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.
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!