Conflicting reports about Friedkin's Everton takeover timeline

Everton supporters have certainly been put through the proverbial wringer over the last few years with almost constant upheaval and uncertainty both on and off the pitch.

Regular changes in manager, catastrophic levels of debt, failing teams on the pitch and then the PSR points deductions and the farcical ownership saga last season, have left Blues fans exhausted with it all.

And now comes another possible PSR breach and the prospect of the club having to sell its best young players to help avoid that scenario.

We all want this to end and soon. Everton desperately need stability and certainty - with an owner who has the resources and strategy to turn this chronically failing club around - being key to that.

After the collapse of 777 Partners attempted takeover at the end of May, a number of different groups and individuals were said to be interested in acquiring the Toffees.

Then, at the end of last week it emerged that Friedkin was now the supposed front-runner and was close to agreeing a deal with Farhad Moshiri.

Today comes a story that the deal is basically done with only an announcement to come to confirm it has be agreed, while other reports claim that even an exclusivity agreement between the two is still some way off.

So, we really have no clearer idea when or even if this deal will be done and anyway Friedkin must still negoiate the regulatory hurdles which 777 Partners could not clear in time.

Being wildly optimistic - which is always a dangerous thing to do with the Toffees - and assuming the 59-year-old billionaire does indeed get the green light in the end, what kind of owner might he be for Everton?

Friedkin's time in charge of AS Roma obviously gives a strong indication as to how he will run the English Premier League club were he to complete a takeover.

He has an approach based on creating organisational stability and embedding a strong winning culture at the football clubs he controls (the American also owns French side Cannes).

In addition, he seems to be keen to put football people in those key managerial positions. All this sounds pretty good.

There is also the prospect that he might address one of the issues that most grated with many Everton supporters during Moshiri's time in charge.

That was the lack of communication so often between the owner, his board of directors and the fans - especially when things were going wrong, which they usually were!

It appears that Friedkin is open to liaising closely with supporters more consistently and that might assuage any concerns that he will be another 'absentee landlord' of an owner.

The other aspect to his ownership is whether he might decide to replace Sean Dyche with a higher profile manager as he did at Roma when he brought in Jose Mourinho.

Well, of course all this is still purely speculative and based on these conflicting reports about where exactly we are with this potential takeover.

Time will tell but let's hope it is not too long before we hear some definitive news.