It’s just over a week since the takeover of Everton Football Club by Dan Friedkin and his family group “The Friedkin Group”

A group committed (in their own words) to  “With each adventure and every pursuit of excellence, we inspire joy and purpose, creating timeless memories with precision and care. That’s our commitment to make every day more extraordinary than the last.”

To drive excellence to live beyond the ordinary

It (The Friedkin Group) is a highly effective, efficient, profitable privately owned business. It expresses values that I am sure every Evertonian can support and will welcome after many years of poor governance, zero accountability and appalling corporate (and footballing) performance.

The Friedkin Group values are as follows (extract from their corporate website)

Immediate steps to stability and recovery:

The Group’s ability to transform our finances is already apparent with the repayment and removal of previous third party loan agreements – loans from largely questionable entities charging extremely high rates of interest commensurate with the risk associated in lending to a football club owned and managed by Farhad Moshiri.

The removal of the previous board with the exception of the remaining interim CEO, Colin Chong and its replacement with seasoned, successful, long standing Friedkin insiders points to leadership and early evidence of a plan. As I’ve said before, the Friedkins have not bought Everton to dilute their reputations as business people, nor to put a greater than half billion dollar hole in their pockets.

So far, so good. An incoming owner doing exactly what you would expect in a very necessary corporate recovery programme, having acquired a highly distressed asset, albeit one with huge potential.  Namely repair the balance sheet, recapitalise the business and place trusted, known leaders at the head of the acquired business. All textbook stuff and very welcome.

Premier League survival – the next phase of stability and recovery

So financially, at least, the immediate crisis and distress of the previous ownership is behind us. At least as long as continuity of our Premier League status is maintained. It has to be pointed out though that relegation would not carry the same financial threat as it did in previous years under Moshiri. That’s not to say, in any way, it would be welcomed by the fans, players, anyone associated with the club, our new owners or indeed the wider needs of the City of Liverpool and region.

What is true to say though, in terms of corporate recovery, and to ensure the required stability leading to the stadium move in just a few months, is what strategy optimises the greatest likelihood of Premier League survival?

Does keeping Dyche as manager or coach, and his team of tacticians, specialist coaches, sports scientists and medical staff offer enough certainty to leave the change until perhaps the summer?

The evidence for this is limited at the very least. Even putting aside the aestheitcs of several more months of Dycheball, can, given the evidence, performances and results presented in recent times, the Friedkins have sufficient confidence in Dyche to dig deep once more and maintain our status? Seven goalless games in the last nine, three wins in eighteen League games is a material dip in even Dyche’s just about adequate career averages

From my perspective, there’s nothing in Dyche’s demeanor, the response of the players, and the absence of affirmative or supportive action by the Friedkins to suggest he and they believe so. And it’s on this basis I believe the Friedkins will act quickly in changing manager. Certainly, the evidence of their time at Roma (not without raising questions it must be said) is that they move fast, cutting losses quickly.

To add to the immediate decisions required re Dyche is the very peculiar and specific circumstances surrounding Everton Football Club come the end of May. There can seldom have been a club that loses a dozen first team members (through contract expiry) and a manager and director of football for the same reasons all at the same time. To deal with this and the need to manage the transition and impact, from a footballing perspective, of moving stadia would be a huge burden for any new incoming management team. If nothing else, the Friedkins buy time for the incoming manager by acting now. The right recruitment decision also,of course, improves the chances of Premier League survival.

From a corporate recovery perspective, it seems like the least risky option, given the time and financial costs of doing nothing and securing the worst outcome – relegation.

The choice of who replaces Dyche is of course, fascinating, not least because it raises questions as to who makes that decision and what role does the other element in our football operations, the Director of Football take in  the decision? There have been media reports of support for Thelwell, but to my knowledge, it is not known from where those reports originated. Are they from the club media personnel or the Friedkins themselves. History would suggest it is from club sources who historically have always supported the status quo despite overwhelming evidence on most occasions not to do so.

Communications and the role of fans

The final element of the initial recovery phase has to be communications but also the role of fans. Let me deal with the fan element in terms of our recovery.

The Everton fanbase has carried the club long before the dark days of “headlock-gate” in January 2023. Unquestionably (to use a phrase by our former Chairman) that role over the last three seasons has grown in its intensity and importance. Yet there is a danger that the intensity the fans bring, particularly in the final season at Goodison, can no longer be guaranteed. Why? Not because the fans love the club less, nor want it to succeed any less than anytime in its 147 year history – in fact to the contrary, the love and concern for the club, the custodian role of our fan base is stronger than it ever has been. However, the product that is offered on the pitch is totally counter-productive and alien to this support. Something that needs to be addressed by the new ownership immediately.

It surely cannot be the case that in the last season at Goodison, we have flat atmospheres and fans leaving early having witnessed such appalling football and increasingly poor results. We cannot allow a situation whereby the final season at Goodison fizzles out, not only denying fans some final, glorious memories of Goodison but also impacting our ability to stay up. This must be a major priority for the Friedkins.

The final element of the initial recovery phase of the Friedkins’ ownership must be communications. I understand entirely that as a private family business the Friedkins standard practice is to communicate infrequently and minimally in the media and their customers re their businesses.

However football is different, and the circumstances described above, make the difference even more exceptional. These exceptional circumstances require meaningful communications from the Friedkins. The payback from such a change in their established business practices would be immediate.

We are a fanbase starved of communications and engagement from the custodians of our club. Arguably we can go back to the Moores’ days since the fans were treated with respect and spoken to intelligently, with integrity and an understanding of what the club means to fans and what fans can do for the club.

It would be a very wise strategy to open those communication channels, to have honest and immediate discourse with the fan base – even if the Friedkins are not able to answer all the inevitable questions regarding our future.

Communicating, engaging, recognising our role as custodians, as assets to our club, as assets to our players, performing a very positive role in the fight to stay in the Premier League is such an important strategy for the Friedkins to accept and willingly engage in.

The short term and immediate benefits, on top of all the other recovery strategies – financial,  governance, making changes to the football management, are obvious and achievable almost instantly.

Dan Friedkin, communicate, engage and allow us the supporters to do what we do best for the club we love, supporting your efforts to turning this great club around and creating a stepping stone to a much greater future.