The Friedkin Group’s takeover of Everton represents a momentous day for those exhausted and resigned to calamity by the tenure of Farhad Moshiri. Was it only eight years and 10 months? It felt much longer. Mercifully, evidence of lessons learned and a much-needed departure from what has gone before was present on day one of the US company’s long-awaited arrival.
History, and not even recent, tempers expectations of an Everton owner. There has not been a genuinely successful one in four decades. There should be no rushed judgment on the impact of TFG. The new owners are determined not only to restore stability to Everton but to avoid the mistakes that plagued Moshiri’s reign even before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine changed the club’s financial landscape.
The British-Iranian billionaire’s first error, one he seemingly recognises and regrets, was to preserve the status quo within the Everton hierarchy when becoming major shareholder in February 2016. Everton had been regressing for years under the late Bill Kenwright. The club needed a new vision, a new mindset and new ambition, as well as new money. Instead, Moshiri allowed Kenwright to stay as chair, continuing to influence appointments and an unambitious culture. There has been a vacuum at the top of Everton since a board, that was the subject of weekly protests, resigned in June 2023. It has been filled until now by an interim CEO, Colin Chong, who should be rewarded handsomely for steadying a listing ship through two points deductions and overseeing the completion of the club’s magnificent new stadium at Bramley-Moore dock.
Confirmation of TFG’s takeover was accompanied by news that Dan Friedkin, the owner of a multifaceted company worth £10.5bn, will become the Everton chair. Marc Watts, the president of TFG, will be executive chair. Ana Dunkel, chief financial officer at TFG, will serve on a new Everton board that will welcome more appointments in the coming weeks. “Together, we will usher Everton into a new era, one that is marked by ambition and professionalism,” said Watts in an open letter to supporters. “We look forward to showing our commitment to the club through actions, not words.”
Music to the ears of fans once aghast at transfer deals done in haste, on the advice of a favoured agent, or Moshiri giving managerial updates to Jim White on TalkSport. Those transfer mistakes have not been repeated in recent years, in fairness. Since Moshiri’s funding was turned off in 2022-23, Everton are the only Premier League club to have a negative net outlay on transfers, at £79m. That demonstrates the extent of Sean Dyche’s achievement in preserving Premier League status over the past two seasons, working closely with the director of football, Kevin Thelwell.
Most importantly, TFG’s takeover arrived with confirmation that short-term loans Everton had taken out to build their new home have been repaid or restructured on much more favourable terms to the club. A fortune was being drained out of Everton in interest payments, with a 10.25% rate on a £225m loan from Rights and Media Funding alone. A £200m loan from 777 Partners/A-Cap has been renegotiated by TFG, on significantly better terms to Everton’s new owner. TFG has also paid off a £158m loan from MSP Sports Capital and the local businessmen George Downing and Andy Bell, who stepped in with funds when Everton were at risk of administration. Stadium debt will be refinanced and consolidated in a long-term loan with a “senior lender”, similar to how Tottenham pay for their new stadium.
Financial stability is assured under TFG, which sent executives into Everton’s HQ at the Liver Building soon after agreeing to buy Moshiri’s stake in September. It has witnessed the club’s business operations at first-hand. The company kept a distance from Dyche, mindful that several previous takeover deals had collapsed and the Everton manager needed no added distractions. But talks will take place with Dyche now. He is out of contract at the end of the season, which affords TFG time to consider all options.
Moshiri departs nursing a considerable loss of about £450m but also with grace, and the not insignificant accomplishment of relocating Everton to a stunning stadium on the Liverpool waterfront. As he wrote in a farewell letter to supporters: “When I purchased the club eight years ago, I knew it needed to be modernised, both with a new stadium and also at the training ground, which has seen much investment. We also moved to our wonderful head office in the Royal Liver buildings. However, I fully understand that in football that results on the pitch are paramount and over those same years they frankly haven’t been good enough. We brought top-class managers like Carlo Ancelotti to the club and who knows where we might have been had he not been lured back to his first love Real Madrid.
“Believe me when I say that I truly wanted those results to be better, and I have tried to provide the club with the resources it needed. We enjoyed some memorable moments but sadly too few. However, I believe I will be leaving it in a materially better place than the one I inherited.”
TFG offers stability, professionalism and ambition. It has timed the start of a new era well.
