Jay-Z for Everton?
For several seasons, some have considered Everton to be the basket case of the English Premier League (EPL). Once a giant of the English game, the Merseyside club has spent much of the last decade lurching from crisis to crisis, with off-field issues often spilling out and leading to on-pitch problems.
But could all that be about to change and via an unlikely source? Could a surprising knight in shining armor be about to ride to their rescue?
Who knows – nothing is ever a given where Everton is concerned – but yesterday it was reported that a new consortium is interested in buying the club, including US rapper and billionaire Jay-Z.
investment of around $350m in Fanatics
The 54-year-old is now far more than a rapper and has used his multi-millions to make a string of investments. The rapper-turned-entrepreneur recently announced an investment of around $325m in Fanatics – the sporting goods company and sportsbook operator that has grown massively in recent years in the US and is looking to extend beyond its shores.
Moshiri woes
Jay-Z won’t be going it alone, of course, as the consortium said to be interested in buying out Everton’s controversial owner Farhad Moshiri is being led by John Textor. As reported in The Sun, the US rap star is one of several partners that Textor has spoken to as he looks to put together an offer to buy the Merseyside club.
Moshiri originally bought the club back in 2016 and initially found favor with the Everton fans after pumping millions into the club.
The money was used to pay off debts and bring in big names both on and off the pitch, arguably the biggest of the lot being Carlo Ancelotti – currently the head coach of Real Madrid – under whom they finished 10th and 12th in the EPL. Among the big-name players brought in during that period was Colombian superstar James Rodriguez.
three consecutive relegation battles
By Everton standards, those were heady days and since Ancelotti’s departure in June 2021, they have been involved in three consecutive relegation battles under three different managers.
Former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez was chosen to replace Ancelotti but it was no match made in heaven and the Spaniard lasted only six months in the dugout before being replaced by Frank Lampard. Again, it didn’t work out as the Everton board had hoped and Lampard lasted just a year before being sacked.
Dyche in trouble
The current incumbent of the Toffees’ technical area is Sean Dyche, once of Burnley, but four straight defeats at the start of the new season have plunged his reign into doubt. What has made this season-opening doubly difficult to stomach for Everton fans is that their last two games have been lost 3-2 from 2-0 winning positions.
loggerheads with the club’s owners and board
But this has been a crisis in the making for a long time and the Ancelotti years were outliers in a spell that has often seen Everton fans at loggerheads with the club’s owners and board. Even in times of relative calm, the unrest was only ever a game or two away from spilling over and there was a time when the club’s owner and board members were advised by police to stay away from Goodison Park for their safety.
Unsurprisingly, Moshiri has been trying to sell the club for a while but has found it to be a difficult, painstaking, and fraught process. Multiple talks with multiple prospective buyers have taken place before breaking down, and advanced talks with The Friedkin Group and, earlier this year, 777 Partners both failed at the final hurdle.
New 52,000-seater stadium
Part of the problem for Moshiri and any prospective new owner is that the club is in the process of building a new, stunning, state-of-the-art stadium in the Bramley-Moore Dock area of North Liverpool.
At an estimated cost of £760m ($1bn), the financing of the stadium, which is due to be completed later this year, will have a significant impact on any deal.
new-look ownership group
So far, all prospective deals have been deemed unworkable, but maybe Moshiri can finally agree on one with Textor, Jay-Z and company that will satisfy all parties and see Everton take ownership of their new 52,000-seater stadium with a new-look ownership group and board in situ.
If successful, Jay-Z will be the latest in an increasingly long line of US sportsmen and celebrities who have taken ownership or part-ownership of an English football club.
From Hollywood to England
League One Wrexham is famously owned by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. The club played last night against Birmingham City who, among their ownership group, include retired NFL quarterback Tom Brady.
Even US basketball superstar LeBron James is in on the act with his link-up with Fenway Sports Group entitling him to a minority stake in Liverpool.
Only time will tell if the Textor/Jay-Z/Everton deal ever becomes a reality but such has been the level of angst among the blue half of Merseyside over the last decade, even a glimmer of hope for a brighter future has to be embraced.
For Jay-Z, the joke writes itself. He once famously wrote a track entitled 99 Problems. If the Everton deal goes through, better make that 100.