EPL CONFIRMS: Everton finally appoints new manager David Moyes as US billionaire ‘seals’ deal for Everton takeover.
EPL CONFIRMS: Everton finally appoints new manager David Moyes as US billionaire ‘seals’ deal for Everton takeover.
AS Roma owner and US billionaire Dan Friedkin is now ‘close’ to completing a takeover of Premier League club Everton,
according to reports.
Everton recently played down prospective new owner John Textor’s comments about being close to
a takeover earlier this month, insisting “there remains work to be done”.
In an interview earlier in September, the American,
who has a 45 per cent share in Crystal Palace which he has to offload first,
said the deadline to complete with Toffees owner Farhad Moshiri was November 30 but he felt it could be done before then.
Everton immediately moved to distance themselves from Textor’s assessment of the situation.
“The club is aware of the comments made by John Textor in relation to a potential purchase of the club,” said a statement.
“While positive conversations and progress continues to be made with Mr Textor to formalise any deal
with him there remains some work to be done to complete the transaction.
“Accordingly, the comments made by Mr Textor merely represent his personal view on club matters.
“Everyone at the club is staying focused on providing the best support possible to Sean (Dyche) and
the squad as we head into the weekend’s fixture.
“The club will provide updates in respect of new investment when there is material news to communicate
to supporters and other stakeholders – and this will be done through official club channels.”
In a wide-ranging interview with Sky Sports, Textor said the opportunity to become the new owner of
Everton was like being asked if he would like to become the President of the United States.
He also said he would have preferred for the club to remain at Goodison Park rather than move to a new
stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock next season.
But now US outlet Bloomberg insist that Friedkin – who owns Italian giants Roma already –
is ‘closing in on a takeover of Everton FC, the Premier League team that has been struggling to find a buyer,
according to people familiar with the situation.’
Talks between Friedkin and Moshiri ‘are in advanced stages to strike a deal, the people said,
which would bring an end to months of uncertainty at the Liverpool-based football team’
Despite previously announcing in July that he wouldn’t be buying Everton,
Friedkin has ‘reignited his plan to buy the club, competing against US investor John Textor’.
EVERTON TO APPOINT NEW MANAGER
Everton are reportedly close to sacking Sean Dyche – and there’s only one plausible replacement that makes any sense.
Should Everton really sack Sean Dyche? Things look pretty bleak after four defeats in four,
but that isn’t out of the ordinary for his teams, in truth – he has won just one game in the
first month of a new season in the last five years. But Everton aren’t just losing matches,
but losing them badly, and speculation that Dyche’s job is in danger continues to mount.
This is a team that has blown a 2-0 lead in back-to-back matches and shipped a sum total of 13 goals,
more than any other top flight side. You bring Dyche in as manager because he knows how to marshal a defence,
keep a team tight and organised, and grind out enough results to stave off relegation – and that just isn’t happening right now.
It doesn’t help the look of the whole thing that the last time he started a season conceding quite so many goals,
he was sacked before Burnley went down. Good omens are hard to come by at the moment.
Everton’s next two games come away to newly-promoted Leicester City and then at home to a Crystal Palace
side who haven’t hit the ground running. If there isn’t a win on the board by the end of September,
Dyche’s reign may well be abruptly terminated – and there is growing speculation that David Moyes
could make a return to his old club, more than a decade after he left Goodison Park following a thoroughly successful spell.
It should be noted that the rumours about Moyes’ return appear to be little more than that – an article about the notion
in The Daily Express, for instance, can only summon comments by a pundit on a BBC podcast as a source.
There is no hard evidence that Moyes has been approached, is being considered or even wants the job.
But considering Everton’s position – financial, not just in the table – and the fact Moyes is out of work after leaving
West Ham United in the summer, it’s not such a leap of logic to make.
Everton will struggle to repeat their Carlo Ancelotti trick with so much uncertainty over the club’s future and
a lot of high-class, available managers would likely turn their noses up given the dire situation on and off the pitch.
Moyes, however, is something of a hero to the blue half of Merseyside, and his return would make a great deal of sense.
Dyche has turned enough rough starts around that he deserves a chance to prove he can change course,
and the impending return of Jarrad Branthwaite may help considerably, especially given the rotten form of Michael Keane,
who was culpable for two of Aston Villa’s goals in last weekend’s comeback victory.
But if he can’t get some points on the board, you have to look at the boxes any successor would need to tick.
Moyes is hugely experienced, including with relegation battles, and coming off the back of a largely successful spell at
West Ham which saw him win their first trophy in decades. Not every West Ham fan was smitten with his style and methods,
but his work at the London Stadium at least put any notion that he was a has-been firmly to bed.
He knows how to martial a defence and get men behind the ball in much the same way Dyche does,
which will be helpful given how the squad has been constructed, with the talent concentrated in defence.
He also knows how rack up points with a limited attack, which will be even more helpful given the dearth of
quality the Toffees have going forward. Moyes’ football may not be the easiest on the eye, but it’s generally effective.
That last sentence applies equally to Dyche, of course, but if he’s lost his grip on the squad and
his specific methods aren’t working, then it doesn’t mean the broad blueprint should be abandoned.
In any case, it’s hard to imagine a more expansive manager’s methods working immediately with the
resources available at Goodison Park.
Finally, Moyes would get a lot of love from the stands, which can’t do any harm in terms of dispelling the
negative atmosphere that sits like a pall over the club. Just about everything that could be going wrong is right now,
from boardroom to bootroom, and this is a team in need of a lift.
Moyes would be an appointment that provides a little bit of that in a way that few other available managers would,
bar those that Everton either can’t afford or can’t expect to attract.
Moyes probably wouldn’t turn Everton around completely on his own.
Their squad is thin and lacking in difference-makers. But he can transmit some of the grit and
determination required to make something of the little that they have – and if Dyche can’t do that,
then it’s hard to see who else could other than Moyes. Let’s be honest,
this isn’t a situation that calls for Graham Potter, even if he was interested.
Everything looks a little bleak at Everton right now, and with good reason.
Somebody needs to get the barricades up and invoke a siege mentality that seems to be missing as it stands.
Maybe Dyche can still do that, as he has so often before. But if he fails,
Moyes is probably the only high-calibre candidate that could do it.
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