“Frying pan into the fire”: Simon Jordan shares what ‘troubles’ him about 777 Partners takeover at Goodison
Speaking on talkSPORT on Friday (1 March, 10:06am), the pundit said none of the US investment firm’s ownership models are flourishing to give the Toffees fans hope that taking over at Goodison Park is for any purpose other than to strengthen its own credit rating and asset value.
He doesn’t believe the group is going to spend “inordinate amounts of money” and that it could be “jumping from the frying pan into the fire” after Farhad Moshiri has spent money unwisely, adding that the Blues could find themselves in “unfertile territory” if the takeover goes through.
“These guys at 777 Partners, it troubles me slightly at the look and feel of them because they’re engineering their financing, the manner in which they’re trying to buy at this moment in time, it’s other people’s money that they’re utilising, certainly the £180million worth of loans that have gone into Everton have come from a reinsurance company called A Plan,” said Jordan.
“If you look at their ownership models, none of them are particularly flourishing, none of them are setting some sort of parameters that would give Everton fans a great deal of confidence that an ownership model that comes into the richest league is anything more than bettering 777 Partners, their credit rating and their asset value.
“Ultimately, owning a Premier League football club, which is likely the case that Everton will be a Premier League football club, enhances their potential asset value and reclassifies some of their assets to a better level, which means their borrowings and their economic value will greatly increase as a result of it.
“If you’re looking at it from a football point of view, what is the betterment there for Everton? Moshiri has spent a lot of money and spent it unwisely. These guys coming in, to my mind, aren’t going to spend inordinate amounts of money, so it feels like you’re jumping from the frying pan into the fire a little bit and what is the benefit to Everton besides not having Moshiri?
“If that’s the only benefit that you’re looking for, then there’s your benefit. If you’re looking for a very structured, well-meaning, forward-thinking, progressive, dynamic, invested ownership model, I think you might find yourself in some unfertile territory with these guys.”
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There are huge question marks surrounding how 777 can take Everton forward and put the club in a better position than it currently finds itself.
As Jordan points out, none of the other clubs in its portfolio are performing particularly well on or off the pitch and it’s unclear how they would sort out the mess the Toffees currently find themselves in.
It isn’t exactly a tough ask to improve matters on the back of Moshiri’s years of mismanagement, but can they put the right pieces in place to find new revenue streams and turn them into a well-functioning club that is something to be proud of? The jury is well and truly out on that.
Everton fans regularly make their voices heard at Goodison Park
It’s clear that the current owner has pretty much checked out and is keen to move on, but he needs to start thinking about how he’s going to clean up his mess if the takeover doesn’t go through.
There have been so many unknows at Goodison this season, with the points deduction, incredibly long appeal process and now the takeover is coming back into focus as the Premier League decides whether or not the company is fit to take the reins on Merseyside.
