By George Overhill

15th Sep, 2023 | 12:40pm

Everton takeover agreement between Farhad Moshiri and 777 Partners Friday tipped to collapse

Despite the announcement of an agreement with Farhad Moshiri the deal for 777 Partners to buy Everton still likely won’t end up happening, according to the esk.

The Toffees finance expert reacted to the news Friday via Twitter (15 September) to “stand by” his view that the prospective new owners “do not have the resources” to buy the club “nor will get the support” of the required parties.

The club released an official statement earlier that day that a deal had been signed for the American company to acquire Moshiri’s 94.1% stake in the club “subject to regulatory approval”, with the majority shareholder set to also seek approval from minority shareholders “in the coming days”.

But the esk wrote: “Regarding today’s announcement of an agreement between Moshiri and 777 partners I stand by my assessment that 777 do not have the resources to successfully acquire the club, nor will get the support of all parties that are required to give that support.”

False alarm?

There must be at least some belief on the part of both Moshiri and 777 for them both to announce the agreement but there doesn’t seem to exactly be a shortage of doubts over how possible it is elsewhere.

In theory it should be a pretty simple matter of whether the Miami-based firm can afford to do the deal or not, but nothing has proven to be especially simple when it comes to the future of this club and this step might help trigger raising funds from elsewhere.

Everton certainly look like they need owners with a combination of deep pockets and an achievable long-term vision to stabilise the club.

And while it is impossible to know yet what 777 would be like in charge at Goodison Park there are multiple voices suggesting they have neither, while their involvement in other clubs is at least an indicator.

So after an increasingly tumultuous time under Moshiri there will no doubt be concerns among the fanbase that the next step ends up being just as rocky.

Although the official statement suggests the move will be completed in the final months of 2023 there are still a number of hurdles to clear before it does, and it is clearly not unanimous that it actually will.

In other Everton news, a player was left close to tears this week to indicate the club have at least got one notable recent decision right.