Everton backed Premier League to avoid crushing financial blow – Keith Wyness
Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness believes the club backed the Premier League in the recent associated party transaction (APT) vote due to concerns over shareholder loans.
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 – insisted it would have given the Merseyside giants issues if the shareholder loans were applied retrospectively.
Man City took legal action against the Premier League regarding the APT rules at an arbitration hearing in June, with two aspects of the regulations deemed unlawful when the panel published its findings last month.
The Premier League issued proposed amendments earlier this month, with the top-flight clubs approving those changes at a meeting in London on 22 November.
It is believed 16 sides voted in favour of the proposals, ensuring the governing body received the required two-thirds majority, as only Man City, Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest rejected the motion.
In a statement, the Premier League said the changes relate to “integrating the assessment of shareholder loans” and “include the removal of some of the amendments made to APT rules earlier this year”.
The Guardian reported on 28 November Everton owner Farhad Moshiri has agreed to convert his £451million loan into shares if the club has not been sold by the time the new regulations come into force on 11 January.
Everton switched sides due to shareholder loans concerns
Wyness revealed the club were concerned about what would happen with those shareholder loans after backing the Premier League’s proposals.
He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “I think Everton and Wolves were pretty much wanting not to go back in history and look retrospectively at things.
“That would have given them both particular issues, so I think that was pretty clear.
“With Everton coming in with a new owner, there could be another big sponsorship situation possibly that could be coming up and they would also not want to be restricted.
“Let’s see how that pans out, but I think it was the retrospective issue that both those clubs moved sides.”
In other news, Everton star’s loan could be terminated.
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