Everton’s incoming owners know they have a huge short-term call to make on manager Sean Dyche’s future at the club.
i understands that the Friedkin Group’s takeover remains “on track” to complete by the middle of December, with a new board of directors to be announced simultaneously.
Sources indicate that a new-look executive team is also ready to go and will be unveiled shortly afterwards – and will it be up to them to assess whether Dyche continues in face of mounting pressure from the Goodison Park crowd.
His job is understood not to be under immediate threat – Everton have lost just one game in eight – but there is growing frustration from both the standard of performances and the team’s inability to convert chances.
They have not scored in three games and are, once again, the Premier League’s lowest scorers.
And after a relatively benign run of fixtures December looks frighteningly tough for Everton, with all of the top four to play during a month that kicks off at Old Trafford this weekend.
What is the latest with Everton’s takeover?
December will be hugely significant for the club, with the Friedkins expecting to complete their takeover before Christmas – having already vaulted the first of the regulatory hurdles and with only the Premier League’s enhanced checks to go through.
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Earlier this month Kevin Thelwell, the club’s director of football, told i that the Friedkins feel like the “right people” to take the club forward – and that he was confident a deal would be completed soon. That feeling is shared by all parties i has spoken to.
One source said that the legal dispute between A-Cap, one of the club’s lenders, and Leadenhall Capital – flagged up as a possible complication in the deal – will not impact the timeline of the takeover. They remain “confident” of completing and are ready to hit the ground running with executives identified to come in and make calls.
There is still no indication from those close to the group about Dyche’s future – those kind of decisions, i has been told, rest entirely with the current ownership until the deal is complete – but the new custodians are “acutely aware” of the importance of staying in the Premier League this season ahead of the move to a new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock in the summer.
If performances and results don’t improve, they face a huge call within weeks of collecting the keys to the club.
Does Dyche deserve a chance under new owners?
Everton’s embattled manager has kept the club up in successive seasons in hugely challenging circumstances and would privately point out that it has been more difficult that many realise.
He hasn’t been backed with huge finance and has had to steer the club through chaos at times.
But there is a feeling that this team, for all its limitations, can perform better than it is. Certain players like Dominic Calvert-Lewin – who is free to negotiate with other clubs from January – seem to have regressed this season.
A clean break might be best for all parties under new ownership.
Will Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) come into their thinking?
Everton are confident of complying with Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) for the current season after a summer of wheeling and dealing to avoid the points deductions that left them on the brink last season.
But the club remain under the cosh after years of over-spending and an expensive severance package for Dyche might put them under pressure to sell either in January or run-up to the end of the accounting period in the summer.
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While that is unlikely to be the sole motivating factor, it says much about the mess Moshiri is leaving the club in that it is worth mentioning.
“Redundancy payments to managers have to be taken into consideration when doing the PSR calculations,” football finance expert Kieran Maguire explains.
“It is a consideration and trying to get money in through the door before making a redundancy commitment is a challenge for Everton given that they are not in a brilliant position PSR-wise, although I think they’re fine as far as the three years to 2023-24 are concerned.
“It also has to be remembered that there’s the outstanding case against Everton relating to their position with regards to the interest on Moshiri’s loans which could have been capitalised or could have been written off – nobody seems to know what’s happening with regards to that particular case.”
What do the Friedkins make of it?
The Friedkin Group have not been twiddling their thumbs. i understands they have been working behind-the-scenes to identify an executive team ready to make immediate improvements and doing extensive due diligence on what needs to change.
Don’t expect big promises or bold statements on day one, though. They may be excited by the club’s potential but everyone understands the scale of work required to turn Everton around.