Everton FC correspondent Joe Thomas looks at a challenging period for an ownership that has had a positive impact over its first 18 months in charge - but which will be closely watched over upcoming calls
A general view of Hill Dickinson Stadium ahead of the Premier League match between Everton and Chelsea. Photo by Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
A general view of Hill Dickinson Stadium ahead of the Premier League match between Everton and Chelsea. Photo by Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
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It probably won’t matter. Not this season, anyway.
The permutations remain so vast that a lot still has to happen for Everton and Roma to qualify for the same European competition. Both clubs are within three points of all three tournaments while the Blues are simultaneously a win away from the likely Champions League places and a defeat from mid-table.
Results in the final week before the international break have made a clash more likely, though. Everton’s impressive win over Chelsea bolstered the dreams of Europe on a weekend in which defeat would have seen them drift towards the back of the pack chasing midweek football on the continent. Instead they won and, while David Moyes later conceded Champions League qualification would likely be a step too far for them, it is within reach.
Roma, meanwhile, were knocked out of the Europa League by Serie A rivals Bologna. That route to the Champions League is now closed to them but they are in a tight three-way battle that could still yield a spot in Europe’s elite competition.
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That the sister clubs could both be in Europe next season is a remarkable positive for owners the Friedkin Group. It also represents a challenge given the regulatory scrutiny they will come under if there does happen to be a clash.
As reported by the ECHO at the weekend, there is confidence behind the scenes at Everton that the club’s owners have found a ‘structural solution’ that would prevent a scenario in which one was relegated to a lesser competition, or out of Europe altogether.
Should it come to that, in almost every conceivable case, Everton would lose out. To be crystal clear, that would not be due to any decision made by TFG to prioritise one of their sides. It would be down to UEFA’s rules, which mean those who finish highest in their respective league take precedence and Roma are more firmly established in the top six.
For example, as it stands Roma are sixth and occupy Serie A’s Conference League spot. Everton are eighth in the Premier League, a position that could well lead to the same tournament depending on who prevails in the FA Cup and how the remaining English teams do in Europe. In that case, Roma’s sixth place would rank higher for UEFA than the Blues’ eighth and lead to the Italians making Europe at the expense of Everton.
That scenario, unlikely as it currently is, would only prevail IF it was decided there was an overlap in who has ‘decisive influence’ at the two clubs. The perception John Textor wielded sufficient power at Lyon and Crystal Palace last season led to the London club’s relegation to the Conference League.
The belief at Everton is TFG, who swept in to sign a takeover deal with former owner Farhad Moshiri as Textor pursued the Blues, have a mechanism in place to avoid a similar situation this summer, if results lead that way.
What then is TFG’s workaround? The method being used will not be shared by the new owners but neither Roma nor Everton have been placed in a blind trust, the best-known solution to this problem - one that ensured sister clubs Manchester City and Girona could both keep their Champions League spots last season despite falling under the auspices of the same group.
At this point it is important to recognise the work TFG has already accomplished at Everton. In their restructuring of the club’s debt and investment in the squads of both the men and women’s first teams, they have moved a once-troubled institution to a position of financial stability and started to rebuild what were under-resourced dressing rooms. That Everton are even in a scenario where attention can turn to the regulations around European qualification is a luxurious problem in the context of recent years and one largely made possible by the groundwork of the owners’ first 18 months.
The extent of this work will become clearer when Everton’s accounts for the final year at Goodison - and the first six months of the new regime - are released in the coming days.
The other major factor in Everton’s shock charge towards Europe is David Moyes - whose appointment just weeks after TFG’s arrival on Merseyside was a good move in a moment fraught with risk. I do, therefore, think the owners deserve for their position to be taken in good faith.
That is not the same as having a blank cheque, however, and for all the good will TFG should have, they would open themselves up to legitimate criticism if they were to have misjudged this.
UEFA have made clear - in their judgements against Palace (relegated from the Europa League) as well as against Drogheda United and FC Dak 1904 (both removed from Europe altogether at the expense of sister clubs that had also qualified for the Conference League) - that it will pursue concerns over this issue with vigour and little sympathy towards multi-club ownership operations that do not comply with their competition rules. That position was re-iterated in a regulatory circular shared earlier this season. While Everton’s push for Europe is a surprise, the prospect of scrutiny over their relationship with Roma is not. Nor was the deadline for appropriate action to be taken - it has long been clear that changes behind the scenes had to be made by March 1.
The details of TFG’s plans may never come to light - the clash is a possibility not a probability. If needed, they may turn out to have been well judged - but they certainly will be tested and there is jeopardy in that, with several outside commentators perplexed at what they could have done beyond going down the blind trust route.
If it was to be a problem then losing out on a place in Europe coveted by Moyes and so much of the fanbase would be an easy way to damage relationships. It is one of several tests set to face TFG in the coming months - a reminder, not that they would have needed one, that there is little easy about running a football club.
After a flurry of positive statements upon taking over, it was refreshing to see the ownership fade into the background as they set about righting the club. TFG-appointed chief executive Angus Kinnear’s pre-transfer window updates have been well received and after the turbulence of the Moshiri years and the song and dance made by several of the other groups that sought to buy Everton from him, the relative silence of TFG has been welcome.
It will be interesting to see whether they step up engagement off the back of accounts showing their good work though - and if and when Dan Friedkin makes his first appearance at Hill Dickinson Stadium. There is a hunger for both.
Upcoming issues that could cause contention include the new season ticket prices. The Everton Fan Advisory Board has made clear its belief that price rises should not be seen as inevitable and while TFG have to navigate the need for improving club-driven revenues to ensure competitiveness in the new world of squad cost ratio management, it will be tough to justify any case for serious increases while simultaneously celebrating the booming commercial benefits associated with the new stadium.
Another will centre on the future shirt sponsors. The club’s choice to partner with a gambling firm rightly came under fire when Stake signed their deal with the club several years ago. Who TFG considers appropriate partners as they are replaced this summer will also be of interest for a club that rightly prides itself on its community values.
Little is straightforward in football and a degree of pragmatism is required, from supporters and owners. TFG deserve credit for how they have handled Everton’s affairs to date but they now face their most challenging period since the opening weeks of their ownership and how they manage it may provide the best glimpse yet at their plans for the future of the club.