Could Kroenke’s Arsenal takeover affect Everton?
In a move today that could have ramifications for Everton, Stan Kroenke the majority shareholder at Arsenal has launched a successful takeover of that club.
So why does this potentially affect Everton?
To complete his takeover of the Emirates club, Kroenke is buying out his main rival shareholder Alisher Usmanov.
As some Blues fans may know, Usmanov is a long-time business partner of Everton majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri.
Both men invested in Arsenal, (with Moshiri allegedly getting a loan from Usmanov to do so), before Moshiri sold his stake to Usmanov and took over at Goodison Park.
So ever since Moshiri took control of Everton there have been accusations that the finances he used to buy the Blues were also not entirely his own and that Usmanov had in fact part-financed the deal.
If that was the case it might have broken the Premier Leagues’ rules concerning joint-ownership of clubs. These rules state that if an individual owns shares in one club he/she cannot have shares in another.
Moshiri had gained control of Everton when he took a 49.9 % stake in February 2017. And so there were questions about the deal for the Blues due to Usmanov’s financial involvement with Moshiri.
Moshiri denied this was the case, saying the financing was entirely his own and the share purchase at Everton obviously went ahead.
Then following the publishing of the Paradise Papers in 2017, further details emerged of this financial relationship.
When Moshiri bought into Everton he used the same firm, Appleby, that Usmanov had used to buy his original stake in Arsenal. And Moshiri is also chairman of the company the two men own shares in, USM Holdings.
So now Usmanov is no longer a shareholder in Arsenal he could be free to come and invest his millions in the Blues.
This would raise some interesting and potentially difficult questions about Everton’s future direction.
If Usmanov does decide he wants in on the Goodison Park project, what might the consequences be?
Of course having another billionaire on the board would mean the Blues might have even more resources to invest in building a successful team and in the new stadium project.
But there could be a downside as past experience with this kind of billionaire investment has underlined.
There would be a danger Everton become overly dependent on the money of these oligarchs, not necessarily the best situation to be in.
Aston Villa’s story is a prescient example. They had a very wealthy owner Randy Lerner who after taking over the club invested millions to try to build a competitive team at Villa Park.
At first under then manager Martin O’Neill, Villa made real strides on the pitch and seemed on the verge of a breakthrough and a top four place.
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Ironically it was an Everton team put together on a shoe-string under David Moyes who finished above Villa several seasons’ in a row in 2008 and 09. That eventual failure to break into the Champions League places led to O’Neill leaving and Villa went into decline from then on.
Key players were sold and the relationship between Lerner and the fans inevitably soured as Villa struggled for a number of seasons at the wrong end of the Premier League.
They finally ended up finishing bottom at the end of the 2015-16 season. Following a disastrous campaign Lerner sold the club after that relegation.
None of this will necessarily happen to the Blues. But it is a salutary lesson that things can go wrong if a very wealthy owner/s lose interest and commitment after pumping millions into a football club and making that club dependent on their largesse.