The Friedkin Group have moved to further bolster the boardroom at Everton with addition of Eric Williamson of Gulf States Toyota as a non-executive director and Dan Friedkin himself set to become Club Chairman.

In updates made at Companies House, Friedkin has been named as a director along with Williamson joins the Board as a non-executive director.

Williamson has served as President and General Manager of Gulf States Toyota for almost a year but has been with the firm, owned by TFG, for more than 30 years.

Dan Friedkin is expected to be confirmed as Chairman, with Marc Watts, who was announced earlier this year, continuing to serve as Executive Chairman on a board that is rounded out by TFG's CFO, Ana Dunkel and Everton's interim CEO, Colin Chong.

 

Reader Responses

Selected thoughts from readers
Certain off-topic comments may be removed to keep the discussion on track

1  Danny ONeill
25/03/2025    07:50:24

I've been speculating for a while (more of a punt in the dark really), that the stadium naming rights could well go to Toyota. Maybe this reinforces that line of thought, although I'm sure the new Chairman / owner won't be short of other interested parties.

Toyota would almost be keeping it in house. As well as being President of AS Roma, Dan Friedkin is, or was, the CEO of Gulf States Toyota.

2  Dennis Stevens
26/03/2025    01:47:43

Good news, imo. I'm hoping he won't be as hands off as Moshiri made the mistake of being.

3  Danny ONeill
26/03/2025    07:33:33

I always think Moshiri had good intent Dennis, but was out of his depth in terms of running a football club.

He made funds available, but the people he entrusted to spend it, disastrously squandered it and we ended up in a situation with near catastrophic consequences.

The new owners will mostly run the club from a distance, but in this interconnected world, I believe we will see a much more hands on approach. They have already put their own people in place to put their stamp on the club.

4  Ged Thehead
26/03/2025    09:40:17

Potentially calling it the Toyota Stadium (or similar) sounds a lot better than some stadiums I have heard Danny. Bolton's Toughsheet Community Stadium being a prime example.
I also attended the test event on Saturday. Everywhere I looked fans were just looking around with smiles on their faces.
We should be forever grateful to Mr Moshiri for this despite his failings elsewhere.

5  Ged Thehead
26/03/2025    09:40:50

* Sunday

6  John Chambers
26/03/2025    10:55:49

Nothing to do with the current politics across the pond, and recognising that the past sentimentality of some of those running the club did not help, but I do worry now we have 4 American directors that some of the "DNA" of the club may be lost. The only exception is Colin Chong who did a magnificent job around the stadium but appears to have a very specific focus about developing the club facilities.
We all want a strong, successful club and team but Everton has always been a bit more than that. Look at the Players foundation, all the good work EiTC does, the school etc. I'm not sure how much attention will be paid to this area going forward as opposed to a hard nosed American business approach without some form of local connection

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