'Be careful' - Journalist: Friedkin doesn't know about football or fans amid Everton takeover

Dan Friedkin doesn’t know about football or understand the importance of fans as he looks set to takeover at Everton, according to Daniele Verri.

The Italian journalist told BBC Sport (23 September) that the incoming new Toffees owners “need to be careful” at Goodison Park based on how they have run Roma in Serie A, after a deal was announced between The Friedkin Group and Farhad Moshiri the same day.

His warning came as BBC Sport reported Friedkin has already provided a new cash injection at Everton on top of the £200million lent to the club during the summer.

The “immensely wealthy” Friedkins are also expected to have no issues clearing around £400m of other external debt owed to A-Cap and Rights and Media Funding Ltd.

However, Verri said: “They need to be careful because at Roma they have demonstrated they don’t really know much about football or quite understand how important the fans, the city, the whole environment is and how big a part it plays.”

Roma tenure holds warning for Everton?

On paper it is hard to see Friedkin’s deal to buy out Moshiri as anything other than a positive move for the Toffees.

But it is still possible that any negative points could get lost amid relief that the new era looks to finally be arriving.

There don’t seem to be any complaints from a financial perspective, which will be most welcome on Merseyside where administration has been looming as a potential threat for at least the past two years.

On that front BBC Sport report that TFG have invested around £830m at Roma in the past four years, and have lifted the Europa Conference League in that time.

But the current disquiet at the Stadio Olimpico where club legend Daniele De Rossi has been sacked as manager four games into a three-year permanent contract, and the CEO has resigned amid fan fury at the decision [The Athletic, 22 September], might suggest it won’t be entirely plain sailing at Goodison, or Bramley Moore dock, moving forward.

Equally, it is inevitable that the Everton purchase will be seen more positively in England, where it has been painfully evident for so long that Moshiri’s tenure had run its course and a sale was needed, than in Italy where there will be understandable unease that a Premier League side might now take precedence over the Giallorossi.

Dan Friedkin is now expected to take the lead with the Toffees and leave son Ryan in charge at Roma [Sky Sports Italia, 23 September], which won’t do anything to quell those fears in the Italian capital.

He will clearly need to understand both football and Evertonians better if he wants to maintain the wave of positivity he will likely ride in on, but when the previous regime has been accused of understanding even less the move will be welcome either way.

From a business and governance perspective he already looks to be a step up after getting his takeover to the “99 per cent complete” stage [Giulia Bould, 23 September] thanks to securing multiple individual agreements with the club and its creditors [Ben Jacobs, 23 September].

So if he has found a way to untangle the mess at Everton enough just to get through the doors he will have made a very positive start.

In other Everton news, the Toffees have held behind-scenes talks on a new manager who wants the job amid succession planning to move on from Sean Dyche.

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