Keith Wyness: The Friedkins have been ‘saved’ by one man at Everton, it ‘came about by accident’
The Friedkin Group still have work to do on the football side at Everton despite their impressive year in charge of the club.
That is according to ex-Everton, Aston Villa, and Aberdeen chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, amid the one-year anniversary of The Friedkin Group taking over Everton.
Everton’s 0-0 draw at Burnley leaves the Toffees mid-table, with little threat of relegation and a slim chance of making European football next season.
The Friedkin Group have injected over £100million in a form of a share issue recently into the club to further boost their financial position.
Everton still have ‘question marks’ to resolve
Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – believes the club need to get a goalscorer to be able to move to the next level.
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast, Wyness thinks some actions from the ownership have been “very delayed.”
He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “The area I’ve still got question marks about really is to do with the football side. You could say that the David Moyes situation is one that has saved them in many ways.
“And it really came about almost by accident in a way that Sean Dyche had told them. He thought he’d taken the club as far as he wanted to. And so it really was not their strategy or their making of the way it happened. And yet it’s had a great result.
“And so, you know, good luck to them on that one. The same thing with Kevin Thelwell. You could say there’s been a different situation there. And I think that we’re very late in getting Angus Kinnear in, and he’s now got his feet under the desk and starting to really understand things and a lot the same on the football side at Finch Farm.
“So I think they were very delayed in some of the actions on the football side, but we’re getting it back on track. So overall, I’ve got to give it a seven or an eight out of 10 at least. And look, the future is what everybody’s focused on now. Everybody’s got something to look forward to and the stadium has been a big success, and it has been very well received.
“They haven’t had that new stadium curse, so things are looking pretty good for Everton right now. We’ve just got to get a few more goals, get the striker situation resolved, January window, we’ll see what happens. But overall, I say eight out of 10 for the Friedkins.”
Everton could reject forward duo
Despite their need for a striker, Everton may reject the chance to sign Jorgen Strand Larsen from Wolves or Evan Ferguson.
Ferguson is currently on loan at Roma from Brighton, whilst Strand Larsen could be made available amid Wolves‘ likely relegation to the Championship.
Everton could instead sign Leeds defender Jayden Bogle to resolve their problems at right-back, although a move in January could prove hard to achieve.