masters. You can see them now, sitting in the boardroom; "Throw some EitC initiatives at them first off, soften them up a bit."

Same old faces lead to the same old failures.

Last year, Robert Elstone laid out in detail the Other Operating Costs, and it was commented about on here. There seemed no dissent about these costs.

The EitC presentation tonight was excellent, though the bit about a legacy site of Goodison seems a bit far for me to believe. The Mayor was compelling, not my politics TBH, but he would get my vote.

Great contribution from the man who does the food bank stuff.

Moshiri does have a presence about him, the group were very quiet when he spoke, less so than when Kenwright spoke, his almost 70s gala club hall attempts at being funny have got me bored.

And as for the Director of Football, first he kept reading his notes when others were speaking, and second, when he spoke with Sam, he seemed to think he is important. No charisma whatever, almost arrogant, and I say sack him in the morning. Save a few quid, as I am sure the confident Sam knows what he is doing, he spoke well. I felt tension between them and who has the final say on transfers.

Anyone got any idea of the Share price now, and anyone looking to sell??

It has me worried to be honest. We are one financial crash away from the whole scheme ending up in the Mersey – again.

I think the funding is being put in place but, to be honest, it's a bit above my pay grade. Either they are talking as you described about the guarantee or there is change. I can only say there seemed to be harmony and the Mayor was really strong when he spoke about it not being good for the city but being “fantastic”.

He was very clear, and credit to him, that even if Liverpool had put the proposition to the Council they would support it as it creates great regeneration opportunities, he quoted numbers, but that was beyond me.

The Council vote on the financing commitment is not far away, and he was saying he expects support to go through.

My understanding of Company law I said that if someone owns or has an influence over 20% of shares in a Company then they are regarded as a controlling directorsanyway. Round figures, he has what he has, and he is in control. All, the stuff on here about the influence of Bill is redundant. Robert said, Bill, him and Denise run the business, but anyone who has worked for a majority shareholder will tell you (I have), when it comes to the big decisions, it is the shareholder who carries the day. Don't be in doubt, it is not Bill's trainset and he knows it.

As for the question in your last paragraph, have you tried Lord Grantchester?

I can't wait for the Radio Merseyside phone-in tomorrow lunchtime. It should be hilarious. If they don't bite, I'll go on to say what a good deal it is (actually it is a good deal for LCC) for the council tax payers to be funding Everton's new stadium on the iconic World Heritage Waterfront!!

So we'd be paying out more with no guarantees that Sam could perform, but with the carrot of a 1-year payoff it gives him a greater incentive.

Now estimated to cost£1 billion.

You don't become rich unless you know how to risk other people's money!

With regard to the escalation of costs, might it not have been a sensible tactic to hide the true costs to stop apoplectic hysteria from across the park!

To conclude, we are making progress from our dire financial position of recent years. The increase in broadcasting income, the profit from player trading and most significantly the capital provided by Moshiri have turned the club around financially. However, commercial performance remains a huge problem, as does the continuing growth of the gap between us and the big 6.

The accounts show the first stage of recovery are complete, aside from the ongoing and progressing stadium development, the next stage must be to close the gap financially with those above us. They also show the extent by which Moshiri now dominates and controls events at Everton. I'm sure that he and his advisors are aware of what is required, and that the key will be in bringing the talent into the club that can achieve such ambitions.

My bit now:

We are at the first – and probably most important, because it buys more time – stage of the financial recovery. The commercial performance is woeful, but not helped by the state of Goodison (compared to newer stadiums, if you don't get the history bit, it's a negative because it demonstrates lack of investment and being content at behind the times) or the inconsistent playing style and performances of the past few years.

There will be bumps on the way, but I think Moshiri has his heart and brain in the right place, made some sensible football observations which shows he's not a naive as many seem to think about playing matters, and clearly has a billionaire's ruthless streak, which we have lacked for years, coupled with a philanthropic side which is right in keeping with the Everton ethos.

If the vision is a very special and unique football stadium by 2023, in a very special location with a very special team of (mainly) homegrown players, or most players recruited early in their careers so they clearly have Everton lineage, along with a nucleus of world class talent, what's not to like? The building blocks for that are (slowly) being hauled into place.

At this point, my hopes for a new stadium are slowly fading, and are about as likely to happen as us winning the Champions League (this season).

"The council would have first dibs on some of Everton's most important sources of income, potentially including TV income and season ticket sales, meaning repayments should be guaranteed.

The finance deal is still being completed and would have to be approved by the council's cabinet and then by full council, allowing opponents to have their say.

It's already been criticised by opposition politicians and on social media."

The thing that I found intriguing, was when Moshiri, said that we won't have to worry about finances whilst he his around, so with him not being that rich, for an “Premier League Club Owner” I'm still waiting patiently for Big Al!

Mark my words, there will be calls for a public enquiry, and EFC will be become an easy target for every service that is short of funding in the City.

Again, we are reliant on other parties to make this happen. Then add some politics, developers, rising costs and a board who can't sign a striker. Sadly, any hope of a new stadium has badly faded for me.

And if we did try using the big money Lukaku was offered, why can't we still tempt a big-name established striker to our club?