If anyone else is seriously considering investment in Everton, now is the time to show their hand.

This is a club facing a summer that is pivotal to its future and for the first time in three years, those on the footballing side of the operation should be able to spend May planning for another season of Premier League football without the distraction of Championship contingency schemes.

For the club to take advantage of this opportunity, stability is essential. Ending the ownership uncertainty is central to that but the takeover saga now looks set to extend beyond the end of the season. As 777 Partners continue to stumble at regulatory hurdles, now is the time for any rivals to step out from the shadows if they want to be considered a genuine alternative.

This week has been dominated by events on the pitch. That is fair. The 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest was a major step towards survival. The 2-0 victory over Liverpool was then a momentous result built on the best Goodison Park performance since Sean Dyche’s first game. The deserved victory essentially ensured the Grand Old Lady would get to host one final league Merseyside derby, too.

There is, of course, work still to do. Dyche has been keen to stress the need to get mathematically safe as soon as possible and that could happen on Saturday night. Even if it does not it would take an extraordinary turn of events for there to be any jeopardy when Everton travel to Arsenal on the final day of the campaign.

Dyche and director of football Kevin Thelwell have already started planning for next season but they are constrained by the realities of Everton’s plight. Blues boss Dyche said this week: “I am waiting to see the realities of what we can and can’t do. It’s been a constant here, and not just about players. There’s always something going on here, it is like juggling sand… because the club is in this flux we can’t guarantee one way or the other so we are shifting, moving and moulding things as we can.”

With the potential for a significant turnover in players this summer as contracts expire and loan deals come to a conclusion, that uncertainty is not ideal for a club trying to build the foundations from which it can finally start to move forward. Which brings me to the other headline news at Everton this week, the revelation that Deloitte have been tasked with sounding out investors that could either play a role in getting the 777 move over the line or perhaps even provide a backup option. As results on the pitch have almost completely removed the need for a contingency plan, a new Plan B is being sought off it.

The ECHO understands 777 chiefs were aware of this hunt. The group, which is understood to have now provided a further £15m tranche of support to Everton – taking its total contribution towards club costs to around £186m, may view Deloitte’s work as standard practice. But it is far from ideal that the Blues are in this position over a deal that was agreed back in September.

There also now appears to be a recognition that the deal – if it is completed – is unlikely to be concluded before the end of the season on May 19. That is the big takeaway from the response of majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri to a request for a meeting with the Everton Fan Advisory Board. The FAB said on Friday that he had committed to talks in the third week of next month.

Putting aside what that suggests about the financial challenges of an agreement that is now seven months old, serious questions about the suitability of a company shrouded in controversy surrounding its wider exploits in business and football also remain. Everton supporters, politicians and other influential groups remain sceptical about 777 Partners’ plans and ability to fund them and that will continue while the group maintains the silence it claims is central to respecting the regulatory process it is yet to complete.

All of this means significant doubts remain about the wannabe owners of the Blues. The only certainty for the club and supporters is the continued uncertainty. Against that backdrop, the ECHO understands there is still significant interest in Everton beyond that shown by 777. This is not necessarily new. Two US consortiums came close to a deal with Moshiri before 777 swooped for his 94.1% stake. That agreement did not put off interest, further approaches are understood to have been made since that paperwork was signed in September. Moshiri has maintained his faith in 777, however, partly out of his own confidence the group has both access to the necessary funds and a commitment to completing the new waterfront stadium.

Whatever Moshiri thinks, clearly, the Premier League remain unsatisfied with what they have seen from the bid so far. And every day the club continues in ownership limbo is another wasted 24 hours in the bid to build on the progress earned by Everton edging to the brink of Premier League survival.

If there is another party that could help to put an end to this then they too would have to pass the same regulatory hurdles as 777. But given the ‘noise’ around 777 it has long felt this is a fanbase that is open to listening to other suitors coming forward. The Premier League is still yet to be convinced by the group. And the search for potential rivals or partners has now been started by Deloitte. So if there is another group that is interested in solving Everton’s instability then now is the time to end the shadowplay behind the scenes and step forward to present an alternative vision for the future of this great club.

GET MORE NEWS HERE