Dan Friedkin can’t afford a repeat of Roma chaos at Everton after takeover

However, at 12th in the Serie A table, Blues supporters who have been repeatedly put through the wringer in recent times might shrug because it’s not the like the team’s top-flight status looks in jeopardy unlike the veteran coach’s previous assignment last season when he offered to resign at Cagliari, but despite only winning three games in the first half of the campaign, ultimately steered the Sardinian outfit to safety.

With an old hand returning for a third stint in charge, shortly after a dalliance with a former terrace idol possessing little experience in the dugout, in some ways, Roma’s current predicament has shades of Peter Johnson’s mess of 1997 when Joe Royle left in a haze of confusion only to – after promises of world class candidates – to be belatedly replaced by Howard Kendall, although unlike De Rossi, Andy Gray would, in between all of that, reject the chairman’s overtures in favour of a lucrative new contract at Sky Sports.

As Brian Clough showed by steering both Derby County and then Nottingham Forest, a couple of unassuming provincial teams in the East Midlands, to the first League Championships in their respective histories, the most important individual at any football club has always been the manager. Everything else can be right but if you’ve got the wrong person in the dugout then you’re going to struggle to succeed, especially in the cut-throat world of the Premier League.

Having churned through eight managers in as many years at Everton, Moshiri has found that out the hard way to his great cost, but while his notoriously twitchy trigger finger was understood to have been tempted at times, even the Blues maverick owner, who went against the advice of others among Goodison Park’s top brass to appoint Sam Allardyce and then, most controversially of all, Kop Idol Rafael Benitez, has never sacked two bosses in a single season.

Like with their prime ministers, there has long been a tradition of high turnover in Italian football when it comes to coaches, but it’s often been the Friedkins themselves taking the lead on such fleeting tenures rather than pressure from the local fanbase, so the buck stops with them. After the profligate downwards spiral Everton have endured under Moshiri and near-misses with the likes of 777 Partners, it’s fair to say that many of those with the best interests of this venerable but vulnerable football institution at heart want to see the new regime in place as soon as possible.

However, as the Blues carefully navigate this historic final season at Goodison Park, looking to ensure there are no further pitfalls ahead that risk them moving into the new stadium without their Premier League status intact, the hope must be that the Houston-based billionaire aiming to be in place before the festive period is over, has learned on the job from the disorder in the Eternal City.

Like that most loyal of companions, the dog, this promises to be the most precious of presents for Friedkin, as Everton is for life, not just for Christmas.

Blues pair witness EitC’s Pioneering Work in L4 ahead of last Goodison derby

Ahead of Everton Women’s last-ever Merseyside derby at Goodison Park, first-team stars Emma Bissell and Rylee Foster were given an insight into how Everton in the Community’s work in the area will continue after the lights have gone out at The Grand Old Lady.

Funded by the Premier League and Professional Footballers’ Association, the Blues duo met a group of female participants aged 10 to 19 from the charity’s Interventions project, which supports young people who are absent from education or at risk of exclusion to make significant and long-lasting life changes.

Delivered just a stone’s throw away from Goodison Park on 41 Goodison Road, Bissell and Foster joined the young girls at the community venue to take part in a series of workshops hosted by Period Reality, a global movement that aims to educate people about their menstrual cycles. During the session, the players also engaged in an open forum discussion, where they had the opportunity to share their own personal experiences of living with their menstrual cycles as elite athletes.

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