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The Friedkin Group reaches agreement to buy Everton

What do we reckon?

  • 👍

    Votes: 788 72.2%

  • 🤷 | 🧀🥪

    Votes: 264 24.2%

  • 👎

    Votes: 40 3.7%
  • Total voters
    1,092
Roma has 3 million fans in Italy. 2 million of them in the Rome region. Foreign fans are few and I never believe that there are 90 million Roma fans, just as I don't believe when they say that Barcelona has 900 million fans. The population of Earth is 8 billion. Really, people believe that 1/9 of the planet is a Barcelona fan? I don't even think 1/9 of the people on Earth are football fans. These figures are inflated for all clubs.
 
Simon Buttle said:
Yeah, it's not so much the amount (The Athletic reported recently we have managed to get it down a bit) it's the terms and conditions of it, they have a vice like grip over the clubs accounts.
Click to expand...

Arranged by Bill Kenwright from "friends of the club" in his own words

More like friends of his.

Any wonder why despite a year of protests it was not possible (for Moshiri) to remove Bill Kenwright

Look no further.
 

AS Roma_fan said:
Now it's official.


First of all a warm welcome on board. You've always been the right side of Liverpool.


What you can expect:


- financial stability. No doubt. TFG has reached the 13,3 billion revenues mark in 2023 - https://www.houstonchronicle.com/bu...op-100-houston-private-companies-19565974.php. They put 1 billion for Roma stability. I read on here we're making profits now. False. But they've succeded in curbing annual losses year by year. When they came in we were losing 140 million euros a year, in 2024 our loss should be 50 million euros or even less. With UCL money, if we finally get it, we should be almost ok.


- Few words. They simply don't speak, don't get interviewed, don't talk to anybody. I read the official statement about the Everton purchase and it's almost the same statement they made for Roma. These will be the last words you'll hear directly from them.


- Out of nowhere decisions. Since they don't speak, journalists are clueless about their moves. Everytime it's a big surprise. For example, nobody had linked Roma with Mourinho until the official statement was published on asroma.com.


- lack of personal understanding of the game. Even though 4 years at Roma must have somehow taught them a lesson or two, they're not football experts. They appoint a CEO, a sporting director and let them work. The problem is:


1) sometimes they feel the urge to bring in some big names, even though such names don't fit the project. They are cinema/showbiz people, watch Dybala's presentation to get an idea of the kind of shows they like to put on.


2) They choose their top managers through headhunting agencies. This has led to some strange decisions. But: you have to always remember that Italian football is unique. Common sense would dictate to bring in experienced Italian managers as DoF, General Director and so on. Personally, I think this would be the best way to do things. They don't. They usually bring in young directors who come from abroad (Thiago Pinto, Lina Souloukou). Imho this is backfiring because these people, though talented, lack any form of connection with the country they're working in. I'm 100% sure this will be less of an issue in the UK.


- When they think something should be done, they do it. They have sacked Mourinho and De Rossi without pleasantries. They seem to have no mercy and move on to the next manager or director whenever they see fit.

This has led to a certain lack of stability in the sporting and marketing area of the club. Currently we're in need of someone who knows how to run a football club in Italy at the helm.


All the banners you posted are 100% real, but they've been made by the ultras. De Rossi's sacking has been a shock for almost anybody and we all think the situation should have been handled better. De Rossi deserved it for everything he has done for the club. Yet those over the top reactions are 100% ultras only. Souloukou was threatened and she had to resign fearing for her own and her children'safety. Unfortunately Italy is what the UK would have been if hooligans hadn't been marginalised. A certain feeling of uncertainty is anyway widespread in Rome at the moment.
Click to expand...
From another fan perspective, this too gives a great idea of what to expect. Not much better than a 1st hand perspective.

Looks like we have stability built in, with the odd roller coaster experience. For me stability off field sees us progress over time, the on field stuff is never secondary but as long as we approach with a steady hand, we should be on the right path.

Thanks for the insight.
 
AS Roma_fan said:
Now it's official.


First of all a warm welcome on board. You've always been the right side of Liverpool.


What you can expect:


- financial stability. No doubt. TFG has reached the 13,3 billion revenues mark in 2023 - https://www.houstonchronicle.com/bu...op-100-houston-private-companies-19565974.php. They put 1 billion for Roma stability. I read on here we're making profits now. False. But they've succeded in curbing annual losses year by year. When they came in we were losing 140 million euros a year, in 2024 our loss should be 50 million euros or even less. With UCL money, if we finally get it, we should be almost ok.


- Few words. They simply don't speak, don't get interviewed, don't talk to anybody. I read the official statement about the Everton purchase and it's almost the same statement they made for Roma. These will be the last words you'll hear directly from them.


- Out of nowhere decisions. Since they don't speak, journalists are clueless about their moves. Everytime it's a big surprise. For example, nobody had linked Roma with Mourinho until the official statement was published on asroma.com.


- lack of personal understanding of the game. Even though 4 years at Roma must have somehow taught them a lesson or two, they're not football experts. They appoint a CEO, a sporting director and let them work. The problem is:


1) sometimes they feel the urge to bring in some big names, even though such names don't fit the project. They are cinema/showbiz people, watch Dybala's presentation to get an idea of the kind of shows they like to put on.


2) They choose their top managers through headhunting agencies. This has led to some strange decisions. But: you have to always remember that Italian football is unique. Common sense would dictate to bring in experienced Italian managers as DoF, General Director and so on. Personally, I think this would be the best way to do things. They don't. They usually bring in young directors who come from abroad (Thiago Pinto, Lina Souloukou). Imho this is backfiring because these people, though talented, lack any form of connection with the country they're working in. I'm 100% sure this will be less of an issue in the UK.


- When they think something should be done, they do it. They have sacked Mourinho and De Rossi without pleasantries. They seem to have no mercy and move on to the next manager or director whenever they see fit.

This has led to a certain lack of stability in the sporting and marketing area of the club. Currently we're in need of someone who knows how to run a football club in Italy at the helm.


All the banners you posted are 100% real, but they've been made by the ultras. De Rossi's sacking has been a shock for almost anybody and we all think the situation should have been handled better. De Rossi deserved it for everything he has done for the club. Yet those over the top reactions are 100% ultras only. Souloukou was threatened and she had to resign fearing for her own and her children'safety. Unfortunately Italy is what the UK would have been if hooligans hadn't been marginalised. A certain feeling of uncertainty is anyway widespread in Rome at the moment.
Click to expand...
Thanks - that explains a fair bit
 

Exactly while I was writing they don't speak, they released their first official statement since 2020:


www.asroma.com

A statement from Dan and Ryan Friedkin

Football is admired around the world as the beautiful game. Each match is filled with passion, excitement and unpredictability – and that’s why we lov...
www.asroma.com www.asroma.com


Football is admired around the world as the beautiful game. Each match is filled with passion, excitement and unpredictability – and that’s why we love it.



But beyond the results on the pitch, our responsibility as club owners is to make big decisions that we believe are in the best interest of the club, even when they are very difficult to make.


The transfer signings this summer marked the beginning of a strategic multi-year project designed to bring AS Roma back to the forefront of European football. As part of this vision, the development of a new stadium, which will honor the club’s deep history, is well underway.


Let us say this; we have the utmost respect for Daniele and believe he will have a great career as a coach. Maybe even one day back at Roma. The decision to part ways with him was incredibly difficult, but we made it with the belief that it gives us the best opportunity to compete for trophies this season.


We remain active investors in the sports industry. We love the beautiful game. The potential addition of Everton to our portfolio does not alter our focus on AS Roma. If anything, the multi-club symbiosis will only help Roma. Each club in our portfolio operates independently and AS Roma remains at the heart of our football ambitions. Rest assured, our commitment of time, resources, and energy to Roma will not be diminished. Our goal is clear - to see AS Roma consistently compete at the highest levels of European football.


To our incredible fans, we acknowledge the immense responsibility we bear in leading this historic club. Your unwavering loyalty fuels us as we continue building for the future. We value your voices and want you to know — we hear you. You are the soul of this club, and we are determined to make you proud.


Forza Roma.


Dan and Ryan Friedkin
 
Neiler said:
Everyone is right to be cautious about what happens next and TFG will be judged what they do here over the long term but a coup,e of points.

1) Whatever you opinion on, on the field with Rooma they have absolutely recovered that club and business financially from a worse position then Everton, once you do that you can get the football as wrong as many times as you like until you get it right - think Chelsea.

2) Whatever about the future, this absolutely, reboots the club and the business in the present and that’s our biggest need. Remember when Moshiri came in paid our debts and we could invest again - well that’s happening again, albeit we have some marginal well manageable convenient debt, but a full business reboot is massive for us.

3) With the cleaning up of the business, new equity, no spectre of debt and the revenue from the new ground, even before that is maximised (and it will be) - we jump in the game to WHU and Villa type revenue, if not more - Villa have had an exceptional couple of years, but built on chancy variables.

Baseline, this reboots the club and gives us a ground zero to compete again.
Click to expand...
I’ll believe the debt free part when I see it but if they even clear out the bulk of it then the combined effect of the stadium revenue onto and the debt repayments off the p&l is transformative almost overnight.

Then you also have a big reset next summer in terms of the squad with a lot of expensive contracts expiring- c.30m of wages of mostly deadwood or ageing players. Those three things combined lead to a MASSIVE opportunity rather than something some were fearing in terms of squad numbers- we can get in some real quality and real potential to replace them.
 

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