Finance Expert: 'Full due diligence' needed for new Everton takeover bidders

Any previous interested parties coming back to the table in a bid to seal a takeover of Everton must do so with their eyes wide open, Dan Plumley has said.

BBC Sport journalist Shamoon Hafeez reported (19 July) that LA Dodgers general manager Kevin Malone is once again interested in leading a consortium to purchase the club following the collapse of the Friedkin Group takeover.

Meanwhile, John Textor is reportedly in negotiations for a period of exclusivity (Alan Myers) but a source told Goodison News that he will need to sell his 45 per cent stake in Crystal Palace.

Finance expert Plumley said there are still plenty of positives for interested parties, not least the potential commercial opportunities from the club’s new stadium, but warned there would be short-to-medium term pain to deal with.

“I think that’s (previous bidders being put off) an individual kind of perspective on it,” he told Goodison News.

“You will get some who are put off and some who keep putting their hat in the ring and coming back to the table.

“I think the question of whether it’s a put-off is down to the individual more so than the club, I think despite all of the kind of troubles and tribulations with the takeover there is still a Premier League football club in there that has a lot of history, a good fanbase, moving to a new stadium in a very well-known city in a well-known league, there are a lot of positives.

“So for old bidders to come back to the table there are positives. A lot of the negatives in that regard are some of the things we’ve seen you have to be aware of.

“We’ve seen a couple of deals collapse, the proceeds of crime act consideration that’s now come into the fore with all the kind of mess behind 777 and how that’s tied up in the takeover and what that would entail, so there are plenty of negatives as well.

“So that then comes back to the individual, if you are going to come back to the table you better do it with full due diligence and going in with your eyes wide open because there are a lot of opportunities moving forward with Everton but there are also a lot of things you need to sort out in the short to medium term that are going to weigh heavy, particularly from a financial cost point of view.”

Short-term pain for long-term Everton gain?

No one is going to deny that there are several obstacles in the way of making this a smooth process, obstacles that Dan Friedkin evidently felt he wasn’t prepared to clear.

Having said that, if someone is able to sort out the short-term issues, a huge if admittedly, then the potential of this club is huge.

Not least because of the commercial opportunities that will be brought about from the club’s move to their new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.

It might involve some short-term pain, particularly financially, but the long-term rewards could be vast. Let’s hope that a solution can be found to get this great club back on an even keel.

In other Everton news, Richard Masters has spoken out on the takeover process at the club.

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