Skip to main content

New hope for Everton

Everton are facing the biggest losses in their history and leading football finance expert Kieran Maguire says that they have suffered from poor management decisions: Sunday Telegraph report

But there is new hope for the club with Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov keen to get involved. He was formerly a significant shareholder at Arsenal, and still retains an affection for the North London club, but is prepared to help his business partner Farhad Moshiri at Everton. Mr Moshiri is executive chairman and a shareholder in Mr Usmanov's holding company, USM. Mr Usmanov has a fortune of $16bn from a variety of enterprises, but is far less reliant on resource extraction than many Russian businessmen.

Mr Usmanov revealed his intentions over lunch with the head of the Moscow bureau of the Financial Times. Although the interview seems to have been somewhat tense at times, Mr Usmanov was open about his intentions. He felt he could achieved something at Arsenal, but it became clear that the majority shareholder, the controversial 'silent' Stan Kroenke, did not want to work with him.

Given their history, and their role in the formation of the Premier League, Everton regard themselves as a top club, but translating that aspiration into reality has been challenging at times.

He made it clear that he did not necessarily intend to participate directly. He could be a shareholder or a sponsor. The iconic new stadium could be the USM Stadium after the name of his holding company. Mr Usmanov told the Pink 'Un: 'Everton is the club of my friend, my brother. So of course in a manner I am [already] linked to it.

John Blain, a representative of small shareholders in the club said that a move by Usmanov would be welcomed: 'Farhad is a wealthy man, but it does not compare to Alisher.'

Evidence of his good intent is that he brokered the deal to bring Carlo Ancelotti to the club as its new manager.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

It's no deal say Spurs insiders over Taiwanese takeover

Senior figures at Tottenham Hotspur insisted on Friday that they had not been informed of any deal to sell Daniel Levy’s stake in the club. A business group, Eight Sports Capital — which is said to include a billionaire Taiwanese financier — claimed that it had an agreement in place to buy a 24.99 per cent stake in ENIC, the club’s majority owners, from Levy, who owns 29.88 per cent. The Times has been told Ng Wing Fai and Brooklyn Earick form part of the group, having both been linked previously to potential takeovers of the Premier League club. The Taiwanese businessman, Richard Tsai, is also said to be part of the consortium. He is reportedly worth £7 billion.  Last year Earick, the former DJ and tech entrepreneur, was part of an attempted £4.5 billion takeover, which was “unequivocally rejected” by Spurs.  An ENIC spokesperson said: “We can confirm that neither ENIC nor THFC are aware of any sale by Daniel Levy’s Family Trust of its minority stake in ENIC, THFC’...

Reports about Charlton sale exaggerated

Reports have appeared in The Guardian and elsewhere that Charlton has been put up for sale. Richard Cawley is an authoritative local journalist who runs a South London Sport substack site.  He reached out to the club yesterday evening to ask for comment on The Guardian’s article. Early indications from the club have been that nothing has changed since the story about them seeking investment, except that it is now a different company doing it. Charlton have since managed to consolidate their place in the Championship, avoiding an instant return to League One, with their women’s side promoted to the WSL, returning to the top flight for the first time since 2007, although staying there is likely to be costly. It would be counter-intuitive for owners Global Football Partners not to progress the club when looking for investment, that the focus remains on driving it forward, that their spend this summer is in line with long-term planning and will see an increase in wages spent on players...

Hull City's 'strange' loan

When football finance guru Kieran Maguire seems flashing lights in a club's loan deal, I become concerned.  He is the leading football finance expert in the UK. Hull City have borrowed £55m against their stadium and training ground yet they should get £30m from the Premier League before long.  What is going on? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cpwel48y51do