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Everton bidder John Textor speaks out as Dan Friedkin twist confirmed
John Textor’s battle to take over Everton is taking place against the backdrop of major changes to football finance and governance.
The American multi-club billionaire is already well-versed in PSR (Profit and Sustainability Rules) thanks to his co-ownership of Crystal Palace.
Textor must offload his stake in Palace to satisfy the Premier League’s owners’ and directors’ test, which itself could be rewritten by the independent regulator for English football.
Although it is fighting a losing battle, the Premier League is vehemently opposed to the independent regulator and is now attempting to prove to the government that it can self-govern effectively.
As part of these efforts, Everton have a third PSR hearing scheduled for some time this year, which follows the two sanctions they suffered last season for breaching the spending rules in 2021-22 and 2022-23.
The hope at Goodison Park is that a takeover, whether by Textor or another party, can get the club running on an even keel, solve their cash flow anxieties, and see out the move to Bramley Moore Dock.
Textor, who is reportedly Farhad Moshiri‘s preferred bidder, will also have to juggle ensuring standards are upheld on the pitch and the club’s PSR issues.
In a new development, previous preferred bidder Dan Friedkin has suffered a blow that is emblematic of the issues faced by club owners throughout Europe in football’s evolving regulatory landscape.
Dan Friedkin faces PSR issues as John Textor outlines stance
Friedkin pulled out of negotiations to buy Everton in July because of legal complications related to the club’s debt with 777 Partners, themselves another failed bidder.
Had the sports and media investor managed to get a takeover over the line, Everton would have entered an ownership umbrella with Friedkin’s AS Roma.
Interestingly, confirmed that it had fined Roma €2m for “slightly [exceeding] the intermediate target set for the 2023 financial year” in terms of their PSR system.
A new system of PSR, previously known as FFP, is currently being phased in by UEFA. It will limit clubs to spending a maximum of 70 per cent of turnover on wages, transfers and agent fees.
That is a separate system from the Premier League’s, which limits clubs like Everton‘s losses to £105m over a rolling three-year period.
Textor, whose Eagle Football Group owns five clubs worldwide, is no fan of FFP and has reiterated his stance this week.
As quoted by Brazil, the 58-year-old said: “It FFP/PSR] is not fair. Crystal Palace have to play against Manchester United, who are allowed to spend more on players, there is no financial parity.
“They put other words, like sustainability, that there is financial fair play because they care about their club.
“In the Premier League, you have small clubs bought by mega-billionaires, with a lot of money, but they can’t spend. Only the big clubs, with the biggest overall budgets, can spend.
“It’s not about financial sustainability for the health of the club, but rather an unfair practice, a rule made to allow hegemony, for the big clubs to always be dominant.”
In 2025-26, the Premier League is expected to move to a new PSR system that will be similar to UEFA’s model but with a reported 85 per cent cap, as opposed to 70 per cent.
Everton takeover latest as Alisher Usmanov factor emerges
Until March 2022, Everton received significant sponsorship income from the oligarch Alisher Usmanov.
But after Usmanov was sanctioned by the UK government for his links to Vladimir Putin, Everton were forced to cut ties with the Uzbek billionaire.
That left a blackhole in their finances.
And in a development which is set to complicate and already nebulous takeover situation, Usmanov has now reportedly taken legal action against a company owned Moshiri.