Farhad Moshiri makes new £43.7m Everton prediction as ’emotional’ deal on the cards for Dan Friedkin

It has scarcely been two months since Dan Friedkin took over Everton but almost everything – from the finances, to the manager, to the mood – has changed from the Farhad Moshiri era.

Since his first game back in the dugout at Goodison Park, a 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa, David Moyes has gone unbeaten in seven Premier League matches.

Top flight survival is now all but secured for the 70th season in succession, meaning the Toffees will move into Bramley Moore Dock next season without any financial anxieties.

Dan Friedkin has cleared the bad debt from the Farhad Moshiri era and extra cash from the new stadium means they won’t have Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) wolves at the door in 2025-26.

Significantly, Everton have now announced that they have refinanced £350m worth of stadium debt via a new syndicated loan with JPMorgan.

Essentially, The Friedkin Group’s credit rating has allowed them to replace the old, high-interest loans with a longer-term agreement with a more favourable rate, saving them up to £50m per year.

That is particularly timely given that Premier League clubs voted 19-1 to retain PSR for another year, which – in contrast to the alternative system proposed – includes interest in a club’s spending quota.

Incidentally, TBR Football understands that Everton were not the one team to vote against retaining PSR, though that may simply have been herding in the face of inevitable defeat in the ballot.

But while there will likely be another year of relative restraint as their PSR situation levels out, Bramley Moore Dock and Friedkin mean Everton have the resources to recruit ambitiously once again.

In capacity terms, the new 52,888-seater stadium on the Liverpool waterfront is not ultimately that much bigger than Goodison Park.

But modern stadium design – which is informed by consumer psychology, sophisticated revenue optimisation strategies, and multi-functionality – means it well generate far more on a pro-rata basis.

To fans, Goodison Park’s value is – quite rightly – measured in decibels and emotion, not its financial utility. That may be at least partly behind plans to retain the stadium as a venue for the women’s team.

However, Goodison is one of the worst grounds in the Premier League at generating money, with less than £1m through the turnstiles per matchday. Clubs at the top end are earning six or seven times that.

But how much will the new stadium, with its 13,000 extra seats and ample commercial hospitality suites, generate? Now-former owner Farhad Moshiri has clarified the club’s outlook.

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Farhad Moshiri reveals Bramley Moore Dock stadium revenue projections

In the grand sweep of history, Moshiri will have a complicated legacy on Merseyside.

At present, fans are pleased to see the back of the British-Iranian who, after sponsorship revenue from Alisher Usmanov dried up, couldn’t fund the lavish transfer sprees that characterised his first few years.

However, when all is said and done, he will have been the man who had the vision to build the new stadium, without which The Friedkin Group would never have bought the club.

Things went south on the pitch and in the balance sheets rapidly, but Moshiri will be remembered – for better or for worse – as the catalyst for the next stage in Everton’s history.

Now, the investor or his advisors appear to have briefed Bloomberg about Everton’s revenue projections for the new stadium.

‘Departing owner Farhad Moshiri predicts match-day revenue at the team’s new stadium will increase to £43.7 million per season,’ the article reads. That’s new information, with forecasts under wraps until now.

Moshiri burdened Everton with several hundred million pounds worth of debt that, at one point, looked like it might be an existential threat to the 137-year-old club.

And despite being the man to launch the Bramley Moore Dock project, it is likely that he will never see inside of the stadium he helped build.

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Everton may have dodged bullet with naming rights deal latest, says Kieran Maguire

Dan Friedkin is the 253rd richest person in the world and one of the wealthiest private individuals in football, but he knows that his own money can only get him so far at Everton.

Externally-sourced revenue from sponsorship is central to his plans to boost cash flows and carve out more headroom under PSR.

The naming rights for Bramley Moore Dock are arguably now the biggest items in Everton’s sponsorship inventory, with a 10-year deal worth £10-15m per season on the cards, according to most experts.

Recently, TBR Football revealed that AJ Bell held talks with Everton about a naming rights deal, although sponsorship of an aera in the stadium – perhaps a stand or commercial lounge – is possible too.

The investment platform is owned by Andy Bell, an Evertonian who at one point was part of a consortium looking to buy the club.

He was also among the club’s creditors alongside MSP Sports Capital and George Bell, who loaned the club almost £160m.

“It would be an emotional investment from AJ Bell if they were to have naming rights for Everton’s new stadium,” says Liverpool University football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to TBR.

“It is a local, well-run business, so there would be none of the reputational issues that have perhaps dogged Everton’s relationship with Stake.”

Stake, Everton’s front-of-shirt sponsor, recently had their UK gambling license revoked.

The firm are therefore unlikely to sponsor the club next season, meaning front-of-shirt rights could be tied into a naming rights deal too.

“It really then comes down to price and whether AJ Bell feel that the benefits would justify the costs,” says Maguire, host of the Price of Football podcast.

“Everton, as a blue-chip Premier League club, will be looking for a blue chip price.”