What Friedkin Group told Everton players in first meeting with Sean Dyche's squad
Everton's new owners are keen to project a reassuring picture of stability as they introduce themselves to the club, staff, players and supporters
Everton’s new owners stressed the club would have the stability to start making progress in their first meeting with the first-team squad. Friedkin Group representatives toured the club’s Finch Farm training ground on Friday, meeting staff and players.
The Blues’ new executive chairman, Marc Watts, spoke with manager Sean Dyche while the party also met with players.
Dyche said those talks were a “casual” introduction rather than in-depth discussions over the future of the club. But a message of calm and patience was projected to a playing squad that has fought through unprecedented challenges in recent seasons, including the two points deductions that plunged Everton into a third consecutive relegation battle last year.
Dyche conceded during the height of those struggles that the instability around the club was having an impact on the pitch.
The prospect of what the Blues boss has often referred to as the “noise” dying down is therefore likely to be welcomed in the dressing room - particularly with more than half of the senior squad currently on deals that will expire in the summer.
Everton’s ambitions in the transfer market will still be constrained by Profit and Sustainability Rules in January and at the start of the summer window, but the new stability should make forward-planning easier as the club begins talks with key players over their future.
Asked whether the Friedkins sought to share any message to the players, Dyche said: “[It was] similar to the message that they're trying to get across, which is we can't solve everything overnight, it's going to be a time-led process, it's going to be a building process.
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“But they wanted to assure the players there is stability, there's financial stability, and things can now progress. The things there were question marks over can now progress. But that progression is going to take time.”