The_Guardian_-_2016-12-29

as Shear’s law firm, Berwin Leighton Paisner, while documents show that they and JG Funding listed
the same permitted third party security: another entity registered in the British Virgin Islands called
Mousehole Limited.
That has previously funded Atlético Madrid, Espanyol, Getafe and Valencia, among others, and is
also registered at Vanterpool Plaza, as is Powsfield Limited, a company dissolved in 2009 that held
95% of the shares of Selkan Limited – owned by Gareth Bale’s agent Jonathan Barnett – which
appointed Simon Groom as company secretary on 26 July 2005. Selkan were involved in the
purchasing of players’ economic rights, including the former Brazil striker Luís Fabiano, and
receiving a percentage of the transfer fee when the players were sold.
At Everton’s AGM in November 2015, the CEO Robert Elstone castigated shareholders who asked
questions about Green’s potential involvement before revealing that the club’s net debt had increased
from £28.1m in 2013–14 to £31.3m in 2014–15, despite announcing a record turnover and bumper
new TV deal.“We have three sources of lending,” he said. “We have a long-term loan with the
Prudential that expires in 2026, an overdraft with Barclays that is not enough to manage the day-today
cash flow of the football club and, to address that, we borrow from JG Funding (a private
company) against the TV money. It is all fully disclosed in our accounts, is approved by the Premier
League and paid back at the end of the year.”
Less than six months after the loan with JG Funding was taken out, Moshiri paid £87.5m for his
49.9% share, valuing the club at £175m. The publication of Everton’s 2015-16 accounts last week
revealed the Iranian businessman has also provided an interest-free loan of £80m “with no agreed
repayment date. This funding has been used post year-end to reduce the club’s long-term debt by
repaying the entire other loans balance of £54.8m at 31 May 2016.”
Despite that, Everton’s accounts show that another loan was taken out on 26 August 2016. This time,
it was registered to a company called Rights and Media Funding Limited, which had changed its name
from JG Funding at the end of 2015, and, just as before, the company’s only listed director was
Jonathan McMorrow. Born in Sligo, Ireland, he is now a registered accountant married to Claire
Usher, who he met while dancing in Riverdance on Broadway. According to McMorrow’s Linkedin
page, he joined the James Grant Group – a management agency described as a “one-stop talent shop”
that once listed the Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy as its chairman – in 2008 before becoming
director of its subsidiary JG Funding.
The only other name on the charge documents is Fiona McPadden, who is also listed as an accountant
and has signed off the loan on behalf of JG Funding. After digging a little deeper, @watchedtoffee
discovered she is the sister of McMorrow and works at a BMW dealership in Sligo, having married a
local builder, Vincent McPadden.
“A multi-million pound loan has been taken out by Everton Football Club and has been signed off by
an ex-Riverdance dancer and his sister, who is an office worker at a BMW dealership in Sligo,” he
wrote. “Unbelievable isn’t it?”
The Premier League has insisted it is aware of the identity of the investor behind Vibrac and its
associated companies. But as the riches associated with modern football continue to increase, it