John Textor exclusive interview: American businessman says succeeding Farhad Moshiri as Everton owner would be like becoming US President

Prospective new Everton owner John Textor says succeeding Farhad Moshiri would be akin to becoming President of the United States.

In August, the 58-year-old digital entrepreneur confirmed in a statement his intention to sell his 45 per cent stake in Crystal Palace “so that we can pursue a relationship with the Everton club and community”.

Textor has a number of stakes in other clubs, including Ligue 1 club Lyon, Brazilian side Botafogo and Belgian club Molenbeek through his company Eagle Football Holdings.

Everton majority shareholder Moshiri has granted a period of exclusivity to the American but any deal is dependent on the would-be buyer selling his stake in Palace, as Premier League rules prohibit individuals from owning more than one team.

In an extensive interview with Sky Sports News reporter Alan Myers, Textor says he feels a deal is close to being reached – and is confident of it being completed before the November 30 deadline set in his exclusivity agreement…

How did you decide you wanted to buy Everton?

“The word ‘buy’ is always a weird one when it comes to football clubs. It provokes a discomfort in me every time because imagine going out and saying [to a fan], ‘hey, I just bought your club’.

“I had someone ask me the same question when I bought Botafogo. These clubs have been legendary long before we were alive, walking on this earth.

If someone asks you if you want to become the owner of Everton, it’s like someone asking you if you want to be President of the United States. Of course you do.

“You know the opportunity to step into these situations, you know you are only a caretaker. You see documentaries on the history of these clubs and people who have gone before you… you know you’re never going to rise to their level in the eyes of the community of these clubs.

“Nobody wakes up and thinks, ‘I get to buy Everton’. But if you decide football is what you want in your life, and then somebody comes along and asks you if you want to become the owner of Everton, it’s like someone asking you if you want to be President of the United States. Of course you do.

“But you don’t necessarily think that things are realistic. When I grew up and loved football, you didn’t choose to watch the MLS which was still developing. You watch the Premier League and great European football.

“My great-grandfather was English so I tended to watch more UK football. My pastor was a Wolves fan so I watched him go through all kinds of agony.

“When I travelled to the UK for business, I would try to watch games – usually at very small clubs, like Leyton Orient or Stockport County. But Everton? I never thought about it as it was like looking at the White House and thinking I’m going to live there some day.

“When it becomes available, obviously I’m not just interested but hopefully we can get it done. It would be quite an honour.”

What are the challenges around completing the deal?

“Getting comfortable with the last few items. I feel my past experience has given me a patience that other people don’t have because ultimately we want to get this deal done.

“When you walk into a situation like Everton, I feel we are capable of enhancing a club and enhancing profitability at the same time. The two don’t normally go together, but I can handle a certain amount of PSR risk… at this stage, I don’t quite know the risk.

“I’m in an awkward spot but we’re working through it. The awkward spot is that I can understand the club’s position… the accounting position and I feel it’s manageable in terms of the PSR problem.

“I don’t quite know the Premier League’s perspective on that because there’s a bit of a Chinese Wall between me as an owner of Crystal Palace and what I’m really allowed to know as a prospective owner of another team in the same division.

“But I do think we’re developing solutions for that information gap and I feel we’re in the very last days of getting our comfort around that. We just hope from the moment we arrive, we can start looking up the table, not down it.

“Of course, there’s the curveball that could come at any moment as it’s a really attractive club, it’s an attractive community and economically it’s a great opportunity because of the investment that’s been made by others before us.

“Let’s be frank, the failure of others has been the blessing that we get to walk in to – which means that anybody could outbid me at any time. I have a qualified period of exclusivity, but exclusives don’t matter if Farhad gets an offer tomorrow that is supremely better than mine.

“I wouldn’t force him to do a bad deal with me. The longer this takes, the greater the probability that there’s some other smart guy out there that wakes up and see this as a great deal, as it is.

“Right now, this seems to be our opportunity and we hope to close.”

Is the new stadium pivotal to Everton’s future?

“Not for me… I don’t like Tottenham. I go into that stadium, and I think it’s too nice. I remember the first couple of games I went there and the people I was with were in this banquet hall, and I thought ‘this isn’t football’ and I really believe that.

“It’s way too nice a stadium for football. I remember as an owner of Crystal Palace watching them have one of the best games they’ve had in a long time under Patrick Vieira against Everton. We were 2-0 up but then Everton came out and turned it around.

“People were running all over the stadium and I was sat just above the dugout. I was thinking, ‘what a weird stadium, what a weird layout… but what a beautiful stadium’. It’s like going to Fenway Park where you have a big pole in front of you. You can’t see the field but it’s what’s beautiful about it.

“For me, I would still be interested in Everton if they were playing on a pitch next to Goodison Park. I would stay at Goodison forever, but investors are clearly supportive because when we talk about the capital that I have to buy the club, I do believe I can take this squad well beyond its current level of competitiveness alone.

“But let’s face it, we don’t want Everton to be bouncing around eighth place forever. We want to win a title, and so to do that you need serious capital. I’ve always been very good at accessing it in my life, and so the stadium is huge in that respect.

“The fact that somebody else paid for this incredible place, with these luxury suites and glass VIP rooms, that kind of stuff is amazing from a capital perspective. But from the fans’ perspective, it’s important to them it’s important to me.”

Are you ready for pressure from Everton supporters?

“Yes, I am. I’ve been punched in the face a lot. I know that business can be bloody. In football, I don’t think you can face a more angry, nasty while at the same time wonderful crowd than the one I have down in Brazil. It’s been difficult on my family at times.

“I don’t think I could walk into more hatred and pressure than I’ve seen in Brazil but we’ve also turned that crowd around. When someone is acting crazy, the first question you have to ask is why they are acting in this way.

“A great champion in Brazil that hadn’t won a title since 1995 is Botafogo. The manner in which they’ve lost titles between then and now has led to an expression, ‘it can only happen to Botafogo’.

“We have had that sense of greatness before, of being on top and then losing that. It’s like Milton’s Paradise Lost… you don’t understand pure evil unless you’ve experienced pure goodness and joy.

“It’s the same with Lyon in France where they have an expectation of being champions having won seven straight titles. Their ultras are horrible but wonderful at the same time.

“You get up every day and take a step at a time. Fans look backwards at history – I can’t look behind. I look forward. I’m prepared for it.

“I know if I become the owner of Everton, there will be those who think l make decisions that look idiotic, and people will say that I don’t know football and I can’t make my way out of a wet paper bag. I’m going to be mocked and not trusted.

“I work for the anonymous fan whose father and grandfather loved the club, the 10 year-old fan wearing his Everton colours. Admit your mistakes and work hard.

‘Two serious bids to buy my Palace stake’

“Everton fans will understandably be wondering how you as an owner can transfer from one Premier League effectively to another. So how do you get out of it?

“There’s been articles written about how we’ve experienced difficulties selling our interest, but that is wrong. We haven’t had difficulties selling. We started the process a while back and that process takes a while.

“We have 14 groups interested in Palace who are very qualified and we have five that went to the next level and now we have two who have made good bids while there is also the possibility that our partners might still want it as they love the club as much as I do.

“We’re into the final week or two of knowing who the buyer will be. The contract I have with Farhad gives us a lot of time for that as November 30 is our deadline set to make sure we can complete it.

“I feel we can do so before then. Fans should know that Everton are pretty well off right now and have good cash to support themselves.

“The idea they need somebody to loan to them in order to survive is nonsense but there is a stadium that needs to be completed and so we’re looking forward to funding the completion of that.

“But you’ve got to be ready for the next transfer window as this is an opportunity to leap forward up the table and my challenge is make sure I get in early enough to deal with that.”

Have you already spoken to anyone on managing Everton?

“That hasn’t happened. People just like to create destabilisation at other clubs.

“People have liked to create a narrative that we’re at war with Palmeiras both on and off the field. Somebody pops into the rumour mill that Textor now wants to go after the Palmeiras coach. Somebody has invented that story in Brazil and it bleeds its way to England.

“He [Abel Ferreira] is a great coach for sure but I haven’t spoken to any coaches about the Everton job. There’s no truth to that. I don’t know Sean [Dyche] personally but I watched him for so many years at Burnley doing wonders with no budget and so obviously he’s a guy who knows how to coach in the Premier League.

“I’d sit down with him at some point in the future and say that I’m going to bring him a very different profile of player from any corner of the world and ask him if he is interested. I’d ask him if he could coach this squad.

“I like that he has bought the big, tough Irish kid Jake O’Brien but does he like [Botafogo forwards] Igor Jesus or Luis Henrique? Does he have an ambition to coach that sort of profile?

“Does he have a system that would work for a squad that is optimised from the best players in the world? That’s further down the line, but I’m certainly not tinkering in the coaching department.

“The players who have already shown up there that come from our organisation, I talked to the Premier League about this in advance.

“So long as they were already desired by the Everton Football Group then they can go but there’s no fingerprints of mine on this club at this point and there won’t be until I’m the owner.”