Face-to-face talks with Everton bidders

The Premier League will hold face-to-face talks with 777 Partners as part of the final decision-making process in Everton’s proposed takeover.

An agreement to meet has been struck between the league and the Miami-based group, who have been waiting for approval since last September to purchase Farhad Moshiri’s 94 per cent stake in Everton.

The discussions come a fortnight after the league, as part of its owners’ and directors’ test, asked 777 to submit further information about the company’s source of funding and its ability to fund the club over a three-year period.

Much of the focus in recent days has fallen on Everton’s Profitability and Sustainability issues, with the club having a ten-point penalty reduced to six after an appeal. A second charge relating to a breach of Premier League spending rules remains outstanding, with a hearing set to take place in the coming weeks.

However, clarity on the ownership of Everton is also crucial, with 777 having so far loaned the club about £190 million to cover day-to-day running costs and those incurred through the building of a new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.

There is frustration at 777, whose co-founder Josh Wander is in the UK this week, over the length of time the process has taken amid suggestions 777 will not continue loaning money to Everton beyond March.

Face-to-face dialogue with the Premier League is significant, therefore, as 777 wait to see if their bid to gain control of the Merseyside club will be approved. It is unlikely that a decision would be made at the meeting, but it will be a chance for the Premier League to ask direct questions of those heading a company whose business practices have drawn criticism.

Even if 777 pass the owners’ and directors’ test, they would still need to be officially ratified by an independent oversight panel, as was the case in Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s acquisition of 27.7 per cent of Manchester United, which was rubber-stamped this month.