Everton's Takeover Saga Set To End.

Karan Ahgun

— 5 min read
Everton's Takeover Saga Set To End.

Everton fans will have been relieved to hear that their club is on the verge of a takeover at the start of this week. American investment firm, The Friedkin Group (TFG), have agreed a deal worth more than £400 million with Everton's majority stakeholder, Farhad Moshiri, to take control over running the Toffees. So how has this all come to a head?

Farhad Moshiri first got involved with Everton in 2016, when he bought a 49.9% stake in the club after selling his own stake in Arsenal to business partner Alisher Usmanov. At the time, Everton fans would have hoped that Moshiri would provide the financial backing that they so craved, in a bid to challenge the top clubs for regular European football. Under Moshiri's ownership, Everton have spend just under £700 million but the problem has been who they've spent that money on. The 2017/18 transfer window under Ronald Koeman was particularly eye-catching not because of the names they signed but the fact that the majority of those players did not work out and seemed to be a huge waste of money. That window saw the likes of Davy Klaassen and Cenk Tosun came in and barely made an impact at Everton.

The erroneous spending by Everton under Moshiri has had consequences in recent months. In March 2023, the club were referred to an independent commission by the Premier League over an alleged breach of FFP rules. Going into the 2023/24 season, these breaches were still being investigated, causing instability and irritation amongst the Everton fanbase. Then in November 2023, the Premier League deducted 10 points from Everton, the largest ever points deduction in English top flight football history. The game after this deduction was implemented was a home game against Manchester United (famous for Garnacho's spectacular overhead kick goal). The Goodison Park faithful made clear their feelings towards the Premier League by booing the PL anthem as the players lined up and raising pink cards featuring the word "corrupt". This wasn't the end of the points deduction drama for Everton. The original 10 point deduction was reduced to 6 points upon appeal but the club were hit with a second 2 point deduction in April 2024 for a second breach. These issues really highlight the need for new ownership at Everton, despite the investment Moshiri committed in the form of player transfers and a new stadium.

Throughout these troubles with FFP rules, Everton did have the possibility of new ownership under American Investment firm 777 Partners. They had loosely agreed a deal with Moshiri to buy the club in September 2023 but there was a lot of conjecture surrounding their potential ownership. There have been all sorts of accusations levelled at 777 Partners including not paying Standard Liege players' wages on time and co-owner, Josh Wander, being accused of a "fraudulent scheme" in New York. The Everton Advisory Board wrote to Moshiri in May 2024 to call off talks claiming that 777 Partners would be "unsuitable owners" and would cause "reputational damage" to the club. Ultimately, 777 partners were unable to pass the Premier League's Owners and Directors test, despite providing Everton with loans of up to £200 million and the deal to buyout Moshiri collapsed in June.

So, who are Everton's new prospective owners? The Friedkin Group are an American investment firm who have experience in European football through their ownership of Italian giants, AS Roma. Dan Friedkin (CEO of TFG) is believed to have a net worth of £5.7 billion, making most of his money in the car industry. TFG's ownership of AS Roma has had mixed reviews. They have invested around £830 million in the club since 2020, appointed José Mourinho and won the first ever Europa Conference League. To their credit, TFG are also known to be the kind of the owners who keep a low profile and don't involve themselves in the day-to-day running of the football club. They would much rather let the football executives run their club than do the work themselves, in an industry where they would have had little to no experience in. Whilst there are some positives about TFG's ownership of AS Roma, there are also some negatives. These negatives have been under the spotlight recently after Daniele De Rossi was sacked recently. This came as a major shock to both fans and the Italian media, and the communication of this decision was severely scrutinised. With news of TFG's agreement to buy a majority stake in Everton, Roma fans are also concerned that they will no longer be the main focus of their owners and some are calling for them to sell the club.

There are things that Everton fans can look forward to with TFG as their new owners. Firstly, they can bring some much needed stability to the club as they look to move into their new stadium next season. The club's financial worries may also be alleviated by TFG, with investment needed to cover the costs of erratic spending in past seasons. One thing that the new owners will need to do is to make sure that they understand how much the club means to its supporters and to try and find a connection with the fans, so that they may build a lasting relationship. Everton fans just want to be able to enjoy their football again after a couple of years fighting relegation battles and they would be hoping that TFG will be able to help the club rise through the league into a position where Everton believe they belong!

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