As Evertonians, we just can’t wait for the Friedkin Group’s takeover to happen, so we’ve been monitoring events at Roma and how they run a football club with interest, especially now they’ve sacked another manager after less than two months in charge. They started off with the big-name appointment in Jose Mourinho and he ended up bringing them their first trophy in many years but when it turned sour, Friedkin pressed the button.
We’ve been there ourselves and our expectations were increased because we were waiting for a money man to come to our club and we wanted to make big changes to start challenging but we’ve also moved a few managers on, and we’ve found that’s not the way forwards. Where we are financially as a football club, as a result of that, is very difficult.
The big question right now over the Friedkin Group is whether they’ll understand the situation over what’s gone on at Everton. It’s a bit concerning that they’re making the wrong choices because if they’d made the right ones then Mourinho, Daniele De Rossi or Ivan Juric would still be in a job.
Seeing your prospective owners go through three managers in less than a year makes you contemplate what things might be like at Everton. Kevin Thelwell is here as director of football and whether he signs a new contract – his current deal, like Sean Dyche, expires at the end of this season – or they bring somebody else in, there has got to be someone to link up with at a club when it comes to picking a manager.
There have been times in the recent past when Everton’s managers and sporting directors have not seen eye to eye and that’s not helped us, either on or off the football pitch. While we all want to win every week, you have to realise that’s not always going to be the case and you have to go through the bad moments at times.
If you look back, perhaps Marco Silva was a bit harshly treated and went a little bit too early after a difficult run. Our expectations at the time were higher though because we’d spent money and there was pressure to deliver.
Farhad Moshiri hasn’t been shy on pressing the button himself, but more recent managers might have been given more time because of our financial situation. Dyche’s job, if he wants to stay at the football club, is to try and make us a bit more expansive, while still finding ways to win football games.
As for what will happen next summer? Only time will tell.
The players who are there now have got to play for their futures and the same goes for Dyche from a managerial point of view. He’ll probably feel that he’s got a bit of credit for all that he achieved last season with the clouds over the football club, the points deductions and trying to keep morale up in training and trying to keep the whole club calm, which I thought he was excellent at, nobody else has had to go through a situation like that and I thought he handled it well.
This season, he has told the players and the fans that he wants to be a bit more expansive and start creating more opportunities, but we’re not seeing enough of that yet. It’s not going to change overnight but two wins in 11 is not good right now and the Friedkin Group will be looking at the situation and thinking that needs to change.
