Sure - an Everton shareholder rings in to shed some more light on the current situation. Thought he came across pretty well, but scared the merde out of me.
The shareholder rang in and said some stuff we already know - such as the fact that shareholders no longer get to go to an AGM and ask questions about the business. They just get given a buffet and a chance to listen to the Chief Exec wax lyrical about the club, with no questions allowed to be asked.
But the real frightening stuff. Kenwright was saying the other day that we just cannot afford to borrow any more. At all.
However - it turns out that on 5th August, the club took out a new mortgage to the tune of £13m, secured against future Premier League revenue in the 2012/13 season. This is to be repaid over this year, at a cost of £1.3m (so 10% interest).
This isn't for transfers etc - this is purely and simply for running costs. We're having to borrow against future income to stay afloat!
However - the REALLY scary thing. The mortgage has been taken out from a company in the British Virgin Isles. The shareholder guy did a bit of digging (all via the public record), and the address of the company is the exact same address of a company owned by one of Everton's 'directors', Robert Earl!
So we're in a position, seemingly, where we're in massive debt, and a director of the club is effectively going to make a profit out of our debt by lending us money and making £1.3m in interest!
The presenters were really quite shocked and asked the guy to email in the links to the info he'd uncovered so they could investigate it further.
