Overseas owners 'destabilise' clubs insists Everton captain Phil Neville

Chelsea, Aston Villa, Portsmouth, Manchester City and West Ham United have also been purchased by foreign owners, but Neville is pleased that his own club is run by an Evertonian.

He said: "The chairman (Bill Kenwright) is a massive Everton fan, and there's no way he will let some Russian or American come in and destabilise our club.

"You have seen it with the Americans at Liverpool, you have seen it with Russian owners, they are a rule to their own.

"It does cause embarrassment sometimes for the club and that hopefully won't happen at Everton."

Everton are currently in the process of trying to complete a controversial move outside Liverpool's city boundaries to a new stadium in Kirkby, but Neville believes that the club's owners will remain true to Everton's principles.

He said: "I'm sure as long as Bill Kenwright is at the club, it won't happen because he has got the best interests of the club at heart.

"It is the People's Club and it would be great to have that sort of finance, but you have got to keep the principles of the club intact as well."

Neville witnessed the Glazers' takeover at Old Trafford before his move to Goodison Park and acknowledges that foreign owners don't always have to have a negative impact on clubs.

He said: "The Aston Villa owner (Randy Lerner) has conducted himself in the right way. The year before I left United there were people worried about how the Glazers would run the club but they have put themselves right in the background, not meddled in team affairs, and backed the manager to the hilt - and it's the same at Villa as well.

"It is about the team and the fans, not the owner."

Back on the pitch, Everton will kick-off this summer's pre-season programme with a trip to Swiss club FC Sion on Saturday 12.

The Goodison Park outfit

yesterday stressed that the fixture had yet to be confirmed but their hosts are now selling tickets for the game.

Travelling Evertonians will have to move swiftly to obtain tickets because the match is taking place at the Stade de L'Espérance in the village of Martigny-Croix in Martigny-Combe rather than Sion's 20,187 capacity Stade Tourbillon home.

The ground where Everton are playing, (kick-off 4.30pm local time), holds just 4,000 with only 2,500 in the grandstand.

Tickets, priced at 20 euros, are available from various outlets on Sion's website, www.fc-sion.ch.

Sion, who former Everton right-back Marc Hottiger played for in two spells, finished seventh in the 10-team Swiss Super League last season.

The game will be part of Everton's schedule in a pre-season training camp in Switzerland's mountainous Bernese Oberland area as Moyes's squad work on their fitness.

Meanwhile, there might not be in Everton players participating in the European Championship finals in Austria and Switzerland but a marathon season is currently continuing for several members of Moyes's squad.

Joseph Yobo is happy to sacrifice his holidays to help Nigeria's World Cup bid.

The Super Eagles, who surprisingly failed to reach Germany in 2006, have a series of World Cup/African Cup of Nations qualifiers in June, with a game against Equatorial Guinea next up this weekend.

Yobo, who is joined in the squad by Goodison Park team-mates Ayegbeni Yakubu and Victor Anichebe, said: "It's the sacrifice we have to make because we need to be at the World Cup.

"We are not the only ones affected, and it is in the interest of our country, so all the players are ready to do what it takes to qualify, even if it means that we have no rest."

Goalkeeper Tim Howard also plays in a World Cup qualifier tomorrow as the USA face Barbados.