Kieran Maguire: Everton at risk of becoming the new ‘Sunderland’ after takeover latest
Everton risk becoming the new Sunderland if the ongoing takeover saga results in a pluralised ownership structure.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the possibility of Farhad Moshiri retaining a stake in the Toffees.
The British-Iranian businessman is in talks with a consortium fronted by Peter Kenyon, formerly of Man United and Chelsea, about a possible sale.
But The Athletic reported on Wednesday (22 June) that Moshiri would ideally like to keep a reduced majority or significant minority stake in the club.
It was only in January this year that Moshiri increased his stake to 94 per cent via a £100million capital injection.
Sunderland only recently moved to a majority shareholder model after Kyril Louis-Dreyfus increased his stake in the club by 10 per cent to 51 per cent on Wednesday (22 June).
Maguire insists that Everton could experience the same problems in terms of a lack of direction if they move to a multi-owner set-up.
“In terms of pluralised ownership, it comes down to whether one person has a controlling stake,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“If we take a look at a club like Sunderland, it appeared to hold them back significantly. Thankfully that appears to have been resolved now.
“No one appeared to be in control and some of the parties appeared either reluctant, unwilling or completely incompetent when it came to investing in the club.”
Sunderland were promoted to the Championship at the end of 2021-22 after four years in League One.
Everton meanwhile only narrowly avoided relegation from the top-flight on the penultimate day of the season.
In other news, Richarlison lambasted by pundit over “disgusting” update on Everton future.