Everton owner Dan Friedkin has never spoken to David Moyes or watched the team play but Roma coach Gian Piero Gasperini wants more involvement with his club
Everton owner Dan Friedkin plays golf at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews Old Course on October 4, 2026
Everton owner Dan Friedkin plays golf at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews Old Course on October 4, 2026(Image: Warren Little/Getty images)
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Everton owners The Friedkin Group have been urged to adopt a more hands on role – at Roma. Along with the Blues, the Serie A side are the other major European football club owned by Dan Friedkin, who purchased them from fellow American businessman James Pallotta for $591million on August 2020, over four years before he acquired Farhad Moshiri’s entire 94.1% stake in Everton.
The 61-year-old, who is currently placed at number 303 with an estimated fortune of $11.9billion (approximately £8.96billion) by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world’s wealthiest people, has not attended a game at either Goodison Park or Hill Dickinson Stadium and last month manager David Moyes revealed that the Houston-based tycoon has never even spoken to him.
In contrast, at Roma, Friedkin has been pictured in the stands alongside son Ryan with the pair even riding around the streets of the Italian capital in 2022 in an open top bus after the team won the UEFA Europa Conference League.
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Friedkin, an accomplished pilot, also personally flew former Everton striker Romelu Lukaku and coach Jose Mourinho into Rome when they each joined the club.
Since then, he has been photographed greeting coaches Claudio Ranieri and successor Gian Piero Gasperini plus players on various visits to Centro Sportivo Fulvio Bernardini, Roma’s training ground.
And last week, when attending the European Football Clubs General Assembly in Copenhagen, Friedkin, who is one of nine executive committee members, was reported by Corriere dello Sport as saying: “Between the stadium and first place, it’s truly a great moment for us,” a reference to Roma being top of the Serie A table and having just been given the green light to build a new stadium at a cost of over a billion pounds.
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However, while his own team have received far more attention and funds than Everton, who have increasingly been left feeling like the ignored poor relations – when the Financial Times ran an article last month claiming that The Friedkin Group were seeking new investment in the Blues, the ECHO understands senior staff were not aware whether the club was for sale – Moyes’ opposite number still wants them to do more.
Sport Witness cite Gasperini as telling Corriere dello Sport: “It’s a different relationship compared to the one I had with the Percassi family (owners of Atalanta, his previous employers); they were there with the team and with me on a daily basis.
ROME, ITALY - OCTOBER 08: The AS Roma owner Dan Friedkin meets the coach Gian Piero Gasperini during the training session at Centro Sportivo Fulvio Bernardini on October 08, 2025 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Fabio Rossi/AS Roma via Getty Images)
Roma owner Dan Friedkin meets the coach Gian Piero Gasperini during a training session at Centro Sportivo Fulvio Bernardini on October 8, 2025 in Rome, Italy
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(Image: Fabio Rossi/AS Roma via Getty Images)
“That doesn’t happen with the Friedkin family, yet I always feel their trust and support, even though they live far away and rarely come to Rome.
“Now they’ve appointed a new CEO, John Galantic, who acts as a slightly closer link between Roma and them.”
The 68-year-old added: “My goal remains clear: to get them much more involved. Not so much for my own sake, since I can still do my job and do it well, but for their benefit, and likely for the fans and the city as well.
“I believe it is one of my objectives to restore a closer relationship and a greater sense of presence, especially with the centenary and the construction of the new stadium - where they will be investing significant sums - on the horizon. I would like to bring them even closer to the team.”
Everton, unbeaten in their first seven matches in all competitions despite a transfer window that left Moyes with just 18 senior outfield players, return to action on Sunday when they travel to Hull City in the Premier League.
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