Everton to bank £130m with new windfall on the way despite 777 takeover collapse
Everton should not have a cash flow problem in the wake of 777 Partners’ takeover attempt failing, according to Kieran Maguire.
The University of Liverpool football finance expert said on The Price of Football podcast on 4 June that with the Toffees receiving the last payment from the Premier League for last season and TV money for the new campaign not far off, there is cash to pay the bills so there should be no threat of administration.
He estimates the club will bank a total of around £130million for a campaign where Sean Dyche led them to 15th despite a pair of points deductions, and a “big wad” is now just a matter of weeks away ahead of the 2024/25 campaign, so the takeover developments shouldn’t lead a scramble for alternative funding.
Maguire said (8m 10s): “That’s where we stand. Does it affect PSR? No it doesn’t. Is it good for cash flow? It’s not good for cash flow because they were putting money in on a regular basis but we are at the end of the 23/24 season so Everton will be getting their final payment from the Premier League.
“With Everton finishing 15th and being on television quite regularly I estimate they’re probably getting £130million in total for the 23/24 season, and the final payment is your merit payment and facility payment and so on. That should be good.
“And then you get your first instalment of the 24/25 TV deal coming through, normally at the end of the June [or] start of July, so that’s a big wad of cash. So it terms of cash to pay the bills I think we’re okay. There has been talk of administration… I don’t think that is the case.”
Everton finances ease as Farhad Moshiri moves on from 777
777 are believed to have provided more than £200m to the club as their loans financed Everton through a tumultuous season, meaning they will will not just disappear from the picture now their takeover has failed as they are a significant creditor.
There may still be pressures on the Toffees from a profit and sustainability point of view thanks to what money counts towards that calculation and what doesn’t, although fears of a fire sale in Dyche’s squad have been allayed by BBC journalist Giulia Bould (3 June).
It will certainly be a relief to Evertonians after months of uncertainty over the immediate future of the club if the 777 takeover fell through that it will not spell doom now that it has arrived.
Whether Moshiri’s willingness to prolong his deal with the American firm long past the point where it looked like having a realistic chance of getting completed was in order to get to this point or, as Maguire speculates, because they were the only bidder willing to pay him for his shares only the club chief will know.
But either way there is surely no space to be complacent at Goodison Park since the same worries will likely reappear next season if there has been no breakthrough on a takeover and he is still unwilling or unable to fund the club any more.
In other Everton news, the Toffees want to sign a Premier League forward who is available to move this summer.
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