Everton takeover to be completed by Friedkin Group on Thursday

The Friedkin Group will complete their takeover of Everton on Thursday, with an announcement hoped for the late morning to usher in a new era at Goodison Park.

The i Paper understands the announcement will be fairly low key, with the new owners intent of avoiding the mistake they made at Roma of bookmarking their intention to “make the club great” in their opening salvo.

Instead they want to focus on delivering, with bold statements and promises seen as unnecessary given the amount of work that is required to put Everton back on track.

But the announcement is hugely significant for the club, which has been facing an uncertain future with spiralling debts, issues surrounding the Premier League‘s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) and a lack of funds to strengthen the team combining to cause a difficult last few years.

That picture will be changed in an instant by the Friedkin Group, which has already paid out £200m to support the club while the three-month regulatory process has been ongoing.

Further funds will be provided to stabilise the club, with plans to restructure the debt also at an advanced stage, and there is the intention to strengthen the squad although – as The i Paper reported on Monday there are ongoing challenges around PSR which will limit January spending.

Everton insiders say there is excitement at the club at the new ownership, which comes after several dalliances with prospective owners. But it is the Texan billionaire Dan Friedkin, and his family-run business consortium, who have prevailed.

His Friedkin Group agreed a deal to buy Farhad Moshiri’s 94 per cent stake back in September after originally pulling out of the deal in July because of complications surrounding debt accrued while 777 Partners attempted to gain regulatory acceptance.

But having unpicked all of the debt issues when they returned to the table in September, there has always been confidence that the group would be able to complete the deal this time around. And regulatory approval – while needing to go through a thorough process – has always felt inevitable.

Indeed, the group have been doing due diligence in the background while the process has been ongoing – although there is still uncertainty around two of the club’s most important figures, with manager Sean Dyche not yet spoken to by the group.

The i Paper, though, understands that the group are minded to retain current director of football Kevin Thelwell, who is highly regarded in the game and has proved a calming influence as he helped to pilot Everton through unprecedented challenges.

His recruitment record on the most stringent budget in the league has been decent while tactical sales have also helped Everton to retain some of their better players.

The club rebuffed interest from Manchester United in defender Jarrad Branthwaite over the close season. Now he looks set to get a chance with considerable backing over the next few transfer windows.