Everton’s Marcel Brands has urged clubs to welcome investors with open arms if they are bringing ‘continuity’ to a club.
The Blues Director of Football, who arrived at Goodison Park from PSV Eindhoven in June 2018 was discussing potential investment in the game in his native Netherlands.
Eredivisie side Feyenoord have been heavily linked with a takeover for the last year, with reports this month that three investment firms are all looking at putting money into the club.
A deal would be a significant coup for the club, who, like the rest of the teams in the division, struggle to keep up with Ajax in terms of financial revenue.
Indeed, income in the Dutch game is much lower than in the rest of Europe, where tv and prize money is considerably higher.
And Brands, speaking to De Telegraaf, believes clubs should welcome investors with opens arms if their intentions are right.
“The Netherlands has had a few investors who were not the best example,” the Everton chief said.
“When something new is presented, you hope it will pay off immediately. If it’s a big mess after the first six weeks, it’s hard to convince people.
“But if an owner wants continuity and wants to build something, you can and should welcome them with open arms.”
Brands, of course, will know all about struggling to convince people, having encountered that already during his two years at Everton.
He arrived as the replacement for Steve Walsh, who was Farhad Moshiri’s first appointment in the Director of Football role at Everton.
Walsh had enjoyed great success at Leicester but proved to be a disaster on Merseyside, with lavish spending and poor strategy lumbering Everton in more ways than one.
That is something Brands has spent the last two years trying to fix while also trying to win back the supporters, something it seems he knows is a difficult job given these comments.
