More takeover uncertainty as 777 Partners insist they can finance Everton purchase

It goes on with yet more news today raising further uncertainties about the ability of 777 Partners to meet all the regulatory and financial requirements for their takeover of Everton FC.

From the moment the US investment group announced that they had agreed a deal with Farhad Moshiri to take over the club, rumours and stories have persisted throwing their proposal into doubt.

Everton supporters have looked on as concerns over the viability of the takeover have persisted since September when it was first made public.

And that has created yet further confusion and uncertainty over the Toffees’ future, something that we could all do without.

After all it is not as if there aren’t enough problems with this club!

Constant failure and instability both on and off the pitch have resulted in two consecutive relegation fights at the end of the season in both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns, the last of which ended with a final day drama that simply cannot be repeated again.

All this is the result of years of financial mismanagement, wasteful spending on players and a succession of managers who have come and gone as results declined.

And this season once again results have so far been poor with only a slight upturn recently giving any slender and tentative hope that this season can be rescued before it is too late.

Current manager Sean Dyche has a squad of mismatched and underperforming players and like his predeccessors Frank Lampard and Rafa Benitez, has struggled to improve it in transfer windows given the financial restrictions the club is now under.

The man ultimately responsible for all this chaos and disaster is of course the owner Moshiri. In the end the buck has to stop with him.

He has decided he is better off leaving too and almost all Evertonians would be more than happy to see him sell up and move on as soon as possible.

I would also argue that it is impossible for the club to make any meaningful progress until that happens. I reckon most Blues fans agree.

That meant being open to a potential individual or group of investors from pretty much anywhere who were prepared to move in the direction of a takeover. Anything must be better than this, or is it?

It does unfortunately seem clear that 777 Partners are probably not the right people to replace Moshiri and take Everton forward given all the uncertainty and controversy that surrounds them regarding there background and financial situation.

The phrase ‘leaping out of the fire into a frying pan’ comes to mind.

All this is of course supremely badly timed – as these announcements always appear to be – with the Blues squad and manager trying to focus on a hugely challenging match at Anfield in just over three days time.

There doesn’t appear to be other suitors and so endless soap opera that is this club goes on. I am increasingly fearful that if the Americans are successful in their bid, it will just result in more instability and long-term decline.