The Toffees analyst replied to a comment on his website on 19 July to rule out the pair as “no longer an option” after the American pulled out of his deal with Farhad Moshiri. The two businessmen had made an offer earlier this summer, backed by US computing billionaire Michael Dell, and were [ , 8 June] and [ , 11 June] before Friedkin won the race to be grated exclusivity. But after the American [ , 19 July] the duo will not now step back in.
Bell and Downing may have been the first hope for various supporters after the blow of Freidkin’s deal falling through. They had previously loaned around £50million to the club but the Roma chief had settled that debt [ , 18 July] along with the infamous MSP Sports Capital loans which proved unsurmountable for 777. It may be that the agreement on backing they had with Dell is no longer available and quite possibly for the same reason that Friedkin pulled out.
777 and A-Cap have already been accused of fraud in a civil lawsuit in the US – both deny all wrongdoing – and there is said to be being filed by the US Justice Department even after that [ , 20 July]. Logically it is now unlikely any prospective buyer with a similar outlook to Friedkin will get involved unless or until those risks are cleared. But Everton don’t really have the luxury of time to wait around for that so someone who is still willing and able needs to be found.
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