Actions Speak Louder than Words
The Friedkin Group have thus far quietly demonstrated a lot of ambition, vision, professionalism and sound under-pinnings for success since acquiring Everton. The missing piece appears to be the manager situation
The fallout from Everton’s late-season collapse, one that saw them pick up just three points from a possible 21 and our European hopes shattered, has seen an out-pouring of frustration from supporters who were invited to dream after the hammering of Chelsea but who have been slapped back down once more by reality.
The words “stability” and “ambition” have dominated the discussion over the hierarchy’s immediate steps as the limitations of both the current squad and David Moyes’s management have been exposed. Moyes’s own future has come into question, as has The Friedkin Group’s hunger to push Everton into the upper echelons of the English game.
Part of that is down to Chief Executive Officer, Angus Kinnear’s rather tepid programme notes ahead of the Sunderland defeat, his “happy dissatisfaction” with the Blues falling short of Europe, and his seemingly unequivocal backing of the manager; a message viewed, rightly or wrongly, by the discontented masses as tacit acceptance of mediocrity.
It’s also partly down to those behind the curtain itself, the Friedkins — specifically Dan and his son Ryan, neither of whom attended a match at Hill Dickinson Stadium in its first season or said anything publicly about the club since their takeover went through in December 2024.
It’s a curious state of affairs but no one should be surprised; the Friedkins are notoriously media-shy, preferring to conduct their business in the background. That is largely how they have run AS Roma for the past six years, Dan emerging only after the Europa League final in 2022 and celebrating the achievement by posing on the pitch with the trophy after the Giallorossi’s victory over Feyenoord.
TFG have appeared to be a bit more “hands-on” at Roma but, in the main, their running of Everton so far is in line with what it said on the proverbial tin when they came on board — they let their actions speak loud in the absence of words, with their representatives on the ground (Kinnear and Executive Chairman, Marc Watts, in Everton’s case) providing the public face of their operation. That won’t stop Evertonians from trying to coax them out of silence in desperate hopes of gleaning some sense of their vision for the club but they’re unlikely to change.
This is Everton joining the 21st-century model of Premier League ownership; a shift accepted reluctantly by a fanbase who, frustrated by the inadequacies of the Bill Kenwright era and bruised by the near-disastrous reign of Farhad Moshiri, welcomed a stable, billion-dollar American firm as their new overlords in the hopes of being able to compete with similar set-ups up the road at Anfield and in North London as well as the nation state-backed entities in Manchester and Newcastle.
It’s a far cry from the days of Sir John Moores, the local man made good who helped propel the club back to the forefront of the domestic game in the 1960s. When he remarked that “Everton expects success”, it came from an understanding of both the club and the people because he was one of them.
Having spent so little time in Liverpool and had no interface with Evertonians since their interest in the club emerged in 2024, the Friedkins couldn’t possibly know what makes Scousers tick or form any emotional bond with the supporters whose hopes and dreams they took on their shoulders 16 months ago.
Likewise, while Blues heard the pronouncements at the outset from the likes of Watts and Kinnear around “custodianship” and “stewardship” of “this iconic football club” and “a new era … marked by ambition and professionalism” and, more recently, the CEO’s emphasis on “stability” as a foundation for longer-term growth, we don’t have a sense of the kind of team the ownership want Everton to be on the pitch and what kind of managerial approach they envisage delivering yearned-for success.
In the absence of any real connection with and direct communication from the Friedkins, in particular, beyond these more corporate-style utterances from the club’s immediate hierarchy, scepticism and cynicism has been growing among supporters — at least if social media and online discussion forums are any indication.
Accusations that The Friedkin Group see Roma as the thoroughbred in their stable and Everton as the cash cow to be milked and then sold off for profit down the line have been gaining traction amid the frustration of underperformance in the transfer market last summer and on the pitch during the Americans’ first full season as owners.
TFG’s actions to date, however, demonstrate a lot of the pragmatism, professionalism, and sound under-pinnings that the majority of Evertonians wished had been consistently shown by Moshiri, particularly on the footballing side of the operation.
The Anglo-Iranian’s delivery of the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock was efficient and timely but Everton struggled to replace the sponsorship deals with USM Holdings they suspended following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a scattergun and profligate approach to matters on the pitch torpedoed his regime, plunging the club into regulatory jeopardy and financial peril.
To begin with, the Friedkins’ acquisition of Everton came at a not-insubstantial figure. To date, the company has injected over £100m above what it took to acquire the club taking their commitment so far to close to £600m, a strategy that echoes their investment in Roma which has surpassed €1bn and has seen them return to the Champions League with a third-place finish in Serie A this season.
They restructured Everton’s debt, including that which went towards financing the construction of Hill Dickinson Stadium, and took advantage of a closing PSR loophole leveraged by Chelsea and Aston Villa by spinning off Everton Women and Goodison Park into separate entities under the Roundhouse Capital umbrella.
In less than a year and a half, the new owners have also secured a multi-year naming rights deal with Hill Dickinson, added a number of well known brands as sponsors at the new ground, among them Pepsi, Heinz and Budweiser, and appear to be on track to replace the Stake.com front-of-shirt agreement with a comparable deal with CMC Markets while the betting firm’s logo moves to the sleeve.
Then there is the succession of non-football events that TFG have been able to attract to Everton’s new waterfront home, including Rugby League matches, a recent international fixture between Scotland and Ivory Coast and, of course, a number of games at Euro 2028.
And while it has proved to be a controversial move, albeit one also in accordance with the running of the club more like a business, the hierarchy have also raised ticket prices to further boost match-day revenues that had already been elevated by a wider array of concessions.
All of this beefed-up commercial performance will increase the Blues’ spending capacity when it comes to player trading under the new Squad Cost Ratio (SCR) framework which will replace PSR (Profitability and Sustainability Rules) starting in the upcoming 2026/27 season.
Regarding what happens on the pitch, TFG have also taken additional steps to modernise the operations at Everton by hiring data and analytics consultant, Chris Howarth, for the club’s new football leadership team and bought his former company, Insight Sport Ltd which brings football performance data, now central to player analysis, recruitment and development at the top level of the game, in-house and serving both the Blues and Roma.
Howarth’s appointment was very much in line with the build-out of the broader footballing apparatus at Finch Farm, which has seen Nick Cox tempted away from Manchester United to become Technical Director (the closest thing Everton have to a sporting director under the flatter structure implemented by Kinnear), James Smith, formerly of Manchester City, as Director of Scouting and Recruitment, and Nick Hammond as head of player trading.
Though this new setup has yet to bear fruit — Smith and Cox only officially joined last Autumn so this summer’s is the first transfer window where the new recruitment committee will have had enough time to draw up and attack its list of targets and Cox’s work on the Academy side will, naturally, take much longer — it has established a foundation on which the club can, potentially, build for future success. (It is certainly an advance on the days of Moshiri often ignoring Marcel Brands in favour of players pushed by the likes of Kia Joorabchian or responding to his own impulses.)
Taken in aggregate, what TFG have achieved with efficiency and in relatively short order at Everton should be encouraging — again, after so much chaos and unpredictability during the Moshiri years — and taken as evidence of their commitment to putting in place the conditions under which the club can now thrive.
Even if you take the most cynical view that the Texans are merely building the club up to offload it for future profit down the road, every positive move they make on and off the pitch should be of benefit to Everton — the Toffees’ success is TFG’s financial gain; the better we do, the more they stand to make.
The one missing piece, then — and the one most closely tied to supporter morale — would appear to be the team and the manager. As Kinnear has been at pains to point out, the leadership viewed the immediate squad-rebuilding project as a two-year plan, one which they expected would be rounded out this summer.
Even so, it’s unlikely they foresaw a season where a £35m acquisition like Tyler Dibling would spend the vast majority of the Premier League campaign kicking his heels on the substitutes bench alongside another teenage addition in the form of £9m signing, Adam Aznou, while the opportunity to thoroughly run the rule over loanee Tyrique George was largely squandered by the manager.
With Jack Grealish losing half of the season to injury and Thierno Barry running hot and cold after a very difficult start to life on Merseyside, only Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was a consistent and productive addition to the core team that Moyes inherited from Sean Dyche in January last year. Viewed through that lens and with the lack of any right-back signing also in mind, the 2025 summer business was frustratingly incomplete.
And yet, despite Everton’s frustrating home form, the team had European qualification in their own hands heading into the final international break of the season in March. That the Toffees, over the final seven matches, so dramatically regressed to the mean hinted at by their underlying metrics meant that they and the manager passed up the kind of opportunity to accelerate the broader recovery timeline that might not come around for a good number of years.
The justification for criticism of Moyes, not just in the run-in but over the course of 2025/26, is laid out in this piece and without repeating it here, the salient points are that the Scot was frustratingly inflexible in terms of his team selection and tactics, overused a core part of the squad at the expense of youth, was often out-thought by opposition managers, and ultimately oversaw a season where there was almost no visible progress in terms of playing style and effectiveness between the opening-day shambles at Leeds and the appallingly impotent display at Spurs in the final game.
Many Evertonians, looking at the likes of Bournemouth, Sunderland and Brighton qualifying for Europe under dynamic younger coaches and Crystal Palace and Aston Villa winning silverware with their own impressive managers, are wondering what the medium- to long-term plan is for their club. If three successive 48- or 49-point seasons aren’t indicative enough of stability, when will Everton put in place the fundamental piece that will take them forward in a post-Moyes world; a footballing world that is very different to his first spell in charge?
It’s why Kinnear, having set his stall out in defence of continuity and steady progress while effectively discounting change in the dugout — informed or guided, perhaps, by TFG’s hiring missteps at Roma following the departure of Jose Mourinho? — need to thread the needle this summer over the manager. Handing him a new contract after the way in which his team’s form fell apart in the final weeks of the season, with no visible attempts by Moyes to alter course, would send the wholly wrong message. It would risk the kind of disconnect with supporters that is being cited by many as the reasons for Arne Slot’s dismissal from Liverpool.
In that sense, either a definitive announcement now that Moyes will be given the next 12 months to secure Europe or leaving the question of his future unresolved going into the 2026/27 season would be preferable to the angst and frustration should Everton struggle again in the market and suffer another middling start to the new campaign.
Either way, unless the Blues have a spectacular close season and make a flying start in August, the calls for change while other clubs appear, at least, to be more decisive and ambitious are likely to remain.
Reader Responses
Selected thoughts from readers31/05/2026 02:08:05
Either extend a year or replace now.
We can't start the season with a lame duck manager.
01/06/2026 02:30:24
Dennis #1, I can think of a couple of other reasons why Moyes hasn't been shown the gate. One is that TFG, looking at things from the long view after 18 months in situ, feel Moyes met the objectives they set for him this season.
Another is that Moyes may have been promised the opportunity to build his own team through at least one well-financed transfer window with a full recruitment committee in place. (Last summer's emergency rescue operation, with a dozen squad places needing to be filled by Moyes and Kinnear alone, doesn't qualify.)
But third, and most telling to me, is a factor rarely mentioned -- TFG's last disastrous attempt to replace a manager. After sacking Mourinho at Roma, Friedkin went through three more managers and nearly a fourth in just 27 months before the club found stability. Even Gasperini, who just piloted Roma to third place with five straight wins to finish the season, was himself nearly sacked in April. TFG has done a lousy job of hiring managers and might simply be averse to risking it at this transitional point in Everton's progression.
I believe the Friedkins pay scant attention to our week-to-week frustrations. They are looking at Everton as a long-term project -- it's worth noting that TFG has never sold a business operation of any kind, not any of their car operations or resorts or African land projects -- and they're going to build us slow and steady.
Whether we like it or not.
01/06/2026 02:50:55
Mike (3) - Agree.
01/06/2026 05:58:35
At the end of the day it is the team's performances on the pitch that will either drive forward or stagnate the business' finances. There is only so much that the owner's business acumen can do.
The manager, and how he manages the squad on the pitch, regardless of asporting/technical/player acquisition director's input, is what makes the team perform.
The question the owners may have already answered is that Moyes is the person to drive the squad forward in the way that suits them and their financial planning. It may seem absurd to us fans, but we're not the ones running the club
I do understand Mike's point point that if targets are being met, then leave well enough alone. But, you can't have other clubs getting ahead of you, playing wise, status wise, or cherry picking the best available managers ahead of you. When the owner's decide to replace Moyes, it needs to be from a position of strength.
According to the BBC website this morning, Iraola is in talks with Liverpool and there is interest in Glasner from AC Milan. Palace have apparently held a second round of talks with the highly rated manager at Lens. The season is bare finished and these are examples of succession planning that should be part of any well ran clubs.
Anyway, I'm letting the manager issue distract me. Lyndon, good article. The Friedkin group has completed a huge amount of very positive work and I think they should be given a lot of credit, and perhaps a little bit of trust, by the fan base.
01/06/2026 07:00:55
IMO Everton were even more poorly managed than many of us realised.The real problem wasn't one manager or one owner. It was a culture that developed over years where accountability appeared weak, commercial growth stalled, infrastructure issues remained unresolved and too many decisions seemed focused on preserving the status quo.
That's why I think some supporters underestimate the scale of the task facing TFG.They haven't just inherited a Football team. They've inherited a business whose recent accounts still raised going-concern questions,with PSR constraints, off-field investment needs on top of a new stadium ,progress stalemate due to previous decisions and years of organisational drift.Viewed that way, the apparent caution makes more sense. Rather than attempting a revolution, they seem to be layering new systems onto old ones while prioritising stability.
Many Evertonians understandably want faster change. The question is whether TFG are simply managing decline more efficiently, or quietly building the foundations for a very different Everton five years from now.I do worry where Moyes fits in, knowing him as I do.
01/06/2026 07:49:03
Thanks Lyndon for a great, thoughtful article and for making me appreciate that our great club is at the early stages of complete overhaul.
The performances of the last seven games still rankles with me and I would prefer Moyes to be gone but accept we have him for one more season, but hopefully only one more season.
Mike @3, always enjoy your comments and totally agree with them this time.
Let’s see who we bring in and whether that shapes how we play next season.
01/06/2026 08:38:35
Lyndon, as you pointed out, commercially TFG have restructured, enhanced and all but eliminated financial issues with some excellent dealing. As you point out the difference from where we have been and now is huge and Noone should doubt that they have set a base on which the club can build with confidence.
We missed a huge opportunity this season in terms of Europe, indeed possible CL qualification, whatever way you cut it though, we ended up one point better than last with the excuse given as "stability" meanwhile we have to sit and watch Palace, watch the other lot replace a title winning manager in his first season and CL qualification, get booted. You see, the PL is dynamic, stability is a fallback for poor expectations or a failure to achieve progress. That's why the other lot shot Slot.
Blame for failure or praise for stability? We knew what we would get from Moyes and he hasn't disappointed. Sadly though since our win over Chelsea we have been in relegation form and as you pointed out, the fact that Moyes elected not to use virtually any of the players he brought to the club, and it's his recruitment choices, that surely significantly dented supporter confidence.
Stability is a matter of perspective, in this dynamic PL, treading water means sliding backwards whilst other clubs, traditionally below us, overcome us as we have discovered this season.
Stability does not mean standing still, a risk aversion may get you enough points to survive but as Arsenal found out, adopting Moyes type tactics means you lose against good teams and good managers.
With respect to TFG, we currently have absolutely no idea of what they want to achieve on the pitch and when, never mind how! The disappointment of the end of season with, "what you get is on the tin" with Moyes, silence from owners and we are left to watch other managers come and go with good ones bypassed is frustrating. And that's down to leadership, we are not a car sales company, we are a living, breathing, dynamic, volatile, passionate fan base starved of success, ridiculed for too long. We need hope, communication. It's costs nothing but it's value is immense.
01/06/2026 12:15:32
Some valid points there, Mike. I have no particular issue with TFG, in fact I'm greatly relieved they succeeded in their take over of the Club. The approach TFG seem to be taking of slow & steady progress is quite sensible, especially after the tumult of the Moshiri years. However, progress there must be & standing still is not progress. We have had three seasons in a row where little has changed - do we really need a fourth?
In my view, if Moyes is the answer then somebody is asking the wrong question. At best, TFG risk unnecessarily slowing down the rate of progress on this Everton project they have undertaken.
01/06/2026 12:47:21
I say bet the other way Lyndon. lEither back him or sack him. Don't let him limp into his final year with authority draining away, that's the worst of all worlds. Meaning a new manager search mid season, and we know what happens then. I know people may not want his contract extended, but another £5m is a small price to pay to allow the manager to conduct his business with authority.
Unlike some, I get a bad feeling about TFG. In no particular order these are:
Not showing up. 'oh, they never show up' aint a great explanation. It's rude, and shows contempt for the fanbase.
But, people will say, who cares if they're distant, as long as they're good. But are they? Let's look at the record. Net spend for Roma last five years. A big spend in year one, and then nothing. Less than we spent last year. So, not putting their money where their mouth is.
Ok, it's not just about spending (aint that true Farhad). But, are they shrewd? Well according to Mike they'v made a bollox of every appointment they've made at Roma up until the incumbent. And having seen their actions here, I'm also not encouraged. Dragging this chap up from the championship and then letting him make a string of appointments, basically the club is being hewn in his image, and who is this genius? He's a guy who was plodding along in the championship; for a decade with Leeds. And who is 'happily dissatisfied' but 'wants to make Evertonians proud'.
Some of the above is speculation, and we will know where we stand by the end of August. But the omens aint good.
01/06/2026 15:21:18
Apologies, Lyndon, in my anxiousness to comment I forgot to tell you... great article!
I would call Kinnear an excellent hire thus far. As CEO he would be directly responsible for two of the successes that Lyndon describes above -- pulling in those new revenue deals and hiring Smith/Cox/Hammond as his new team. His third remit will be the squad buildup, and now we'll get to see how well his team does that.
Obviously some of Kinnear's public statements have been controversially cheerful, but that's just who he is -- if you watch back some of his regular interviews from Leeds United TV, he comes off breezy, almost flippant, and relentlessly positive. I think the sales-guy approach is what you'd expect from a guy who has brought aboard Pepsi, Budweiser and Nick Cox.
01/06/2026 17:18:06
Owners who are scared of hiring just in case they get it wrong again…. Whatever next?
Or they are here for the long haul but don’t need to tell the custodians, because it’s simply not their style?
Last seasons window doesn’t really count is what made me smile the most though Mike, because it was only an emergency!
As you can see I’m one of the cynical one’s and I’ve got my reservations for quite a few different reasons. Hopefully it’s because I just haven’t got a clue🤞
I understand your sentiments Kevin, but if you are a good manager you are going to get respect and you are going to get the players trying for you. Ask Glasner!
01/06/2026 21:07:38
A week on and a season to refelct on.
Was Moyses persistence in picking square pegs in round holes and sread fast voncious bias to his favourites hid ruse to play the bad hand of cards, in ter.s od depth of the Everton squad?
Is it the case he will be meeting TFG, this summer in the states?
Stating the obvious theres a cull and urgent need for a new back four. striker, and more.
Where will the funds come from, for any transfers in?
Praying for good fortune, but will ever ever have had a better chance of football development than being in Europe next season?
01/06/2026 21:50:49
Kevin#10
TFG seem to be determined not to make the same choices that either did not work out or where not received well at Roma. They got caught with Mourinho buying aged professional type and seem determined not to repeat that policy.
They probably like the dour unexciting profile of Moyes.This team of specialists working alongside Moyes is meant to ensure that strategy outlasts any single individual. The real long-term plan is being built in the offices of Angus Kinnear and the data department.TFG do engage with the Fan advisory Board, but few notice.
I would like more information from TFG, like Christine, and to change the Manager,I do not think Moyes is suitable for next season. I can see where you are coming from in a lot of what you say ,Kevin
03/06/2026 11:02:39
Ooh listing all the ways that TFG have quietly and competently gone about turning the sinking ship that was Everton into a professional, modern football club will not go down well with the lunatics! They love to cling to the delusion that TFG are Bond villains plotting our downfall whilst showering all their love and devotion on Roma. This is mainly due to the fact that no-one from TFG has been spotted at the ground cheering and wearing a half and half scarf…
03/06/2026 12:09:54
Peter, as one of the lunatics you obviously refer to, I would merely point out that whilst the TFG have turned the basket case of Everton Football club into a professionally well run business, the opportunity to revitalize the footballing side has not, as yet, been addressed.
The comparison of leadership, indeed ownership, with Roma currently, cannot be compared. They obviously enjoy the city of Rome, and who wouldn't, whereas the total absence of communication, attendance or concern at the fans perspective, or football strategy for the club, compares poorly in a city where our neighbour's state their ambition in action.
BTW, the lunatics as you put it, are not confined to these pages, but even the local red rag, usually a million light years rocking a boat with the club, has penned an article precisely of the same view or observations. Just saying..
03/06/2026 17:13:08
Only an absolute lunatic would suggest that TSF, have only purchased Everton, so they could plot our downfall, imo Peter.
They are going to spend more money on building a new ground for Roma, than it cost them to purchase Everton, with a brand new stadium, thrown in, which probably means that the minute they purchased Everton, they instantly made a lot of money on their investment?
I base this on the premier league being the richest football league in the world. A league where mediocrity can be richly rewarded.
05/06/2026 00:36:04
Our current manager is paid a substantial wage to try to win every game for the club, our club, that employs him. For reasons known only to himself I don't believe he tried his best to win the last game of the season away to Spurs, a side that was wracked with nerves and had won only 2 games at home all season, and had not kept a clean sheet since last year. On this basis alone I believe the club should relieve him of his position as manager of our football club.
05/06/2026 10:40:47
Anthony, ‘Only an absolute lunatic would suggest that TSF, have only purchased Everton, so they could plot our downfall, imo Peter’.
Er, yes that was exactly my point…
07/06/2026 13:00:53
Club owners generally see success / expectations as relative to the level of investment.
I doubt anyone at TFG sees Moyes as having underperformed particularly on that score.
Disappointing for various reasons but not underperformance. The serious underperformance came from Potter, Nuno Santos, Frank, Postecoglou and Maresca - all managers regularly touted for the Everton job over the years. And of course Slot - after the RS spent nearly half a billion pounds on a title winning side in the expectation of domestic dominance and overtaking PSG as the best team in Europe.
I’d be very surprised therefore if TFG have even considered sacking Moyes.
If I were to make a bet now, I’d say we’ll get Kieran McKenna this time next year - with Moyes leaving us in fairly decent, albeit boring shape and with TFG having completed much of the behind the scenes work that all clubs need to flatter whoever the manager is from time to time.
07/06/2026 19:59:43
You have praised the silent friedkin’s, for their good work Peter, but I’m nowhere near convinced by them. One of the reasons I don’t have much faith in them is because they haven’t shown any interest in attending a game at either Goodison or BMD, which means that up-to-now, then this totally renders them from ever being genuinely touched by Everton.
I have plenty of other reasons but until they have seen Everton playing in a big game at home then I’m not sure how they’re ever going to truly embrace us, and if I’m being totally honest then the excitement of our new ground, is slowly getting diminished whilst we have a very unexciting manager leading us to something that was obtained the moment the club was sold.
It’s going to be a very interesting summer but after playing our last three seasons away from the fear of relegation, then surely it’s time to start wanting more than stability?
Looking at the playing squad, I don’t particularly like the style of play or how certain players are being underused, so other than the new stadium, I personally don’t see any real difference, because I’ve becoming very bored with watching Everton, when we play. Happily dissatisfied, is definitely something that I’m not.
I’ve heard many people suggest that TSF, care more about Roma, but I’ve yet to hear anyone say that they have only purchased Everton, to plot are downfall, which is something I often labelled at William Kenwright
07/06/2026 20:42:22
Heartening to see some appreciation of TFG's overall investment, and also their quiet focus on overhauling the commercial and backroom functions at Everton.
I never quite understand many fans' standpoint that it is an owner's obligation to spend every penny of his or her fortune satisfying our whims. You don't build a family empire of TFG's scale and quality by flinging your money about without thought and care, so any notion that they'll be our sugar-daddy should be quashed here and now.
My LinkedIn feed this year has been peppered with staff of every level and department bidding their farewells to Everton. It's quite clear that the new hierarchy is demanding and securing higher standards and improved performance across all functions, and we should welcome that with open arms - both for its impact on our top line, and ultimately (we must hope) on our performances.
Personally, I'm not bothered that the Friedkins have not yet been to Bramley Moore. Their commitment to our club is evident in the sheer quantity of family money they have invested as they go about righting our ship. Let them dance on the pitch - as they did with Roma - when our next trophy materialises.
07/06/2026 21:27:23
Interesting post Dougal, it’s nice to have a positive update on TSF, but I’m still to be convinced that they are both demanding and securing higher standards in the area that matters the most yet though, mate.
My own view is that they will have already made a small fortune from the very first day that they purchased Everton, but I would obviously love to see them dancing on the pitch celebrating us winning a trophy.
08/06/2026 08:49:27
I spent a good proportion of my working life working at a senior level with some very successful businessmen of international standing in a number of continents and the one single attribute they all had was their single mindedness when making an investment.
Every single one had an endgame focus when it came to investments.
Money and influence, the rest is just noise, noise they ignore.
Such investments are a means to an end, a piece in a jigsaw strategy of empire building. Look at what Dan Friedkin said about Pursuit Sports, the vehicle..
“The launch of Pursuit Sports marks an exciting new chapter in The Friedkin Group’s vision to elevate and empower world-class sports organizations. Through this platform, we can do more than support our teams at a high level—we are investing in their long-term success by bringing together the full strength of our global expertise, resources, and pursuit of excellence,” said Dan Friedkin. “Dave Beeston is a proven, trusted leader who is steeped in wisdom and experience around how to build high-performance sports enterprises. Under his dynamic leadership, each of our clubs will be empowered to compete at the highest level while preserving the identity and passion that makes each of them unique.”
Which is exactly what they are doing at Everton. Without actually getting involved at the personal level emotionally. That's what we find so hard because to us, that's what it's all about. We consider it the buy in of ownership of our club, except to TFG it isn't.
Roma allows Friedkin influence at the top levels of football influence in Europe. A jewel in the crown so to speak.
We really can't compete in the emotional or power stakes in the Premier league, so it's a case of investment for the future. The rest is noise.
08/06/2026 11:15:12
The thought of another season with Moyes and his boring, predictable team selections and his depressing demeanor and tired old excuses just fills me with utter despair. I can't believe that 13 years after we finally got rid of him, we're stuck with him again and facing another inevitable season of let-downs, mid-table boredom, frustration, missed opportunities, derby defeats, early cup exits and, worst of all, listening to him justify it all as improvement on what we had previously. For me there is absolutely no case whatsoever for keeping him in charge. It is literally impossible to get excited about anything to do with Everton with Moyes as manager.
08/06/2026 12:08:04
We have been run disastrously badly for pretty much the last 30 years. We have never had both wealthy and competent owners during the entire Premier League era (and as a result have been largely mediocre or worse in that era).
We do appear to have that now.
Competent owners should not be sniffed at. Look what has been achieved at little clubs with competent owners who spend decent money. They have found it pretty straightforward to sail past us. Villa and Newcastle have had their Champions League runs etc.
The Friedkins are not going to go on a big spending spree to force the pace - but it should all come our way before too long.
08/06/2026 14:22:39
I’ve said it for years Robert. If Everton get competent owners who have got a certain level of ambition, then I’m convinced our wonderfully downtrodden supporters will do the rest.
Interesting Christine, you spell things out very well girl, so do you think that our current owners are genuinely ambitious to succeed, or would just slowly building the club up to a respectable level, be judged as being successful to them?
08/06/2026 15:07:07
Christine #25, that's a great post. I agree entirely.
08/06/2026 15:23:30
I think they are potentially building the club up to increase their book value and as a cash cow returning high capital with relatively high cash flow and returns with little effort once they get it right. Their interest is only commercial leveraging on name, fan base and potential.
However I think they have missed a trick, success to them is not trophies but competing in the Champions league on a consistent basis. Do that and the clubs profitability increases 10 fold, they could have, with even a modicum of input as in getting the right manager, been in that lucrative competition. Moyes to them represents best potential return with minimal risk.
In this light TFG actions need no exlaning, it's all about the money but do they not realise it could be so much more?
08/06/2026 16:29:45
I’m sure TFG are keenly aware of the financial benefits of the champions league and be keen to have a slice of that pie. They will also be aware that there are 8 clubs with a huge head start on us in that respect due to the austerity measures under Moshiri. As the RS showed last season, you can spend nearly £500m on an already excellent squad and still struggle to make the Champions League. Chelsea and Spurs are even more disastrous. So I expect they prefer to get there in, say, 3 to 5 years rather than spend / invest with a fan’s sense of urgency. In the meantime - TFG’s season on season expectations will probably be measured on things like wage bill and spending relative to the competition. That is the most obvious sign of their immediate ambitions.
08/06/2026 17:57:46
yes but Christine you've got to know what you're doing. Nothing TFG has done in the last five years says they understand professional football. Sports, yes. they know just treading water will be profitable, and probably have their targets set accordingly. if you were mad ambitious to exploit football to the max, you wouldn't appoint Angus Kinnear and then give him carte blanche.
08/06/2026 19:12:23
Kevin, they understand money, not football. Are they exploiting the full potential? No, that's a huge risk for them, a very costly exercise as Moshiri found out. They tried it with Roma but it cost them dearly and I am sure that horrible word "stability" relates to commercial stability, not the playing side. They appear less concerned with quality than league placing. To that end its Moyes, you get what it says on the tin with him.
At the moment the balance between the commercial activities and the playing side is not right. The buy in from the fans is missing, but that's down to David Moyes, I doubt he'll get an extension to his contract but it would be dreadful if he did for the fans not so much the owners.
08/06/2026 19:57:38
TFG should by now be realising that Moyes II is not Moyes I. He's already cost them a lot of money this season through a poor finish to the season that cost a good few league places & the possibility of European competition, and the failure to develop assets that they've invested in. The likes of Dibling are now probably worth less than they cost last year.
Assuming Moyes is still in post next season, I would expect them to be paying attention to his performance in the Autumn. I'd be amazed if they felt that he was the right man to take their project forward beyond his contracted term.
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01/06/2026 00:23:00
The only reason, imo, for not showing Moyes the door this summer is if they have a replacement in mind who isn't yet attainable, for whatever reason. However, even if that were to be the case, I would not expect to see Moyes offered any kind of contract extension - not even a one year option for '27/'28.