TFG should feel deeply uncomfortable and embarrassed to be compared with previous owners whose limited ambition, inadequate resources or poor management helped create the longest trophy drought in Everton’s history. That comparison comes only 20 months into a tenure marked by the move to an impressive new stadium and the removal of burdensome debt. Yet the criticism of Everton’s owners is neither excessive nor unjustified. Farhad Moshiri, at least, invested heavily before the money stopped flowing.
TFG brought financial stability back to Everton following the damaging disorder of Moshiri’s final years and his attempted sale to 777 Partners. However, its image as a group of “winners” – the description used by chief executive Angus Kinnear – has collapsed within four days. That label already seemed optimistic after the club’s approach to the summer transfer market, described by Kinnear as the second phase of Everton’s strategic rebuild. From accepting Nottingham Forest’s £35m offer for Harrison Armstrong on Saturday morning to Folarin Balogun rejecting a £40m transfer from Monaco on Tuesday night, along with several other setbacks, TFG has come to resemble another Everton ownership unwilling or unable to fulfil the club’s potential or offer supporters genuine hope.
Everton supporters expected a decisive break with the past when TFG completed its takeover in December 2024, refinanced harmful loans and reduced the long-term repayment burden attached to Hill Dickinson Stadium. Instead, the disorder on deadline day felt painfully familiar and severely damaged the group’s reputation among fans.
David Moyes remained publicly quiet throughout pre-season while Everton paid £16.5m for Hayden Hackney, potentially rising to £25m for the previous season’s Championship player of the year. The club also spent £18m apiece on Merlin Röhl and Tyrique George, who had been on loan under Moyes last season, added Christian Nørgaard for £7m and exchanged Dwight McNeil for Brennan Johnson. The largest guaranteed fee Everton paid for any player during the summer was £18m.
When Moyes finally addressed the situation publicly, he repeatedly emphasised that Everton needed additional players, greater quality and the retention of their leading talent. He had 22 outfield players available at the end of last season. That figure had fallen to 20 when deadline day began and dropped again to 18 by the time the window closed.
That group contains only one striker, Thierno Barry, no specialist cover for either full-back and, because Ainsley Maitland-Niles began his career elsewhere on the pitch, no natural right-back. Everton also sold their most inventive player, Iliman Ndiaye, to Manchester City for a below-market £65m despite the Senegal international having three years remaining on his contract. Beto, the only alternative to Barry in attack, was allowed to leave before a replacement had been secured, forcing the club into a frantic late search after problems emerged during Balogun’s medical.
Manchester United rejected a loan proposal for Joshua Zirkzee submitted only hours before the deadline, while Tammy Abraham declined the chance to leave Aston Villa. Balogun then arrived later than planned for his medical, watched Everton renegotiate the fee with Monaco and ultimately turned down the move despite signing a deal sheet shortly before 11pm. Barry appeared unprepared for much of his first Premier League campaign, but he has now become a player Everton simply cannot risk losing.
Two weeks earlier, possibly reacting to Moyes voicing doubts about Everton’s recruitment for the first time, Kinnear gave several interviews to local media presenting an upbeat assessment of the club’s finances, transfer plans and ambitions. What followed undermined his credibility in all three areas. He also irritated his manager by saying TFG considered last season’s failure to qualify for Europe “a failure” and believed the current squad was better equipped to mount a sustained European challenge while attempting to end Everton’s 31-year wait for silverware.
Moyes’s side fell away badly during the closing weeks of last season, failing to win any of their final seven matches despite European qualification remaining possible. He is now expected to improve on that performance with a smaller squad. The frustration is even greater because Everton have begun the new season positively, only for that progress to be overshadowed by problems created by the club’s own leadership.
Kinnear introduced Everton’s new “senior leadership team” and replaced the traditional director of football structure. Its members are technical director Nick Cox, scouting and recruitment director James Smith, football strategy and analytics director Chris Howarth, and head of player trading Nick Hammond. Moyes is also included, although his position has often seemed disconnected from the others during the summer. The arrivals of Hackney, Röhl and Johnson represented sensible business at reasonable prices, but the chaotic conclusion to the window raises serious doubts about the group’s judgment, knowledge and effectiveness. The structure appears overloaded with decision-makers yet lacking a unified direction, particularly considering some of Everton’s late transfer targets.
Balogun’s failed transfer created turmoil, although players can reconsider moves and medical examinations can unexpectedly threaten deals. More troubling are the choices Everton controlled themselves. TFG’s acceptance of Nottingham Forest’s offer for Armstrong – the first academy graduate since Anthony Gordon six years earlier to secure a regular first-team role – suggested the club was having difficulty complying with the new squad-cost rules. That hardly reflected the promised fresh financial beginning at Hill Dickinson. TFG deserves some recognition for responding to supporter opposition and cancelling the sale, but subsequently considering a £60m transfer of Ndiaye to Tottenham while proposing to spend £35m on Richarlison provided another reason for concern.
Everton have sought a right-back since Moyes returned in January 2025, although the position required attention even before his arrival. Moyes preferred Strasbourg’s Guéla Doué, but the 23-year-old was considered too costly and joined Bayer Leverkusen for £25.7m on deadline day. Everton examined at least five other options before a proposed £9m move for Fulham’s Kenny Tete collapsed, leaving Maitland-Niles as the £4.3m solution to an obvious weakness.
The more serious deficiency remained in attack. No Premier League side with substantial ambitions should have started a second consecutive season relying only on Beto and Barry as its centre-forward options. A clear improvement was required, but Everton instead weakened the position. That outcome offered little evidence of either the leadership team’s strategy or the owners’ stated ambition.
Everton have recorded the lowest net transfer spending in the Premier League across the past five years and, largely through circumstance rather than planning, completed the summer with a £25m transfer profit. TFG authorised £78m of incoming deals during a window in which football finance specialist Kieran Maguire calculated that the average Premier League club spent £181m. Everton’s total also excludes the substantial expense involved in bringing Jack Grealish back on loan.
TFG’s restrained investment and focus on reducing costs – including redundancies among Everton’s off-field staff during the summer – have prompted speculation that Dan Friedkin and his associates may be preparing to sell. Against that suggestion, the owners have reserved £40m to cover compensation owed to Burnley if Everton lose their appeal concerning a profitability and sustainability rules case. They are also investing almost £14m in infrastructure at Hill Dickinson Stadium, Goodison Park and the Finch Farm training complex.
What seems beyond doubt is the hostile reception TFG would receive if its representatives attended Sunday’s home fixture against Manchester United. Dan Friedkin has still not watched a match at Hill Dickinson, despite some season-ticket prices rising by as much as 10% this season. On Wednesday, both the Everton fans’ forum and the club’s fan advisory board released statements condemning what they viewed as an amateur and unambitious transfer window. The 1878s, a volunteer group responsible for the stadium’s striking tifos and banners, has suspended its support indefinitely. “We do not believe the ambitions of our supporters currently match those of the club, and yesterday’s events only reinforced that view,” the group said.
TFG, Kinnear and Everton’s senior leadership team now appear to face a lengthy struggle to regain the trust and acceptance of supporters.
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