“T his is great news for our wider region, hopefully now it can turn the page and move forward.” The words there of Steve Rotheram, the Liverpool city region mayor, sounding very much like the kind of silk-hatted mayor in a Batman film who says stuff like this to a cheering crowd from the steps of City Hall shortly before being garrotted by the latest colourful maniac with an oedipus complex. On this occasion, however, the glad-handing feels entirely justified.
The news this week that Everton’s takeover by the Friedkin Group has been confirmed really does feel like that rarest of things, good news for the club, the city, the league and pretty much everyone concerned. Admittedly, given what went before, that bar is set very low. The Friedkin Group is a real, actual business with offices and a bank account.
Dan Friedkin runs a sharp-teethed global company that trades in non-dark, vaguely comprehensible assets. He looks like a minor cousin at a wedding in Succession. He’s not obviously insane.
This feels like progress. True, this is the same ownership that appointed José Mourinho at Roma, but there is no evidence the same individuals will be running Everton’s football operation. In any case appointing Mourinho seems to be a phase you just have to go through as an owner, like teenagers listening to death metal.
At the very least, appointing Mourinho once means there is zero chance you’re going to appoint him again. Late José seems to have become a kind of football.