A Doomed Strategy

It's very clear that the strategic direction The Friedkin Group want our Board to follow is one of tight fiscal control after the experience we've suffered in the 10 years of utter madness, under Kenwright and Moshiri.

The Friedkins want us compliant with every financial control placed on us by the Premier League, by UEFA, and, realistically, to make us easily saleable to a future purchaser. They've had enough of dipping into their own pockets to keep us afloat and, to be fair, with them the foundations to go forward "as a mid-table club" have been set. 

What the Friedkins are realising is that the cost to do well in the Premier League and achieve European qualification (where the real large income streams is) is a damned site larger than to do it with their beloved Roma in the Serie A. 

In the Premier League, paying out £10m to 25m on transfer fees isn't  going to get you the quality players you need. Paying out £40k to £100k on wages isn't going to get you the quality players you need. And this is Everton's limit on the current incomes we have. We can't even compete with Nottingham Forest, never mind the Top 6 we always thought we should be in. 

Italy's highest transfer fee ever paid is £70m, and an average value per player in Serie A is £8m. The Premier League now has regular transfers at greater than £100m, with the highest £200m surely coming for Haaland. The average value pp in the PL is £28m. The Friedkins appear now to be on a strategy to recoup their outlay,  make a profit and probably sell us for £1bn. 

They are not interested in winning trophies, in spending monies to get us into Top 8; they realise it's too expensive to compete in the Premier League.

This leaves Everton's Board / Management team with a strategy to buy cheap, buy youngsters, develop, enhance their value, sell profitably and climb the league slowly. It doesn't fit in with not only David Moyes's expectations or the fanbase's expectations. Moyes fully understands this and realises he's managing to survive in the Premier League and, miraculously, if ever, try to get into the top 8 places. He, as we all know, has gone public on this in last few weeks. We the fans don't want to hear it. 

So, we have a strategy that is totally doomed. The owners have set it, the operating staff and fans won't stand for it.