Everton takeover on course for December completion

I am perhaps a little jaundiced by the shameless clickbait in their headline that says this is all "paving the way for a huge January"… which (deliberately or inadvertently?) suggests 'huge' player signings in the January transfer window. Er… let's just wait and see what really transpires, eh?

I wasn't sure how much new stuff the article actually contained as we've already covered a couple of nuggets referenced near the end.

And my eye could not help but be drawn to an adjacent headline at i News that proclaimed BIG READ: 'The mess will take years to fix': Inside Ineos's first 10 months at Man Utd'!!!

But yes, let's hope it all goes through without a hitch…  

It has had some success in the past which helped to keep the Academy running and also where PSR is concerned but it can be run much better than it has been, particularly how the coaching staff is chosen and operated.

It shouldn't take till the end of the year for TFG to prove they have the funds to complete the deal.

Even the richest clubs are doing this – like Liverpool's purchase of Rio Ngumoha from Chelsea – because the conventional transfer system is unsustainable.

I think we have to be realistic. It won't happen overnight. I love our heritage. This could be the platform for an Everton that recognises the achievements of the past, but doesn't live in it.

When this goes through, we have the opportunity to reinvent and establish Everton Football Club.

It will be a painful experience, with not all personnel having the necessary skill set our new owners will demand. However, the change in culture and how we operate is long overdue, and one of the first tasks the hapless Moshiri should have carried out upon his purchase of Everton eight years ago.

If we want the club to compete at the top table, we need the best people available on the job market, and not just 'good Evertonians' that the previous Chairman awarded jobs to.

In turn, I hope the fan base recognise the job the new owners have in literally starting from scratch. It won't happen overnight, such is the scale of the task.

We've been down this road before, I know, but a degree of patience is needed.

I know middle managers on the internet love discussing financial strategy and are bizarrely excited by boardroom changes and the creation of spoof job titles but the only thing that matters is player recruitment.

The Moshiri years and present incarnations of Man Utd and Chelsea show if you can't get your player recruitment right it doesn't matter what sponsorship deals you have, how many power point presentations are made, or how many shirts are sold — you're still crap.

Ring the bell when we start getting decent players in.

This is not a case of 3 or 4 good signings plus a decent manager turns it around.

Try it Barry, I'm not sure if Leanord Cohen rings your bell, but if Everton can find lyrics like this, we will be champions again before the decade is out!!

The plan should be to try and build a team in a 3-year period who will attempt to compete properly in the Premier League and to bring back European football to Everton either via league placings or via the cup competitions.

What we've been through this past half-dozen years isn't an excuse for the club to continue to fail. It should act as a warning to the new owners that supporting the footballing operation should be the only aim of every department and the only thing that really matters is the on-field results.

I guess the point is that, unless we sort the boring stuff out behind the scenes, then recruitment and assembling a decent side will be an uphill battle.

The RS have punched above their (still considerable) weight because they get so much right off the pitch.

Same for lots of other clubs who have found it very straightforward to breeze past us in recent years.

- academy investment
- youth player scouting
- youth player development
- youth player trading for profit
- low cost market scouting
- use of affiliate clubs and sister clubs
- better use of loan system for player development
- better use of statistical analysis

None of this is now rocket science so doesn't give us some huge advantage – but it helps to remove a big disadvantage we've been carrying.

The commercials then help drive investment into the first team squad and academy etc.

Thanks for posting this up, it took a little while to think about whether to post it or not, because as you say parts of it are repetitive from other threads; but, I felt it tied up everything nicely under a single article.

Also, try as I might, I couldn't find Paul Brown's article on Josimar about this, which was mentioned on several sites? However, I've not taken out a subscription at Josimar, so that is probably why I couldn't find it?

Regards the "Paving the way for a huge January" headline, yes unashamed clickbait as you say, but we've all got to make a living I suppose.

I know you feel that that would indicate 'Huge' player interest in the January window, but I was a little more circumspect and thought that with TFG taking control of the club and the start of the overhaul of the club, and the beginning of a new, modern, forward thinking era for Everton!

As Danny O'Neil said at post [5]

"When this goes through, we have the opportunity to reinvent and establish Everton Football Club."

Hopefully that will be exactly what happens... fingers crossed! 🤞

However, I am expecting maybe a couple of incomings, hopefully a couple of cross-club loans or transfers and maybe, just maybe, getting shut of any of the last vestiges of the 'deadwood'.

This whole time-frame drew me to the Doors tune, and the promise that this is finally The End of the Kenwright legacy... (And an end to the 'Curse!')

This is the end, beautiful friend
This is the end, my only friend, the end
It hurts to set you free
But you'll never follow me
The end of laughter and soft lies
The end of nights we tried to die
This is the end.

A new dawn and a new beginning hopefully!

As for United, I hope it takes them decades to sort out Michael, and I wouldn't shed a tear for them (which is my polite version of what I think!)

And yes, let's hope it all goes through without a hitch… Very much so!

COYB!

The entire club staff need to be replaced with top notch pros. Bye-bye to the people who have been stealing a living of EFC for too long.

As for January, I'd be quite pleased if the purse strings are loosened just enough for Thelwell & Dyche to cover a couple of shortcomings in the squad – full-back springs to mind.

I don't expect any new owner to be in a rush to splash the cash, and I'd be a bit alarmed if they did – seen that show before and it don't end well!

Having been a little bit underwhelmed by our performance on Saturday night, I was thinking about our club, and my own opinion is that we were very, very close to the end of our very long tether; I am not sure we could have survived another season of exceptionally lean operations.

The road to recovery will be long but Everton Football Club always had a touch of the phoenix rising out of the flames before we were inflicted with a terrible curse, so hopefully we can win the cup and give Goodison the send-off that it deserves!

I agree with you that TFG's errors in the early days of their Roma ownership will be an excellent lesson for their Everton takeover, but one mistake they did not make was to splash big cash on big-name players. They played it cool and budget-conscious with the roster. Their only splashy recruit was Mourinho. So I would not expect a "huge" January.

I am not at all surprised that Friedkin will have a fully-assembled executive team ready for the moment he completes the purchase, and as I've said before, I would be similarly unsurprised to see Souloukou installed as our CEO – although she was run out of Rome by death threats from the ultras, she reportedly ran a highly responsible operation and both of her managerial changes appear to have been good decisions. Roma was winless in the league when she sacked De Rossi and ignited the ultras. They're 2-1-0 since.

Hanukkah and Christmas coincide this year. Let's hope it's a triple celebration for the completion of this transaction. I'll light every candle on the menorah. You go, Big Dan!

Trailing blue smoke, of course!

Fred Quick @11: "I agree with Barry @ 8, I'm only concerned about what I'm watching on the pitch. All the other stuff is important for the club as a whole."

You do realise, Fred, that "on the pitch" depends on "all the other stuff"?

As others have commented, we must hope TFG has learned from their mistakes at Roma. Putting the club's operations on a sound financial footing, creating a sound supporting structure, and embedding robust systems with qualified personnel in key roles should be the early priorities; the priorities for January.

I would start to worry if our new owners ‘hit the ground running' in January by gambling their new club's future on hit-or-miss signings including that of a new first-team manager.