There has been some more clarity regarding The Friedkin Group takeover of Everton released by i News and carried elsewhere, apparently garnered from an article at the Josimar independent website.

The first three paragraphs of this  i News story would seem to indicate that TFG are looking for additional investors to come on board: 

Everton’s prospective owners The Friedkin Group have begun the search for big hitters to join their Goodison Park revolution, with a comprehensive audit of the club underway.

i understands the group, a consortium owned by billionaire businessman Dan Friedkin, hopes to have cleared regulatory hurdles by December and want to be in a position to “hit the ground running” when the takeover is confirmed. So far, it’s understood, the process is progressing as planned with no red flags raised.

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It’s expected that with Everton’s Premier League status precarious there will be room for investment in the January transfer window, as well as fresh impetus in contract talks that have been paused while the takeover progresses – but with no decisions made on the future of manager Sean Dyche or Director of Football Kevin Thelwell the more immediate, noticeable impact may be off the field at first.

Nearly each subsequent paragraph and/or section has something of interest, so here is the rest of the article for your interest and delectation:

Indeed i has been told a process of identifying areas of the club that need to be strengthened has already begun, with a recognition from the group that Everton is currently an “exceptionally lean operation”. They have been operating with an interim CEO – Colin Chong – since June 2023 and insiders admit they are “light on C-suite experience” in the building.

The Friedkin plan is for a “rebuild” of neglected areas and i can reveal that the group hope to recruit externally, with no current plans to shift people from roles at Roma, the club they bought in 2020.

While Ryan Friedkin – a huge fan of English football who has been enthusiastic about the group’s investment in Everton – is likely to help oversee the club’s new era, there are no plans for him to relinquish his role as vice-chair at Roma and relocate to Merseyside.

He is acting as interim CEO at the Stadio Olimpico after Lina Souloukou’s departure [due to death threats to herself and her family! – SH] and the group are at pains to stress they remain committed to the Serie A side. Instead, it is more likely that a heavyweight senior management team is put in place and empowered to carry out their vision.

The Friedkins may turn again to the highly-rated football consultancy Retexo Intelligence, who help clubs identify and place backroom staff as well as evaluating club academies, sales strategies and “organisational and departmental structures”.

i understands that Retexo founder Charles Gould – who also offers a service around mergers and acquisitions – has been a trusted advisor of the group in the past and is set to aid the Everton restructure.

There was further evidence that the takeover is progressing with The Friedkin Group setting up Roundhouse Capital Holdings Limited last week, an acquisition vehicle for the Everton takeover. It named two directors – Analaura Moreira-Dunkel and Marcus Watts – who are long-standing Friedkin Group employees.

The group are also relaxed about court proceedings in New York between Leadenhall Capital Partners and A-CAP, the firm that has taken over 777 Partners’ £200m loan to the club. Investigative website Josimar reports the Friedkin Group have agreed a deal worth £66M and “preferred equity” with A-CAP – and that must be approved by Leadenhall for the takeover to be passed.

Friedkin sources maintain they are “very confident” the deal will be approved by the court and Leadenhall, one of the final pieces in a complicated takeover jigsaw.

So at least the Friedkins have seen what Moshiri failed to see, which is quite obviously that the Board, or the rump one we have, is not fit for purpose, and they have identified that the club has a 'lean workforce' – I presume in numbers?

TFG quite rightly may well have decided to 'outsource' any headhunting or recruitment to the (as quoted above) "highly-rated football consultancy Retexo Intelligence."

Seemingly TFG may have learnt some very expensive lessons in their ownership of AS Roma, and hopefully, once the Everton takeover has been ratified by all concerned parties, then we can see the club hopefully start to stabilise.

All-in-all, if or when TFG take us over, it can only be a good thing hopefully.  Whereby we can hope for a more efficacious and progressive running of the club's ability to generate revenue, thereby raising the PSR bar for the club.

However, personally, I don't see this as an overnight or rather short-term problem to be fixed, and I would not be surprised to see a certain Mr Dyche leading the team out at the new stadium for one more season maybe, while the good ship Everton gets a major overhaul, and a new crew is recruited.

All that I hope for is that, with TFG onboard, and maybe a couple of extra 'heavyweight' investors, we stabilise the haemorrhaging of money at the club, we increase revenue, and we start the process of adding quality to the playing staff.

It was mentioned elsewhere that, whoever took over the club, they needed to have a strategic plan for the club, and by the sound of this article, TFG seemingly do; the best thing is that they have made mistakes in ownership of a football club – and it wasn't Everton – and hopefully they have learnt from that!?

Otherwise, as Danny O'Neill would know, and all who have served in the forces, the 'Rule of the Seven Ps' would apply, that is:

Piss-poor planning precedes piss-poor performance!


Reader Comments (72)

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Michael Kenrick
Editorial Team
1 Posted 10/10/2024 at 09:43:01
Thanks for doing the gruntwork here, Simon, and pulling this one together with your comments and observations on what might happen as we move forward. 

I am perhaps a little jaundiced by the shameless clickbait in their headline that says this is all "paving the way for a huge January"… which (deliberately or inadvertently?) suggests 'huge' player signings in the January transfer window. Er… let's just wait and see what really transpires, eh?

I wasn't sure how much new stuff the article actually contained as we've already covered a couple of nuggets referenced near the end.

And my eye could not help but be drawn to an adjacent headline at i News that proclaimed BIG READ: 'The mess will take years to fix': Inside Ineos's first 10 months at Man Utd'!!!

But yes, let's hope it all goes through without a hitch…  

Dave Abrahams
2 Posted 10/10/2024 at 10:14:26
I hope that, while they have a good look at how the first team is operating, they also include from the off the Academy and reshape that part of the club which should be run successfully to provide players for the first team, and to sell and make profits for incoming transfers.

It has had some success in the past which helped to keep the Academy running and also where PSR is concerned but it can be run much better than it has been, particularly how the coaching staff is chosen and operated.

Paul Hewitt
3 Posted 10/10/2024 at 10:19:42
Why do the wheels of industry always take forever in this country?

It shouldn't take till the end of the year for TFG to prove they have the funds to complete the deal.

Robert Tressell
4 Posted 10/10/2024 at 10:53:53
Dave, completely agree. Academy and youth recruitment and development should be an absolute top priority. It is the only way to assemble players of the requisite quality.

Even the richest clubs are doing this – like Liverpool's purchase of Rio Ngumoha from Chelsea – because the conventional transfer system is unsustainable.

Danny O'Neill
5 Posted 10/10/2024 at 11:04:25
Great article, Simon.

I think we have to be realistic. It won't happen overnight. I love our heritage. This could be the platform for an Everton that recognises the achievements of the past, but doesn't live in it.

When this goes through, we have the opportunity to reinvent and establish Everton Football Club.

Anthony Hawkins
6 Posted 10/10/2024 at 12:27:49
I would have anticipated a faster turn-around and can only perceive the timeline might be dictated by resolution of the 777/A-CAP loan?
Steve Hogan
7 Posted 10/10/2024 at 13:35:19
The immediate change in culture may be a bit of a shock for some of the staff across all departments, on and off the field at Goodison, once the Friedkins take control.

It will be a painful experience, with not all personnel having the necessary skill set our new owners will demand. However, the change in culture and how we operate is long overdue, and one of the first tasks the hapless Moshiri should have carried out upon his purchase of Everton eight years ago.

If we want the club to compete at the top table, we need the best people available on the job market, and not just 'good Evertonians' that the previous Chairman awarded jobs to.

In turn, I hope the fan base recognise the job the new owners have in literally starting from scratch. It won't happen overnight, such is the scale of the task.

We've been down this road before, I know, but a degree of patience is needed.

Barry Rathbone
8 Posted 10/10/2024 at 14:15:26
Leaves me cold this stuff.

I know middle managers on the internet love discussing financial strategy and are bizarrely excited by boardroom changes and the creation of spoof job titles but the only thing that matters is player recruitment.

The Moshiri years and present incarnations of Man Utd and Chelsea show if you can't get your player recruitment right it doesn't matter what sponsorship deals you have, how many power point presentations are made, or how many shirts are sold — you're still crap.

Ring the bell when we start getting decent players in.

Robert Tressell
9 Posted 10/10/2024 at 14:19:55
Steve # 7 couldn't agree more. The culture at the club is rotten and this long predates Moshiri too.

This is not a case of 3 or 4 good signings plus a decent manager turns it around.


Tony Abrahams
10 Posted 10/10/2024 at 14:27:58
Ring the bells that still can ring,
Forget your perfect offering,
There is a crack in everything,,
And that's how the light gets in.

Try it Barry, I'm not sure if Leanord Cohen rings your bell, but if Everton can find lyrics like this, we will be champions again before the decade is out!!

Fred Quick
11 Posted 10/10/2024 at 14:29:27
I agree with Barry @ 8, I'm only concerned about what I'm watching on the pitch. All the other stuff is important for the club as a whole, but as a consumer of the game, I'm not interested in who does what in other aspects of the club.

The plan should be to try and build a team in a 3-year period who will attempt to compete properly in the Premier League and to bring back European football to Everton either via league placings or via the cup competitions.

What we've been through this past half-dozen years isn't an excuse for the club to continue to fail. It should act as a warning to the new owners that supporting the footballing operation should be the only aim of every department and the only thing that really matters is the on-field results.

Robert Tressell
12 Posted 10/10/2024 at 14:50:44
Fred and Barry,

I guess the point is that, unless we sort the boring stuff out behind the scenes, then recruitment and assembling a decent side will be an uphill battle.

The RS have punched above their (still considerable) weight because they get so much right off the pitch.

Same for lots of other clubs who have found it very straightforward to breeze past us in recent years.

- academy investment
- youth player scouting
- youth player development
- youth player trading for profit
- low cost market scouting
- use of affiliate clubs and sister clubs
- better use of loan system for player development
- better use of statistical analysis

None of this is now rocket science so doesn't give us some huge advantage – but it helps to remove a big disadvantage we've been carrying.

The commercials then help drive investment into the first team squad and academy etc.

Simon Harrison
13 Posted 10/10/2024 at 15:01:09
Hi Michael [1]

Thanks for posting this up, it took a little while to think about whether to post it or not, because as you say parts of it are repetitive from other threads; but, I felt it tied up everything nicely under a single article.

Also, try as I might, I couldn't find Paul Brown's article on Josimar about this, which was mentioned on several sites? However, I've not taken out a subscription at Josimar, so that is probably why I couldn't find it?

Regards the "Paving the way for a huge January" headline, yes unashamed clickbait as you say, but we've all got to make a living I suppose.

I know you feel that that would indicate 'Huge' player interest in the January window, but I was a little more circumspect and thought that with TFG taking control of the club and the start of the overhaul of the club, and the beginning of a new, modern, forward thinking era for Everton!

As Danny O'Neil said at post [5]

"When this goes through, we have the opportunity to reinvent and establish Everton Football Club."

Hopefully that will be exactly what happens... fingers crossed! 🤞

However, I am expecting maybe a couple of incomings, hopefully a couple of cross-club loans or transfers and maybe, just maybe, getting shut of any of the last vestiges of the 'deadwood'.

This whole time-frame drew me to the Doors tune, and the promise that this is finally The End of the Kenwright legacy... (And an end to the 'Curse!')

This is the end, beautiful friend
This is the end, my only friend, the end
It hurts to set you free
But you'll never follow me
The end of laughter and soft lies
The end of nights we tried to die
This is the end.

A new dawn and a new beginning hopefully!

As for United, I hope it takes them decades to sort out Michael, and I wouldn't shed a tear for them (which is my polite version of what I think!)

And yes, let's hope it all goes through without a hitch… Very much so!

COYB!

Simon Harrison
14 Posted 10/10/2024 at 15:04:30
Robert, many thanks for your input, mon ami, it saves me having to type that lot up, so thanks again!
Peter Thistle
15 Posted 10/10/2024 at 15:23:34
It's been a long time coming. You can't run a professional football club in the world's best league with amateurs at the helm.

The entire club staff need to be replaced with top notch pros. Bye-bye to the people who have been stealing a living of EFC for too long.

Dennis Stevens
16 Posted 10/10/2024 at 15:31:17
Fingers crossed for a reasonably swift & successful resolution of the ongoing takeover drama.

As for January, I'd be quite pleased if the purse strings are loosened just enough for Thelwell & Dyche to cover a couple of shortcomings in the squad – full-back springs to mind.

I don't expect any new owner to be in a rush to splash the cash, and I'd be a bit alarmed if they did – seen that show before and it don't end well!

Tony Abrahams
17 Posted 10/10/2024 at 17:18:55
A mostly positive article, Simon, and it's a very long time since we have seen ‘positivity' and ‘Everton' in the same sentence.

Having been a little bit underwhelmed by our performance on Saturday night, I was thinking about our club, and my own opinion is that we were very, very close to the end of our very long tether; I am not sure we could have survived another season of exceptionally lean operations.

The road to recovery will be long but Everton Football Club always had a touch of the phoenix rising out of the flames before we were inflicted with a terrible curse, so hopefully we can win the cup and give Goodison the send-off that it deserves!

Mike Gaynes
18 Posted 10/10/2024 at 17:21:49
Well pulled together, Simon, and a really good contribution. Cheers.

I agree with you that TFG's errors in the early days of their Roma ownership will be an excellent lesson for their Everton takeover, but one mistake they did not make was to splash big cash on big-name players. They played it cool and budget-conscious with the roster. Their only splashy recruit was Mourinho. So I would not expect a "huge" January.

I am not at all surprised that Friedkin will have a fully-assembled executive team ready for the moment he completes the purchase, and as I've said before, I would be similarly unsurprised to see Souloukou installed as our CEO – although she was run out of Rome by death threats from the ultras, she reportedly ran a highly responsible operation and both of her managerial changes appear to have been good decisions. Roma was winless in the league when she sacked De Rossi and ignited the ultras. They're 2-1-0 since.

Hanukkah and Christmas coincide this year. Let's hope it's a triple celebration for the completion of this transaction. I'll light every candle on the menorah. You go, Big Dan!

Dennis Stevens
19 Posted 10/10/2024 at 17:39:20
D'you think he'll do a celebratory fly past over our stadiums, old & new, Mike?

Trailing blue smoke, of course!

Paul Ferry
20 Posted 10/10/2024 at 19:13:34
Simon, thanks for putting this all together. It made me feel better.

Fred Quick @11: "I agree with Barry @ 8, I'm only concerned about what I'm watching on the pitch. All the other stuff is important for the club as a whole."

You do realise, Fred, that "on the pitch" depends on "all the other stuff"?

John Raftery
21 Posted 10/10/2024 at 21:18:02
Most club owners fail to match their own ambitions or deliver their promises to fans. Many make mistakes at the outset by rushing into appointments of new team managers and signing new players.

As others have commented, we must hope TFG has learned from their mistakes at Roma. Putting the club's operations on a sound financial footing, creating a sound supporting structure, and embedding robust systems with qualified personnel in key roles should be the early priorities; the priorities for January.

I would start to worry if our new owners ‘hit the ground running' in January by gambling their new club's future on hit-or-miss signings including that of a new first-team manager.

Eric Myles
22 Posted 11/10/2024 at 07:06:26
"They have identified that the club has a 'lean workforce'"

Well then I suppose it's lucky DBB recruited those 26 additional bodies as part of her 120-point plan, we'd have been positively skeletal without them.

Brendan McLaughlin
23 Posted 11/10/2024 at 09:26:58
Eric #22,

The really funny thing is that apparently the recruitment of those additional staff were and perhaps still are justified.

The need for those additional staff was lambasted by many on ToffeeWeb at the time.


Steve Hogan
24 Posted 11/10/2024 at 10:10:29
I don't think DBB should receive even 'faint praise' for her recruitment foresight at Everton.. She was one of 'Bills' most high profile senior appointments, which was fairly typical of his approach to giving people or staff, who agreed with pretty much agreed everything the habitual liar said.

I remember her last published article to the fanbase which painted a glowing picture of everything on and off the pitch at Goodison, and record commercial deals in the pipeline. The truth was we were in deep financial trouble, not far from going bust.

Her career background was one of a 'charity based' working environment, albeit in senior positions.

Uncle Bill decided to promote her to CEO of a near £200m turnover of a Premier League football club without any previous experience.

Nothing has been heard of her since she walked into the sunset with a million pound plus payoff from Moshiri, who paid off her contract.

Nice work if you can get it.

Christine Foster
25 Posted 11/10/2024 at 10:43:18
Lying in bed feeling as rough as, well insert whatever, chest sounds like wheezing wet air bag, thought I would catch up on all things toffee...

But for the life of me, soon to be bloody extinct at this rate, we don't need a competent management team, just players? Hasn't the last 20 bloody years taught you anything? To be successful you need both!

As much as I hate them, Liverpool and Man City have excellent management structures and use money and influence wisely. We, on the other hand, had a team of sycophants, incompetents and yes-men that were responsible for decisions that very nearly saw us in administration and them walking off into the sunset with a golden handshake – or was that a golden headlock? Whatever...

The quality of Man City's middlemen will, I have no doubt, result in most of the current 115 charges against them being thrown out, as opposed to our single charge or two bluster and kowtow to Masters.

Where are Kenwright's board now? Surely they were all snapped up immediately? No? Didn't think so... I must still be befuddled.

Christy Ring
26 Posted 11/10/2024 at 13:16:03
Great article, Simon, hopefully it goes through quickly and brings total stability. It will be a breath of fresh air to have totally professional people running the club for once, but we don't know their outlook regarding the manager.

I hope Sean has turned a corner, onwards and upwards in the Premier League, and then decide next summer regarding on-field decisions.

Steve Hogan
27 Posted 11/10/2024 at 15:48:11
Christine, hope your feeling better soon, whatever medicine you are taking has had the profound effect of making you speak with absolute clarity (and a welcome dose of anger).

Can you prescribe several doses (legal or not) of the said medicine to the number of previous posters who haven't yet worked out that a strong and competent team operating off the field is a prerequisite to what normally takes place on the field.

The much-maligned City Football Group (Sheikh Mansour family) cleared all the background staff out when their takeover began and simply employed the 'best in class' operators from around the globe.

Soft lad Bill managed to convince Moshiri that the best way forward was to let him stay in charge and let him choose mostly existing employees to carry the club forward.

The man was stuck in a time warp but managed to convince most fans that he and only he 'had the club's best interests at heart'.

Houdini had nothing on our 'Bill'!!

Brendan McLaughlin
28 Posted 11/10/2024 at 16:24:36
Steve #27,

Bit harsh on Christine suggesting she is posting under the influence... hence the clarity. Christine's posts are always pretty clear.

Mike Gaynes
29 Posted 11/10/2024 at 16:39:05
Hope you're feeling better soon, Christine.
Steve Hogan
30 Posted 11/10/2024 at 19:30:31
Brendan (28), my comments were purely, very much 'tongue in cheek', or were you just being mischievous?
Brendan McLaughlin
31 Posted 11/10/2024 at 20:47:09
Thanks, Steve #30,

"Mischievous" – last time I was labelled that I was in short trousers and my mother was still alive.

Yes... mischievous.

Tony Abrahams
32 Posted 11/10/2024 at 21:11:20
Snapped up immediately, Christine?

We were constantly told that Ms Barrett-Baxendale was already looking for alternative employment well before she was put in a headlock, and then she still hung around for another few months (except on match day), waiting for her well-deserved severance pay!!

Brendan McLaughlin
33 Posted 11/10/2024 at 21:33:21
Good point,Tony.

A huge severance payment in their mid-fifties would take the edge off many people's appetite to get back in the rat race.

Tony Abrahams
34 Posted 11/10/2024 at 21:39:07
Definitely Brendan, especially if they have lost their sugar daddy!
Christine Foster
35 Posted 12/10/2024 at 04:39:12
Thank you all for the 'get well' messages, I had avoided this damn thing for the past 4 years, and I can confirm, despite all the jabs and careful avoidance, it is truly awful.

I seem to be on an upward curve now but it's like the worst chest infection I have ever had... all those conspiracy theorists are pillocks.

If I seemed a bit edgy in reply to a few posts, my apologies, it's been a bit fraught. Normal boring comments will return shortly…

Christine Foster
36 Posted 12/10/2024 at 04:51:23
Tony @32,

Her reported pay-off was £2.5M, with Ingles and Sharp splitting a further £700k between them.

Undoubtedly Sharp as a non-executive Director gained the least benefit of the two, but how Ingles was entitled to anything other than the sack, was beyond me.

Somewhere there is a moral regarding Sharp in all of this. When good men do nothing? Guilt by association? Wrong place, wrong time? Or is it just naivety, a pawn in a play?

Jeff Armstrong
37 Posted 12/10/2024 at 12:26:54
I believe Sharp was complicit and, like Kenwright, was only looking out for himself.

All the goodwill he had in the bank from his playing days was used up in the final few months on the board. For fuck's sake, he was supposed to be a Fan Liaison Director at one point.

His credit from his playing days was also earned on the pitch, as his attitude to fans off the pitch at that time was pretty nonchalant for those who met him in and around town back in the day.

Dave Abrahams
38 Posted 12/10/2024 at 12:57:13
Christine (35),

Next time you write a boring post, it will be the first one I have read. Although I did find it hard to read when you wrote about James Rodriguez… but then I realised you were in love with him – don't deny it, girl – so that was understandable.

Get well soon, Christine, and get back to your Scotty Road robust, but good looking, self. Very best wishes as always, Christine.

Christine Foster
39 Posted 12/10/2024 at 13:15:15
Dave, how dare you insinuate such a thing!

Infatuation perhaps, but being an Evertonian is like being sex-starved, except it's the satisfaction of watching good footballers that's missing... so when you get a good-looking chap who can do things with a ball a girl can only dream of, then accordingly infatuation follows.

I don't really expect you to understand that Dave, or perhaps he drives your favourite car (not the Vauxhall Viva, the other one..) or a good take away from the Chinese on Bankhall.

Aw gee Dave, back to my good looking self indeed, I used to have a pic on my LinkedIn page, all very professional and all that, but since the departure of our late chairman, I saw the inevitability of running the club properly, disappear, so after many moons, I have deleted my LinkedIn profile. Gone to that great big bin in the sky, where I nearly bloody followed myself this week!

But actually I wonder with the club having a fan wall could ToffeeWeb have one of its own where we get to see who we abuse every week?

Damn, I miss that Chinese at the end of Stanley Road and Bankhall... just to hear Mandarin in broad scouse.

Dave Abrahams
40 Posted 12/10/2024 at 13:28:26
Christine (39), There you are girl back on the way to your old, oldish, self, thinking about your old haunts.

I still miss the Star restaurant (well sort of) in Islington, it wasn't all that classy but it made the best curry in Liverpool and The HonkyTonk in Scotland Road on Monday nights and the Karaoke, with a special mention of your dad's pub, The Wedding House, in town on Saturday and Sunday nights.

You will feel better tonight when you give your photo of Rodriguez a kiss and put him under your pilla and dream your dreams of him and the bright future of the team we both love!

Robert Tressell
41 Posted 12/10/2024 at 13:39:09
Christine, I always enjoy your posts - but I think you've come up with the saddest, truest thing I've ever read on ToffeeWeb "being an Evertonian is like being sex-starved".

Hope you're feeling better. And hope we all soon get our metaphorical end away soon enough...

Dave Abrahams
42 Posted 12/10/2024 at 13:46:16
Here's some good news to quicken your recovery, Christine:

Beto is now an International player, he made his debut for Guinea-Bissau last night.

This could be the start of something big!

Christine Foster
43 Posted 12/10/2024 at 13:56:19
Dave, God I still miss the Golden Phoenix on Hanover street and the Hanover pub itself.. funny story Dave, Dad was always one to try the latest gadgets, in the days before microwave ovens ( early 70s) Dad bought an infra red grill to make toasted sandwiches on for lunchtime for the railworkers from Exchange Station around the corner..

Theses things didn't come with instruction about heating time etc, just a cellophane bag to put the uncooked sandwiches in. After a couple og minutes the cremated remains of the plastic bag would be embedded in the burnt offerings They were a fantastic success, the latest gadget..Pownall Square.. lost many a car radio and even tyres once..all within 10 mins of parking..

The Honky Tonk..many a night I would have to drag our Andy out of there, waylaid on a paynight, with a couple of pound of salt fish in one pocket of his dockers coat, a leg of NZ lamb in the other and a few bars of Frys chocolate cream for the kids.. my Nan used to batter him..

Christine Foster
44 Posted 12/10/2024 at 13:57:15
Robert, I think it was the best analogy I could make..lol
Fred Quick
45 Posted 12/10/2024 at 14:25:46
Christine @39

But actually I wonder with the club having a fan wall could ToffeeWeb have one of its own where we get to see who we abuse every week?

Apparently somebody has done a mock-up of what you'd like to see, unfortunately the names of the members have been omitted.

Fan Wall

Dave Abrahams
46 Posted 12/10/2024 at 15:02:43
Christine (43), Ah memories Christine The Golden Phoenix is gone, The Hanover is still there but is now dedicated to Paul McCartney and the Beatles,me and my mates finished in there at one time on a Monday night before getting a taxi up to Pembroke Pace and a stay behind in The Bullring or The Bass House, both now finished.

A lot of lovely local pubs now gone, pubs where you could buy loads of different goods that were found before they were lost. You got your tyres and car radio half inched in Pownall Square, surprise, surprise who’d have thought it!

Simon Harrison
47 Posted 12/10/2024 at 15:06:43
Many thanks for all the platitudes TWers, 'tis undeserved though, as all the work bar a few observations of what may happen when TFG take over was done primarily by Paul Brown (Josimar Journo), which was then picked up on by the Internet Football talking heads.

I basically just cut and paste it onto TW.

If you don't mind, I'll post a couple of follow up comments in answer to a few things that seem to have been raised.

However, as a nicety it was sad to hear that you Christine had contracted Covid, but happily you seem to have started the recovery, but take it slowly, slowly Christine, but for Gawd's sake, please don't develop 'long Covid'!

Also it is good to see the usual colour an d humour return to your posts. Keep on getting on Christine! 😁💙

Simon Harrison
48 Posted 12/10/2024 at 15:41:05
Steve Hogan [7, 24, 27?]

Thanks very much for engaging in the thread mon ami. 👍 As you raise some very valid points indeed!

To start with, the issue of DBB shouldn't be forgotten. She was a 'Bill' appointment, who allegedly, nearly immediately sought to undermine Bill by starting her own 'DBB Faction' within the club, as I've had it relayed to me, by calling in favours and by installing some of her key EitC staff within the Club's administration.

This was the start of the 'Two Empires' problem which helped make the club even more dysfunctional than it was when it just just all Bill's boys and girls running the gig.

This can be highlighted here with an extract from an interview with Fank Lampard for Training Ground Guru;

""Why, during the course of Farhad Moshiri’s eight years at Everton, did things go so drastically wrong? The answer to the question was laid out by Frank Lampard on The Overlap last week (ca January 23, 2024)

When asked whether the club had been ‘joined up’ during his time as manager, from January 2022 to January 2023, he said (Lampard), quite categorically, “No, it wasn’t.”

He (Lampard) added: “There was definitely a different strategy from the owner to what the Chairman’s (Bill Kenwright’s) idea was about it to what Denise’s (Barrett-Baxendale’s) was.”

Here's the link to the article for anyone who would wish to retread old ground;

Lack of strategy and alignment costs Everton

As you say, she was way out of her depth as the CEO of the club; and completely in denial - as was the case with most of the other board members during the Moshiri tenureship imho.

As you say her pressers were mostly pure fantasy, or Thunder being stolen from Dan Meis or Colin Chong, or worse still, the continued trumpeting of the success EitC were and are having in the city. NB I'm not decrying EitC, just the fact that DBB on occasion turned to that charity for the football clubs 'good news' (good times?) efforts.

Regarding her behaviour, wasn't it announced at the same time Marcel Brands ultimately lost his game of chicken with Moshiri (I.e. it was him or Benitez), that Bill announced that DBB was 'seeking alternative employment'? I wonder why Bill announced that; fractures appearing in the board at that point? Or maybe he realised he had unleashed a viper in his nest? Anyhoo...

When she was eventually 'paid off', after her superb acting job regards the alleged headlock incident; I don't believe it was just for £2.5mn; if I recall correctly, and I haven't looked at the relevant accounts, I believe that the total severance package for the board was £8.3mn in total for DBB, GI, GS AND W. Kenwright CBE. Yet Bill never left the party, as he was asked to stay on... Not a bad job is it?

I believe DBB got a little over £3mn for her Golden thank you. (I may well be wrong here, as my next paragraph shows Christine may well be correct?)

I've actually just read this from Joe Thomas from The Echo dated 1.4.24;

""The second tranche related to the boardroom changes in the summer, when chief executive Denise-Barrett-Baxendale, finance director Grant Ingles and non-executive director Graeme Sharp. The consequences of their resignations contributed to what are described as “exceptional costs” of £3.2m. The accounts suggest Barrett-Baxendale received compensation to the tune of £2.5m.""

I think that there was also the final instalment of her salary to be added to that, which made up the additional costs that made me think it was the higher figure.

Anyway, as far as a quick internet shows, I can't find any mention that she has been employed elsewhere, apart from this X (Twitter) snippet;

Job across the Park

If anyone else has any news about this, please share
it, if appropriate.

Good wishes all 👍💙

Simon Harrison
49 Posted 12/10/2024 at 17:17:47
The other issue I wanted to address, as I am a pedant after all! Hehe

*** WARNING TL;DR POST COMING ***

Is this 'background other stuff is boring!'.

I know some posters (Robert T, Paul F, Steve Hogan - keep posting Steve please!, Dave A, Tony A, Mike G, John R and Christine F) have already addressed this in the main. However, seeing as though I'm bored and free from my daughter for the afternoon, I'd tried and provide an analogy as to why the 'background/backroom stuff matters so much.

NB When reading Club think Brand, when reading Brand think Club... It'll help!

________________________________________________________

If I may, I'll use F1 as my analogy.

In F1 before Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosely got together and beat the FIA regarding the F1 calendar and championships by forming FOCA (Formula One Constructors' Association).

The Drivers and Constructors championships were pretty much like the old days of Division 1, whereby a team and/or manager would for a brief period (i.e. two seasons), dominate the Division before another team and/or manager would become dominant.

This was due to the 'entrepreneurial' nature of the competition, whereby everyone was capable of shooting at the 'Champions' and it was hard to keep a Championship winning squad together. Though, a squad or team (Footy or F1) could be punching around near the top for a while E.g. Ferrari and Everton of the 60's. I.e. Clubs and teams could throw money at the situation to achieve (ephemeral) success.

However, once FOCA was formed, it was the equivalent of the EPL being formed.

This meant that a Meritocracy was created for prize money for race finishes and championship standings. Which is basically how the FOCA/FIA (commonly known as F1 now) relationship developed with tweaks over the years. That is up until Ecclestone sold his controlling share in F1. Then a new landscape has arisen.

So, back to the analogy, it meant that within a few seasons teams would naturally gravitate to their level for a few years, like when Williams was dominant, then McClaren were the dominant teams with brief intrusions with Ferrari and Benneton, until Ferrari with Schumacher and his 'background' 'Dream Team' beat everyone into submission, other than Adrian Newey at McClaren who still challenged them.

Thus it has been ever since, with Renault for two seasons, then Redbull, then Mercedes, then Redbull again!

This can be compared (with caveats of course) to the EPL.

The reason why I say that, is because there are striking similarities between F1 post FOCA and football post the formation of the EPL.

That is all teams had a chance to excel at the start, but it was the established teams that initially had success with the occasional interloper in that period.

E.g. Brabham (under Ecclestone's ownership), Lotus (with Colin Chapman pre-Jochen Rindt death form), McClaren (with a young Ron Dennis working with the Marlboro 'dream team'), Ferrari ('nuff said) and the emergent (W4nk3r) Williams all dominating at times, and then falling away with a couple of exceptions. I.e. McClaren and Ferrari.

Which was like the Man Utd dominance with Blackburn, Arsenal, and then Chelsea are getting in on the act before Wenger turned Arsenal into perennial challengers, to Ferguson's Utd, and the arrival of Mourinho and Abramovich at Chelsea, along with the RS always trying to be there or abouts season after season.

________________________________________________________

So what made a good F1 team or EPL team, just having good to great players and a decent backup driver or squad?

Well no, not at all.

If you look at F1 as my analogy. Initially it was the better chassis manufacturers, with a good engine and a very good driver (exceptional at times) that would win the Drivers and Manufacturers championships.

However, as the sport got more technical, like Aerodynamics, power to weight ratio AKA mechanical grip, and technical advancements like 'ground effect', then the F1 teams with the best collective 'dream teams', think Jean Todt (The Sporting Director), Ross Brawn (DoF), and Rory Byrne (manager), Nigel Stepney (coach), and Paulo Martinelli (Academy), with Michael Schumacher as The Team.

As I said above nobody could live with them except any team that hired Adrian Newey, think Williams, McClaren, Redbull!

Usually it has been the best collective technical unit versus the best F1 technical genius.

AKA Ferrari vs Wiiliams then McClaren, then McClaren vs Redbull, then Mercedes vs Redull... with Ferrari in the mix usually, but other teams like Brawn doing a Leicester for example.

Then teams needed to be able to recruit the best 'technical and manufacturing' teams, rather than just hiring the best designer and the best drivers.


Again, so what does all this actually mean?


Well, in order to achieve success in any meaningful and sustainable way you have to build the correct foundations for the club (and this is where I leave F1 behind)

Initially you need a solid starting point, I.e. a brand ( I.e. The Club - don't forget Football is only a form of sport on the pitch now!) and an ownership that has an aligned view of how to create, manage and develop the brand to ultimate success. Which is nowadays the EPL championship, the Champions League and the World Club Cup - which are in this day and age vital for the brand to be 'SEEN' as successful. Which in turn will attract opportunities for better financial gains, but also in being able to attract the very best players both playing senior football now, and the very best and ambitious youth players.

Now in order to do this, yes you have to have the best squad available compared with anybody else (within the current financial constraints), and with the best technical and tactical coaching QED Man City and Pep Guardiola [oops sorry, QED Ferrari 1999-2005]

Now how do you achieve that? Do you just go out and spend money on the players and coaches? Yes, of course it is, how else do you do it!?

BUT... How do you then generate the funds and necessary revenue stream to do that?

Well, of course, you have to have the Brand's foundations in place, with the necessary finances and revenue streams to be able to afford to do the above.

Therefore it needs a Club administration, with working practices and ethos that the Club, ownership and employee base from the cleaning staff to the board room actually believe in, practice, breath and live. How else?

We can all say Everton should aspire to "Nil satis nisi optimum", but unless every single employee from the part-time to the owner actually indoctrinate themselves in that belief, then it matters not a jot, it is just a motto, sadly. QED Everton since Peter Johnson!

Yet you need a board that is both pragmatic, yet visionary. You need an owner that is determined, has a dream to succeed and yet is grounded enough not to take flights of fancy, but is demanding enough to never standstill and stagnate!

Once you're the best, continue to strive to improve, constantly move towards the next success. This is vital. Have the revolution, to lead to where you need to be, then you have to evolve, constantly. Standing still, resting on your laurels, is in effect, going backwards.

________________________________________________________

We have learnt, that an owner with wealth and no vision does not achieve success (Moshiri), nor would an owner with a vision but insufficient wealth (possibly a little unkind, but Textor).

Therefore, the club (think brand), again as several posters have stated, needs to initially revolutionise how the Club's administration is organised and for the correct purposes. No more jobs for the boys and girls, no more aimless paper pushing and waiting for opportunities to occur naturally, no more disenfranchised, disillusioned, disconnected workforce; we need to have installed the best in category in every category. From there it is a case of constantly having to evolve to stay at the 'bleeding edge' of the sport, and in order not to become part of the competing pac again, or worse, relegation candidates again! Never again!!.

This is essential to get the malaise that appears to have settled around the club since 'That man' entered the scene in 1986'! No more!

The buck now stops with Dan Friedkin, and every appointment he makes, should have that very attitude; the buck stops here!

Remember what Dyche said after the Soton game, "It was as if the players were waiting for someone else to spark the game into life, rather than they themselves trying to grab the game!"

That's how it should be, one lesson I've learnt in Life, is that if someone asks you something, it is OK to say "I don't know?" as long as it is qualified with, "but, I'll find out for you"

That attitude has been missing with Everton for far too long, too many questions and not enough finding out!

From walking into Goodison's reception, or even driving in to the main car park, there should be 'excellence on display' everywhere.

The carpets should be new and plush, or at very least look it; the tarmac should be level, even and clean. The receptionist (male or female) should be wearing the clubs formal attire, the walls should have pictures of the trophies and titles we have won! That would serve to remind everyone who comes to Goodison on business, that the club was, and is a winning club! Everything should be there to raise morale, raise awareness of the club's history (hopefully not dwelling on the recent history, although that would serve a purpose too!)

We will win by getting in the best staff (in all positions), providing the best working environment, the best working tools and facilities, the best working knowledge, the best training, the best coaching, the best leadership and the very best players!

Otherwise, just what is the point in being one of the other 16 clubs in the EPL who are happy to hunt 4th place, or a junior European place, or to avoid the drop?

Under TFG, this is what I wish for, this is what I desire, this is what every Evertonian should aspire for!

Yet, we have to bear in mind, that this will not happen overnight, we will still play poor-man's football, mistakes will sometimes be made, we will still have trying moments on and off the pitch, we will still struggle to compete; until, all the backroom staff come together to be a 'Dream Team' a 'la Ferrari, and or we find our own very much needed Genius a 'la Newey; or hopefully a combination of the two?

The Brand (Club) is in no position to achieve this with any alacrity, but as long as there is a plan, and every working day is used to proceed with the plan, lay foundation stone after foundation stone, and then we will build until we eventually get to the pinnacle.

As a parting shot, we have to remember that Rome, (Ferrari, City, United) weren't built in a day!

It takes vision, time, money and patience.

Good wishes all and apologies for what became a little rant of sorts.

I guess it is years of our 'dour situation', with hopes constantly raised and dashed, with bright lights and music, only to be all too soon becoming too bright and too discordant, before they we were put on emergency lighting and a music system with no power... just seeping out of me.

I genuinely hope and need TFG to be able to deliver my vision for the Club, or the Brand in reality.

Then we could proudly say "Everton, the original and still the best!"

Simon

John Wilson
50 Posted 12/10/2024 at 17:38:42
Things could be looking up though.

Dan Friedkin is worth more than [former and may be installed, President] Donald Trump $4.9B, as Dan has $7.6B (September 2024), and Moshiri $2.7B. Textor allegedly has $3.3B. Wiki: December 2023, Dan had $6.1B. 2020-21, Dan had $3B.

Friedkin seems to think $7.6B is enough to run Roma and Everton, maybe true if Moshiri can run Everton with $2.7B. He seems to be making nearly $1B more every year.

May be players like Ndaiye won't be so rare when the takeover happens by Dan Friedkin. It seems like this is going to happen, so maybe 'when' is preferable to 'if'.

Si Pulford
51 Posted 12/10/2024 at 17:50:21
Doesn't matter how rich your owner is if you're not allowed to spend it.

Newcastle are the richest club in the world but had to sell Minteh for profitability and sustainability reasons. A club that could buy every other club in the league being forced to sell players to be ‘sustainable'

That's where we are at.

John Wilson
52 Posted 12/10/2024 at 19:20:35
Friedkin is a very clever man. He got Roma's players in besides him being hamstrung by PPR.

I think teams like Everton should say no to trivial internationals. We can't afford to lose players to injuries.

Jerome Shields
53 Posted 12/10/2024 at 20:00:44
I had read these reports, but wonder if anyone who wrote them really looked at Everton:

A process of identifying areas of the club that need to be strengthened has already begun, with a recognition from the group that Everton is currently an “exceptionally lean operation”.

I very much doubt that such a remit would be part of a Friedkin Group review of operations.

Everton is a bloated under-performing structure, as wages % and stagnant growth indicate.

I believe there exists at Everton a framework of a large club with a basis of good footballing principles founded on the School of Science, which has been parasitized to close to death over the years.

There is no 'exceptionally lean operation' and there exists an overall cultural weakness, rather than weak areas.

Simon, I actually think that your proposals are what is needed and show more knowledge of Everton than the various articles you got together, which are just clickbait imo.

Steve Hogan
54 Posted 12/10/2024 at 23:08:49
Simon (49), I dip in and out of Twitter at various times of the day (it can be very addictive, in a passive kind of way), hence I didn't see your response to my three 'posts' on the subject of the imminent takeover by TFG.

I find the dialogue around Denise Barrett-Baxendale a little fascinating, tbh. From the CEO of a regional charity, to head of a Premier League football club, in a very short space of time, is quite bizarre, particularly, as to my knowledge, no other candidates were ever interviewed or considered!!!

Chairman Bill wielded so much power, his word or judgement was never to be questioned when it came to who would be running the club on a day-to-day basis, whilst he attended to his theatrical business in London.

Latterly, she has literally vanished from the face of the earth, which in itself is really strange? There seems to be a complete media blackout as to her whereabouts, or what role, if any, she is now carrying out.

In a previous life, I worked for an American soft drinks company, who 'took over' an English company I worked for.

After a short period of 'getting to know you' by their senior management executives, they were utterly ruthless.

Nobody and nothing got in their way of the business. Inside three years, they had seen off all competition in the snacks industry in the UK.

I'm not sure TFG will be the same, but things will look a hell of a lot different on the 'good ship Everton' in the future.

Hang onto your hats folks.

By the way, Christene F and Dave A and Tony A, the last word on the Golden Phoenix in Hanover Street. In 1976, my first date with my wife was in that restaurant, complete with sticky floral carpet. Things were going swimmingly, until I ordered a 'Phoenix Special Fried Rice' with a fried egg on top. (I was a class act!)

She's never forgiven me for that.

Jerome Shields
55 Posted 13/10/2024 at 12:51:29
For the record:

Barret Baxendale was not a Chief Executive, but a Personnel Assistant.

She thought titles and creating jobs was the way a business was run, even sighting Thewell 's creating 22 positions as. progress.She hadn't a clue about wage %.

Her resignation Etc was the longest leaving in history.When she did go who was doing the work anyway continued.

She did not know what a Strategic Plan was and could not draw up, never mind review one.

She liked dressing in blue and blue balloons.


She was on the Premier League Committee that looked at measures to head off Government regulation, and decided that Everton would be the guinea pig for PR Rules implementation.

She was the PR department, though they knew little about that.

She didn't like attempted neck holds, even though they didn't happen.

She was able to shut her mouth when paid to do so.

Steve Hogan
56 Posted 13/10/2024 at 13:29:36
Jerome (55),

DBB was CEO of a local charity called 'the Fiveways Trust' in Dec 2009, she then became Chief Executive of the Everton Foundation in Jan 2010.

Simon Harrison
57 Posted 13/10/2024 at 13:35:07
Si [51] Hello again mon ami 🙂

Don't forget that the PSR rules will be changing as of 2025-26. Then, it'll be a wage % to revenue income for the PSR rules.

Here is the SSN link, which explains way better than I could how the new PSR rules will work;

Premier League spending cap rules explained

Remember, it is vital that the TFG get the club's commercial and financial arms working PDQ, as the 85% limit is due to fall to 70% by the 2028-29 season. It seems miles away, but time will fly by. (As we know!)

This makes the EFC position regards the APT case with Man City more understandable.

TFG obviously know how to turn a buck from their investments, and will be looking to maximise the undoubted potential EFC have got to start increasing their revenue streams.

This opportunity seems to be aligned 'very well', with how the Premier League rule makers seem steering the competition.

Simon Harrison
58 Posted 13/10/2024 at 14:05:56
Steve, thanks for your response at [54]

Yes, both myself and my brother have worked for US companies; and the experience you faced i.e. the ruthlessness by the management structure were identical!

I think the term(s) used (amongst many Americanism's) was 'right sizing', followed by 'alignment positioning'.

The first is pretty obvious, and even UK companies started doing it rather than going bust without trimming the workforce.

The second was basically a corporate phrase meaning that if there is a task or position that needed to be enhanced or achieved, they picked the best qualified person to get the role/job done with the best possible outcome.

All the while remaining 'synergistic' with the rest of the company, I.e. so that no 'little empires' were formed when doing so.

As for DBB, that X link at the bottom of [48] suggests that she is now working 'across the park'..?

Personally, I try not to think of any of the Board members we've had since Moshiri took over; other than Marcel Brands, who was brought in with good intentions, but was basically shafted for more-or-less his whole time at the club. If it wasn't Moshiri, it was Bill, if it wasn't Bill, it was DBB, and if it wasn't her it was the incumbent manager at the time (including Don Carlo!) I am pleased he has shown how good he actually is, if left to do his job, since he left us. (Brands that is, tho seeing Don Carlo do well, is also pleasing to me.)

As yourself and Jerome have pointed out, DBB was appointed or promoted to positions well above her abilities.

As they say though, like cream, scum also rests (rises?) at the top!

She always came across as one of those people who were 'honorific' or a figurehead, rather than doing anything meaningful, other than trying to build up enough support for an internal coup against Bill (which was never going to work) but she was even more ruthless than Bill when it came to keeping people in line! Allegedly of course, though reported from an internal source.

"Chairman Bill wielded so much power, his word or judgement was never to be questioned when it came to who would be running the club on a day-to-day basis, whilst he attended to his theatrical business in London."

This was exactly how it was, despite his kind old Big Blue Bill in public!

By the by, your choice of first date meal... C'mon Steve, and you expect forgiveness for that!? never mind how tasty it sounds! Hehe 😉

Mike Gaynes
59 Posted 13/10/2024 at 14:30:33
Simon, there is no sport in the world I know about or care about less than Formula 1 (except maybe cricket), but I actually sort of understand your analogy. Makes sense.
Andy Crooks
60 Posted 13/10/2024 at 15:00:49
Mike, let's make a deal. Next time you are over (not in deep mid-winter) we will go to a cricket match. Rob Halligan will probably be there. Just allow a few days. You will love it.
Simon Harrison
61 Posted 13/10/2024 at 16:15:41
Haha, 😆 Thanks for that Mike! [59] I excelled at cricket (which is why I never played higher than school and Saturday league football (sorry soccer) and I followed F1 from 1976 (unfortunately seeing both Niki Lauda and Ronnie Peterson crash) till the Seb Vettel years (I stopped after his second WDC win, actually part way thru the 2012 season)

However, thanks for admitting that you were able to grasp what I was getting at at [49] albeit in a hell'uva long-winded, twisty windy way!

As an aside for the moment, I never knew (but why would I?) that you are a Bears fan! It makes me smile as I started supporting two teams in 1981, my main team was the SD Chargers under Coryell and Fouts, and the other are, wait for it The Vikings! The original Purple People Eaters! hehe

I supported the Chargers after watching them beat the Dolphins in Miami in the '81 AFC Divisional game. with Kellen Winslow, Charlie Joiner, Pete Holohan, Eric Sievers and Wes Chandler et al!! With Winslow being carried off the field by team mates after suffering from dehydration and heat-exhaustion! What a game, what a player! Shame he blew his knee, as he was never the same player after.

Though, I felt sorry for them when they went to the AFC championship game in Cincinnati; going form 90's heat to sub-zero temperatures in a week!

The infamous 'Freezerbowl!'

No wonder Kenny Anderson and co Chris (sp?) Collingsworth especially; doesn't he commentate nowadays?) beat the pants of us!

I supported the Vikings as my NFC team because of my heritage and the fact that I loved the old Viking Sagas as a kid! Shame that both teams have done nothing since I supported them both; other than the Chargers getting trounced by the 49'ers at Superbowl XXIV... Jerry ****ing Rice!!

By the way, you should go watch a Cricket match. It is the closet thing we have to an American sports day out. Play, at a test match starts roughly between 10:30-11am, and finishes anywhere from 11:01am to 19:15 weather, light and overs (the number of times a person who 'bowls' but not throws a ball six times in a row, then his turn is 'over') permitting! You also don't have to go to all 5 days of cricket, which is rare nowadays.

It is just an excuse to imbibe a few horns of ale, eat some 'fast food' and generally be amazed at what people do or say at a cricket ground? The actual game is just there as the diversion... hehe

If you let me know you're up for it, I might 'dope' (anti-anxiety meds!) myself up and come along, if you're OK with that?

PS Mike do you follow Nascar or any other motorsport in the US or bikes maybe, powered or unpowered?

Dave Abrahams
62 Posted 13/10/2024 at 16:56:38
Simon Harrison (various),

Thanks for all the information on how the Premier League will be operating financially from next season, I hope we will fare better than in the past along with others outside the favoured few.

Steve (54), Your order at The Golden Phoenix is on a par with Sandy Browns on a night out with other Everton players in the Tower Ballroom in New Brighton, alledgally among the drinks Sandy ordered was ‘Scotch on the rocks without the ice'!

Tony Abrahams
63 Posted 13/10/2024 at 17:53:24
Only just reading post49 Simon, because I’ve had to do it in stages! but from the line that starts with plush new carpets, until the line that says it’s a little rant, everything in between is exactly how I feel regarding our great club, mate.
Simon Harrison
64 Posted 13/10/2024 at 18:23:14
Still waiting the Titch to come back from her friends! 😢😢

Dave A [62]

You're very welcome mon ami 🙂 I started typing out the explanation, but realised it was turning into a monologue (again!!) so I looked for a decent link and inserted that!

Consider yourself saved from having to scroll past my post and still non-the_wiser! hehe🤣

Tony A [63] (And everyone else for that matter!)

Sorry about the length of some of my posts, but especially [49] I actually though about having it printed out and bound in banana leaves and saved for prosperity! Hehe

I know how you feel Tony.

I suppose the nearest the way I feel about Everton recently, is like when you buy a house that you absolutely Love, just the way you bought it.

Then years later, you sell the house, and the person who bought it starts knocking it about, 'renovating' it, and changing it's character completely, to just another carbon copy house of how all property developers do them nowadays... but done, very, Very, VERY badly indeed!

It's just sad that the Great Everton era of Sir John Moores, was allowed to just slowly decay, especially when we helped form the new, exciting EPL, but continued in the old ways courtesy of, wait for it, a not fit for purpose board... doh!! It has been history repeating itself ever since.

I tell you what Tony, if TFG take over and the club stays on it's uppers, I might have to start taking up crochet or basket weaving or something. As I don't think my blood pressure could take it!

Tony Abrahams
65 Posted 13/10/2024 at 19:46:49
I understand Simon, but my feelings have always been that we are as good as anyone and we have just got to go and prove it once again, mate.

We have been under absolutely incredible pressure these last few seasons, but the pressure of winning trophies is what the game should be all about for a club like Everton, and definitely not the pressure of fighting relegation.

I’m aware that it was one of the greatest ever Evertonian’s that has ever lived, who changed the narrative, (oh the fucking irony🤮) but hopefully it’s not for ever, even though it’s definitely not going to be easy, when you actually read some people who are still pining for the days of Davie Moyes.

Football is not always about winning imo, but it’s got to always be about competing and trying to win, and that’s what I hope and pray the Friedkin group begin to instill into Everton🤞

Mark Murphy
66 Posted 13/10/2024 at 21:25:37
On an unrelated issue, I bought and paid for already a dedicated (to one of my sons - the Evertonian one) copy of the Memories of Goodison book but after about 6 weeks haven't heard anything. Is it a scam??
Mike Gaynes
67 Posted 18/10/2024 at 19:36:38
Quick Friedkin news update:

When Roma CEO Lina Souloukou resigned because of death threats from the Ultras over the sacking of Daniele De Rossi, I predicted here that Friedkin would bring her to Everton as CEO.

Corriere dello Sport reports today that it's very likely to happen.

Rob Halligan
68 Posted 18/10/2024 at 21:04:33
Mark # 66……..I’ve also ordered one and I believe they will be posted out towards the end of this month. Definitely not a scam though.
Mark Murphy
69 Posted 18/10/2024 at 21:38:29
Cheers, Rob – I've dedicated it to my son Joe and it's a crimbo present.

Have a great weekend mate – hope to see you at the Fulham home game?

Andrew Merrick
70 Posted 18/10/2024 at 21:59:19
Yes Mike @7, you did indeed.

Your comment prompted me to read up on her, and now this Ceo looks to be coming our way...

Good things starting!

Simon Harrison
71 Posted 20/10/2024 at 20:57:32
Hey Tony (A)

Thanks for the reply, I read it a couple of days ago, but didn't want to Necro the thread as it were.

I have always thought, much like yourself and Danny O'Neill, that when you go onto/into a field of play, whatever the gulf of expectation is, you should always back yourself to win, or at the very, very least be the best second place that you can! (Yep Tony, me and that McVicar movie again!) BUT it is true, even if you can't muster the belief to win, you should always be able to muster the belief in being the best you can!

As for pressure, well I think that Kenwright took all the pressure of competition away by the way he incrementally self-sabotaged the club by frittering away assets and opportunities and not re-investing in the club; nor indeed, investing in the club or modernising the clubs approach to all things business in order to make us more competitive!

Plain and simple, all Kenwright was at the club for was the narcissistic, egotistical self-masturbation, and the enrichment of himself, and those associated with him.

The Moyes years were the biggest con job at Everton that I can recall. Yes we made a final, yes we qualified for Europe, but we lost the final, and we made it to the group stages once!

Mind you, those were the probable contenders for Kenwright's "But we've had good times!"

Basically, it was a "Look at me" and "I'm alright Jack, pull the ladder up!"

If TFG have read the room correctly, and perform as they have done at AS Roma, I expect a slow'ish turn around on the pitch and maybe two or three seasons sitting around 10th (which is fine by me) whilst they modernise, streamline and enhance all the behind the scenes operations... I.e. Increasing revenue and our financial opportunities.

Once that is done to their satisfaction, then we can look forward to more progression on the pitch.

There's already been talk of at least two incomings in January, for whom to manage though, is still up in the air as it were.

As for relegation, hopefully, this will be the last season for a loonnngggg time that we have to worry about that!

"When you actually read some people who are still pining for the days of Davie Moyes."

I hate to break it to you Tony, but certain elements of the Press, are still reporting that Moyes will be installed as manager as an interim till the EoS..!? If so, the Friedkins will have shown that they don't understand the importance of how stable we are currently. Personally, I believe that if Sean is backed in the January window, I think he will challenge for mid-table comfortably.

"Football is not always about winning imo, but it’s got to always be about competing and trying to win, and that’s what I hope and pray the Friedkin group begin to instill into Everton🤞"

This is very reflective Tony, as I said above, either win or bust a gut and play your best trying!

I too am desperately hoping that TFG will not only stabilise the ship, but re-equip it for a very upward journey!

Thanks for your reply mate.

Good wishes as always Tony 👍😀

Simon Harrison
72 Posted 20/10/2024 at 21:14:33
Mike Gaynes [67]

Here's a little head bow to you (using of course the Japanese measurement system of correct angle of incline!) Hehe 😆

Yes, it would appear that the former Roma CEO, Lina Souloukou, is in line to be interviewed for the Everton CEO position, based on her 15 years of football experience, and her excellent working relationship with TFG.

I never knew she was actually sacked, by TFG in an attempt to try and protect her from the very real and credible threats (as attested by the Italian Police authorities) to her and and her families lives.

Apparently, there is no animosity at all, and the actions of TFG were aligned to Mrs. Souloukou's best interests. Even when she left Rome, she was given a police escort as reported by Romapress.net

I'm not sure if she is a shoo-in, but it seems pretty much a position where it is win-win for both parties, and doesn't leave Everton having a 'straw' CEO on the board. Unlike how we have our board organised now...

Some other Dan Friedkin news from two days ago (Friday 18.10.24) apparently, the already wealthy (by any bodies reckoning - Thank you Mr. Moshiri!) Friedkin senior, has had his personal wealth grow from 5.5 billion dollars to 7.6 billion dollars! Just in one year; courtesy Romapress.net

""Posted 18.10.24, by Andy Matioli:

Roma President Dan Friedkin continues to increase his wealth.

After conducting a major transfer campaign in the last transfer window with Roma, the American president has decided to further expand his investments in football, also acquiring Everton.

According to Forbes, Friedkin's net worth has increased in the last year, going from 5.5 billion dollars to 7.6 billion, thus setting a new record for the American entrepreneur.

Thanks to this significant increase of over 2 billion, Friedkin is currently ranked 390th in the ranking of the richest people in the world, a milestone that highlights his growing success in the world of business and football.""

Dan Friedkin's Net Worth Grows to $7.6 Billion

Which, is probably fortunate, as I'm sure he'll need the extra loose change to finish getting Everton's finances into a manageable long-term state!

Thanks for the heads-up re Lina Souloukou; and I'm guessing you're pretty happy to get up early last week to watch your Bears beat the Jags 35-16! 😁 👍

Good wishes Mike and all!


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