In 2016 Forbes described John Textor as “Hollywood’s virtual reality guru” as he was “among the earliest advocates of the convergence of entertainment media and technology”.
“Textor’s background is not sport but virtual reality and visual effects — his past business ventures include bringing rapper Tupac Shakur back to life as a hologram,” according to the Financial Times. He bought, ran and saw production house Digital Domain fall into bankruptcy. Digital Domain was the company “responsible for the sinking of the Titanic in James Cameron’s Oscar-winning 1997 film”.
Which makes him the ideal candidate to be the next owner of Everton Football Club. He has a period of exclusivity to bid to own Everton from owners Blue Heaven, the fifth person to have been granted such exclusivity. That ends on November 30 and will require him to sell his 45% stake in Crystal Palace.
“No-one wakes up and thinks ‘I get to buy Everton’,” Textor told Sky Sport. “But if you decide football is what you want in your life and then someone comes along and asks you if you want to become the owner of Everton, it’s like someone asking you if you want to be president of the US. Of course you do.”
Owning Everton and becoming president of the US are now two of the world’s biggest poisoned chalices. Speaking of presidents of the US it was Kamala Harris United 9, Donald Trump City 0 after their 2024 presidential qualification match on Tuesday. It was an erratic, limp and confused performance by Trump in which he was warned constantly for time-wasting and dissent.
Harris opened the scoring with a curling free kick into the left wing... er... top corner of the net. VAR was called upon several times as Trump struggled to stay on side, but the ref allowed Harris to get away with a two-footed, studs-up tackle that was well over the ball on Old Orange face.
Trump relied heavily on the long ball, but was undone by Harris’ gengen pressing and sly counterattacks. In the postmatch presser Trump went all Ten Hag and blamed everyone but himself, saving particular vitriol for the refereeing team.
Textor and Trump don’t have a lot in common, apart from that one bankruptcy. He was a competitive freestyle skateboarder in the 1970s and 1980s until a head injury suffered during a competition forced him to retire. He can ollie and flip and do tail kicks, the tricks of the skateboard world. He can certainly flip.
“I don’t manage Crystal Palace. I’m in a weird spot as a multi-club person. Crystal Palace is my first investment. My boys are in love with the team, I’m in love with the team, I’m in love with the general culture of Crystal Palace,” he told the BBC in March.
“Am I as passionate about it? Quietly when I watch the games, but I’m not responsible for it. The collaboration has been great for me. I work very closely with [sporting director] Dougie Freedman and [chair] Steve Parish and I pick off the situations.”
He also owns stakes in Lyon in the Ligue 1 club, Brazil’s side Botafogo and Molenbeek of Belgium through his holding company, Eagle Football. A New York Stock Exchange listing is in the works.
“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,” Textor then said last month. “If supporters don’t switch allegiances easily, owners shouldn’t either.”
It may not be easy, but Textor is headed north from London to Liverpool, to take over a club that is down on its luck and rapidly running out of time and patience. Is it good news for Everton? It may be for the fans as Textor has suggested he may let the fans buy shares.
It brings into focus the issues around multi-club ownership models, whether they are effective and sustainable pathways for players to grow their careers, and whether they, perhaps most importantly, make money.
Perhaps you can buy loyalty and love in football. Perhaps Textor can revive Everton. Anything is possible when you are “Hollywood’s virtual reality guru”.
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