It’s just six weeks since the Friedkins took control of Everton Football Club. Through acquiring Moshiri’s shares, capitalising the shareholder (Moshiri) loans and recapitalising the club the Friedkins now own 99.5% of Everton Football Club. Not only have they restored order to our finances, but they moved quickly to replace a floundering Sean Dyche with a return of the prodigal son, David Moyes. Results have improved, relegation looks much less likely than it did, whilst our team members (players) and fans alike seem to have rediscovered the fact that football can be rewarding, wholesome and even uplifting.

Injury problems and legacy PSR constraints on transfer activity aside, it’s been a solid start for the Friedkins, and broadly welcomed by virtually every Blue, be they in L4 or much further afield.

The initial communications from the Friedkins were pitch perfect

“I take immense pride in welcoming one of England’s most historic football clubs to our global family,” Dan Friedkin said. “Everton represents a proud legacy, and we are honored to become custodians of this great institution.”

However, that quote, delivered on 19th December 2024, is pretty much where communications have stalled. More than a century ago George Bernard Shaw is quoted as saying “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

The benefits of communication

It’s not particularly original to talk about the constant demands and shortfalls regarding communications between Everton Football Club, its shareholders and its fans. I’ll cover the distinction between the two later in the piece. Whilst there’s important legal differences the reality is that the needs (and I would argue the owners’ obligations to inform both) are of equal importance.

In my opinion, an intelligent owner whilst recognising the legal, sometimes fiduciary obligations to minority shareholders, should not differentiate in terms of approach, information provided and willingness to be held to account between a small number of minority shareholders (almost all exclusively Evertonians) and those fans who do not have the means or privilege of owning at least one ordinary share in Everton Football Club.

There’s a recent historical context to this, over and beyond the nuances of a more egalitarian ownership model, that the Friedkins would do well to observe, recognise and factor into their future strategy.

For the past thirty years, minority shareholders and fans alike have been lied to, have been treated with contempt  and had their ownership and custodial roles completely dismissed as irrelevant.

Inherited legacy

This is a legacy that the Friedkins have inherited. It means that beyond the initial relief of having bona fide new owners, in order to win the hearts and minds, most importantly the trust of the constant custodians, the Friedkins have to work way harder than their legal obligations minimally expect, and indeed their usual business practices elsewhere within their business empire.

They will know through their Roma experience, the power of passionate fans. They will know already the ability of Evertonians to pull our team across huge hurdles on the pitch. How much better then, that they harness that power for the benefit of the club corporately and indeed cement their own ownership through their communications as well as their actions.

No-one is expecting, nor wants leaked information on transfers, injuries, team selections or the latest gossip from Finch Farm. Regular communications in line with Premier League obligations through official channels is welcomed and a valuable part of being a modern Premier League club – feeding the vast requirement for information in a structured, organised and orderly manner.

Elsewhere though, perhaps on matters of strategic importance such as the development plans around Bramley-Moore, the redevelopment of Goodison Park, the regional development opportunities arising from the club’s move to a new stadium, much more work is required. Look at, for example, the media coverage of a potential redevelopment of Old Trafford in recent days, the amount of coverage, the political support, regionally and nationally it generated – even the lobbying of Central Government for tax payer funded financial assistance!

We have much to learn and much to catch up.

New forms of ownership

Closer to home, the issue of the treatment of minority shareholders is, in my opinion, a topic for discussion. For example, to comply with Premier League rules, audited accounts are presented to the Premier League before 31st December of each calendar year. Why then do shareholders and other stakeholders including fans have to wait for the statutory deadline of 31st March each year?

Why, although there is no legal obligation to do so, have general meetings, and an obligation to hold them, not been re-introduced into the articles of association – an example of good governance, a willingness to communicate and to be held to account. This assumes the continuation of some 7,969 shares being held by less than two thousand holders.

There’s the issue that weeks before the conclusion of the Friedkin takeover, the then board permitted smaller shareholders to trade shares at auction at £3,400 – despite the likelihood that 1.3 million new shares would be issues at one twentieth of the price just a couple of weeks later?

These questions require answers. Some will argue that a privately held website beyond the editorial control of the club, the Friedkins or recognised supporter bodies is not the place to expect answers to such?

But otherwise, how will we get those answers? How will we perhaps come up with alternative solutions to wider fan “ownership” and custodianship than an outdated, inappropriate current share capital structure?

How about for example, the minority holders of shares rather than trading at auction and without knowledge of events elsewhere, are given the opportunity to participate, along with thousands of other blues in a different ownership model.

Let’s not kid ourselves, football clubs at the highest levels of the game will always be controlled by billionaires, States or oligarchs going forwards – there’s too much money required and soft power benefits for them for it to be otherwise.

But as is the case with Everton, where minority holders continue to exist, why not extend that franchise? Why not open a form of ownership to the thousands of fans local or elsewhere.

For example, current ordinary shareholders could be offered a conversion of ordinary shares with a form of irredeemable preference, fan share. It doesn’t have to have a voting entitlement. It could be issued at par, say £100 – so current shareholders get 34 for each share held (based on last auction price). The directors have the right to veto transfer of ownership. So how about these new shares, make it a condition of ownership that they can only ever be traded at par value, i.e. £100 – then the price or value of the ordinary shares bought sold or issued by the Friedkins becomes irrelevant.

Importantly it would retain a form of ownership for existing minority holders and would allow for wider participation. At a price of £3,400, the nearly 8,000 non Friedkin held shares are worth approx £27 million. That would equate to 270,000 irredeemable preference fan shares – how much bigger and how much more egalitarian would our shareholder base be ?

All whilst allowing the Friedkin’s to get on with their job, provide a mechanism and obligation for communications and remove the financial risk for a much wider group of fans to “own” a piece of Everton. Imagine a scenario of tens of thousands of Evertonians rightly with an ownership stake rather than the current few hundred.

Time for change

This is just an example of how things can and should (in my opinion) change. It needs a change of thinking from the Friedkins, it needs a change of thinking from minority shareholders – but it is possible.

The club, the owners, current shareholders and fans would all benefit from communicating more, for thinking out of the box, for building trust and for embracing accountability as we all aim to make good the damage of the past.

All thoughts are welcome.