Last month it was revealed that Everton Football Club had entered into an agreement with an American investment body with a view to the club being sold by Bill Kenwright.The two figureheads of the investors, John Jay Moores and Charles Noell, have had previous experience in trying to buy into a Premier League club when, in late 2014, they showed interest in buying a large stake in Swansea City.
Swansea are a unique phenomena in the Premier League, with a fans’ group owning 21% of the club after it faced administration and very possible extinction in 2001, and we wanted to get the inside line on the Americans that were looking at buying into Everton.
Phil Sumbler is the Chairman of the Swansea City Supporter’s Trust, and met with Charles Noell twice when he was interested in buying The Swans, and he told us that the takeover was not something he could ever have supported at The Liberty Stadium.
Moores and Noell were looking to buy an initial 30% stake of Swansea for £100m, but there was never any talk of any further investment in the team.
“Our biggest gripe was that there was no investment in the club,” explained Sumbler.
“The £100m being banded about was for 30% of the football club but that money was not going into the club itself by way of a new share release but into the pockets of the existing shareholders who were selling some of their stake.”
There was also talk of Moores and Noell providing the club with a loan, which will set alarm bells ringing among some sections of our support, given the accusations levelled at our current board about the loans taken out and the people responsible for lending them.
Sumbler continued, “The only talk of funding for the club was by way of a loan which was not something that we felt should need the club to become 30% owned by outsiders for.
“At no point really did we ever feel that they had intentions for the club other than maybe some marketing in the US.
“Charles certainly never convinced me of his desire to see Swansea City progress on the pitch which will always raise suspicions given the massive amount of money around in the Premier League.”
There have been many stories about Moores and Noell and Moore’s history with the San Diego Padres that Evertonians will have read over the last couple of weeks, and with Noell seemingly unable to convince a Swansea fan that they wanted to see their club improve on the pitch once they took ownership, a trend would appear to be forming.
Sumbler also spoke about the deal never “feeling right” for Swansea, and that he had reservations over what the intentions of the potential new owners may be. That is something that will resonate with Evertonians, no matter how desperate they are for a change of ownership.
He concluded, “I really don’t know whether they will be good for Everton or not to be honest but the key thing is to make sure that it is a deal that is right for the football club and not the bank balance of Bill Kenwright.”
That should go without saying, but when the time comes our Shareholders’ Association need to ensure they ask the right questions of these potential investors, and should look to be convinced that buying Everton isn’t just a way for John Jay Moores to profit from yet another huge TV deal.
As I said from day 1, these people wont invest a single penny more than Bill did, we just trade 1 board room of people wanting to prop up their mates loan companies with another, expect, its highly unlikely these people wont take a wage and highly probable they will also take a loan out for the initial purchase.
SWERVE
