- EXCLUSIVE from Graeme Bailey
Everton no longer believe the 777 Partners will complete their takeover of the Goodison Park outfit after the Premier League refused to ratify the sale of Farhad Moshiri’s stake.
HITC understands that, while a long-running saga may be coming to an end, there will be more questions than answers left for those long-suffering Toffees supporters.
Farhad Moshiri, Everton’s long-serving majority shareholder, agreed to sell his 94 per cent stake in Everton back in September 2023, with the Miami-based investment firm 777 Partners expected at the time to take control of the club on the blue half of Merseyside.
Eight months on, however, the Premier League have refused to ratify that change of hands. And HITC have been told that the Everton hierarchy feel it’s unlikely they ever will, meaning Moshiri’s disastrous reign looks likely to continue for the time being.
Everton face further takeover confusion
Moshiri, who has spent around £700 million on players since taking charge in 2016, may yet have to let his controlling stake go for nothing, as long as any prospective new owner takes on the club’s mountainous debts.
Everton already owe over £500 million. And there is also the costs involved in completing their long-waited-for Bramley Dock stadium to consider.
Everton, paying the price for years of heavy and short-sighted spending under Moshiri, have been docked eight points this season for breaching the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules. Despite that, Sean Dyche’s outfit have rather comfortably secured their top-flight status for another season, beating Liverpool 2-0 in an enthralling Merseyside derby in April.
Everton would be on 45 points and in 13th place had they not been handed two separate points deductions in 2024.
Sean Dyche has led Toffees to safety
“We have not been given an easy ride and I am super proud,” Dyche told BBC Sport after the 1-0 win over Brentford which secured Everton’s survival. “The knocks keep coming for me as well – this job is not the way it has been pitched to me or what has happened.
“The mentality of the players has grown. We have not been as fluid as earlier in the season but have found wins and deserved them.”
Dyche even rates this as his ‘biggest’ achievement in management. That is despite leading Burnley to Europe for the first first time a couple of years back.
“It certainly is my biggest one, to lead a group (from) where it was (to) where it is,” Dyche added. “It was different last season, but this season has been incredibly tough to see through the feeling and noise at times.
“I took a few hits myself but that is part of my job, to stay focused on the job in hand.
“Everton has become an easy story, the whipping boys of the Premier League. Now we are beginning to change it. Let someone else have the negativity and story.”
Unfortunately for Dyche, further confusion over the club’s ownership means more negative headlines are likely to emerge in the near future.