David Moyes has said The Friedkin Group want to move on from Everton’s troubled recent past quickly and rebuild strategically, a plan that suits his “biggest quality”, having met the club’s new owners after Wednesday’s Merseyside derby.
The Everton manager met members of TFG, including executive chair Marc Watts, at the team hotel on Thursday morning after their attendance at the final derby to be held at Goodison Park. “We had a conversation about where we are, what we are doing and where we are hoping to go,” said Moyes, who has moved Everton 10 points clear of the relegation zone but must contend with a seriously depleted squad for at least the next month. “It’s too early at the moment to use the word ‘safe’ because we are not safe,” he added.
Nevertheless, Moyes and TFG discussed their vision for rebuilding Everton into a more competitive Premier League club and, with profitability and sustainability constraints expected to ease this summer, future transfer strategy. “They want to build the club back up,” said Moyes. “There are lots of things that we have to try and change and I don’t know how quickly we will be able to change everything. But I sense they want to move on and get rid of this past as quickly as they can.
“It was good to hear what they had to say. My gut feeling of them is they want us to spend. When I say that I mean they want us to buy the correct players. There will be a lot of change here because there are a lot of players out of contract in the summer. How quick can we build that up? I don’t think you expect it to be done in one transfer window. This will be the first summer transfer window for TFG and maybe from there we will start to judge it more.”
Moyes signed a two-and-a-half year contract when he replaced Sean Dyche as manager last month and believes TFG’s vision matches his strengths. “I think my biggest quality would be building football clubs and trying to take them on,” he said. “I think that if I get the chance, I can do that. But everybody wants it done in a rush. When Everton had the last owners they probably had more money than they’ve ever had. This might not be a club that can get built that way. This might need to be a club that gets built with progress year-on-year.
“I don’t think we’re going to have enough money to say we will suddenly be back competing again. It will be about what we’re able to recruit and how we spend what we have. But I’m struggling to talk about it until I feel we’ve got enough points to get us over the line.”
