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Moshiri pledged to restore the support of the masses, whatever the cost
Farhad Moshiri, the owner of the English club Everton, said that the club is not for sale, despite criticism from Al-Nay fans of its management method.
Angry fans have been calling for Moshiri and the Everton board to resign for weeks, following the team’s 19th place in the English Premier League.
The English club has won only one of the 14 games it has played since the start of the current season. The board of directors also sacked the coach of the first football team, Frank Lampard, last Monday.
The club’s owner said he felt the “fans’ pain” and would do “anything whatsoever” to regain their support.
An alliance led by former Manchester United and Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenwine held talks to discuss the takeover of Everton last summer.
But the English club preferred not to complete these talks last July. Moshiri also declared at the time that the club was not for sale, in an open letter to Everton fans.
Despite this, a report published by the British Guardian newspaper last Tuesday stated that the owner of the English club put Everton up for sale for 500 million pounds sterling and is currently considering selling the larger or smaller share of the club amid other parties showing interest in the offering.
Moshiri, during an interview with the club’s Supporters’ Advisory Council recorded before the team’s defeat by West Ham United and the sacking of Lampard, said he only wanted to secure additional funding to build a new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock on Liverpool’s waterfront.
And he added during that interview: “The club is not for sale, but I am talking with a number of distinguished major investors to seek their help in bridging the financing gap that we need to fill to build the stadium.”
He continued, “I can provide this financing myself, but I want to bring major investors in the sports sector to Everton, and we are close at the present time to reaching an agreement in this regard.”
He pointed out that the matter is not related to selling the club at all, but aims to use more expertise in attracting international sponsorship and the commercial development of the club.
Moshiri said, “There are many specialists in sports investment who have accumulated experience in this regard, which we can secure for Everton.”
Despite the dissatisfaction of the English club’s fans, Moshiri stressed his confidence in the board of directors, including CEO Bill Kenwright and CEO Dennis Barrett Baxendale, who advised the team not to play its match against Southampton due to a “real and confirmed threat to the safety” of the players.
The owner of Everton, a British businessman of Iranian origin, said he would make the necessary changes that would help the club get out of the relegation zone in the English Premier League, calling on fans to stand behind their club.
“This period is the most important in our history,” said Moshiri, who bought the management stake in Everton in 2016. “It is an existential issue for us.”
He added, “I believe in the current board of directors. In the past, I have fired directors and hired others, and I will not be shy about making any changes. We change when we need to.”
He continued, “We will take it very hard, and we need to be calm and move beyond our current position on the field.”
He said, “I feel the pain, and I hear what the audience is saying, and I think they have a point of view, and we will deal with them. I do not drop anything from my calculations, and I have a list of all opinions.”
Moshiri vowed to achieve the benefit of the club, “not only at the level of this stadium, but at the level of moving him to the elite,” but stressed his need for the public.
“The fans are the most important part of the Everton Foundation, and we have to get through this together – and you can only do it if we are together,” Moshiri said.
He added, “Everton depends on Goodison and 12 men. I know we will be much weaker without the full support of the fans, and I will do anything whatever it is to regain the support of the fans, and I will work 24 hours a day until this is achieved.”