Wednesday 9 March 2016 10:26, UK
Iranian billionaire Farhad Moshiri has taken a 49.9 per cent stake in Everton - but what does this mean for the club and its supporters?
Will the investment from the former Arsenal shareholder - which was approved by the Premier League on Tuesday - lead to him becoming a majority owner? Will his finances support a summer spending surge on transfers? And is his arrival the next step on Everton's move to a new stadium?
We spoke with Sky Sports News HQ reporter Vinny O'Connor to get the latest on the deal and its impact…
Farhad Moshiri has a 49.9 per cent stake in Everton - do you expect that to increase?
For now it's going to be a case of Moshiri and current chairman Bill Kenwright working together. From what I can gather, the idea over time will be for Moshiri to increase that investment. Quite how quickly that will happen, we don't know. But at some point I think it's safe to say he will become the majority shareholder at Everton.
Was Moshiri's investment a surprise, especially given American investors John Jay Moores and Charles Noell were granted a period of exclusivity?
Publicly, this deal has been kept under wraps. I've been told that there's never been more interest in buying Everton than right now but this deal with Moshiri has been in the offing for a year.
From what I understand, there have been other interested parties and Everton could have gone down the route of selling to a higher bidder. However, the feeling is Moshiri is the best-placed person to take Everton forward. That's why they've sold 49.9 per cent to him.
It's not surprising they've gone for someone like Moshiri - what is surprising is Kenwright was able to keep it under wraps for so long.
What does Moshiri's arrival mean for Kenwright? Do you expect them to work together?
In this instance, there's a feeling it's better to have someone who knows the inner workings of the club, how they work financially, how they deal with the transfer market and someone who knows how the manager works to remain in place. That's Kenwright.
It's almost like a period of transition. Kenwright is there helping Moshiri. As Moshiri gets more familiar with the club, I imagine that's when his shareholding increases.
Moshiri didn't want to get rid of the expertise of Kenwright, who has taken Everton from perennial relegation strugglers to a side aiming for European football, built on a solid footing with a number of players who would attract large transfer fees.
Can we expect Everton to be big spenders in the summer transfer market?
I expect Everton to still go about their business quietly but they have greater financial clout now.
It's not clear yet how Everton will approach the summer transfer window - but I don't think they are going to go wild in the transfer market or say how much they have to spend. I expect them to still go about their business quietly but they have greater financial clout now.
Whether they find it harder to do business, because the selling club says 'you've got a billionaire in charge now' remains to be seen. But they'll continue to try to build the squad steadily.
They will be spending in the summer - but I wouldn't expect them to make a song and dance about it.
Is Moshiri keen to move Everton out of Goodison Park?
As well as transfers, the other priority now is the stadium. There's a site on Walton Hall Park which the council has earmarked and, given the investment, there might be scope to progress with that proposal.
It might be that Moshiri wants to look at Goodison again, too, and see if they can do anything there to expand it, like Liverpool have done with Anfield.
That's speculation but certainly one of Moshiri's priorities is to look at the stadium.
What is Everton's attraction to investors at the moment?
There are several factors which make Everton an attractive proposition right now: their playing squad, their financial status and the upcoming TV deal.
The new TV rights will be a big boost financially and Everton's overdraft of around £30m is relatively modest debt in football terms. Certainly in the past, the stadium has been a stumbling block - but will the new TV deal mean that isn't such a big issue?
The squad is also packed with talent - Romelu Lukaku, John Stones and Ross Barkley would all command large transfer fees and there's a feeling that, with some more investment, Everton could take the next step up, in terms of their ambitions in the Premier League.
All in all, it's a better time for an investor to come into Everton than it was five-seven years ago.
