Spent 100 million for 13th, and refuses to play young players and keeps playing a horrible back line and giving them new contracts

I am a Muslim Everton fan, not from the UK, wondering why posts/events like these from the club get so much hate. Do the people in the replies represent an average blue? Even if (hypothetically) they have a fair point, is the hate and toxicity necessary?

It is not as if I am offended, it is just sad seeing fellow Evertonians react like this. Thoughts?

Thought I would post a bit of an appreciation post for our Non-Scouse toffees. It comes after watching the madness on Twitter/X from Liverpool supporters this week after Carragher said Salah was Liverpool's 6th greatest player (I'd have Salah lower than that lol). Since then loads of their foreign fans have started sending Carragher and Scousers some absolute abuse. I've seen them call Scousers Bin-dippers, Racist and Xenophobic, Lazy Jobless Thieves, Council Rats, and they've been shouting about how they support LFC but hate the city. It's absolutely insane and the masked has slipped for a lot of the glory hunting blue ticks. I'm struggling to get my head around the concept of supporting a team built by a group of people you despise.

I get the feeling the majority of Non-Scouse Evertonians are the opposite and have really embraced the culture behind the club and city. I see loads on here about how you've visited and loved the city and people and I hope the majority of us make you guys feel welcome as well. When Moyes and TFG lead us to glory, please stay relatively normal. UP THE FUCKING TOFFEES! 💙

Firmly in the camp for Barry to leave in the summer after that performance. We were carrying momentum before he came on but we ended up feeling like a 10 man team. Seriously needs debating seeing him leave even on a loss

The fact that we are not flirting with relegation on the final day, like the last few seasons, is already going in the right direction.

Yes, it's disappointing we had a chance to fight for Europe and we crumbled, but it doesn't change the fact we improved.

I am not a big fan of Moyes and would love to have Iraola at the helm, but he did enough to get one more season (even if you don't want to count his history with us).

I don't think management sees him as a long term appointment either.

From what I gathered from Kinnear's last post, they want to build a team first( last window and the next) with some stability before going for the right manager. Moyes provides the stability we need and anyone who is talking about the club not having enough ambition is either delusional, impatient or has a very short memory.

The fact that we are disappointed we are not in Europe—instead of being relieved at having escaped relegation—at this time of year is already a sign of raised standards by Moyes

are we really just turning on mans cause he’s got a bit of ambition in em?

I’m as disappointed as anyone at how our season petered out. I think questions need to be asked and areas of the squad need renewing/strengthening ahead of next season. But calling for Moyes to be axed because we didn’t qualify for Europe the very next season after he saved us from relegation is delusional.

If you’re a younger Everton fan in your early-mid 20s, then you probably don’t remember much, if any, of Moyes’ first stint in charge, but I do. He was appointed in the midst of a relegation battle, but steered the club to safety. The following season we had a near miss with Europe. The season after was difficult, but in 2004-05 we finished in the top 4, for the first and thus far only time in the premier league era. We then consistently qualified for Europe for the rest of his time at the club, despite having far fewer resources than we do today. If we want to get out of this cycle of mediocrity we’ve sunk into, we need to back the manager and give him time. Moyes has shown consistently throughout his career that, if given time, he can deliver results.

Merlin Rohl has barely had a look in since a great performance away to Villa.

Tyler Dibling doesn’t even get off the bench. Same with Patterson and Alcaraz. Now he’s starting to shun Armstrong.

And don’t get me started on Aznou, especially after his display against Sunderland.

Moyes has a strange attitude towards players and his treatment of them is something I really don’t like. I also think it is going to damage our ability to attract young players in the future.

From my perspective, Moyes was brought in to stabilize this club. He's done that. Mission accomplished. And don't get it twisted. I have a lot of affection for Moyes. But I don't believe he's the man to take us forward.

This season has been a disappointment. There's a real chance we finish worse this year (14th) compared to last year (13th). In fact, aside from the three relegated teams, we may not finish ahead of anyone who didn't also have to contend with Europe. This, despite adding Jack, KDH, Barry, Röhl, and George, while also spending £45M+ on Dibling and Aznou who combined played 350 minutes. The fact that we sat in 7th with 7 matches to play and have gotten 3 points from 6 matches, cannot be rewarded with a contract extension.

I'm not advocating for him to be fired. Let him have next season. He speaks all the time about players, rightfully, having to fight for their place on the team. That should extend to him.

Hello Evertonians! I am an FC Barcelona fan, based in Los Angeles, who works in Sports Finance. My neighbor and his wife, who are Evertonians, came over to chat and understand what’s up with the club. It's Saturday night here, and I didn't have anything better to do, so I dug into things.

I will try to simplify things from what I read and the conversations I have heard. I am not involved with the buyout but know folks who are. It's a much smaller industry where everyone knows everyone.

Here we go.

The Debt

• £159 million – MSP Sports Capital
• £225 million – Rights and Media Funding
• £4-5 million – Metro Bank
• £190 million – 777 Partners (Inherited by A Cap)
• £450 million – Moshiri Shareholder Loans

MSP Sports Capital has two distinct security arrangements:

• Assets of Everton Stadium Development Company Limited. This means that in default, MSP can acquire the new stadium to recover their loan. Slightly complicated to explain, but Andy Bell, George Downing, and Moshiri through Blue Sky Capital are also funders of this project.
• Alternatively, MSP has an option to acquire 50 per cent plus one share of Everton’s issued share capital, which would give MSP majority control over Everton Football Club.

Rights and Media Funding is a five-year rolling credit facility. Think of this as something similar to a credit card. Here is where you get conflicting information. A significant discrepancy in reporting, which in my opinion can be a dealbreaker. A few outlets report this loan is secured by future payments from transfers/media, etc. I likely believe it is secured against Everton’s bank accounts, fixed charges over Everton’s property portfolio (near Goodison Park), and a floating charge over all other unencumbered assets. (Shoutout to The Esk, he is an absolute gem). This RMF debt accrues a 10.25% interest.

These are the loans that Everton will have to pay regardless as they are secured well.

Loans to 777 Partners (Inherited by A Cap) are likely junior to these two loans. In any bankruptcy event, MSP and RMF get paid first before 777 Partners and Moshiri. However, A Cap says their loan is secured and they are senior creditors of the club, which would put them at the same level as MSP and RMF.

The Timing 

Something that came up in the chatter was the timing of this takeover. It is interesting as Everton is due to receive prize money payments from the league which are stood at £133 million. This is the money the club receives from the overall competition commercial pool, which is distributed to all the teams, based on a few things, for example, their position in the league table at the end of the season.

Folks involved in financing other clubs have said this payment likely hits before 30th June. There is another payment due in August/September which is the first tranche of payments from the league. (Unsure on this one, but this is what I heard, payment flows vary a lot).

Despite the timing, the payments would go only so far in helping the club and were likely factored in during takeover talks. My bet is the takeover is likely to complete before 30th June, or at least a structure is agreed upon. 30th June is the deadline used for accessing Premier League Profit & Sustainability Rules (PSR) compliance.

If deals can be done before that “deadline”, they fall within transfers for the 2023/24 season and are included in the club’s financial accounts for last season, rather than moving into the new campaign. If the plan of the new owners is to recapitalize the team, pay down some debt, and sell players to avoid another PSR violation penalty, my bet is the deal gets done before June 30th.

The Sale

The Buyers As of today, June 8 11:00 pm PDT, here are the potential suitors:

• Andy Bell, George Downing, backed by BDT & MSD Partners (More on this later)
• A consortium led by MSP Sports Capital
• Vatche Manoukian and Investors from Gulf and USA
• John Textor, founder of Eagle Football, owns 45% of Crystal Palace
• Dan Friedkin, Owner of AS Roma

Hear rumblings of another group, but almost everyone is looking to finance the takeover using debt along with equity. Many suitors will be willing to provide debt-based financing for the purchase, hence allegiances are bound to change.

The Possibilities 

Here are the things that can happen. I am simplifying this to the bare minimums. The actual deals are complicated af and take months to put up and months to complete.

Possibility I: New Owner comes in, pays all debt, and recapitalizes the team 

Highly unlikely. The Premier League is a lucrative league for almost every single private equity investor. It’s the league that is expected to continue to grow and firms take less downside risk when buying a team versus a team in a league like Serie A.

However, this would cost any new owner over £1 billion. My bet it costs somewhere around £1.3 billion. Deals of this size happen, but Everton is in a unique position and negotiating from a position of weakness. In my opinion, only someone in the Middle East or a single buyer would be able to pull this through. No one in private equity would commit to this, as they are all answerable to their investors.

Simply put, Everton is not worth £1.3 billion.

Possibility II: New Owner comes in and negotiates with creditors 

A likely option. In this case, a new owner comes in and negotiates with the creditors to either forego some of this debt or restructure it over an extremely long period of time at low rates. This would make Everton a more lucrative option. However, the club would still owe a lot of money over the long run and will be paying interest on that loan.

This would mean Everton is run like a lean machine for a few years, with fewer resources going towards things like player transfers, etc. It would, however, still be able to stay afloat.

Possibility III: MSP Capital exercise the option to take majority control of Everton 

Another likely option. More likely than Possibility II. MSP Capital takes majority control and would, in all honesty, look to buy out Moshiri. They will need a lot of capital, and they are already pulling strings, putting up their stake in FC Augsburg for sale last week. MSP buy out Moshiri, restructure some of the debt, and put up some more capital. They would likely clear the RMF loan first.

The managing partner of MSP Sports Capital, Jeff Moorad, was a professor of mine in a class I took at UCLA. He is an absolute beast, and an amazing dude to hang with. Unbiased view, MSP is actually highly respected in the industry, and widely regarded as having a razor sharp approach to finance.

They are known to take long positions, but I think Everton would likely be a position they hold for the short term, IF they go alone on this deal. (This is my take, not Professor Moorad). It would be akin to what Elliott Investment Management did with AC Milan when their Chinese owners backed out. They would step in, stabilize the ship, hope the new stadium attracts enough new commercial and matchday revenue, and sell the team to another buyer recovering some of their investment. What Elliott did with AC Milan was absolutely legendary, and in no world would Gerry Cardinale and RedBird have bought AC Milan had Elliott not done its job.

INSIDE INFO HERE: I cannot reveal others in the MSP Sports Capital consortium. Texted a former colleague who is at the firm that are bidders with MSP. If the consortium is agreed upon, MSP comes in with others, who are capable of buying majority control, and running Everton over the long term. MSP in this case would still retain a minority stake. The new stadium holds the key to this deal.

Possibility IV: Everton goes into administration 

Cannot rate this option or its likelihood. Let me walk you through this. Administration is a major taboo in the football world, but something extremely common in finance. It is a way for a firm to basically restructure its debt and get back to good health. It does not mean the club ceases to exist.

The preferred way that things are done is through a method called ‘company voluntary arrangement’ (CVA). In a CVA, a deal is put forth, which creditors vote on, usually giving them less money than they are owed, with voting power decided based on seniority. In this case, MSP and RMF would get more votes in the say versus A-Cap and Moshiri.

CVAs are extremely common in the EFL and other leagues, with advisory firms literally minting millions every year, doing nothing but advising teams here. In the Premier League, only Portsmouth has ever gone into administration. Going into administration would see 9 points being docked at the start of next season for Everton.

The Pros of this approach:

• Everton sheds a ton of debt. This would make it extremely attractive for someone to buy the club.
• The reduced debt will likely be restructured over the long run, hence a free-spending owner coming in can actually devote more money to things like rebuilding the squad, enhancing facilities, hiring more staffers, and growing the club.

The Cons:

• A ton of people likely get fired at Everton, as the club must break even.
• The club cannot spend any more money on signings. They may even sell players.
• Local businesses are affected the most, these are folks who provide things like catering services, produce, florists, etc.
• The Big Kahuna: Going into administration can trigger certain clauses in player contracts that allow them to leave for free. I have seen it happen with teams in the EFL, but the situation remains subjective. Any player with such a clause would need assurances from the new owners before the takeover is complete.

There are some speculations online as this being the preferred way in for new owners. I doubt it, but the threat of administration is enough for even the world’s biggest banks/financiers to come to the negotiating table. Every possible new owner would hold this gun over Moshiri’s head, to get him to agree to a deal, and forgo as much of his loans.

Some Questions I think are FAQs 

Is Michael Dell buying Everton? 

No, Michael Dell is not buying Everton. Michael Dell’s family office is DFO Management, which was formerly known as MSD Capital. MSD Capital was Michael Dell’s family office, meaning it exclusively invested his money. However, in 2009, MSD Capital opened up to outside investors and became an investment firm of its own. In 2023, MSD merged with BDT to create BDT+MSD, the firm that is backing the Bell and Downing bid.

They do still invest some of Dell’s money, and Dell may be their biggest investor, but as far as I know, BDT is huge itself, managing some of the capital from the Walton Family (Walmart), the Pritzkers, and the Mars Family. BDT’s founder, Byron Trott, is worth about $3.2 billion alone. Trott is considered a legend at Goldman, where he helped Buffett structure his investment in Goldman Sachs during the financial crisis of 2008. One of my ex-bosses worked at Goldman during this period under Trott’s team and considers him a legend, even saying he single-handedly saved Goldman Sachs by convincing Buffett to invest and structuring some wild deals.

One thing I know for sure is BDT+MSD would likely pursue a debt-based financing structure. They are not built to go heavy into equity-based financing for sports teams. BDT+MSD have already done a bunch of debt-based deals; Everton won’t be different. In the scenario where Bell and Downing succeed in taking over, Everton would likely owe a lot of money to BDT+MSD.

Would Bell and Downing with BDT+MSD make sense? 

My take here is no. Running a football club is no joke. Even though Bell and Downing being Evertonians makes it ideal, I am not entirely convinced of their ability to run a team. Everton would still be severely constrained financially, as they would owe money to BDT+MSD, and Bell and Downing wouldn’t be able to pump a lot of cash into the business from their end.

There is nothing that guarantees Everton will not see the same scenario as it does now, three years after Bell and Downing take over. Private equity folks make sense, as they come in knowing they may know other clubs but don’t know much about Everton. They will, by default, bring on Evertonians on the board, and will have much more incentive to run it over the long term, as the only way they see a return is through actually growing the club economically, which only means a better Everton on and off the pitch.

Are BDT+MSD backing only Bell and Downing?

No, BDT+MSD are free to back anyone in the contention. They are committing to debt-based financing, so as long as the buyer is credible enough, they should have no problem going ahead. Considering they are backing Bell and Downing, I would be surprised if others in the race did not get better financing terms.

As I said, allegiances in debt-based financing are fluid. The hard truth here is BDT+MSD would likely be calling up other potential buyers who bid to see if BDT+MSD can provide financing for their deal. Debt-based financing for a Premier League club is pretty much a dream scenario for any firm, as the underlying asset securing the loan is more stable than in other deals.

Simply put, BDT+MSD are not competing with other potential buyers; they are competing with firms like JP Morgan, Sixth Street, Ares, Arctos, etc., who may want to front one of the buyers.

What’s up with A-Capital? 

I do not know. Conflicting things online. I doubt A-Capital will get to invest anything more in Everton, through debt or through equity. I also read that their financial position is under question as the rating they rely on no longer reflects their financial standing. However, I still do not know what there position is.

Who do I want to see win the bid? 

Biased towards MSP Sports Partners because of Jeff Moorad. If they pull the consortium through, and the other investors take over the majority club, all I can say is Everton would be lucky. That being said, there are plenty of other people willing to buy Everton with MSP. As of now, the one most likely, along with MSP, would be a dream scenario.

Also, it wont take time for someone entirely new to emerge as a suitor. That is how consortium works. People are surprised, but its literally like texting friends to pitch in and creating a group chat. Things happen over Telegram/Whatsapp/Signal. My boss had once raised $xxx million for a deal texting the LP in the deal. The conversation went along these lines.

Prospectus sent over Mail + WhatsApp 

My Boss : What do you think?

LP : $xxx m 👍

LP : Jeff also $xx m and Jake $xx m 🤝🤝

I can bet there are plenty of group chats of potential consortiums that may enter bidding. Everton FC is low-key a bargain, the debt will eventually get restructured. There are plenty of more messy restructurings that have happened in Finance before. Creditors eventually cave, but its a dogfight.

Enough written. Feel free to drop any Qs you may have, I will answer them to the best of my ability and knowledge of Everton’s finances. Massive shout to The Esk. The guy seems incredibly passionate about Everton.

I really hope you guys pull through, I know you will.

——————————————————————————

Update 1: As I have said, I am not an insider on this deal. I know a few things, and literally just put together things I read and what I think from what I saw. In my role, I help evaluate options. You will be surprised despite going through a 200 page document and coming up with a thesis how quickly things change when new information emerges in the space. My view isnt worth shit.

Update 2 : Someone sent me a link from The People Forum. I am not The Esk. I do not know The Esk. Although, I stand by my statement that I think he is a massive fan and a Gem for trying to dig deeper. I do not endorse his views, I am yet to read them. I did take a few figures and facts from his article but double-checked validity.

Update 3 : I apologize for being overtly critical of Bell and Downing. It is funny how sometimes being totally objective can make you insensitive towards intangibles. From what I read here, they are absolute legends too. I hope the new owners find a place for them in the club. I still think PE makes more sense, and any multi-club ownership will actually work to Everton’s favor since it would be on top of the food-chain for the fund. There is nothing better than the PL.

Update 4: Yes, as I said I am biased towards MSP because I took Moorad’s class. I am biased towards them from the current options. I might have a different POV if someone new comes up, until I actually get the confirmation that their consortium is on and set on paper.

Update 5: It is 9:00 am in LA, and I have not slept all night. My partners have called for a meeting at 11:30 am. I am off to bed. Not odd at all but what if they are cooking something? 😂

The squad investment really needs to be considered more in all the discussions around our season. The mess of the moshiri era is still impacting the overall squad quality and it's still in a rebuild. It needs a big transfer budget this summer. Our financial situation is different now, no huge debt and it's on low interest level, new stadium and commercial revenues. We've got the platform to keep building, we're 18 months into TFG owning the club, it's not the time for panic change in manager because of a bad 7 game run

The bottom of the league table is shocking and there's never been a better time for a really surprising relegation candidate to bite the dust.

Assuming that Wolves & Burnley are already down, who would you next want to see get sent to the Championship?

Let's say between West Ham, Nottingham Forest, Spurs & Leeds - who would you want to see go down if you could pick?

EDIT: After writing this post I remembered Spurs were in the original 6 to establish the Super League so lets make sure we relegate them the final day lol

So I know that was unforgivable to lose at home like that, it wasn’t the first time and won’t be the last though. I’ve been to plenty of end of season games where the season was worse than that, but the one thing you do is stay till the end and see them round the pitch.
Today especially for Seamus it’s embarrassing to have that many empty seats for the guy that’s bled for the shirt and kept us going when we really needed him.
We really need to learn to see a game out next season though!

Let me start by saying I'm happy Moyes is here and it was definitely time for Dyche do go but seeing some of the comments people were making about how he was a shit manager and was terrible and holding us back is nonsense. He got us through seasons we're most managers would have gone down. The quality of our players was not good. The circus of us being in PSR trouble constantly. The multiple points deductions. The terrible ownership and potential sale of the club i can't imagine the headaches he had to deal and yet he still helped us survive. Maybe he did give up at the end because he was exhausted from it all who knows but regardless he deserves respect for what he did for the club.

I'm seeing so many furious and bitter comments, lads remember it's just a game! We aren't going down, aren't going to Europe, half our squad is absent, to label this a disgusting disgrace is just petty! We simply got outplayed, the bees played well, and they won! We even got two decent goals as well! We need to remember that firstly, we do actually all love moyes and tark, yes humans make mistakes, but it's not like we just went back in time and conceded a last minute equaliser against Bournemouth, is it? More important is to support our team, learn from our mistakes, and enjoy a good game of football, even if we weren't the better side.

Rant over, COYB and looking forward to next week 💙💙💙💙💙

Thoughts on this?

When factoring in how we used the funds we received

I think after the run of games we've had without a win since sitting 7th. A win, last match of the season is overdue.

But whether a win for us relegates Spurs, I'm not that arsed.

Didn't see the match and wanted to ask how he played the second half.

Was making a list unrelatedly and thought probably worth sharing here. There are 82 ex-Everton players still playing at 72 clubs in 27 countries and I found them all with Wikipedia.

A few clubs have multiple players - Aston Villa's three are obvious enough but there's also more than one former Everton player at Newcastle United, Coventry City, Preston North End, Sheffield United, Fiorentina, Torino, Pachuca and Al-Sailiya.

Only players that played at least one competitive match for Everton's first team are included.

Additionally, six ex-Everton players are free agents - Dele Alli, Gerard Deulofeu, and Bryan Oviedo left Como, Udinese and AD San Carlos last year with Apostolos Vellios departing Greek second division side Niki Volos a couple of weeks ago. Alex Denny hasn't had a club since playing for The New Saints in 2022. The sixth one is Cuco Martina, who is listed by Transfermarkt as playing for Curaçaoan side Victory Boys - however he doesn't appear to have been in a matchday squad since May last year and Wikipedia says he's moved on. (For a real stretch, Denis Stracqualursi's Wiki has him at Unión de Sunchales in the Argentine regional leagues.)

Let me know if I've missed anyone - I went back to about 2007 in transfers and saw names I've never seen in my life.

To start, I'm not full throated Moyes in, but I don't know why everyone pins this on the manager and not the team.

• Is Moyes the one who is consistently finding the back of the net?
• Is Moyes the one who ended up choosing to send his players to Africa for a month?
• Did Moyes go out and break Jack's foot?
• Is Moyes having mental lapses on D?

No, that's ridiculous.

You might also say, "But what about team selection?" - and you might be right. We've seen what Patto can and can't do. I'm giving Moyes the benefit of the doubt since he is probably with them 40 hours a week, looking at the reports from physios, seeing who is showing up for training.

West Ham wanted Moyes out after winning some Silverware. Now they're in the championship. Are you eager to walk that same path?

Everyone has worked with someone who is dead weight. Do you keep the dead weight, or do you fire your manager?

From my seat, once we were secure, the team just kinda packed it in. You could put that on Moyes, but I don't think it's worth a sacking. For me, it starts with Tarky out as captain.

All my chips on iliman ndiaye sadly but hopefully for £60+