How Everton FC have fared under Farhad Moshiri ahead of American takeover

Owner Farhad Moshiri’s reign at Everton appears to be at an end after he agreed a deal to sell his 94% share in the club to 777 Partners.

Farhad Moshiri, who has been the majority shareholder since 2016, said: “The nature of ownership and financing of top football clubs has changed immeasurably since I first invested in Everton over seven years ago."

He added: "The days of an owner/benefactor are seemingly out of reach for most, and the biggest clubs are now typically owned by well-resourced PE firms, specialist sports investors or state-backed companies and funds."

With a backdrop of growing fan dissatisfaction, protests and a decrease in performances on the pitch - this is how the Moshiri era at the Toffees may be remembered.

Stadium

Undoubtedly Moshiri’s greatest success was getting the long-awaited Bramley-Moore Dock project off the ground.

Relocating from Goodison Park has been a necessity for years and after several aborted attempts, seeing the ground emerging on the banks of the Mersey has been one of the few highlights for Everton fans.

The ground is set to be completed next season but Moshiri, who has funded at least half of the build, will likely not be around to see it.

Spending

When Moshiri arrived in 2016 the talk among Everton fans was of a shift in the balance of power on Merseyside.

However, after spending more than half-a-billion pounds on players the squad appears in a worse state than when he took over, with very few transfer successes and many more flops and failures.

Financial losses

That level of transfer activity, plus unforeseen events like the global pandemic, has contributed to the club racking up cumulative losses of more than £430million over the last five years.

That has led to the club facing a Premier League charge of breaching profit and sustainability regulations and subsequently leaving managers having to operate under restrictive financial constraints.

Poor decision-making

It was perhaps understandable when Moshiri, someone with no experience of running a football club, took over that he retained the existing executive management to ensure some stability.

However, the faith he placed in them – particularly his close friendship with chairman Bill Kenwright – appears to have been misplaced with the club now in its current position having seen two directors of football come and go having contributed to the wasted millions.

Sean Dyche is Moshiri’s eighth permanent manager, having gone through Roberto Martinez, Ronald Koeman, Sam Allardyce, Marco Silva, Carlo Ancelotti, Rafael Benitez and Frank Lampard.

He admits his decisions on managers have been influenced by fan reaction but his appointment of former Liverpool boss Benitez in the face of outward hostility from the fanbase highlights his lack of understanding.

Losing the fans

Hailed as a saviour when he took over, the British-Iranian billionaire is viewed in a somewhat chequered light by supporters now.

The new stadium earned him some credit but his alliance to Kenwright and the board – which resigned en-mass in June after a second successive dalliance with relegation – has only fuelled the anger against him.

Regular protests have taken place over the past two years and while that has mainly been against the board, Moshiri’s refusal to make changes at executive level has tarred him with the same brush.

Accelerated decline

Everton finished 11th in Moshiri’s first half-season as owner and followed that up with a seventh and two eighth places.

But as more money was spent on the squad results started to dwindle and after finishing 12th and 10th under multiple Champions League winner Ancelotti, the past two seasons have been relegation dogfights with escape only secured in the penultimate game and last match of the campaign respectively.

After an increasingly threadbare squad gained one point from the first four matches of this season, another battle against the drop looks on the cards.

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