OPINION What happened on train from Sligo when Everton takeover news broke should not hide summer progress
train from Sligo when Everton takeover news broke should not hide summer progress
Royal Blue: Everton FC correspondent Joe Thomas uses his weekly column to detail why there are still positive signs around the club that offer hope in the face of the takeover issues
Liverpool’s newest queen as her crown: The completed barrel roof of Everton’s new stadium. Image: Iain Watts
Liverpool’s newest waterfront landmark looks even more impressive now that its barrel roof has been completed. The work, which has seen almost 900 panels moulded mid-air to perfectly fit the new Everton Stadium, has been another feat of engineering.
It means that the city’s newest queen now has her crown.
The past week has been a tough one for Everton. I was on the train from Dublin to Sligo on Friday when news the latest takeover deal, this time with The Friedkin Group, had collapsed. The mood burst on carriages filled with the Blues who would later line the River Garvoge with their flags and there was a collective sense of ‘what now?’
The deflation ran through the club as well, where the breakdown had been filtering through departments after Farhad Moshiri had been informed of The Friedkin Group’s position the day before. It was an important reminder Everton is more than a football club and I felt for the many good people at Goodison, Finch Farm and the Royal Liver Buildings who care deeply about the Blues and who have been, and still are, doing what they can to strengthen the club as it searches for stability.
While the US outfit had always been clear its exclusivity deal with Moshiri did not make a takeover inevitable, it had – for many inside and outside the club – started to look as though a breakthrough was on the horizon.
It was a cruel blow on a positive trip to Ireland during a positive summer to date. I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time around the first team and staff as the club trained just outside Dublin. When I wrote and spoke of the growing feeling of optimism for the future I did so because the signs were visible.
It would be naive to claim the collapse of the latest prospective deal is a source for any positivity. It means questions over the club’s long-term stability return to the fore and, the longer the hunt for a new deal goes on, the more pressing the financial consequences will be. Such was the apparent strength of The Freidkin Group’s operation, concerns that if they cannot find a solution to Everton’s problems, then who can, are justified.
Attacking midfielder Jesper Lindstrom is Everton’s fourth signing of the summer. Image: Everton FC
But there is still reason to be hopeful about the state of the club and the completion of the glistening futuristic roof is a symbol of that. While work goes on around what will be Everton’s new pitch, more progress is being made in relation to matters on the football field.
The arrival of Jesper Lindstrom as the club’s fourth summer signing is another boost to Sean Dyche’s attacking options and another source of excitement. The 24-year-old endured a tough season amid Napoli’s calamitous defence of its Serie A title and a player who in recent seasons has won the Europa League and been sold for a deal worth almost £30m is in Everton’s orbit because of that difficult last campaign.
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But he is like the club right now – a wounded animal desperate to launch a revival. The relationship could work well and his pace provides Dyche and the Goodison faithful with a weapon that was sorely lacking last season. The arrival of the Denmark international and the completion of the roof are useful fillips in the week following the takeover collapse.
They show that progress is still feasible and that there is still plenty of reason to feel excitement as the club heads into an historic final campaign at Goodison and transition to a new home that will be the envy of much of European football.
They also show that Everton can be a prize and, while it is clear this is a club with plenty of baggage, hopefully the lustre of this footballing giant can prove as shiny as that new barrel roof and attract new owners who are capable of showing it the love and support it needs and which its fanbase deserves.
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