Toffees Takeover: Can the Friedkin Group 'Save' Everton?

It’s the news that Everton fans have been waiting for: Farhad Moshiri has relinquished ownership control of their club.

The former owner has sold his controlling 94% stake in the Toffees to the Friedkin Group; an American consortium that also has a shareholding in Italian Serie A outfit AS Roma.

One day, that could create a problem. UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules prevent teams with the same owner from competing against one another in European competition, but for Everton that is very much a pipedream right now.

Instead, simply stabilising and warding off the threat of relegation, which seems to be the annual default setting for the Merseysiders these days, will be the priority.

But will the Friedkin Group bring the investment and expertise to the table that helps to restore Everton FC to its former glory?

The American Dream

Money doesn’t buy success in modern football. But it can certainly help.

There’s a feeling that Moshiri was only too keen to protect his investment while running the show at Goodison Park, and that a lack of transfer spending has been one of the causes in Everton’s slide from top-half contenders to relegation candidates.

There’s certainly some truth to that: in the summer transfer window, the Toffees had the 18th lowest transfer spend in the Premier League. In the three seasons prior, they ranked 18th, 15th and 17th for total transfer fees splashed in the EPL….in the end, you can only outrun a lack of investment for so long.

Points deductions for financial fair play breaches (curious, given the club’s lack of spending) haven’t helped either, so it’s a case of goodbye and good riddance to the Iranian entrepreneur, who made bold claims and lofty aims when taking control of the club back in 2016.

Everton fans will be hoping that the Friedkin Group, headquartered in Texas, is more liberal when it comes to opening up their sizable chequebook. Dan Friedkin, the head of the consortium, has a net worth of nearly £6 billion. That should certainly help on that front.

But he’s made that fortune from being savvy in business, and when you look at the transfer spending at Roma in recent years, it’s evident that Friedkin likes to run his football clubs in the same way he might a limited company.

If we ignore the Friedkin’s first full season in charge of the club, many opted to tighten the purse-strings during the uncertainty of that pandemic-hit year, we note a very inconsistent pattern of spending.

In 2021/22, Roma spent £110 million on new players; a tangible statement of intent from the owners. Tammy Abraham, who joined from Chelsea, was the most expensive of the lot.

They only sold £14 million worth of talent, which suggests that the Friedkins were not too concerned with having a positive net spend in their first ‘proper’ campaign as owners; they simply wanted to improve their team as quickly as possible.

Since then, the goalposts have moved. Roma banked a £60 million net profit on their transfer spending in 2022/23, having made just one permanent signing.

And there was a similar theme in 2023/24: Friedkin sanctioned the signing of just one player, the £8 million capture of Tomasso Baldanzi, while selling ten players for a combined value of £70 million.

This isn’t the seemingly never-ending spending that we associate with other American owners like Todd Boehly or Stan Kroenke: the Friedkin Group has so far ran Roma like a business, trying to balance the books while remaining competitive on the pitch.

In the season prior to their takeover, Roma finished fifth in Serie A. In the campaigns since the American consortium took charge, they have finished seventh, sixth, sixth and sixth.

Everton fans hoping for a miracle cure for their club’s ailments may be left disappointed….

Toffees Come Unstuck

After five rounds of matches, Everton find themselves adrift at the foot of the Premier League table with just a solitary point and a goal difference of -9.

January, the month in which salvation may be forthcoming if the Friedkin Group decides that spending big on transfers is necessary, is a long way off – especially when you consider that, in December, the Toffees play Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City in successive games.

Perhaps it pays to look on the bright side. Everton have led in all three of their most recent games, enjoying two-goal cushions over Bournemouth and Aston Villa, as well as going a goal up against Leicester City.

The fact that they emerged from that trio of matches with just one point is catastrophic, really, for a side that is perennially battling relegation, but the glass half-full approach would be that, for a portion of those games, the Toffees were playing effective, ‘winning’ football.

But it does scream of a lack of confidence within the camp, as well as perhaps as a tactical oversight on the part of Sean Dyche. The Toffees were in cruise control against Bournemouth, before they decided to sit back and concede possession after opening up their two-goal lead. It would prove disastrous.

In truth, Everton rarely looked comfortable against Aston Villa even with their two-goal cushion, while the Leicester game was another example of them taking the lead and then resorting to a low block in a bid to defend it. Again, they were unable to do so.

While the prognosis on the pitch is perhaps not as damned as it might appear, there’s still the albatross of the club’s new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium to consider. Thought to have cost in excess of £800 million, the 52,888 seat venue is expected to be completed in time for the 2025/26 season.

Everton supporters, and the Friedkin Group, will be hoping that the red ribbon is cut with the Toffees still a Premier League concern. 

If they aren’t, the financial loss could have even the successful American consortium scratching their collective heads in wonderment at how they can make the club a viable entity once more. 

Click here for our Discounted Account Offer. Access updated previews and analysis on up to 5 tournaments for 30 days.