Everton investment update: MSP Sports Capital deal timeframe emerges with Bill Kenwright and Denise Barrett-Baxendale set to go
The MSP Sports Capital investment deal at Everton is “close” and could be wrapped up in as little as two weeks, according to i News.
The American company beat 777 Partners to secure an exclusivity agreement with Farhad Moshiri, and The Athletic reported on Monday (5 June) that £40million of the investment money has already gone into the club.
Their arrival on the board is expected once a deal is done and is thought to spell the end of a turbulent time at the club for chairman Bill Kenwright and CEO Denise Barrett-Baxendale.
The i News report says: “MSP Sports Capital are understood to be “close” to agreeing a capital injection of £100m in the form of a loan to help fund the stadium project at Bramley-Moore Dock.
“For that they would receive a 25 per cent stake in the club and two board seats, with the anticipated exit of Bill Kenwright and Denise Barrett-Baxendale ushering in a much-needed new era at Everton and partially lifting the cloud of toxicity over the club.
“i understands that, having been granted exclusivity by majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri, MSP Sports Capital’s deal could be wrapped up in as little as a fortnight – and with that would come some much needed clarity about the future direction of the club.”
Shift
Now that the season is over, and thankfully it concluded with Everton still a Premier League side, there is no time to lose in getting the make up of the hierarchy set to move forward.
MSP will need to provide more than just cash if they are to join a board that is currently extremely unpopular with large swathes of the fanbase.
Two new figures in the boardroom, and above all two very familiar faces out, might be enough for some supporters to come around to a new era at the club.
But unless the incoming representation is more effective in practice than the incumbents have proven to be, as the club lurched into two seasons of fighting to stay in the top flight, it will amount to little more than window dressing.
Whoever is actually to blame for the failings at Goodison Park in recent years there needs to be change fast to avoid another repeat of the season just gone.
Fans were in this position a year ago, with the club buoyed by an emotional escape under Frank Lampard and a Peter Kenyon-fronted consortium negotiating with Moshiri during the summer.
None of that lasted and the Toffees ended up back in the same scrap this season, so this time around the change at the top needs to support Sean Dyche and have a positive effect on the team.