Everton’s new era under TFG offers chance of stability and ambition
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Fans will be cautiously optimistic that American owners can avoid the errors which plagued Farhad Moshiri’s reign. The Friedkin Group’s takeover of Everton represents a momentous day for those exhausted and resigned to calamity by the tenure of Farhad Moshiri. Was it only eight years and 10 months? It felt much longer. Mercifully, evidence of lessons learned and a much-needed departure from what has gone before was present on day one of the US company’s long-awaited arrival.
![[Andy Hunter]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2022/11/21/Andy_Hunter.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
History, and not even recent, tempers expectations of an Everton owner. There has not been a genuinely successful one in four decades. There should be no rushed judgment on the impact of TFG. The new owners are determined not only to restore stability to Everton but to avoid the mistakes that plagued Moshiri’s reign even before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine changed the club’s financial landscape.
![[Sean Dyche on the touchline gestures to his Everton team]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d584725e89c1fb4db6042c1e8ec90f0eb0f4a530/0_75_4660_2796/master/4660.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The British-Iranian billionaire’s first error, one he seemingly recognises and regrets, was to preserve the status quo within the Everton hierarchy when becoming major shareholder in February 2016. Everton had been regressing for years under the late Bill Kenwright. The club needed a new vision, a new mindset and new ambition, as well as new money. Instead, Moshiri allowed Kenwright to stay as chair, continuing to influence appointments and an unambitious culture. There has been a vacuum at the top of Everton since a board, that was the subject of weekly protests, resigned in June 2023. It has been filled until now by an interim CEO, Colin Chong, who should be rewarded handsomely for steadying a listing ship through two points deductions and overseeing the completion of the club’s magnificent new stadium at Bramley-Moore dock.
