Mystery as £100m Everton stadium loan yet to arrive from MSP Sports Capital for ‘unknown reason’
It is a “big concern” that Everton still appear to have not received the £100million loan from MSP Sports Capital towards the stadium build, according to the esk.
The journalist told the Toffee Blues – Everton Fan Channel (10 September) that for an “unknown reason” the money from the American company had not yet arrivedfollowing the collapse of their investment deal last month, leaving the club in “exactly the same position” they were a few months ago.
MSP Sports Capital were still set to provide a loan towards the dock-side stadium despite their wider agreement to acquire 25% of the club falling through [The Athletic, 23 August].
The esk said (6m 10s): “MSP were very keen to tell everybody that they were still going to lend Everton £100m, lend the Stadium Development Company £100m, and nobody’s said that’s not going to happen but there’s also no evidence yet that it has happened.
“One would have thought, and we’re talking three or four weeks now, that had it happened MSP would have said something about it and Everton would have said something.
“So there’s a reason, and an unknown reason, as to why it’s not happened.
“It’s not because MSP don’t have the money because we know that they’ve got the money, it’s sitting in a designated account to come over. There is another reason and I have to admit I don’t know what that reason is.
“The Stadium Development company took some of the money that Andy Bell and George Browning put into the football club in May, and as a result Andy Bell’s company holds a charge [at Companies House] against the Stadium Development Company.
“So had the money from MSP gone into the Stadium Development Company the charge would have changed – no longer in favour of Andy Bell’s company but in favour of MSP – and that hasn’t happened so we know that the money hasn’t gone over.
“So the football club is in exactly the same position as it was a few months ago, in the sense that it still doesn’t have any money for working capital, but it doesn’t have any new money to fund the stadium – ie. pay Laing O’Rourke, and that’s obviously a big concern.”
Alarm bells?
It may be that there is nothing to worry about and the project will be getting the £100m as planned any time soon, but supporters would be excused for feeling slightly uneasy.
The relationship between the club and MSP Sports Capital was supposed to have advanced in a more positive direction by now, with regular reports throughout the summer suggesting it was all just a matter of time.
So for the investment plan to fall through suddenly just as the transfer window was coming to a close was an unwelcome surprise, and will put the fanbase on edge for as long as the mooted loan also remains in the pipeline.
There appears to have been some financial advances this year in the form of the money from Bell and Browning, but with the financial situation supposedly tight it doesn’t feel particularly positive to be so much further down the line this year without major improvements.
There isn’t a suggestion right now that the stadium development is in actual jeopardy, and clearly agreements involvement such sums of money can’t be rushed.
But in light of Farhad Moshiri apparently being sent back to the drawing board in search of the headline investment after how the summer turned out, and concerns being raised about that, any delays starts to beg questions as to whether there is another sting in the tail.
In other Everton news, Sean Dyche is thought not to trust a full international who has lost his place in the team.