John Textor outlines Everton takeover intentions in 1,169 word statement

Prospective Everton owner John Textor has revealed he made a final takeover bid for Crystal Palace but if his offer is rejected, as he anticipates, it would leave the door open for a possible deal with Farhad Moshiri.

Textor’s offer for Palace, where he currently has a 45% stake, has yet to elicit a response and with the American suspecting it will be knocked back, he could push ahead with his attempts to try and buy the Blues.

The Athletic’s David Ornstein reported on August 15 that Textor had become the fifth interested party in two years to enter into a period of exclusivity with Moshiri over acquiring his 94.1% stake in Everton but the club are yet to confirm this.

On August 21, The Guardian then ran an article claiming an agreement over a Textor Everton takeover was expected by the end of this week with him having further talks with Moshiri.

Textor has now issued a lengthy statement on his own website to attempt to clarify his position on behalf of his Eagle Football group..

He said: “In light of recent reports, which we believe may be well intended, but are still inaccurate or imprecise, we feel compelled to clarify our intentions as current owners of Crystal Palace Football Club, for the benefit of its community, and for the benefit of the Everton community which may be affected by these reports.

“We can confirm that we are interested in selling our interest in Crystal Palace, largely so that we can pursue a relationship with the Everton club and community. Several months ago, we hired Raine Group to begin the process of evaluating alternatives, as we were considering two very different alternatives, at that time, either a purchase of a majority interest in Palace or an outright sale.”

The 58-year-old, whose global football portfolio also includes Olympique Lyonnais (France), RWD Molenbeek (Belgium) and Botafogo (Brazil), also made reference to the date of Everton’s 3-2 comeback victory over Crystala Palace to secure their Premier League status when he added: “We have no expectation of immediate acceptance as we show up in a new town, with Palace gear stored in our trunks, and memories that we will cherish forever (though May 19, 2022 will just have to be one of those memories that now can go both ways!).

“Trust is not earned quickly with supporters, but I do believe that we are uniquely qualified to serve and deliver results, and I do believe that it is more likely, than not, that I will be referring to a new club and community as ‘my club’, sometime soon. Only time will tell.”

Ahead of last week’s exclusivity claims, Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish insisted he and his fellow Selhurst Park chiefs supported Textor’s plans to pursue a new project.

However, there are understood to be reservations within Goodison Park’s corridors of power over the prospect of a swift resolution being reached given the major stumbling block surrounding his current 45% stake with their Premier League rivals from south London.

Parish told BBC Sport: “John has a multi-club setup and because he has a minority position in Crystal Palace it makes it more difficult for him to do the things that he wants to do.

“Personally, I think John is making a good a job as anyone in that multi-club situation, he has great assets.

“He wants a club that plugs into that where he controls everything that happens. We don't think that is right for us as a club right now.

“We do collaborate with his clubs where we can. He wants to go and do something else, we’re helping him do that.

“John has supported the club financially as we all have. He has put his part in and we have put our part in and we're all aligned on the strategy.

“We’re very happy to help John fulfil his ambitions. I was chatting to him on email while he was flying to Brazil last night. We will try to find the right people to come in his place.

“Josh (Harris), David (Blitzer) and I between us have 55% with some friends. It’s a very stable situation for the club and very amicable. We will work to wish John well and do our best to get him in the position we want him to be in.”

Textor’s statement in full from August 22, reads as follows:

In light of recent reports, which we believe may be well intended, but are still inaccurate or imprecise, we feel compelled to clarify our intentions as current owners of Crystal Palace Football Club, for the benefit of its community, and for the benefit of the Everton community which may be affected by these reports.

We can confirm that we are interested in selling our interest in Crystal Palace, largely so that we can pursue a relationship with the Everton club and community. Several months ago, we hired Raine Group to begin the process of evaluating alternatives, as we were considering two very different alternatives, at that time, either a purchase of a majority interest in Palace or an outright sale.

Since the beginning of our investment in 2021, and our initial 40% purchase, it had always been my intent to purchase a majority interest in the club. I was invited to buy a majority interest, at that time, and I have often regretted not doing so previously. We have continued to be the lead investor in the club, with significant investments being made in the Spring of 2023, and again in the summer of 2024. Though we have been able to increase our percentage ownership of the club, and we remain the largest shareholder of the club, we still have yet to acquire a majority interest. The club remains governed in the same fashion today, as it was in 2021. We are one of four principal partners of the club, and we all have equal rights of management, control and governance.

As we now look to another adventure, we remain proud of our contributions to the Crystal Palace club and community. Our capital and our daily contributions helped to repay the debts that amassed during COVID, to complete key milestones of Academy improvements, to reduce the average age of the squad, and to recruit many of today’s most impactful players. We even helped to establish and build a relationship with our impressive new coach. In short, while we do not enjoy the same level of collaboration that we have with our other Eagle Football clubs, we are proud of Crystal Palace as an example of the positive contribution that we can make to a football club and community.

So, as I am now being asked to explain our view of continued ownership, and our contemplation of both 'buy' and 'sell' scenarios, I can only say that the decision has been as confusing for us, as it must be for the fans to decipher the limited and inaccurate press reports. It’s confusing, because it’s emotional. How could anyone not love Palace? I showed up in 2021, as a private investor, with only my wife and kids as partners. We attended games as a family, home and away. We enjoyed some great wins, against some big teams, and watched some great wins slip away at the death…and along the way, even though I wasn’t able to hit the pubs with fans, as much as my two boys did, I always looked forward to hearing their stories of the ‘away days’ (like nearly getting thrown off of a bridge for wearing Palace colours away at Forest, before getting dragged up by the neck by three older Palace fans). We have enjoyed every last moment as Palace fans.

…and long before our multi-club collaborative model began to develop, and we started to develop relationships with other communities, we were already enjoying our heavy contribution to a partnership that worked well enough together to preside over significant improvements and heightened ambitions. So, what started as a ‘pretty neat thing to do in retirement’ became an overwhelming passion for a club and a community that my family (and ultimately my new partners) grew to love, a community that really deserves to raise a Cup.

Ultimately it became obvious that our model of collaboration was working well. If we believe that each of the communities within our family deserve to win championships, then it is clear that we are having success. In Belgium, we quickly achieved success (probably too quickly), raising a Cup, achieving promotion into the 1stdivision, where we hope to return again soon. In Brazil, we acquired a bankrupt club, emerging from Serie B in 2022, and we are now on top of Serie A, and beating the greatest clubs of Brazil in our main competition and in Copa Libertadores. In France, we assumed roster control in the summer of 2022, suffered for 15 weeks in ‘dead last’ of Ligue 1. We were given no chance of avoiding relegation, but we improved our chances in one collaborative transfer window, becoming the #1 team in France during the last half of the 2022/23 season. Even more surprising, to others, is that no team in history, in France, had ever escaped relegation with only 7 points after 14 games – but we finished in 6th place and qualified directly for Europa League. Collaboration works, for all of the clubs and communities in our family.

This brings me to the point, as it seems well past time for me to clarify our intentions, as real people in real communities are impacted by misinformation. Yes, we have been evaluating alternative relationships in football to complete our family, to include a strong and collaborative UK community – but before we decided to leave one family, to join another, we did try to do everything possible to stay connected with the club and community of Crystal Palace. If supporters don't switch allegiances easily, owners shouldn’t either.

It is true that we made an offer to buy the remaining shares of Crystal Palace, at a valuation that far exceeds levels of prior investment. We did so with a strong belief that Palace has become a much more valuable club, since 2021, and we respected our partners enough to offer fair value, regardless of circumstances. It is also true that our offer did not induce a response, and we believe that our Palace partners have the same desire to remain in ownership as we once did…so our Raine Group efforts to sell our interests resumed. We have a significant number of parties active in our process, we have received strong indications from qualified buyers, and we believe strongly that we can complete a sale of our interests to continue moving forward with the next community we hope to serve, embrace and enjoy.

We have no expectation of immediate acceptance as we show up in a new town, with Palace gear stored in our trunks, and memories that we will cherish forever (though May 19, 2022 will just have to be one of those memories that now can go both ways!). Trust is not earned quickly with supporters, but I do believe that we are uniquely qualified to serve and deliver results, and I do believe that it is more likely, than not, that I will be referring to a new club and community as ‘my club’, sometime soon. Only time will tell.