March 4 – The doors are closing on Alisher Usmanov. Having already had sanctions applied to him by the EU, he has now been added to the UK’s hit list of Russian oligarchs.
Usmanov owns property worth more than £100 million in the UK and has had major interests in Arsenal and Everton football clubs. He will now be cut off from his properties with the British authorities instituting a full asset freeze and travel ban.
How the sanctions will affect Everton are unclear but what is clear is that Usmanov’s money was underpinning the finance the club needed to return to the higher echelons of the Premier League, and the build of the new stadium in Liverpool’s regenerating docklands.
Usmanov is close to Farhad Moshiri, Everton’s owner, and his companies have provided Everton with major sponsorships, including the training ground, naming rights for the new stadium and a sponsorship of the women’s team by USM.
Insiders have told Insideworldfootball that even before the Ukraine crisis Usmanov was pulling back from his commitments to Everton and that the USM deals were unlikely to be renewed. Everton will struggle to find replacement sponsors at the same level but will obviously still have the fall back of the Premier League’s huge media revenues to sustain the business – assuming they don’t plummet into the relegation zone.
Yesterday Everton announced it was severing sponsorship ties with its Russian sponsors, suspending sponsorships with USM, Megafon and Yota with immediate effect.
The club released a statement saying they are supporting Ukraine international Vitalii Mykolenko.
“Everyone at Everton remains shocked and saddened by the appalling events unfolding in Ukraine. This tragic situation must end as soon as possible, and any further loss of life must be avoided,” said the statement.
“The players, coaching staff and everyone working at Everton are providing full support to our player Vitalii Mykolenko and his family and will continue to do so. The Club can confirm that it has suspended with immediate effect all commercial sponsorship arrangements with the Russian companies USM, Megafon and Yota.”
The reality is that Usmanov is not going to be too bothered by this as he already had a foot out the door. The issues are bigger for Everton who will have to find new money and sponsors. That will fall to Moshiri who may choose to sell his stake. Former majority owner Bill Kenwright still exercises control over the club, though he doesn’t have the money to fund a serious Premier League challenge and is unlikely to put his money back in.
Meanwhile Usmanov is battling to save his empire and reputation – both in the business and sporting worlds. This week he stepped down as president of the International Fencing Federation (FIE), saying in a statement: “On 28 February 2022 I became the target of restrictive measures imposed by the European Union. I believe that such a decision is unfair, and the reasons employed to justify the sanctions are a set of false and defamatory allegations damaging my honor (sic), dignity, and business reputation.
“I will use all legal means to protect my honour and reputation.”
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