I’ll have a bitter please...It’s the Everton thread

[mattyhurst]

Yeah I have this odd feeling they become a club that doesn’t own their stadium.

Always a dire situation unless it’s the council.

[Mascot]

@Arminius

Rivalry aside, this doesn’t sound great.

Everton investment: Toffees reach exclusivity agreement with MSP Sports Capital - BBC Sport

The article is somewhat confusing, referring to a 25% stake, but not equity. The preferred share mechanism sounds something like mezzanine debt, which means MSP will be paid out from cash flow. That would really only be of interest to equity holders in two situations: where they expect to strike it big and don’t want to give up real equity, and when they need cash badly, cannot convince investors to come in as equity, and can’t get more debt without violating bank covenants. Not hard to guess which one is in operation here.

It sounds like the kind of thing Hicks and Gillette were cooking up at the arse end of their ownership.

[Arminius]

@Mascot

It sounds like the kind of thing Hicks and Gillette were cooking up at the arse end of their ownership.

Not entirely dissimilar to the Mill Financial arrangement, which was subordinated debt rather than preferred shares.

[Arminius]

@mattyhurst

Yeah I have this odd feeling they become a club that doesn’t own their stadium.

With that kind of debt, you know there is a security agreement somewhere - and definitely one on the stadium being constructed.

[Noo_Noo]

@Arminius

It suggests a real dangerous situation, where they don’t have the capital to finish the stadium, but have ~ £140M in debt stuck in the project. It appears from their financials that it is a floating rate, so it is likely considerably more expensive than it was when they took it, simply because of interest rates. The preferred shares offer suggests no further debt was going to be possible.

Sounds extremely dangerous to me. I vaguely remember a press report of their finances earlier in this thread that included some references to the equivalent of loan sharks. And now this.

I’d be extremely worried if I were in their shoes.

[Sithbare]

The FA seem to have a sympathetic attitude towards Everton. Time they take those shaded glasses out and actually punish them.

They should in probability be looking at punishing City as well. Any positive action on Everton will hopefully force calls for positive action on City as well.

[Mascot]

@Sithbare

The FA seem to have a sympathetic attitude towards Everton. Time they take those shaded glasses out and actually punish them.

They should in probability be looking at punishing City as well. Any positive action on Everton will hopefully force calls for positive action on City as well.

I’m not sure what jurisdiction the FA have over the Premier League.

[Arminius]

@Noo_Noo

Sounds extremely dangerous to me. I vaguely remember a press report of their finances earlier in this thread that included some references to the equivalent of loan sharks. And now this.

I’d be extremely worried if I were in their shoes.

My impression is that Everton fans despise their board so much now over how the club is run generally that their capacity to think of this situation as qualitatively different is limited. But this really is not like a shit transfer who doesn’t fit into how the latest turnstile manager wants to play. A financing structure like this usually has high interest rates, at least 3% above general market and often more. It makes sense only when you are expecting a massive surge in income (hence bridge financing), but I just don’t see completing the stadium creating a massive surge - definitely an increase, how much though?

Essentially, Everton are replicating Tottenham’s strategy of binning off years of potential in order to finance a stadium. Except that they have nowhere near the potential of Spurs circa 2018, and they are adding a high interest rate tranche of debt. Over the next 5 years, the regular debt will make significant demands on cash flow, and this preferred share facility will come right after that. Financially, they are not going to have much of an advantage over the likes of Bournemouth or Burnley for years.

[redfanman]

Is this further evidence they have been funded in the main by Usmanov?

[Arminius]

@redfanman

Is this further evidence they have been funded in the main by Usmanov?

Evidence? No, but it certainly smells that way. Moshiri without access to Usmanov either does not want to provide the capital that must have been planned, or cannot. It is extremely unlikely that they would have planned a financial structure like this, something must have changed. Occam’s Razor suggests Usmanov was going to backstop the stadium project somehow - quite possibly with a similar debt structure that might allow him to take over the club completely on favourable terms at some point down the line. As I understand it, he was barred from holding equity in Everton, but convertible debentures would be fine up until the moment of conversion.

[WooltonRed]

Also, Spurs had a waiting list of 30,000 for season tickets, so they knew they would fill the new stadium. Everton don’t have a waiting list, that’s why they sell half season tickets around Christmas time. How will they fill their new stadium?

[DublinRed]

@WooltonRed

How will they fill their new stadium?

Punishment for Russian war criminals? On second thoughts, the Geneva Convention probably forbids such acts of torture.

[sandsoftime]

Woodison will be a Supermarket within 18months of them vacating…

[Icedagger]

At least they will finally have something on the shelves

[Red_Submarine]

I’d love it if LFC bought it, pulled it down, and built a car park there

[Icedagger]

Overflow Trophy Cabinet

[mattyhurst]

I think the council have bought it.

It’s not really much use though crammed in amongst terrace housing I’m not sure what it actually could be.

The vetch became a community garden which is a nice bit of green land in Swansea.

That’s about as much as I could expect from it. Houses around it won’t want a supermarket so effectively the only other idea would be a car park for Anfield.

[legalalien]

There are rumours that they might ditch Dyche in favour of some South American bloke I’ve never heard of.
Everton have approached Botafogo head coach Luis Castro, 61, as they discuss replacing Sean Dyche as manager this summer. (Daily Record)

[redfanman]

@legalalien

There are rumours that they might ditch Dyche in favour of some South American bloke I’ve never heard of.
Everton have approached Botafogo head coach Luis Castro, 61, as they discuss replacing Sean Dyche as manager this summer. (Daily Record)

Can they afford to?

[RedWhippet]

@redfanman

Can they afford to?

No, but it sounds like he changes his club more often than his socks so he would be an ideal fit for Everton’s style of mismanagement:

Luís Castro (footballer, born 1961)

Dyche is ideal for the situation Everton find themselves in at the moment. If they give him some backing he might be able to build them into mid-table mediocrity.