Dan Ashworth, the departing sporting director of Manchester United, interviewed following the UEFA Europa League 2024/25 League Phase Draw on August 30. Photo by Valerio Pennicino - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
Dan Ashworth, the departing sporting director of Manchester United, interviewed following the UEFA Europa League 2024/25 League Phase Draw on August 30. Photo by Valerio Pennicino - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
As the seats emptied in the away end at Manchester United last week, to an outsider it may have looked like the club celebrating a 4-0 romp as Old Trafford serenaded an exciting new manager was one to aspire to.
It is not. One of the reasons those Everton supporters were keen to leave so early was because of the belief that another missed opportunity had passed by. As shown in the first half an hour of that game, and as emphatically highlighted by Nottingham Forest with their win on Saturday night, this once great club is vulnerable.
The Red Devils are in a mess and they provide a cautionary tale at an important time as Everton prepare for the new ownership that is expected to take control in the coming weeks.
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Before Everton fell to defeat at their hands, United supporters protested the sickening cash grab that has seen its club do away with concessionary tickets.
During the game they spent the first half an hour looking at, in Jarrad Branthwaite, the centre back starlet who was setting himself for a dominant performance to highlight the home side’s foolishness in its botched summer attempt to sign him on the cheap.
Yes, Branthwaite went on to endure a rare horror show after unfortunately diverting Marcus Rashford’s effort beyond Jordan Pickford but as the two centre backs United turned to instead, both at huge expense, were withdrawn early against Forest last night, few can argue United would not be better with the 22-year-old in their ranks - a possibility had they mounted a genuine effort to acquire him.
Ruben Amorim may have enjoyed a first Premier League win last Sunday but his appointment followed the mess made by INEOS as it extended Erik ten Hag’s deal in the summer only to relieve him of duties, again at great expense, months later. Now Dan Ashworth, the CEO touted as the first great appointment of the new era at Old Trafford has departed by mutual consent and the club that can mount a strong argument for the title of biggest in the world is a shambles.
The Friedkin Group will, like INEOS, be planning for an overhaul at Everton. They have no choice - the current boardroom is made up of interim appointments initially installed to lead the club into new ownership in the summer of 2023. They were handed those roles amid the fallout of the chaos that engulfed a club whose leadership oversaw the demise into relegation battles, hundreds of millions of pounds of losses and unprecedented regulatory pain through the two deductions handed out last season for failures to comply with spending regulations.
At Finch Farm, too, the Friedkins have big decisions to make. Manager Sean Dyche is out of contract in the summer, director of football Kevin Thelwell is out of contract in the summer and 13 senior players are out of contract this summer. This summer, therefore, represents the potential for a clean sweep through the club as it enters a new era in a stunning new home.
There is a massive opportunity and the Friedkins must do what they can to exploit it. That may, of course, mean some of the main players at Finch Farm and elsewhere in the club are asked to stay on and cases can be made for that in several roles, but such decisions must be taken because the new regime is convinced those figures fit into its project - Everton, continuing to flirt with peril as it awaits desperately-needed stability, can ill afford a false start like the one that has unfolded at the other end of the East Lancs.
They will arrive to some positives, the most obvious being the state-of-the-art Fourth Grace that could transform the club’s future. They will also have the goodwill of a passionate and powerful fanbase that is desperate to move away from the struggles it has had to save Everton from over recent years. And credit has to be given to those who have handled the early parts of the move to the waterfront - as rivals elsewhere have sought to exploit supporter loyalty the season ticket prices for the new stadium have widely been viewed as reasonable and care has been taken to protect key attributes such as the concessionary prices others are doing away with to their shame.
Everton’s speed and generosity at distributing huge quantities of matchday food to Fans Supporting Foodbanks after the postponement of the Merseyside derby on Saturday was another reminder this great club has a beating heart that should be protected at all costs even with the commercial opportunities opening up to the Blues.
The Friedkins have, of course, been learning lessons themselves in recent months. At Roma, set to become Everton’s sister club, supporter frustration has engulfed the operation after their own botched summer in which they backed Daniele De Rossi in the transfer market, dismissed him after just four games and have already overseen the departure of his replacement Ivan Juric. Other issues in the Eternal City have fuelled frustration and the Friedkins can be under no illusion of the importance of tradition and heritage.
One lesson to take from the chastening experiences of both INEOS and Roma is that football is not easy - there is no magic wand that can be waved to quickly provide the stability that is needed in order for success to follow.
But as the Friedkins prepare for a new life on Merseyside, whatever happens at Everton they will not be able to say important lessons were not available to them as they plot how to wake up this sleeping giant on the banks of the Mersey.