Only time will tell with 777 Partners, but Everton will be better off without Farhad Moshiri making choices. In the second half of his weekly ECHO column, Michael Ball examines Farhad Moshiri’s proposed sale of Everton to 777 Partners.
Again, everything at this football team appears to be out of sync.
While Kevin Thelwell had to rummage for deals all summer due to financial constraints, our current owner stated that he does not want to sell the football club and is just looking for investment. But did anyone really believe it? I, for one, did not. Everything he has stated has had the opposite effect.
It comes as no surprise to me that he has decided to sell his 94-point-whatever percent stake in Everton, but the timing is strange, and when you learn who he has agreed to sell our beloved football club to, it doesn’t sit well with me.
As football fans, what do you do? You look into it and see what they’re about, and going off Google and seeing the other clubs 777 has invested in, there isn’t much good news right now.
However, they are a new company that hasn’t been operating for long. I was thinking, ‘okay, it is what it is,’ when it first broke, and we’ve been there before with takeovers where they can boost the club and the players.
It’s an exciting time for players because you’re finally going to get a plan of an owner to come in and say, “This is what I want to do, this is what I want to achieve, and we want you to be a part of it.” I’ve been at Manchester City when it got taken over a couple of times, I’ve been at Rangers and Leicester when the money’s come in. As a player, you appreciate that because you can see some aspiration.
The only problem we have is the timing of the scenario. The season has already begun, and it may be a long time before it is signed, sealed, and delivered.
It’s disconcerting to see fans from other teams in which they have a stake, such as Hertha Berlin and Standard Liege, protesting against them, so I’m torn.
Another interesting aspect of all of this is that it is the first time Moshiri has publicly stated his willingness to sell, despite the fact that he had previously stated that he just wanted outside investment to help fund projects like the stadium. What would happen if the sale fell through? Would he maintain control or seek a more acceptable alternative?
He’s put his money where his mouth is, but our football team has regressed under his leadership. No one wants to acquire a business or a football club and run it into the ground, but Moshiri has done it year after year, making terrible judgment after bad decision, selecting managers and directors of football who didn’t fit. Even buying players as a present for a manager. Rondon, who was 32 at the time, was in China and handed the manager a two-year contract as a gift. That is not how a football team is run.
So, every decision he’s taken hasn’t worked out, and he’s just thrown money at it, thinking money is the solution. Is the club a better place now? Yes, we have the stadium, and he is working hard to make it a reality, but as a football fan, I want a fantastic football club first and foremost.
Only time will tell about 777 Partners, but there is a lot of work to be done at this club to get us back on track. The fans of the other clubs in which they invest aren’t having a good time, which gives me pause. But what gives me hope that it will pass is that Moshiri will not be making any choices.
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