‘I’ve never spoken to Friedkin’ — Moyes lays bare Everton’s absentee owner problem

David Moyes has never met Dan Friedkin. Not a handshake, not a phone call. Everton’s manager confirmed as much to reporters ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Manchester United, despite having been in the job since January 2025. Friedkin, head of The Friedkin Group, runs the club from a base in Houston and has not attended a home game since completing his takeover in December 2024. For a Premier League club rebuilding on and off the pitch, that is a remarkable admission.

What Moyes actually said

Moyes confirmed he has neither met nor spoken to Dan Friedkin at any point since returning as Everton manager in January 2025. He also reiterated his commitment to the club despite a chaotic end to the summer transfer window. The line of questioning was not about a fallout — it was about a structural unknown: who signs off on decisions at Everton?

There is no suggestion of a rift. Moyes described a situation rather than complaining about one. But a top-flight manager going eight months without a single conversation with his owner tells you plenty about how the chain of command is drawn.

The Friedkin Group and the Houston question

The Friedkin Group is led by Dan Friedkin and runs Everton from its base in Houston, Texas. The same group owns Serie A side AS Roma, placing Everton inside a multi-club ownership structure. The takeover was completed in December 2024, and Friedkin has not been present at a home fixture since.

Multi-club ownership is now routine across Europe and carries no regulatory problem in itself. The practical issue is bandwidth. A Premier League club competing for points, permits and players needs decisions in hours, not in scheduled calls across a six-hour time difference.

Why the summer window exposed it

Everton’s internal decision-making came under close scrutiny during the summer transfer window. Who approves a bid, who arbitrates between sporting director and manager, and who breaks a deadlock with forty-eight hours left on deadline day — those answers were never clear from the outside.

Recruitment in the Premier League is a late-night business settled in minutes. Any structure where the final decision-maker sits an ocean away adds friction that rivals simply do not carry. Everton’s chaotic window ending is the visible symptom; the reporting line is the underlying condition.

A club in transition on and off the pitch

This is not a small club in a quiet season. Everton have moved into their new home at Bramley-Moore Dock, one of the biggest infrastructure projects in English football, after more than a century at Goodison Park. That transition demands sustained ownership attention on stadium operations, commercial growth and squad rebuild simultaneously.

Everton also spent recent seasons fighting points deductions under the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules, and the incoming independent football regulator has put owner engagement and financial governance under a brighter light. Against that backdrop, an owner who has not attended a home match is a story with real regulatory context, not just a talking point.

Moyes, Manchester United and the timing

The remarks landed before a fixture against Manchester United, the club Moyes managed in 2013-14 after leaving Everton the first time around. He previously spent eleven years in the Everton dugout between 2002 and 2013, which is exactly why his verdict on the club’s internal wiring carries weight.

For any manager, access to the owner is not vanity. It determines whether a sporting project survives a three-game losing run or collapses at the first crisis. Until that channel opens, every bad Everton run will be read as a threat rather than a phase — and Moyes knows it better than anyone.

FAQ