Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness has claimed a takeover hijack could move “very quickly” with the club’s situation not as bad as most fear.
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, the 66-year-old – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – claimed any interested buyers should look to spread the Toffees’ reported £550million debt over “10 years” and fund the completion of the state-of-the-art new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium.
According to The Guardian (30 April), Everton have called in a leading firm of restructuring and insolvency advisers.
That development comes with 777 Partners still unable to complete their takeover of the club – which was agreed in September 2023 but is yet to be approved by the Premier League.
Everton have been consulting advisors Deloitte about other investment as the 777 bid continues to falter.
Everton takeover hijack could now move ‘very quickly’ – ‘I can see a way through it’, says Wyness
Wyness insisted he can “see a way through” the uncertainty despite the latest developments in the takeover situation.
He told Football Insider‘s Insider Track podcast: “777 could come up with something at the last minute, they’ve been known to do it.
“Anything can happen in finance, and it’s a very fast-moving situation.
“They’re not completely out of the picture, but they’ve now had a very long time to get it right and you’ve got to think that they won’t be able to get it over the line.
“Any group coming in to hijack the deal will have to get a handle on the debt situation, they will have to know how much money is forecast to come in – and how much money is required to finish the stadium.
“The good news is that the stadium is in a very advanced stage. It should be finished by the end of this year, with test events taking place to get it ready for the 2025-26 season.
“It’s going to be a case of debt restructuring, and trying to get it spread over the next 10 years rather than two or three.
“I think it can be done, and I can see a way through it.
“If new suitors have been looking at that data from Deloitte, then they could move very quickly to hijack 777.
“Let’s hope that’s the case.”
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