Everton: Alisher Usmanov funded club while banned from UK as private government letter emerges
Alisher Usmanov was banned from the UK by then-home secretary Priti Patel six months before he was publicly sanctioned and Everton cut ties, the Guardian reports.
The billionaire former backer of the Toffees, via his USM and Megafon sponsorship deals, was therefore funding the club throughout the time he was considered “undesirable” and “not deemed conducive to the public good” by the government, until those deals were suspended 14 months ago in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine [Guardian, 2 March 2022].
The oligarch’s ties to Vladimir Putin saw him sanctioned at that point, but a private letter has emerged from Patel from September 2021 barring him from entering the UK, which the Everton board reportedly were aware of at a time as Usmanov’s nephew Sarvar Ismailov was serving on it.
According to The Guardian this “raises further questions about whether English football’s due diligence processes are fit for purpose”.
The Premier League are already under pressure from plans for an independent regulator, and recently charged the Toffees with an FFP breach.
Dysfunction
This will do absolutely nothing to enhance the image of an Everton board that is already subject to regular fan protests and is the target of wide derision for its mismanagement of the club.
The fallout from losing millions in sponsorship in March last year when the relationship with Usmanov was ended is continuing to rumble on now with Farhad Moshiri still engaged in negotiations over new investment.
But the relationship between the two will likely now come under even greater scrutiny, after it was reported that he was avoiding selling the club in order to avoid just that situation [Daily Mail, 7 March].
Questions about how sensible it was to be so heavily tied to Usmanov prior to the Ukraine invasion made it completely untenable were arguably valid already, but in light of what amounts to six months warning they are unavoidable.
If it seems like the Premier League are trying to look tough against the club now that they have the government breathing down their necks, it is increasingly evident that they have been anything but before now, not only in relation to Everton.
The Toffees were not alone in being significantly effected by the fallout from the Russian invasion, with Chelsea thrown into turmoil as Roman Abramovich was sanctioned and forced to sell the club.
But while the new Todd Boehly-Clearlake regime is fumbling matters at Stamford Bridge this season it is the same hierarchy still in place at Goodison Park who has overseen a descent towards relegation, and the latest news is just the latest negative mark on their record.