Everton takeover: Simon Jordan gives three-word John Textor verdict and makes £800m claim
Simon Jordan believes that ‘impressive’ John Textor sees a ‘real opportunity’ to purchase Everton at a cut price.
Textor has declared that he is interested in buying the Toffees as 777 Partners’ takeover looks increasingly unlikely. The American business currently owns a 45% stake in Crystal Palace but has hired investment bank the Raine Group to sell his shareholding.
Farhad Moshiri has reportedly been in talks about selling his 94.1% majority stake in Everton to Textor, whose Eagle Football Holding also own 77% of Ligue 1 side Lyon. The 58-year-old told the Athletic that Eagle Football are ‘simply not a perfect fit for Crystal Palace’ because he only has 25% of voting rights along with Steve Parish, Josh Harris and David Blitzer. He also claimed that he wants to own a team that ‘championships; like, at the top of the league’.
Jordan, a former Palace owner, was asked on talkSPORT what he knows about Textor. He replied: “Very impressive individual.”
And on the potential of Textor purchasing Everton, a frank Jordan said: “Well, Everton is a bigger football club than Crystal Palace. It’s also got a stadium development opportunity that is well underway and available at the end of the 2024-25 season. There is more scale to Everton.
“I don’t know what he’s quite saying about the risks Palace won’t take. John Textor is a very astute businessman who has made great amounts of money in other industries including AI. He brings money to Crystal Palace, Steve Parish has made money from Crystal Palace.
“The bottom line is Textor can’t put money into Palace unless it complies with financial fair play so I don’t quite know what he’s saying. My understanding is if you’re going to tell me what risks you can take with Crystal Palace, people can debate what he’s talking about.
“What I can tell you is in the financial community that surrounds the football world, people think there’s going to be someone nicking Everton ie they’re going to get Everton cheap. If Everton had been run properly, they’d be top eight in the Premier League, knocking on the door of Europe with a new stadium coming down the pipe. Everyone would be saying this is a £600-800 million football club. As it is at the moment, it’s a car crash because of the bad management.
“My dear friend Bill Kenwright was involved in some of the decisions that weren’t great, other people didn’t do good jobs as well at times but the main culprit the main man with money Moshiri. It’s not in a great condition, in a situation where the owner doesn’t want to be there anymore. Most people think there is a real opportunity to nick this football club – I don’t mean nick it so you don’t do something constructive with it, I mean pay a low amount on the way in.
“People will look at Newcastle and think: ‘Did Newcastle really sell that club fo £300 million?’ and think that’s cheap. With that in mind, there’s something in the offing similar with Everton.”
For Textor to purchase Everton, Premier League rules mean Textor would first have to sell his shareholding in Palace. Jordan added: “He’s a 45% shareholder with a 25% voting right ie he’s in a situation where it’s been artificially induced or it’;s a principal he only has 25% control of the voting rights.
“Will there be buyers? Do people want to work with Parish and that framework with Parish? I’d say they there probably is. Does he want to take a haircut? Probably not. Does he want to make a profit? Probably. I’m a Crystal Palace fan but there is a bigger scale to Everton irrespective to London. They’re building a new stadium, got more heritage, history and legacy than Palace. They’ve won things in the top league, not for a long time. To me, if you’re an impartial football investor, the better is Everton.”
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