By Daniel Feliciano

13th Sep, 2023 | 4:40pm

Alan Shearer and Micah Richards react to Everton takeover news as 777 Partners close on deal with Farhad Moshiri

Alan Shearer and Micah Richards have reacted to news that Everton and 777 Partners are in advanced talks about a full takeover of the club.

The Miami-based investment firm are looking to purchase the club from Farhad Moshiri, with some reports suggesting an announcement could come as soon as this week.

And reacting on The Rest Is Football podcast (13 September), pundits Shearer and Richards admitted that it’s a much-needed development at Goodison Park as the club struggle to survive.

“Well it can’t be any worse can it? Any investment now they will take to move them forward,” Richards said.

Shearer then commented, and said Everton were “desperate” for someone to come in.

“Well something desperately needs to happen for Everton fans,” he said.

“They must be looking at it and thinking, ‘help, we desperately need help’ because at the minute there’s only so long that you can keep on surviving, which is what Everton have been doing for a while now.

“And the ridiculous amounts of money that have been spent on bang average players which then you have to think there’s some huge money going missing in agent fees, transfers etc. But for so long now Everton have had no identity, no structure, no plan. They’ve just been surviving. So for Everton fans a takeover of some sort can’t come quick enough.

“That’s what I mean about survival mode. They’ve just been surviving for far too long now. The inevitability will happen if it continues. They will get relegated.

“Then you just don’t know what will happen to the football club, that’s why I said it just can’t come quickly enough.”

Desperate

Desperate is a word that has been thrown around a lot recently about the state that Everton are in, and it probably couldn’t be more accurate.

Off the pitch things are an absolute mess, although there has been confirmation of a £100m loan being received to help build the new stadium which has eased some concerns about potential administration.

But on the pitch things continue to go down the drain. The last two seasons have seen the club avoid relegation by the skin of their teeth, with Abdoulaye Doucoure’s goal on the final day last season the difference between being a Premier League or Championship side right now.

And this season the club have lost three of their first four games and failed to score in their first three fixtures, showing more of the same problems that have existed for a while.

Things can’t get much worse on the pith, but if they continue in this manner then the only direction is down for the club and that could legitimately be devastating for the future of the football club.

In other Everton news, Gary Lineker fears the 777 Partners takeover could be “too late”.