Rival Premier clubs to raise concerns over 777 Partners' takeover of Everton

Maybe they could also discuss Saudi Arabia's human rights record.

Reputational damage to the Premier League…ha! ha! ha! It doesn't have a reputation – other than for looking after the wealthier clubs and bowing to anything that is asked of them by those clubs, so long as it increases revenue.

I don't think the Mail and its reporters will be totally happy until Everton FC fail to exist, they're either all very sad Kopites or somebody at Goodison has peed on their chips at some point in time.

If Everton ever comes out of this terrible period in a better position, we should remember those who have persistently tried to kick us whilst we were on the floor, and the Mail and its reporters are fairly high up on that list.

The standard is surely set with Sheikh Mansour and Mohammed bin Salman (along with the way they've run rings around the Premier League).

As ropey as 777 Partners look, I don't think the Premier League would need to lower the bar. It's already on the floor.

Everton Football Club are the ones who are on the floor, so hopefully these 777 Partners get fucked off, so we can rid ourselves of Kenwright's Billionaires.

As others have said, the idea an institution like Everton can only attract someone like 777 Partners at what appears a knockdown price is quite mystifying.

Very very strange.

Of course they would raise concerns. Especially those around us at the bottom.

They smell our fear of going bust/into administration if 777 Partners are taken off the table and can sense there is not exactly a long line of other suitors to take their place. So that will be one less club to worry about in the relegation mix. Very handy.

That things have come to this...

Mark,

Precisely. Also there's the fact we've already upset all the usual relegation contenders by violating P&S Rules.

Meanwhile we led the witch hunt against the "big clubs" trying to join the Super League. So, given a chance to knock us down, obviously they're going to go for it.

What's the quickest way to become a millionaire?

Start off as a billionaire then buy Everton.

There is another way Billy @8, find yourself owning a Premier League club, befriend a Billionaire and hey presto you become a millionaire.

Barry... "an institution like Everton". Everyone on here knows what you mean and agrees with you. But how does the wider (football) world see us?

Maybe as a decent old club that used to be a big hitter, but has done nothing of note in almost 40 years.

Pains me to say it, sorry.

Billy, only Usmanov has got this type of money to lose and keep gambling. He's spent more on yachts that he can't sail anymore, and he will still be a multi-billionaire, even with all the sanctions he is currently facing.

I was actually wondering if Kenwright was going to buy £30M worth of shares off Moshiri to keep us diddling – and become our saviour once again!

Tony,

Fortunately for us, that is most of the wealth he has created for himself from Everton and he would have to be a complete and utter fool to put the vast majority of it at stake in a high risk move like that.

Actually on a larger scale, it is why I doubted all the money going in was truly Moshiri's, the thick end of a billion. He doesn't have that much more than that and I just can't see any individual putting that much of their personal wealth into one risky venture.

Alan 10, sad to say but I have to agree with you. My dad used to talk about the big clubs he admired growing up like Bolton, Preston North End, Huddersfield, Blackpool etc… We have no divine right to stay in the top flight as the above mentioned found out.

No one outside of the Everton family will miss us if we go bust. No one will weep for us. We will be viewed and studied by historians as an example of how not to run a business.

This will be the Moshir & Kenwright legacy. A legacy of shame.

How many Evertonians do you think have got the stomach to see Everton carrying on like they currently do, out on the place where it matters most, especially after years upon years of ineptness, Colin?

Logic would suggest it's definitely Usmanov's club, Mark, and I was only being facetious with regards Kenwright actually spending any of the money that he made from Everton on Everton!

I have got a little bit of a downer on watching football right now but I've just put Norwich v Leicester on the telly to see what the standard of football is like in the Championship.

Oh well, at least Man Utd are 2-0 down at half-time to Bayern Munich. I think that is a club almost as badly run as ours. At least our players aren't fighting (probably too indifferent).

Tony, I am very jaundiced with the Premier League and have been for some time. The sanitized version of football is all very nice but lacks the passion of combat, guile or wit. I think my pride would forevermore be damaged should we be relegated but my enjoyment of the game probably heightened!

I am tired of being ridiculed by those who who have no idea of the many years spent enduring mismanagement, lies and blame. The fool and his money, the conman with his bitterness. At the heart of it all, Everton Football Club, it's reputation in tatters because of shady deals, shady loans, it's cast of questionable chancers Green, Earle, Usmanov, Moshiri, all the friends and aquintances of Kenwright. All wanted a piece of the pie. Greed.

I am damaged goods, kicked and beaten but not defeated. I am a Blue and they are intrinsic to my existence, linked with the happiest days of my life but I rue the day Kenwright became involved. Often, I felt like I was screaming at the wind, a voice of reason lost in a sea of deceit.

Yes, it is about having a sixth sense to read people, see behind the mask. It matters not now, for we have to deal with the consequences for the abuse of the last 20 or so years.

But Everton are my club, your club and, though the pain and shame are bad, I am happy if any new owner comes on board and sorts the mess out. Championship football may not have the kudos of the elite but neither does it attract the greedy owners, players or managers.

Wait a minute! I didn't know murdering one of your citizens and dissolving his body in acid bath wasn't damaging for your reputation and could pass Premier League scrutiny! Honestly.

Incredibly well written, Christine, and probably because you echo a lot of my sentiments. Right now, I would sooner see Everton fighting to win in The Championship (because, for most of our history, we have always believed we could win) than carry on fighting for survival in the Premier League, especially in the current manner that we have been doing for years now.

Without massive investment, I think it's virtually impossible to reset yourself as a serious forward-thinking football club in the top league, and if there is one word that I would use above all others right now, when I think about what Everton need to do, then that word would definitely be “Reset”.

The Championship is a tough league with an unforgiving schedule including eight extra fixtures. I have two friends who have followed their teams through thick and thin. One is a West Brom supporter who is happy now to watch his team play in the Championship, winning a few and losing/drawing a few, rather than endure the inevitable slog of a relegation battle in the Premier League.

The other friend is a Preston supporter who is old enough to have seen his team play in the old First Divison, Tom Finney and all, back in the 1950s. He is desperate to see North End promoted so that he can see his club once more in the top flight, if only for one season.

I am not sure how I would react to us playing in the Championship. Without doubt I would still be there every game but would I be happy to just see us win a few more and lose a few less? Or would I be desperate to see us regain our place in the top flight even though that might mean a return to losing far more often than winning?

Never, ever forget that the Daily Mail was the British mouthpiece for Hitler and the Nazis. The true scum of a so-called free press!

Trevor, they're all scum, for fuck' sake. There is no such thing as a “free press”, no matter what they “tell” you. You have to make your own mind up… but people are too lazy, brainwashed, or just plain halfwits.

The so-called free press of the West is the most propagandised in history, yet they criticise China for having state-controlled media. Fuck's sake.

Typical Mail, trying to invent and stir things up. Scraping the barrel for an angle that does not exist, except in hearsay speculation.

Good, forewarned is forearmed! Everton should be going in with all guns blazing and insist that all clubs put all financial arrangements before the meeting for consideration by all other clubs as the Premier League's reputation, whatever that is, could be in danger from any one club.

Or perhaps we could insist that, like Man City's appeal to a Swiss-based court of arbitration, the whole matter is referred to a commission of Swiss bankers who, after all, know a thing or two about protecting reputations. Why wait for the independent commission in October? Get it all out in public now, for the sake of reputation, eh.

Tony, thank you for the kind comments. I did ponder writing it as an article but, in the early hours of the morning as I debated with myself, I am afraid the thought that went through my head was akin to no one cares what I write these days anyway!

But it needed saying and still does; it's one thing making mistakes, one can forgive that, but it's another when it's contrived or manipulated at the expense of so many loyal fans who work and live to support the team.

I don't even begrudge anyone making money, but it's blood money — and it's our blood!

Christine, your passion for Everton comes through in everything you write. If only those who used to fake it had the same passion. He doesn't even bother now because he's been found out.

I sit on trains most weeks and either get ridiculed or mostly have people who are genuinely intrigued. It's the same where I live in West London, sat amongst Chelsea, Liverpool (yes) and Manchester Utd supporters. We are still a big name even though we have been driven into the ground.

Like John and many others, I would follow Everton in any league, but I'm not contemplating it right now. I won't believe it will happen.

Brentford on Saturday. Turn the tide and we will all feel slightly better. Then we have Luton at home. Things may well look different as we enter October.

To coin a well-used phrase of mine, for once, just don't go and do an Everton October.

But all of this doesn't hide what is and has damaged this great and proud club of ours. And I think most are in agreement as to where that finger points.

Christine (24),

Don't ever think nobody cares what you write instead read again your post @ (16) and realise they would be fools not to read and absorb it, brilliant and as always from your heart.

Don't stop posting, Christine, I guarantee you would be well missed on ToffeeWeb.

Horrible, horrible post, Tony @18.

Utter defeatism.

I cannot begin to imagine the state of mind that calls for relegation from the Premier League as being the way forward.

No, no, a thousand times No!

Christine,

You have to keep posting, you can't give up. We are the worst run club in the country and those who have brought about this situation need to be called out again and again until there is a change.

We cannot accept our current plight!

If you think the finances are bad now — what would relegation mean?

Christine, I always look forward to reading your posts, keep posting.

Always intelligent and simply common sense — unlike a lot, including some of mine. Apart from the barge pole ones obviously.

The state of the club is worrying, but 3 points on Saturday would be enough for me to put this to the back of my mind. I can't help but feel this squad will get us to a fairly comfortable position by the end of the season.

Danny, I feel the same. When they are all fit we should have more attacking threat, but there has to be a change to the three in centre midfield.

I tend to agree with Danny #31. A couple of wins and draw in the next few games, would settle my nerves regarding the on-field activities, and I think we have slightly improved the squad by shipping some out and replacing them. There appears to be a better balance to the squad, albeit the bench still looks weak.

Dyche needs to improve his tactics on creativity and get a grip on Gana in midfield to stop him running around like a headless chicken. Make the core of the team work properly, be more creative, and I think that we will improve.

Michael, it's all about consequences, I think the financial future of the club is dependent on who eventually owners the club and the settlements of creditors. The team and manager and fellow fans, are the only people we can support and possibly by default, influence. The have my undying support no matter what.

We are playing in a league that is recognized by many as the best in the world, but it's never a level playing field, it's the haunt of states, corporates and a seedier side of business.

I wish it was as simple as winning the Championship as Tony says, but we are Everton and if we had never set eyes on Bill Kenwright, where would we have been now? I wish we could reset the clock to find out, but whoever comes in now, we will never know.

But we do need a reset for the club, a fresh start and hopefully not in the Championship. It might not be a choice but now a consequence, but I firmly believe the days of the Premier League in its current format are numbered as decisions made have increased the gulf in finance, players and affordability between 4 or so clubs and the rest.

Quite ironic that we are relying on the other Premier League clubs to voice their concerns loud enough about the suitability of 777 Partners to make the committee who make this decision have serious concerns about granting permission for this deal to go ahead.

While the other clubs can't veto the takeover, I am sure the committee will listen to their concerns carefully. I see the owners of 777 Partners were at Finch Farm the other day, talking to Dyche and Thelwell. Alan Myers said the meeting went well, but that's hardly surprising if you are meeting your new bosses – of course the meeting will go well and likewise, if you are meeting your potential employees for the first time, you are hardly going to set alarm bells off.

Alan Myers suggested they will bring a business approach to the club which admittedly has been missing for the last 6 years. It just depends on what they mean from bringing a business approach to running Everton. Could that mean selling players to pay day-to-day bills or selling the stadium and leasing it back.

While they know why they are going round buying clubs from Brazil, Australia and Europe, but it doesn't demonstrate to me a major commitment to Everton – just another club to add to their portfolio.

As we have seen, some fans of the clubs they have recently owned are protesting and want them out of their clubs, so why would the outcome at Everton be any different in a few months time, should the sale be ratified?

If anything the Championship is an even more of a financial madhouse than the PL. The majority of clubs are losing close to £500k a week in chasing the dream of the PL. Most have wages at 125% of revenue. Maybe they asked Bill what Everton would do!

There's an article from The Athletic here on the financial chaos.

Link

My levels of frustration and disappointment against Arsenal was the dashing of hope by the manager. We had possibly our strongest squad out with two target men, that two centre-forwards, yet they may as well have played Michael Keane at the back and no centre-forward.

I should have counted how many times we crossed the half-way line, it wasn't many, yet I hear people say Dyche almost got it right... not in my football world. We parked the bus at the off on our own ground. It felt inevitable and it was.

We have to win games; if we lose, at the very least we have to try. When they scored, I was waiting for the push to a high press; it didn't happen. Are we that bad or were the tactics wrong? For me, it was the latter.

Going forward, we cannot let teams come to Goodison and give them any room. I don't care how good they are. You can almost hear the pre-match talk in the opponent's changing room: "First 15 minutes, knock the ball around, quieten the crowd, wait for their mistakes, then we are on our way."

Front-foot football.

I have to admit that I don't understand a great deal about the finances regarding the club, apart from the fact it's not my worry. Been a fan since 1966, Wembley et al and honestly have no sympathy for the club at all, make your bed etc.

No doubt it will all come out in the wash at some point, maybe. Until then, I will cross my fingers, eyes and toes, that it all doesn't go tits up. Even if it does, they will forever have my support even in the lower non-leagues if some ITK would have us believe. It's all hypothetical guesswork.

I think some on here should, as our 'merican cousins say, cool your jets. Wait and see.

These “other clubs” should just piss off and mind their own business. For fuck's sake, they're so damn precious. Go get stuffed is my message to them. This is our business and not theirs.

Christine (37). I fully agree with your Arsenal observations. For the first time, I thought that Sean Dyche is not the right man even in the short term. To me, it was a performance on par with the Villa one. Just awful.

Only problem is, I have no idea who could come in instead of Dyche.

Tony @ 18, once upon a time you may have had a point. Short-term pain for long- term gain, push the reset button etc.

But now, I genuinely believe one relegation would quite possibly lead to another… and then who knows what.

Christine @37 absolutely spot on.

I was disgusted with that cowardly performance against Arsenal, we should always be on the front foot at Goodison regardless of who we are playing. Fans are spending a fortune for tickets and want to see us have a go, not just trying to keep the score down.

Our home record under Dyche is putrid, we haven't scored more than once for ages. We've got 11 points out of the last 48, 2 wins in 12 at home. That's a worse win record than Lampard.

As far as I'm concerned, I honestly see no improvement whatsoever. We can't keep clean sheets so we need to score more than once a game to get any type of result. I'm hoping getting Jack Harrison in the side will improve our goal output as he chips in with a few.

Come on, Blues we need a positive result Saturday 💙

I'd feel exactly the same way under the current ownership, especially because I don't believe they have now got the club's best interests at heart in any shape or form, Andrew E.

I believe Everton will only be able to reset once we have got rid of the curse and the silent owner; otherwise, our short-term pain will probably last at least another 28 years.

Michael @27, fair enough, but I am definitely a person who would watch Everton play in any league, just as long as we have got rid of the self-centered bastards who care a lot more for themselves than the club.

Christine, I relate to every word. I was part of a minority that never wanted Kenwright in the first place, when the masses clapped his (let's just say large) face on the big screen I felt sick!

I'm hoping he takes his Good Times and the Billionaire he found us away very soon.

Concerns, he says, more like he's one of those who enjoy kicking someone who's on the ground.

He's a nobody in any case; nobody cares how the Arabs are robbing their own people.

Those slagging Dyche off about the Arsenal result, have you seen their PSV result?

Have to agree with Christine's points of the game. The major criticism of Everton with Calvert-Lewin being injured was the lack of a goalscorer.

We buy one and his job seemed to be making sure Arsenal central defenders did not get over the halfway line.

You can't play "front foot" football with a midfield of Onana, Gana and Doucouré.

Good point Barry. I'm not a lover of 4-4-2 in the modern game, but I'd sooner have two workhorses in the middle of the park, and another two workhorses playing down the flanks right now, especially if they can get little combinations going with their fullbacks.

Maybe Arsenal wasn't the game to play it, but there was definitely periods within the game when Everton could have got players around Beto, and tried to make the game a little bit more scrappy, by trying to contest the second ball.

Sunday was all about Everton playing an ultra defensive game, and I don't think it was a surprise to anyone when Arsenal finally scored. The most disappointing thing was that, even though we were playing very defensively, Arsenal scored because none of Everton's players tried to put any real pressure on the ball.

I don't know how many Arsenal put past PSV but it doesn't excuse Sunday for being a totally horrible and negative defensive display.

4-0 it was, Tony, a walk in the park.

Dyche has to choose which tactic gives us of the best chance of getting something out of the game, it failed anyway. The problem for us is that we have players who couldn't muster the quality to play ourselves upfield.

I'm sure Dyche didn't want to be pinned down in our half, there's no substitute for ability and Arsenal's told in the end.

We seem to have drifted a bit off-topic here back to the Arsenal game?

Any 'feedback' from the orchestrated onslaught of clubs out for our blood?

Or was it yet more doom-laden scaremongering as Everton's cataclysmic issues were noticeably absent from the BBC's preview of said upcoming bloodbath:

Premier League clubs to meet over TV deal, calendar changes and EFL payments

Some impassioned and interesting posts here, but basically – what Alan #23 said sticks with me.

At least 10, perhaps 12 of the 20 clubs in the Premier League are mired in debt in real terms, with complicated and multi-layered debt structuring to satisfy FFP and other Premier League regulations. It was Leeds and Burnley on our case last year, who next?

As for the Daily Mail, The Sun and the Daily Express, the standard of sports journalism is quite risible, and routinely disparaging towards our club: best thing is to let all the "red top" journos shout down the club and print their shite, and hold them to account when our club emerges from our pit, phoenix-like!

Probably this is how the Premier League destroys itself. All the clubs in litigation with each other and the Premier League, and most go bust.

Except for the ‘scumbag' 6 who pop off to the European Super-Dooper League leaving Preston NE as the English Champions.

And we rise from the ashes……

Until we can bring in some creative players in the midfield, we are going to be stuck with dour defensive games, hoping we can keep the opposition out and sneak a lucky goal.

Workman-like squad with very little quality and relying on a long ball to a big centre-forward. Basically, a ready-made Championship side.

John 53, spot on. Quality in the middle is what's lacking.

I was keen to see Dele move on in the summer. But, on balance, it might (emphasis on might) be worth integrating him into the side.

The deciding factor will be cost. But a fit and firing Dele could have a transformative effect on our fortunes, much like Eriksen at Brentford.

Christine #34,

If we could reset back to Paul Gregg instead of Kenwright, I believe the outcome would have been quite a lot better and we wouldn't have had all these dodgy people involved in the club and only in it for their own gains.

Fair do's, Michael, I apologize for drifting off topic.

Regarding the Op, I think this is a load of tripe. It's not for other clubs to decide who they would like to play with. That's schoolyard bullying, it's discrimination because of what exactly, class? Not the right sort of people? Hypocrisy given the background ownership of other clubs.

I doubt it will be a formal discussion, more likely a moan by some around the tea trolley.

Christine,

"No one cares what I write anyway."

I beg to differ, young lady.

Your post (16) hits a lot of nails squarely on the head and will resonate with many many disillusioned fans.

Write that article, Christine. I for one would love to read it.

777 Partners having a Zoom meeting with Toffee TV tonight.

Any idea of time, Stephen?

Will it be live on air?

I think half a dozen clubs at the top end of the league couldn't give a stuff about who owns Everton while the rest would like us kicked out because it takes the pressure of relegation off them.

If that's the case, then there should be open book accounting of all clubs so there is transparency for all to see. That's never going to happen. Selective outrage...

Christine @61

I'd argue your suggestion should be the norm anyway.

Christine @34,

I firmly believe the days of the Premier League in its current format are numbered as decisions made have increased the gulf in finance, players and affordability between 4 or so clubs and the rest.

Variations on the predicted demise of the Premier League from some of our most renowned contributors have been an irregular theme for many years on here.

Yet the monster seems to only get bigger and stronger – and more lucrative:

International [TV] rights outstripped those of domestic ones for the first time for the current cycle, bringing the total pot to more than £10B, and those rights are also expected to rise, with Premier League clubs in for a bumper payday from 2025 onwards as the bubble continues to get bigger. –From today's Echo.

Christine @61 and Greg @62,

I think all Premier League clubs have to publish their annual accounts and file them at Companies House – certainly Everton do.

Now whether those freely available audited accounts are transparent enough to reveal the kind of nefarious malarkey you suspect… well, I couldn't possibly comment,

Hughes claims that some Premier League owners will use tomorrow's meeting between owners and executives in London to raise the issue even though it is not on the agenda.

So where is the follow-up to this? Is this respected (*cough*) national journalist letting us know what all transpired on the day?

Or did I miss it?

Michael, you blinked!
If there's any foundation of truth for what the daily mail published, well, let them print it.
I think that the so called "Big Six" should have been fully investigated and warned, when the surrepticiously signed up to the super league. And also expected the P/L to change all the dates of the matches, to suit them! But of course, the P?L bosses, shit blue lights! The Mail's reporter writing that, want's to sell papers. The clubs who are hoping/intending to srew EFC for whatever crime they think we've done.
Whatever clubs who are hoping we get sent to the Championship as they are frightened we'll be better than we are at the moment, once we get all our player fit; will all have supporters who'll read that and will hope it happens. So the Mail's no different than any other National paper.
Why let the truth get in the way of a good story?
What I'd really love to see is the Premier League rewrite the rules re P&S and whatever other biased bunch of rules which make it much easier for the current top dogs and much harder for the rest.
Bent as 9 bob notes, this Premier League.

Michael 63# The bubble indeed gets bigger, so does the greed. At what point does a super league make sense to the same half dozen? There is no doubt the Premier league has taken the game to heights unheard of, but with the same names winning, the rules favouring the said same clubs, the inability of anyone else to compete unless you were financed before the introduction of FFP..

There will be a resurrection of the super league in some form or another, some would say its a natural progression from the monopoly we currently have.

A European league is probably viable now.. as long as the right people are paid enough.

Dunno whether someone's already pointed this out, the story is non-existent.
The issue is not on the formal agenda. Clickbait.

Unlike us Man City have friends in high places. From The Athletic a couple of hours ago – I'm sure it's all above board:

“The UK government has admitted its embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) in London have discussed the charges levelled at Manchester City by the Premier League, but are refusing to disclose the correspondence because it could risk the UK's relationship with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).”

Jimmy, 68, yes it's in the 2nd paragraph above, but it is rumoured the subject will be raised by attendees.

Michael K @63. You are correct in stating that the Premier League only seems to get stronger and stronger, but it has already sown the seeds of its eventual destruction.

The global popularity of the Premier League was built on it being competitive and the notion that any side can beat any other. Yet through profitability and sustainability rules, the VAR and clearly biased officiating run by its private PGMOL monopoly, the FA is slowly turning the Premier League into just another European league where only a few clubs have any chance and 90% of fixtures are just glorified public training sessions.

Would only 4 minutes of added time occurred last week if, by some freak of nature, we had scored a goal that couldn't have been disallowed or reversed by VAR? Contrast with Sheffield Utd vs Spurs.

Anyway, the Saudis are now waiting like vultures to pick off the FA's favourites to join their global super league with unlimited cash. Like the PGA, the FA (and UEFA) think that they're invulnerable. Maybe if we get relegated this season we will be well established in the Championship when it is reformed with the 'failed' Premier League clubs a few years from now.

All I want to see right now is new owners with no Kenwright, Moshiri (or Mafia for that matter) connection. Regrettably, this will only be achieved by receivership or administration, which is why I was so desperate for us to run up 15 points from the first 9 games as insurance against a guaranteed 12 point deduction. Some hope that was!

We wont go into administration or receivership. If 777 Partners fall through and we head towards administration, Moshiri will be faced with walking away with a vastly reduced sale price or walking away with nothing. I'm pretty sure, even if it's only £100-£200M, he will take it.

.......as insurance against a guaranteed 12 point deduction.

Sorry but that's rubbish!

According to the Daily Mail, we still need another large loan to help us pay wages and other costs until the end of the year.

Can Moshiri just give up and walk away? Is that even legal?

Just in, the Echo have published a letter from Josh Wander to Everton supporters in which he tries to allay fears regarding the potential purchase of the club. It's a good letter with fine hopes, but also with a clear message of cutting costs and improving revenue. It tries to address fans concerns with "misleading" reports. But it's a shame that the fans concerns stem from how they appear to operate..
https://www.evertonfc.com/news/3725746/777-message-to-evertonians

The Premier League table after 8 games has already broken into 3 leagues:

Happy to see Villa and West Ham, good old teams, hanging onto the bottom of the top league.

Delighted to see Man Utd and Chelsea competitive, just about, in the middle league.

I see no reason why the current squad can't regularly finish top of the bottom third. Which is about 15th. Lowly ambition I know but my nerves need a break.