Friedkin Group to plug BMD funding gaps

His commitment to the financial stability of both club and stadium is good for him too -- it makes his investment stronger -- but for us supporters, it means fewer knotty stomachs and sleepless nights.

Now it's up to the boys in blue. Stay up. Starting next season as a Premier League club in that magnificent new stadium opens up a whole new world for all of us.

Now let's's get this ownership takeover signed and sealed.

This is Everton after all.

Blue skies ahead.

I don't know if you remember "The Fast Show"? There was an old geezer in one of the sketches, played by Paul Whitehouse. Always ended with him saying "Ooohhh bugger!"

So I know fully what you mean.

Alan, yes we are the Unlucky Alf when it comes to club management, and results.

Unlucky Alf!!!

However, Dan Friedkin will be “Splashing the Cash” in January, with a striker a top priority, and is reportedly saying that no top players will be sold!

Fingers crossed we don't do an “Everton that”.

What I'm hoping for is, at long last, we'll have leadership that will say "He is our player, so show us the money."

By that, I mean mega bucks – not selling our assets for magic effing beans like we've done in the past. For God's sake a lad only has to play once for that lot across the park and he's in the £20 million bracket.

I'm looking forward to a real hard-nosed business man standing up to these Sky Six entitled gobshites.

Everton are hopefully leaving the "big club, no substance" behind. Fortunately, arrogance wasn't an issue. Arrogance is by far worse.

Having just read on BBC Sport Gossip that the RS are adding themselves to the list of suitors for our Jarrad, and that Dyche will have funds to strengthen the squad and that no top players will be sold (Do one, RS), gives me, at present, the belief that the business aspect of our club is destined for a brighter future.

TFG will be ruthless in dealing with “the business” – make no bones about it – and not all decisions will be welcomed but at this moment in time I feel that TFG's business will be Everton Football Club, and everything that is done in its name will be for the benefit and future health and survival of both club and owner.

Hope that I am proven right — Time, as always, will tell. “We're Forever Everton”!

We have had so many false dawns over new owners, that I think I will wait till The Friedkin Group have passed all the regularity checks before getting to excited. There is no doubt Moshiri made a complete mess of our club, but maybe building a new stadium has actually made us more of a proposition for a new owner, and without it, you couldn't see what would attract a buyer to the club.

But if, and hopefully when Friedkin get control of the club, it still won't make our problems go away. I am sure instead of our neighbours being able to put on shows in the summer, it will be us with great facilities inside the new stadium that will attract them.

Maybe Friedkin with his American connection could do a similar deal to what Levy has done with attracting NFL games. Maybe it's just a pity that we didn't have a retractable pitch like Spurs which makes it so much easier to have these events at the ground.

I provided opinion with the Leadenhall matter, a civil fraud case, the potential criminal liability of Friedkin if civil escalates to criminal proceedings (777s £200M loan to Everton), and even if 777 collapses, the liability to Friedkin against 777's estate with regard to claims.

I said Friedkin will pay his attorney to ask the parties, ie Leadenhall and 777 Partners (as it then was) and the judge whether he has permission without liability attached to buy Everton. I concluded the parties and the judge would agree.

Now the narrative has changed, so has Matt Slater of The Athletic and so has the Everton takeover narrative. It's as though society entails script readers as when the situation changes, so does the narrative – that is to say from negative narrative to positive narrative.

Many herald The Esk and Matt Slater inter alios as the experts. A philosopher, think it was Kahn (spell?) said an expert is just someone who adds something to existing something, to paraphrase.

The Athletic creates a script based on the then current narrative but that changes where popularity causes the negative image for example of Everton to a positive narrative and thus positively changed script.

With Dyche supposedly to get funds in January at least points to no immediate change of manager in the short term – which I think is a good thing. Enough to sort out behind the scenes without adding to the chaos on the pitch.

If Liverpool or Man Utd want Branthwaite, they can have him – £100M thanks – cash up front and he's yours. Also keeping Dyche for a while allows Man Utd more time to sign Southgate so we can dodge that massive bullet.

We did suffer from other interested parties trying to pick over the bones of Everton to get at the stadium development. With The Friedkin Group, we at least know that they can run a business.

We have had false dawns, but I think this one has legs. If you haven't been there and can, get down to Bramley-Moore Dock. As she comes into view, you will be mesmerised.

Hopefully with Friedkin coming in, we can build our brand. Just like my family, I'm always proud of my roots and our local or connected support. But we need to promote ourselves more. Not just in the US or globally, but in the city.

Take the city back. As you walk out of Lime Street, I'd want Everton plastered all over the façade on St John's. Light up St George's Hall in royal blue. The first thing people will see.

I'm probably getting carried away, but let's remind visitors who The Originals are.

I'd even put something opposite the Arkles!!

Moshiri has lost what must be a nine-figure sum letting himself get pulled into one of Bill's schemes. But he's built us that billion-pound stadium and passed us on to competent if unexciting owners.

It looks like we've dodged the mother of all bullets and can look forward to the future with real confidence. Who'd have thunk it? Not me.

Your comments remind me of the joke:

“I'm selling two Sooty puppets. I don't want anything for them, I just want someone to take them off my hands…”
😁

You're here all week, Ray! 🤭

.

It was just gathering dust.

I don't think this was part of his Everton holdings so wonder if he'll be quietly selling his share of this now too? Given Everton HQ is there (with Moshiri's office supposedly positioned to see Bramley-Moore Dock) maybe something The Friedkin Group would look at too?

That would be the icing on the cake.

Can't be much involved in adding that, surely.

Why doesn't a bear wear shoes and socks?…

Because he's got bare feet!!

It suggests better times are around the corner… a bit like the '80s when the great Howard Kendall team used to train by rolling tractor tyres down hills — they were goodyears!

I had a dog once that could do magic tricks. "What was it?" I hear you ask…

A labracadabrador.

This stadium, not counting the supporters and visiting teams' followers, will be seen live by more non-supporters than nearly any other stadium in the country. This will be viewed from every ship that goes down the Mersey including tankers to the refinery, Royal Navy visits, ships for repairs, two ferries – one to Ireland and one to The Isle of Man, with the major amount of exposure to the passengers on the cruise-line ships.

This makes it an ideal location for the exposure of whoever gets the naming rights, and I wonder if this was why it was built there, or was it the only suitable site available?

I wonder if Merseyside could be a significant market for NFL?

Location is a massive advantage for Spurs.

I was walking the dog down on Otterspool prom this afternoon, and the amount of aircraft flying over the Mersey heading into John Lennon Airport, they would have had a great view of the stadium.

Obviously only those on the left hand side of the aircraft would have seen the stadium!

A magnificent stadium full to the rafters each week, a strengthened team, debt free and on the up, why would TFG want anything less, these are serious players and they know the possibilities.

As for Branthwaite going to Man Utd or Liverpool (is it April Fool's Day?) another space filler from tomorrow's chip papers.

Your comments remind me of the times I walked down to the Otterspool Prom in the late '50s. I was attending Riversdale Technical College and used to walk to the chippy and then down to the prom, I think Liverpool cricket club had their ground around there.

Sadly remembering that, as it is my birthday this Sunday, it reminds me how old I am getting.

Liverpool Cricket Ground was on Aigburth Road and behind that Old Liobians ground and then Ocean Steamship (Blue Funnel, Alfred Holt & Co) ground, now leased to Merseyside Police, with the Technical College on the other side of the road which I'm told is now a housing estate.

I once played cricket at BLUFlu's ground in March and the wind coming off the river was so cold one of the umpires was taken off suffering from exposure.

Hope this doesn't stop the deal.

In any event, subject to getting the necessary approvals, the Club is, effectively, Friedkin's to run now.

Maybe instead of calling it the Blue Funnel ground it should have been called the Blue Flue ground.

I'm sure that Moshiri said to TFG that it would be necessary, as part of the deal, for them to fund the completion of the new stadium.

They probably, as serious bidders, were happy to do so as they then would be sure that they would be taking over a completed stadium once the deal was signed off. Leaving that for Moshiri to do would not have provided them the same amount of certainty.

They know by doing that, they will be able to hit the ground running, which is a good thing for all concerned. Convert the money expended to shares and give Moshiri less cash.

That is my simplistic view anyway.

It was truly a sight to behold as streams of men would walk the mile up to the residential areas off Scotland Road, Stanley Road every day.

Those days are gone, little use of public transport, most will be pushed out to areas outside the parking zones into the remaining residential areas causing congestion there.

It's been the unanswered issue of the new stadium build. If you build it, they will come, but sorry we won't let you near it!

So 60k people going the match will be havoc!

This last paragraph from The Echo today makes it as clear as it can be that, as in all these things, everyone is reliant on what the Court says.

"According to sources close to TFG, the stance remains the same on the A-CAP issue. It has to go before the court for approval, and there is confidence that the agreement will be approved by the Court and Leadenhall and that the issue can be resolved in a timely manner, with the focus for TFG then very much on ensuring all things are in place to gain regulatory approval and complete the takeover of the Blues." — Liverpool Echo, 2 October 2024

From that, I don't think that there should be a problem… do you?

Leadenhall have accused A-CAP of essentially asset stripping by trying to sell Standard Liege and its team to recover its money. In addition, they have requested more information on the deal between TFG and A-CAP re the Everton transaction.

A-CAP said they would give the information under a non-disclosure agreement. I would imagine then that TFG have or will strike a deal with A-CAP to pay them a lesser amount than the £200M or over a period of time (unlikely).

Other than that, I cannot see why a repayment of a loan to a lender would be of issue... unless of course, 777 go bust, then TFG could negotiate with the liquidator for a lesser amount. Big money poker!

They could have a look at it when they are taking off Rob.

Denis Richardson 18: No Dennis, just no. Jarrad is not going across the park to the other side. I would hope that no supporter or – less hopeful here – the ones who pull the purse strings – would even countenance selling JB to them. It would also be horrible for the lad who, reading between Rob's occasional lines on him, sounds like a really grounded young man.

Ed Prytherch 33: as you know Ed, 99% of Yanks – possibly 99.75% - know one city in our “sceptered isle”. It begins with “L” and it aint Liverpool. Anyway, ‘merican football is a shite sport, and I don't want thousands of Yanks waddling around our city with their fanny packs and baseball caps back to front with fucking shades pulled up over said caps saying “way to go”, “I'll do ham on rye”, “I gotten drunk”, “just do it dude”, “correct”, “that was an awesome deplane, give me 5”, “is London near here", “is this normalcy”, “woah buddy not in my space”, “these scouzer people are supposed to be good at burglarizing”, “my neighbour medalled in the Olympics”, “get in the hole”, “USA”.

WikiLeaks are already on to it! :-)

At least it's not Lacey Roofing!

It's highly unlikely that a retractable roof can be added retrospectively unless it was provided for in the original design and construction, which I very much doubt considering the additional costs that would be involved.

Chairman Bill and Moshiri would not have had the foresight to incorporate an add on feature like that, although someone did come up with the idea, and money, for the standing only conversion, so maybe?

I used to know an American girl who really struggled with that pronunciation and couldn't get around the spelling.

The stadium is beginning to look absolutely magnificent but, I do wonder if the future generations will rue the day, that the stadium, hasn't got a roof, at certain times in the year, because it's fffffuckn fffffreezin in the winter months when that constant wind starts gets up.

You've misjudged my "humour" there mate.

I didn't actually think it was a viable option I was more, much to my shame, trying to highlight the folly of a preceding comment, which seemed serious, about throwing a retractable roof on at the end, as an afterthought like it was no big thing.

While on the subject of roofs, I've been told that the "leak" in our present roof was fake news and wasn't as the person who did the video made out.

I've not been able to find anything concrete to support that (get it?) but I'm still trying.

Blinkered, xenophobic shite and incredibly unfunny to boot.

A retractable roof, like Cardiff and dare I say it, Schalke's Veltins Arena.

Maybe I'm scarred from being soaked at the weekend when I took family to have a look!!

Just don't leave your phone in the pub!!

What is a Google or Apple wallet? The last thing I would ever do is link a bank account to a phone, the vast numbers of people who desperately ring up the fraud people proves that.

Before smartphones, did you ever see anybody walking along the street waving their wallets or purses in the air? I am not technophobic, it's just that the technology has gone to a place where it controls humans.

It is email and password controlled, so providing you use a unique password, it's secure. I use it for my train tickets as well.

The problem is that I can't use a phone without physical buttons. If your fingers tremble, apps which are designed for 'smart' phones are useless.

I refused to have a phone dictate my life and always have a laugh when I see someone walking down the road waving their arms while talking to someone; even going to the coffee shop you used to be able to talk to someone but now they are either talking or playing games on their phone.

I understand the way it is today it is becoming harder to go without one, and I believe the government should supply anyone over 65 with the latest model with lessons on how to use it.

It"s not a leaky roof – it's just that the drainage system isn't yet complete.

Nothing to see here, nothing to worry about other than some gobshite trying to put negative stuff out there.

In principle, syphonic drainage is a very simple process. Unlike traditional roof drainage, which is designed to flow part full, a syphonic system operates at full capacity, when water is sucked or syphoned from the roof down into the drain at high velocity.

"I just have a flip phone now with all my families numbers and they have mine."

I wouldn't use a flip 'phone 'cos the temptation to say "beam me up Scottie" when answering it would be too great!

But a tennis court is much smaller than a football stadium and cost vs reward would be small.

My favorite quote was from the late Houston Oilers coach Bum Phillips who said "An expert is just an ordinary fella away from home."

Anyway, that was the end of that.

Unless designed and built to accommodate an add-on later the roof will be a cantilevered construction with the outer edge supporting nothing.

To add a retractable section that outer edge needs to be load bearing, and the rest of the roof will have to be beefed up to support the extra load bearing centre piece.

And that's only feasible if the concrete structure supporting the roof is capable of supporting that extra weight.

It really has to be designed and built from day one to take an add-on 'cos, as John @75 says, to retrofit is not easy or cheap.

I know it's probably the wrong place to post this here, however...

I'd read on-line, about 2 weeks ago, that there was a possibility that TFG were going to recapitalise their purchase of Everton by selling AS Roma?

That was from a 'less than reliable source', and pretty much soon after Josimar pretty much poo-pooed the idea.

However, I've just seen another link from a fairly respected Italian Journo, Alessio Manieri being reported by an AS Roma fansite as saying that the Saudi PIF group are making moves to buy AS Roma from TFG.

Here's the link;

Sale of Roma, Alessio Manieri: “Goodbye of the Friedkins in act”

It is in Italian, but I'll copy and paste the (Google) translation here;

Sale of Roma, Alessio Manieri: “Goodbye of the Friedkins in act”
30 September 2024 - 16:20, Giuseppe Mustica

Cession (Sale) of Roma: rumors of a move to the Arabs are becoming increasingly important, despite denials from Trigoria (AS Roma's equivalent of 'La Masia').

Exclusive manners: “In act cession (act of selling)”

Every Monday and every Thursday, on the channel Twitch by Asromalive.it, we discuss what Rome's time is.
Between thoughts and news of sale and Juric's situation. The week premiere recently ended and Alessio Manieri he remarked again on the facts and reported further news on the Arabs.

“They must give in to those who have competence. Now Trigoria is made up of Ghisolfi and Juric. é.I don't know how many employees have been cut, there is no one left. And where are the presidents?

But come and get the boos at the stadium too. I hope that Roma (TFG) will sell it as soon as possible, and that perhaps a very important group will arrive”. And then: “Further news is arriving, and on Saturday we interviewed an important journalist: news arrives to us from an Arab group headed by Pif. é.Society belies, though so many within Trigoria they say they know nothing. But on the other side we have important news”.

Sale of Roma, Manieri's words

“The doubt that comes to me is that Arabs have the opportunity to make great sponsorships and put even more money than Friedkins thanks to their related activities.
When you put in a lot of money the strong team still comes out”. “If I don't see high-level executives I think they want to change hands”. “In such a situation where there is no one in Trigoria, it makes me think that there is a cession going on” also said Manieri, sending these signals.
So there is something.

As mentioned, denials arrive from Trigoria. But second Manors (a second look at..?) these signals are important and therefore to be interpreted in only one direction: namely that of a possible farewell of the Friedkin.

: Roma News - Latest news Roma Calcio,

----------

So, it seems despite denials, that there is continuing dialogue between the Friedkin's and the Saudi PIF?

Which could be very interesting for us, because if TFG do sell Roma, then we will be the Apex club in their very small, two club, multi-club model.

From what I can see, Manieri seems fairly clued up on issues around Roma, and is a long-time fan as well.

The only doubt I have, is that he might be using the initial rumours from around June this year that the PIF were going to try and buy Roma after dumping their shares in Newcastle (I mean would you prefer to travel to Newcastle or Rome to watch your football club?)

Maybe PIF are trying to buy their shares in Spurs and Roma, and start their own Multi-club model with two higher profile clubs than Newcastle?

Whatever the situation, if this goes ahead, then all of TFG's resources become freed up, and I would assume they would have more money than their initial payment of €700M for Roma paid to them if sold.

Good wishes Lyndon (and all),

Simon

I gained the impression that there was too much criticism being pointed at them due to internal politics at the club or that finding somewhere to build a new stadium in Rome was either too difficult or too expensive to be a viable proposition. Maybe there are other reasons too.

Who they sell to wasn't speculated on in what I read but a sale to the PIF wouldn't surprise me at all. It is all speculation though and may not be even remotely true. We shall have to wait and see.

I first noticed the rumours about a possible sale of Roma just before The Friedkin Group made their initial approach to buy Everton in June/July.

This is when I think that the guy at Josimar, Paul Brown, dismissed the idea stating that TFG wanted to keep AS Roma as their 'Jewel in the Crown'.

However, over the last fortnight or so there have been repeated 'rumours' that TFG are going to sell AS Roma after all.

I think the points you made in post [79] all apply I.e. making unpopular decisions, the difficulty in building a new stadium for Roma, losing the Roma Ultras due to the managerial decisions e.g. the sacking of Mourinho and De Rossi, and the perceived 'fleecing' of the club by using club income to payback the owner's loans. How dare they get their money back!

As you so though. there might be many reasons why they want to pull out; probably in the main the difficulty of spreading a limited footballing knowledge bandwidth between the two clubs especially as Everton don't appear to have anyone other than Thelwell as a truly football executive professional left?

Maybe too, that having splurged all the money into reducing wriggle room for Roma's FFP position, they might have decided to apply lessons learnt at Roma to Everton.

Anyway, Peter that is an excellent follow post.

NB To Lyndon and all,

my apologies re the cock-stating about Amanda Staveley and the PIF buying into Spurs. I think talking about the PIF too much bent my thought process out of the correct line!

Of course, it is only Amanda Staveley who is nearing completing a 25% share purchase in Spurs.

I still agree with your ideas as they make sense. I never thought for a moment that TFG would have come after Everton if they had been as totally pleased with how things were going for them at Roma as they said even though they made out all was good at that time. I still think the same.

Something is driving them and it is based on the knowledge they have gained of football at Roma and the fact that they think they would be better employing a similar but better model somewhere else (Everton) where there is more scope than Roma and Cannes. My initial thoughts at least.

That, if true, is good news for us as we will be getting quite knowledgeable people who are quick learners and good businessmen. They will also have much more scope in the Bramley-Moore Dock area for profitable investments, should they want that, which I think they do.

Interesting times ahead, I think.