Former Everton CEO says Friedkin won't open cheque book if takeover succeeds

Everton are waiting to see if the American tycoon will be the club's saviour after a disastrous few years of a managerial merry-go-round and the team constantly struggling on the pitch.

It all reached new heights of chaos and uncertainty last season as the Blues faced two points deductions for breaching PSR that nearly condemned the team to relegation, while they waited and waited in a state of limbo for a conclusion to 777 Partners attempted takeover.

Then as the campaign came to and end it became clear 777 Partners would not be able to complete their takeover as time ran out for them.

That has proved a blessing and frankly not one in much disguise perhaps, given the financial and legal problems the US group were facing.

But it left Everton without a new owner and a current one who was unwilling to provide any further funding to keep the club going.

So, there was great uncertainty about how the club's finances were to be met and the bills were to be paid to keep the Blues afloat.

Short-term loans from a number of different sources had been the answer with the Toffees owing several creditors now including both 777 Partners and MSP Capital, another group previously linked with a takeover.

Eventually of course The Friedkin Group as it is formally known emerged as the favourite from a number of interested parties and are now in an exclusivity period with Farhad Moshiri with a view to completing their takeover.

If successful then every Evertonian will be waiting to see exactly what Friedkin's ownership means in terms of the club's future and obviously what sort of investment he will make in the first team.

Friedkin's track record at Roma suggests he will be prudent and is unlikely to spend heavily, at least not to start with anyway.

Everton have spent a lot over the Moshiri era (estimates of up to £700 million) and got nothing to show for it except a lot of debt, a very average team and an almost comical reputation for failure and incompetence.

As for the future, the 59-year-old American does seems to be willing to splash the cash sometimes and made headline-grabbing moves such as bringing in Jose Mourinho as his new manager as well as signing players like Romelu Lukaku.

Maybe the Blues could get Lukaku back if Dominic Calvert-Lewin goes? Granted he is perhaps not the player he once was, but is still a good quality all-round centre-forward who had a great time at Goodison Park a decade ago.

Anyway, Keith Wyness has cautioned against any Toffees supporters hoping for big spending were the California-born billionaire to become Everton owner.

In the Premier League era the Blues best period was under David Moyes between 2004 and 2010 when they usually finished in the top eight, reached an FA Cup final and often secured European football.

At that time Everton were widely regarded as the 'best of the rest' outside the top four or five teams that were regular Champions League qualifiers.

Moyes of course has very little to spend and had to find talent in immaginative ways. He certainly achieved that.

Players like TIm Howard, Tim Cahill, Mikel Arteta, Steven Piennar and a host of others too, were all excellent acquisitions on the cheap.

If Friedkin does takeover, then perhaps that model can be fully replicated again by Sean Dyche - if he stays as manager - and bring the Toffees another long overdue period of competitiveness and dare I say it, even success at last.