Football finance expert tells Everton they must do one thing when Friedkin Group takeover is complete

Everton need to do one thing when their takeover by the Friedkin Group is complete, claims football finance expert Kieran Maguire.

The proposed takeover from the American group is currently in processing as they await approval from the Premier League. A 94.1% stake will be acquired but, according to Maguire, having people with experience in football will be needed to ensure everything runs smoothly.

He then cited other owners who have lost hundreds of millions of pounds across the years by not having the right people in place. The likes of Ellis Short and Randy Lerner’s struggles at Sunderland and Aston Villa are prime examples with Short losing an estimated £250million while Lerner was heavily criticised for selling most of the club’s best players at a time when the club had built up to being European challengers.

Maguire told TBR (14 October): “Dan Friedkin will be keen to make the right decisions as quickly as possible if his plan to take over succeeds. Having people with experience in the industry on the board will be significantly beneficial. “You only have to look at clubs who have had American owners come in and presume that their knowledge of US franchise sport is sufficient to be successful in football only to have their fingers burnt. If you take a look at Ellis Short at Sunderland and Randy Lerner at Aston Villa, they both lost hundreds of millions.

“Friedkin will want to make sure he appoints the right people. I think the most important thing will be appointing a chief executive who understands football, the club, and the finances.”

Everton fans don’t need to be warned about how it can go wrong from an owner standpoint; before Farhad Moshiri took over, the club were fighting for European football regularly and were in the Europa League not long after he arrived. As the years went by, more money was spent but less was achieved, with the club regressing to a point were relegation battles have become the norm.