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- [00:00]
Shopify Advertiser
When I started podcasting, it felt like I had to figure everything out myself. Booking guests, figuring out rundowns, editing the show and publishing it. It seemed like the list of to do's got bigger and bigger and when you're starting off with something new, it seems like that just happens. Finding the right tool that not only helps you out, but simplifies everything can be such a game changer. And for millions of businesses, that tool is Shopify. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e commerce in the US from household name like Mattel and Gymshark to brands just getting started. Get started with your own design studio. With hundreds of ready to use templates, Shopify helps you build a beautiful online store to match your brand style, accelerate your content creation. Shopify is packed with helpful AI tools that write product descriptions, page headlines, and even enhance your product photography. Get the word out like you have a marketing team behind you. Easily create email and social media campaigns wherever your customers are scrolling or strolling. And best yet, Shopify is your commerce expert with world class expertise in everything from managing inventory to international shipping to processing returns and beyond. If you're ready to sell, you're ready for Shopify. Turn your big business idea into a With Shopify on your side, sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today. @shopify.com theathletic Go to shopify.com theathletic shopify.com TheAthletic.
- [01:33]
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- [02:04]
Raj Panjabi
Hi, I'm Raj Panjabi from HuffPost. And I'm Noah Michaelson, also from HuffPost. And we're the hosts of Am I Doing It Wrong? A new podcast that explores the all too human anxieties we have about trying to get our lives right. Each week on the podcast, Raj and I pick a new topic that we want to understand better and bring a guest expert on to talk us through how to get it right. And we're talking like legit credible experts, doctors, PhDs all around, superheroes from Huckpost and Acast Studios. Check out Am I Doing It Wrong? Wherever you get your podcasts.
- [02:38]
IO Akamwolere
The Athletic FC Podcast network.
- [02:46]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Ayoa Kimwlere here and welcome to the Athletic FC podcast. Roma have sacked a second manager in less than two months and are now in talks to bring former coach Claudio Ranieri out of retirement. So can Ranieri stabilize the turbulent Italian club? And what is the latest on Roma's owners, the Friedkin Group and their proposed takeover of Everton? Joining me today we have the Athletics James Horncastle who covers Italian football for us. And later on our Everton correspondent Paddy Boylan will pop in to give us the latest on that Everton takeover. You've reported that Roma are working on a deal to appoint 73 year old Claudio Ranieri as their manager in a caretaker role until the end of the current season. So Roma are turning to, I guess, yet another club hero after De Rossi was sacked in September. Ranieri is currently retired. Why on earth would he take the job? Or why on earth would he take this on?
- [03:50]
IO Akamwolere
It's a good question, IO. I mean it's an affair of the heart I suppose for him because it's the club of his town. He is Roman and you know, he came through the ranks at Roma. I mean this would be his, his third spell, his second in, in very similar circumstances to his last one, which was back in 2019 when the previous owners of Roma, the chairman Jim Palotta, things had started to go wrong. He, in, in trying to take the club to the next level had brought on Monchi as the sporting director. And Monchi, and this will come as a surprise to anyone who has has sor brand Monchi, he, he was a disaster. They sacked their manager Eusebio Defrancesco in the spring and Ranieri kind of came in, kept his hand on the tiller, steadied everything and you know, oversaw difficult circumstances such as did Ossi who was then a player not getting a new contract. So in these troubled times, you know, he is like Rome's Nonno, the granddad, you know, who comes in, he will command respect in the dressing room, he'll placate the fan base which has been very host style for the last six weeks. By placate I mean that they will be supportive of him, they will perhaps begin to support the team more. But I don't think it really does anything much to change how the ultras and the crowd feels about the ownership at the moment, which needs a strong figure within the club because there are no strong figures within the club, there is not a chief executive. The sporting director is young, doesn't speak Italian. And so that is ultimately why they have turned to Ranieri, as they are, what, 12th four defeats in their last five games in the league, worst start in 20 years, having spent 100 million in the transfer window.
- [05:48]
Ayoa Kimwlere
But I can also sort of understand the romance of it. Ranieri, obviously Premier League champion, obviously the work he did with Gaglieri rescuing them from relegation, which is brilliant, you know, and you think of the short term, that potentially could make a lot of sense. But, you know, what has the reaction been to the potential of Ranieri returning?
- [06:07]
IO Akamwolere
So, I mean, the news of Ranieri flying to London for talks with the Friedkins sort of happened late last night. I would say that fans are on the many radio stations that only talk about Roma for 24 hours of every day. They would be in favor of this. In favor insofar that he's Italian, he's Roma, he understands the club, he understands them. And that's important right now because they don't feel like the owners understand them at all. And, you know, there was certainly a lot of preoccupation over the last week or so when some of the names were coming out. Frank Lampard was named as. As someone who was. Was of interest. I'm told that didn't really ever take off. Edin Terage was another. And I think there was. There was a feeling that the fans just would not tolerate an outsider coming into this. Another person who doesn't speak the language, another person who doesn't understand or get the club. But, you know, I suppose this gives the freakin time to. To actually reset and restructure the club because at the moment, there isn't a chief executive. The chief executive, Lina Sololuku, she resigned shortly after Daniel De Rossi was sacked. It was a very hostile environment around her. Fans showing up at the training ground asking where she was. You know, T shirts been printed saying, you know, where is she? Not very nice environment for. For someone to work or live in. And you can understand why this process to find the chief executive is taking some time, because I think everyone, even if you have like a superficial grasp of what's going on at Roma, it's a very difficult situation for somebody to walk into.
- [07:57]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Yeah, well, let's go back a little bit. Let's talk about Jurich and also him leaving Roma because following their 32 loss to Bologna on Sunday, their fifth defeat of the campaign, Evangelic was dismissed. Let's really get a sense of why he was Appointed in the first place.
- [08:14]
IO Akamwolere
Yeah, it's difficult to know where to start. I mean, if we look at the decision to, to hire Jurich in the first place, I mean, that was. That came about because Sololeku was said to have very strong ties with his agent. Giuseppe Ris, someone she worked with at Olympiacos in a past job, works for Monza, where Giuseppe Eriso has a lot of power or a lot of players. And at Roma as well, the senior players, Brian Costante and Gianluca Mancini are represented by the same agent. So there was a feeling that, okay, bring in a coach who is repped by this guy, you know, that will work. Yeah, it didn't work. And I think whilst Juric has made mistakes over the last six weeks, you know, for example, in the 51 defeat to Fiorentina, substituting his senior players after half an hour, real challenge to them. And then those senior players not to come out in the second half to sit on the dugout with the rest of their players for him to basically tell a press conference he wasn't going to call up Paulo Dybala for the weekend's game when Paulo Dybala was waiting to go for a fitness test to show he could be fit to play in that game. A lot of, like, little mistakes like that which paid for him, but he was a dead man walking from just being not Daniel de Rossi. Because I think that the problem that the, the Freakin created for themselves was that, you know, when they hired Jose Mourinho, there was always the prospect that Jose Mourinho would become bigger than the club in the same way that Francesco Totti was bigger than the club in the past, that you could no longer distinguish Roma from Totti, Roma from Mourinho. And so sacking him, no matter how bad the football was and no matter the fact that they were in the table, was always going to be deeply unpopular. And in order to kind of keep the fans on side, they hired De Rossi last January. Now, the risk with that is that by hiring him, it means that one day you are going to have to fire him. And I think maybe in hindsight they should have just hired another regular guy as a coach, not someone who was identified as one of them by the fans, by the ultras who did really well in the first two and a half months of him taking over. Got Roma to a Champions League, a Europa League semi final, hammered Roberto de Zerbi's Brighton, knocked out AC Milan in the cup, and, you know, it was between the first and Second legs of that quarterfinal against Stacey Milan where the Freakin's put out a statement saying they wanted to give De Rossi the job on a permanent basis. And it felt like they'd let their emotions get ahead of them. Why didn't they wait until the end of the season when things started to tail off a bit for De Rossi? And then over the summer they gave him a three year contract. They spent 100 million in the transfer market. How much influence did Derossi have? It seems that he didn't get the players that he wanted, that this new sporting director, Florence Sofi and Lina Sololuku, they were also influencing who they wanted or who they thought should join the club. And it's. It became a mess. But the optics of sacking a club legend just three or four games into the season, having given him a three year contract and spent 100 million on the team, with a lot of players arriving late in the transfer window and some after the transfer window, like Mats Hummels and Hermoso, was seen as unjust not only by the fans, but also by the media and has really kind of aligned those to parties against the Freakins.
- [11:50]
Ayoa Kimwlere
For any Evanston fans listening and we'll talk about the takeover very shortly. What does the current state of Roma say about the Freakin group and their ownership?
- [12:00]
IO Akamwolere
Ah, well, I mean, if we'd had this podcast a year ago, IO, you know, I think the Freakin's were the most popular owners in Italy. Their first move was like, we're gonna hire a big name manager, Jose Mourinho. It was like, oh my God, like we never thought we would get Jose Mourinho, let alone him beyond the bench. And then they won something which was a tournament that had not existed until Mourinho came, came to Rome, which was the Conference League. And you know, their, their rivals said it's a Tim Pot trophy when they won it. But they won it. And you know, Rome hadn't won anything for 14 years. They didn't care that it was called the Conference League, that it didn't exist, that the final was played in Tirana and the trophy looked like a vase that your mum would put her flowers in and that sort of thing. And I care about that. It was just something to go out and celebrate. And then they signed Paolo Dybala, you know, who is one of the best, you know, one of the best players in the last 10 years in Italy. They signed Romelu Lukaku. And so their success in Europe in reaching a, winning a conference league, reaching Europa League final, signing these big names, even though the squad kept getting old, older, even though the wage will get higher and higher, and they still weren't qualifying for the Champions League. It covered up for a lot. Yeah, they were. They were fortunate, really, in. In the favor that they had. But when they sacked Mourinho, that all changed. It has been this kind of slow reveal for Roma fans, like, oh, right, yeah, our squads are really old, isn't it? And we've had to sell all of our. Some of our best young players in order to keep signing some of these big names. We keep finishing sixth, don't we? I mean, we never used to finish sixth. We were always in the Champions League under. Under Pelota. You know, why are we trying to push out some of our best players? Like, you know, why are we trying to, you know, make Dybala go to Saudi Arabia? It felt like the club would drive him to Saudi Arabia and he's like, he's our best player. What the hell's going on? And then the treatment of De Rossi kind of really showed a lack of patience and maybe a sense of desperation that, oh, God, we've spent 100 million again and we're not going to get in the Champions League. This is disastrous. What are we doing? And so I think, you know, the big criticism of them is that they don't seem to have a feel for the club, which seems at odds with everything I've just said, which is like, oh, they understand that modern football fans, they don't care about analytics and all this sort of thing. They just want big names and they want to win stuff no matter how much it costs. In terms of, like, their feel for Rome and for Roma. They're like, they used to be at the stadium all the time. They never used to say anything, but we used to always see them. They're never here anymore. Where are they? You know, they lost interest. And then this kind of tendency, which, look, they've always had this. But they've had maybe stronger figures in sporting directors than they do have now, where they're like, why are they trusting all these external companies and these consultancies that are based in London and Los Angeles to basically recommend them people to come in and be executives for our club. They don't understand our club, they don't understand our city. And that's why. That's why things are going wrong. They need Romans there, you know. And so from. From an Everton perspective, you look at this and say, okay, anyone but Mashiri is better. Brilliant. Okay, but like, would they be able to understand our club, what we're about? Because we've seen someone throw a load of money at it and it not work. And, but I mean, I, I also feel that English football fans, no matter how much they talk on social media and you know, how much football is a massive part of our discourse, they are nothing like Italian fans. They're nothing like, they are not going to say, you know what, we're not going to come to the game for the first 15 minutes and when we come there, we're going to whistle and we're going to, we're going to pull out banners. And even when you win 3 nil with the new coach you've appointed, we're still going to whistle every pass that make. We're still going to whistle when they come over and think we're going to celebrate for winning 3 nil. We are going to appear outside of your house with banners and fireworks. We are going, we are going to show up outside the school with your kids. We are going to do all this sort of thing, okay? English football fans are, are meek and mild compared to Italians and like, and particularly Romans. And I think, you know, maybe, maybe as much as this is, this is the freakin's adding a, another asset to their sports portfolio in Everton. It's a quieter life being an English football owner. It's a, it's a much quieter, easier life. Owners are not expected to speak. Executives are not expected to speak. It's so much quieter. And so, yeah, people wonder, are they looking to sell Rome, Are they looking to get out, you know, from, from everything that has been briefed? No, they're in it for the long term at Roma, blah, blah, blah. But I mean, it's an easier life being a Premier League football owner than it is, than it is being an owner of Roma. You're listening to the Athletic FC podcast with IO akamwalere.
- [17:13]
Shopify Advertiser
When I started podcasting, it felt like I had to figure everything out myself. Booking guests, figuring out rundowns, editing the show and publishing it. It seemed like the list of to dos got bigger and bigger. And when you're starting off with something new, it seems like that just happens. Finding the right tool that not only helps you out, but simplifies everything can be such a game changer. And for millions of businesses, that tool is Shopify. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e commerce in the US from household names like Mattel and Gymshark to brands just getting started get started with your own design studio. With hundreds of ready to use templates, Shopify helps you build a beautiful online store to match your brand's style. Accelerate your content creation. Shopify is packed with helpful AI tools that write product descriptions, page headlines, and even enhance your product photography. Get the word out like you have a marketing team behind you. Easily create email and social media campaigns wherever your customers are scrolling or strolling. And best yet, Shopify is your commerce expert with world class expertise in everything from managing inventory to international shipping to processing returns and beyond. If you're ready to sell, you're ready for Shopify. Turn your big business idea into a With Shopify on your side, sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com TheAthletic go to shopify.com TheAthLetic shopify.com TheAthLETic this Mother's.
- [18:47]
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- [19:17]
Raj Panjabi
Hi, I'm Raj Panjabi from HuffPost. And I'm Noah Michaelson, also from HuffPost. And we're the hosts of Am I Doing It Wrong? A new podcast that explores the all too human anxieties we have about trying to get our lives right. Each week on the podcast, Raj and I pick a new topic that we want to understand better and bring a guest expert on to talk us through how to get it right. And we're talking like legit credible experts, doctors, PhDs all around, superheroes from HuffPost and Acast Studios. Check out Am I Doing It Wrong wherever you get your podcasts.
- [19:54]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Well, I tell you what, while all this is going on at Roma, the group that own the Italian Club are also trying to buy Everton. Of course. Let's welcome our Everton writer, Paddy Boylan to join us. Paddy, six weeks have passed since the Friedkin Group agreed to buy Fahad Mashiri's 94% stake in the club. So why has it taken so long to finalize from your perspect perspective, I.
- [20:16]
Paddy Boylan
Think the easy answer is it's not actually right now taking longer than expected. When this was announced in late September, we were told by most around the situation that they expected something to come through in December. Optimistically start of December, some felt it could drag on closer to Christmas. So I think the process is just so far unfurling more or less as you would expect it to. There's been several regulatory hurdles that most supporters will be aware of here and I think the big pillar in that sense is the Premier League's owners and directors test, which just does take some time. They need to analyze financial accounts, they need to speak to the Freekins themselves to get a sense of what their plan is for Everton moving forward. As we know it's more stringent than it used to be, so that will just take a bit of time. And the other element to this which is maybe equally important is not a regulatory phase as such, but it's tying up and finding a way to get rid of some of the club's external debt. One of the big key pillars here is 200 million pound loan to former would be owners 777 partners. And that deposition's now being assumed by an insurance firm in the US one of their major creditors called ACAP. And what's basically happening right now is that that ACAP and 777 are being sued for alleged fraud in the US court in New York. The Freekins are in the middle of this trying to find a way to pay off ACAP without destroying agreements in the New York court. So it's very fiddly and very messy and this was always going to be the logical conclusion to Farhad Mashiri's Everton. It was never going to be a simple transition from one ownership to another. But you've got lots of moving parts and I think sometimes when I'm asked the question by fans, when is this actually going to happen? I kind of just have to fudge a little bit and say well how long is a piece of string? Probably most people suggest sometime in December but let's see from previous experience the other thing that can happen here is if this is not tied up by by Christmas. What tends to happen with the Premier League is that the league and its officers more or less shut down for a couple of periods. It was a frustration this time last year with 777 partners when they were trying to get their takeover over the line and it might be a frustration again this time if it's not done by them. But I think most people are quite happy with the current trajectory. There's nothing particularly untoward so far and most people expect the Freekins to be in situ before the January transfer window.
- [23:04]
Ayoa Kimwlere
I wonder in the background, Paddy, you know, there's a lot of people probably sitting here within Everton Football Club thinking, well, I have a job soon, like, you know, what's going to happen when this all lands and they take over. There's already a mountain debt on the club, you know, will I be here next season?
- [23:19]
Paddy Boylan
Yeah, I think that's completely fair enough. What we tend to see when ownership changes hands is that new people come in and they want to implant their own ideas, have new figures in place and show that there's going to be some form of material change from the old regime. With Everton, you've got very unique circumstances, of course, as well. You have in Sean Dyche, a manager who is now into the final six months of his deal. You have a director of football in Kevin Thelwell, he's into the final six months of his deal too. You have a threadbare board and this will be familiar to Roma fans who are listening to this. A very threadbare board in, I would suggest, urgent need of reinforcement. And the positive way to spin that, of course, is that it gives the freaking scope very early doors to do what they need to do. The slightly less positive one is that there's an awful lot to do straight off the bat. The early impressions we've got are that they, first of all, they're quiet, they're not saying an awful lot about their plans for the club right now they want to be in situ before they start to communicate more with fans. But in the background, work is already underway in terms of, I suppose, deciphering what the top structure at Everton will be, who will be on the board, potential names, what the structure will look like, and then how it all filters down to manager, director of football and so on. Most of the focus right now is not on Shaun Dyche's future or Kevin Thelwell, it's on who do we want in those top positions. CEO, Chairman to kind of create the vision and move Everton forward, for want of a better phrase. So a really, really interesting period where, I mean, as I wrote in a piece the other day, it kind of feels as though everybody's auditioning to be part of Everton moving forward. Sean Dyche, Kevin Falwell. Everybody's under scrutiny, players included, actually.
- [25:20]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Yeah, think about it.
- [25:21]
Paddy Boylan
Players too. Ahead of the January transfer window and the summer staff members who've been there long term, everybody's trying to put their best foot forward and impress. But Certainly on the pitch results and performances haven't been very good recently.
- [25:36]
IO Akamwolere
Yeah, I mean one of the things I find interesting is when they put out a statement that they were looking to get regulatory approval from the Premier League for this takeover. I saw some of the reaction by Evertonians on social media and there was, there's a gratitude almost that oh, we're hearing from an ownership group, we're hearing from, from people. I wouldn't be surprised if you know, but for a statement that says, you know, we, we have got that approval that we needed that you never hear from the Freakins again because you know they are, they are sphinx like, you know, they, you can see them but you don't hear from them. And that was actually quite clever when they took over at Roma because the previous owner Jim Palotta was very passionate, very outspoken and would call out things he didn't like. Ye to have their own in house radio station at Rome to control the narrative that was being put out by all the other radio stations in, in, in Rome there was a feeling that okay, it's better if we don't say anything but we're seeing that we're present, that we're on the ground and that sort of thing. So I wouldn't be surprised if, if, if you know, we don't hear the freakin actually, actually say anything. We might see, see them say stuff in print. But like there was a, there was a moment over the summer where, you know, Roma got approval for a stadium, the Friedkin's own stadium, not the one that was being designed by the guy who's designed Everton Stadium because that was the Stadio della Roma by the old owner. And there was excitement because it was like actually we might hear Ryan Friedkin, the son say something for the first time. We actually might hear his voice, we might understand, you know, who he is. He briefly said something, I can't remember. It's Forzeroma or die Roma. Come on Roma. Something like that. And that was it. It. And there was a real hope that they would come out and address the fans in the midst of this crisis which is going on at the club at the moment. And that hasn't happened but for a couple of statements which I think upon in retrospect they would look back on with some regret because when they hired Ivan Uric to replace Daniel De Rossi, they said they hoped to be winning trophies with him. He's been sacked after six weeks. And then the other frustration which I'm interesting to see how this develops. Paddy was saying how you know, they have a real opportunity here to shape the club in, in the image, you know, that they want, you know, because there are sporting directors, other directors with deals coming up. Frustration with Roma is that often these vacancies have been left open for far too long. You know, like when they, when they took over in Covid from Palota, you know, it took them. They ended up letting the chief executive at the time, Guido Fienga, do the transfer market because they didn't have a sporting director. And the sporting director, Thiago Pinto, is now at Bournemouth. Didn't take over until December, January that year. Pinto earlier this year basically said, I'm leaving at the end of the January transfer window. They didn't replace him until sort of May of this year with Florence Olfi, who you can understand why sort of, you know, external consultancy firms go, oh, look, this guy worked for nice. You know, whether Sir Jim Radcliffe, Ineos, Dave Brailsford, Culture, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, so far, Gisolfi, it's early days, but he's been a disaster. And, but I mean, they should have a head. I wouldn't say they have a head start, but this entire process of them passing the owners and directors test, you know, sort of jumping these legal hurdles which Paddy has spoken about in New York, it should give them time to like, actually, you know, okay, get our ducks in a row. It's. There's a. Yeah, there's, there's a lot to be kind of interested by in terms of how they act. But like, the pace of how they act, I think is something that Evertonians need to sort of be aware of as well. Hey, you know what would make your.
- [29:41]
Raj Panjabi
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- [29:43]
IO Akamwolere
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Raj Panjabi
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IO Akamwolere
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Raj Panjabi
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- [30:02]
IO Akamwolere
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Paddy Boylan
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IO Akamwolere
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- [30:09]
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- [30:39]
Raj Panjabi
Hi, I'm Raj Panjabi from HuffPost. And I'm Noah Michaelson, also from HuffPost. And we're the hosts of Am I Doing It Wrong? A new podcast that explores the all too human anxieties we have about trying to get our lives right. Each week on the podcast, Raj and I pick a new topic that we want to understand better and bring a guest expert on to talk us through how to get it right. And we're talking like legit credible experts, doctors, PhDs all around superheroes from HuffPost and Acast Studios. Check out Am I Doing It Wrong? Wherever you get your podcasts.
- [31:14]
IO Akamwolere
This is the Athletic FC podcast with IO Akamolera.
- [31:21]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Before you jumped on Paddy, James was talking about how he feels English fans are relatively meek in comparison to Italian fans.
- [31:29]
IO Akamwolere
They are, it's not in dispute.
- [31:32]
Ayoa Kimwlere
But also where Everton are, that is a close knit community who have got a big voice, right?
- [31:38]
IO Akamwolere
I don't know, I'm not, I'm not disputing that, but I think, I think the way they, the way English fans project dissent is very different.
- [31:48]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Paddy, if you, if you look at this takeover and it doesn't go as desired as what James has basically been talking about with the Friedkin, how do you think Everton fans are going to react? Because let's face it, they've had quite a few years of really indecisiveness under Machiri and also huge debt as well. And also performances from a team that you would think should be doing better.
- [32:10]
Paddy Boylan
Yeah, they've had a really tough few years in every sense. I mean, not just on the pitch with successive relegation battles, but even at times it's felt like the, the club has been at civil war in the sense where you've had disputes between fans and board members, board members leaving pretty similar to some of what's happened in Rome, but I would suggest kind of much more dialed down. To echo James's point, fans are now ready for something different and they have been ready for something different for quite some time. They've had to get used to begrudgingly this period of stasis while we wait for the next chapter and are very eager to see signs with a new stadium on the horizon, potential for changes high up in the club, eager to see signs that the club is actually going to start to move in the right direction finally after years of mismanagement. I think it's a huge Opportunity for anybody and you benefit. It's not like a succession with Alex Ferguson where it's a poison chalice as a manager, you're going to struggle to get anywhere near what Ferguson did in Mushiri's case. He's failed so spectacularly that anybody that wants to take this project on and isn't him is going to be given some good grace, certainly for the first year or so. And there's a lot of promise here as well. So after years of turmoil, the fact that people are wanting to come in and invest in the club, club. Whatever you say about the Freekinds and how they've run Roma, they have invested significantly. The promise of Everton having a fighting chance in the market, the promise of Everton moving to a new stadium with high revenue that gives supporters something to cling on to even during these really tough moments. Tough moments like now where they're watching pretty dire football results, haven't been what they maybe should be given the fixture list and they're kind of just wanting everything to finish and for Mashiri to be out the door and whoever it is at this stage, the Friedkins to just come in and start that next phase. One of the reasons for the Friedkins to press ahead with this and to want this takeover to be rubber stamped quite so quickly is that you've got a January transfer window coming up. Really important in theory. Final stint of the season where Everton have to stay in the Premier League to take advantage of some of the opportunities we've, we've spoken about there. If Everton are a championship club come next season, I still think the odds are they will have enough over the final six months or so. But if Everton are a championship club, then it becomes less of an attractive proposition even to the Freekins, doesn't it? Their pitches. We take an underperforming Premier League club with a sizable fan base, a new stadium that's already been built for us, rather than all the hurdles they have to go through in Rome and this can be our baby, it can be something that we grow and there's untapped potential here that we can take advantage of.
- [35:12]
IO Akamwolere
I think Everton going into the championship is the only way this is acceptable to Rome fans, because this is a real issue for them in Rome, is that if you're seeing to prioritize another club, most of these multi clubs, club, you know, operations work. When you have clubs that you've got one big club, the crown jewel, and then you've got other smaller clubs around it, you can't have clubs that are kind of commensurate in size and you know every penny that is spent into in Everton will be seen as a penny out of Roma which is, it's not the case but they'll be like, hang on a minute. Regardless of our financial fair play situation at Roma, how are you spending this on that player for Everton? You know, we would like that player or something like that. And you know that's, that's, that's, that's going to be an issue. And so you know you do have a significant portion of the fan base at Roma now kind of wishing a sale to happen, you know, which is, you know, kind of what Everton fans are wishing for in terms of, you know, Machiri's finally getting the sale over the line to the freakin. So you know, it's the dynamics of this I think unprecedented, you know, when you consider for example how you know you had the pozzos at Watford and Udinese and you know Udinese are you know the, the probably the meekest club in Italy, you know, when it comes to protest but at least you know, but there was a time when you know, Udinese would go out and get Alexis, Sanchez and all this sort of thing and they were the figurehead of that whole thing. And then all of a sudden Watford is signing Richarlison and it's like, hang on a minute like you know we, Richarlison would usually come to us if there's any feeling of that at Roma, you know, it will not go down well again and you know there's, you know, there's all kinds of people putting two and two together and getting six within the Roma fan base by looking at the front of shirt sponsor Riyadh season, by seeing them signing this Saudi right back out of the Saudi pro league. And yeah, I mean it's just bizarre how in the space of 11 months you can go from the most popular owners in Italy to your fans wishing a sale.
- [37:27]
Ayoa Kimwlere
Well, let's leave it there. Everton fans get ready. No doubt we're going to be doing another podcast on this before the season is over. Gents, thank you so much for your time. James, Paddy and we'll be back tomorrow.
- [37:39]
IO Akamwolere
The Athletic FC podcast network.
- [37:47]
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IO Akamwolere
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IO Akamwolere
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