Richard Wilson, a founding director and shareholder of Melbourne Victory, said the deal “wipes the value of the shares” because of the option for 777 Partners to walk away.

“It effectively wipes the value of the shares [for up to five years],” said Wilson, who resigned from the board in 2021 over a disagreement about the direction of the club.

“It makes it almost impossible for a shareholder to sell their shares. You could sell to somebody who’s going to walk straight into a minority position where the shares are worthless.”

He said he saw the deal was “borrowing time” instead of affirming the club’s future.

“So the risk to the fans is that no matter [what the club] says about ‘this brings certainty, it brings security’ – no it doesn’t ... [the investor] can walk away from it any time they like,” Wilson said.

“For the fans, there’ll be a product, there’ll be a team … but it’s just a bad deal.”

Private investment is playing a growing role in Australia soccer, with private equity firm Silver Lake the biggest shareholder in the A-League. Victory also owns a stake in the A-League, along with the other 11 teams in the competition.

With Ben Schneiders