Iranian billionare Farhad Moshiri has bought 49.9% of Everton subject to Premier League approval
Everton have been waiting a long time for investment in the club and it seems that has finally arrived in the form of Iranian billionaire Farhad Moshiri, who subject to Premier League approval will own 49.9% of the club from Merseyside.
Everton chairman Bill Kenwright has been looking for new investors for nearly a decade and now it looks like the club have a new shareholder, who is actually a football man.
All the finances
Farhad Moshiri is regarded as a shrewd businessman. The 60-year-old has spent £175million to acquire his shares in a club that is seen as one of the traditional institutes of English football.
Moshiri may be Iranian by birth, but he has spent more than four decades in England, having been to university in London and having amassed a fortune of around £1.3billion according to respected American financial magazine Forbes.
He was previously an investor in Arsenal and wanted to have more control of the north London giants. He was unable to secure a place on the Gunners board, so decided to sell his interest in Arsenal and use the money to buy into another Premier League institute.
Moshiri would not have made the money he has without a very good financial acumen. He will not only provide financial resources, but also his business brain to a club that has been left behind by a host of their Premier League rivals in the last 20 years.
A football man
Farhad Moshiri is not an unknown quantity in the football world. He is a Manchester United fan, but he wanted to have far more of an influence at Arsenal. However, for one reason or another he was not able to exert influence on the north London club.
He was desperate to be involved in a Premier League club and now, subject to approval, he will get the chance to show his business skills on Merseyside. Everton fans will no doubt be eager to see what sort of impact Moshiri has on the club.
The deal sees Bill Kenwright and Jon Woods remain on the board alongside the new investor, which will bring a sense of stability to the club. Most Evertonians will be happy that the club are not being sold to investors who know nothing about football or are not interested in the game itself.
Mr Moshiri will still be a slightly unknown quantity to fans of the Toffees. Most right-minded Everton fans will wait to see what sort of effect the new investor has on the club before celebrating Moshiri arrival wholeheartedly.
Bill Kenwright has had his critics in the past, but at the end of the day he is an Evertonian and hopefully he has made the right decision for the club from Merseyside.
Problems at Everton
I may be biased in this matter, but Everton have the potential to become a force in English football once again. The Toffees have punched above their financial weight in recent years, but in truth a club with the history and size of Everton should be doing better all-round.
Everton’s performance in the commercial sector has been poor and has left them lagging behind, as has the clubs historic, but aging Goodison Park. The stadium was once state of the art, now it is more state of that.
The stadium situation has been long talked about. I remember talk of moving grounds under the disastrous tenure of Peter Johnson. The stadium issue is likely to be one of the first things that Mr Moshiri will look at.
Other teams have benefitted from moving grounds in recent years, in terms of finances in the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City. The team is not the only thing wrong at the club. Everton are underachieving under Roberto Martinez and that is symptomatic of the Toffees since the 1980’s.
The investment of Farhad Moshiri seems to be what everybody connected with Everton football club has been waiting for the last two decades.
Only time will tell if Everton can re-establish themselves as a force in English football, but the first signs are positives from what Mr Moshiri has to say, and hopefully he can help create a brighter future for the club from Merseyside.
Can fresh investment make Everton a force in English football?
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