First priorities for the Friedkin Group ahead of takeover

A look at what they have got to change when they come in.

Transcript

00:00Looking at the Freaking Group takeover, we've discussed Everton's takeover for so, so long.

00:09It just seems like it's been going on and on and on. The Freaking Group have made already

00:14inroads with paying off numerous debts already before actually formally getting the keys

00:21to the club. They obviously have the stadium takeover in the new year and that's going

00:26to be interesting for next season. What's the first priority that the Freaking Group

00:31are going to do if they haven't already paid these debts off and they're trying to create

00:35a new business model and a new era for Everton? How do they come in straight away, fresh,

00:43and approach this incredibly tough job?

00:46First of all, it's the hierarchy of the club. I think Everton haven't had enough expertise

00:54at boardroom level. They've had an interim CEO for the past 18 months, Colin Cheong,

01:02who's the club's chief stadium development officer. That clearly implies his skill set

01:10is to do with the new stadium and he's had to be filling in in an interim role. He deserves

01:16a lot of credit for that. But Everton need a proper board in place, proper CEO in place

01:22who can drive the club forward, give the club leadership and bring it to the next level.

01:31I think a lot of supporters will think that there's a lot of untapped potential in Everton

01:38commercially. Are they where they should be as a Premier League club? Now, of course,

01:45the stadium, the move to the stadium will drive revenue significantly, but is there

01:50more to be done in terms of off the field? How can they drive revenues up as well? I've

01:57seen at Roma with the Frican group that they've brokered deals with Adidas to manufacture

02:04the kit and re-ad season. It's their front of chair sponsor, so I think that will be

02:11a big one for the Fricans. But more shorter term, they've got to look at the position

02:16of Sean Dyche and director of football Kevin Falwell as well. Both are out of contract

02:21at the end of the season. What do they do there? Do they make an immediate decision

02:26on Dyche? I would suspect not. I'd suspect that if they're confident Sean Dyche can keep

02:31Everton in the Premier League, then they're not going to pay him out. It might be a case

02:38of getting to the end of the season. Thanks very much for keeping us in the Premier League,

02:42but we're going to go in a different direction. Kevin Falwell is an interesting one because

02:46as we've discussed before, his hands have been tied somewhat at the club, but there

02:53has been some scrutiny on some of the buys that he's made. Getting the leadership of

03:01the club right is the first thing. Then they'll be looking at the management, the football

03:06side, the squads as well. There's 11 players in the current squad who are out of contract

03:12in the summer and Everton have got to look at that. You would like to think that whoever

03:16is going to be the director of football will have a say in that to offer new deals. Maybe

03:21that's the approach that they take.