Everton takeover latest: Deal agreed with American investment firm 777 Partners

National World - LocalTV

A look at the latest ongoings for Everton’s takeover situation.

Transcript

00:00 So Will, breaking news out of Everton after the 7-7-7 partners takeover. What can you

00:07 tell us about this? Surely, we've spoken a long time about the possible sort of thing

00:14 of a takeover at the club, it was seemingly needed. Is this a good thing for Everton?

00:19 It surely must be.

00:21 Yes, it's very interesting what's been happening at Everton. We've known for a while that Fafa

00:26 Machete wants his investments, but maybe stopped short of saying he wants a full takeover.

00:33 But now, obviously Everton were in talks with MSP Sports Capital, that exclusivity agreement

00:41 expires and they walked away from the deal and 7-7-7, who've been linked, come back to

00:47 the table now and they've agreed to buy Fafa Machete's 94.1% stake in the club, so they'll

00:54 be very much the majority owners. First of all, I've got to say, it's got to pass the

00:59 owners and directors test of the Premier League and other stipulations, it's got to get passed

01:03 as well because there have been some allegations against 7-7-7 and Josh Wander, the co-founder,

01:11 was charged with drug trafficking 20 years ago, which he'll probably say he was a young

01:15 lad and it was a silly mistake if he's asked about that. But the facts are there, they're

01:21 going to have to pass the test. They already own a lot of clubs, the likes of Standard

01:26 Liège, Haifa Berlin, Genoa, they've got stakes in Seville and Melbourne Victory as well.

01:34 A couple of other clubs they own, including Red Star in Paris. So they own a lot of clubs,

01:40 so certainly there are some fans who've protested against them before. Standard Liège fans

01:47 in their last home game certainly has unfurled banners wanting them out. Red Star fans when

01:53 they arrived did as well. I think maybe it's a little bit too early with Haifa Berlin,

01:59 they went down last season but they only came in in March so they haven't had a chance to

02:03 really do anything. But it comes down to the fact that they're going to have the funds

02:06 to buy the club, well they've agreed a deal and it seems like they will. But then you

02:12 see Genoa trying to raise 5 million euros through a fan bond scheme. So 5 million euros

02:19 in the grand scheme of things isn't an awful lot of money for a group who own multiple

02:28 football clubs. Everton fans want to see change undoubtedly, they want to see Marc Machete

02:35 plough hundreds of millions of pounds into the club, it just hasn't worked. At least

02:41 he started off at the Bramley Moor, Dock Stadium, at least that maybe is one crumb of comfort

02:49 he can take from his 7-year spell. Otherwise he's been pretty, well let's face it, Everton

02:55 have regressed since he's arrived, you can't make any bones about it. Under David Moyes

02:59 they were always challenged for Europe, finished 4th on one occasion, got to an FA Cup final.

03:07 Under Roberto Martinez they finished 5th with the highest ever Premier League points tally,

03:13 got to two semi-finals and it's been regressing since because of the constant chopping, changing

03:18 of managers, changing of sporting directors, or directors of footballs. There's been no

03:24 continuity, there's been, it's almost been like whack-a-mole at times with managers,

03:30 so let's get rid of him, let's get him. There's been different styles of play from

03:35 Ronald Koeman to Sam Allen's ice, then Michael Silva, Karl Ancelotti, Rafa Benitez, Frank

03:40 Lampard and then you go to Sean's ice. Everton have suffered with all these players who have

03:49 been brought in from different managers and it's caught up with them now, there's making

03:53 no bones about it. They've got a thin squad so the financial ramifications have hit them

03:58 hard. Combined losses of £400m in 2019 as we've seen this summer. We've seen Anthony

04:04 Gordon leave in January, this summer Alex Owobi leaves, young players like Tom Cannan,

04:11 Ellis Sims, he chased Samuel Smith's souls because it was good for profit and sustainability

04:17 rules and he had Damari Gray's souls as well and Sean's ice was saying they were sort of

04:22 having to go about the business, they were considering everything to get players in on

04:29 transfer deadlines and the deals didn't work out for Everton. So, look, what Everton fans

04:35 want now, I think, whether that's 7-7-7, if they do pass all the tests or whether it is

04:40 anyone else, is just someone who can run the club sustainably, run the club properly, not

04:46 put it into any financial difficulties again, get it back on the up, slowly but surely start

04:54 moving towards where Everton fans think this is able to be and that's challenging for,

04:58 at least, Europe every season at an absolute minimum and coming up to 30 years now since

05:05 Everton last won a major trophy and certainly that's what they want to see as well.

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