24/25 Season Preview 20 in 20 - Everton

4 of 20 - The Toffees

Author

nick lochner
July 29, 2024

The 2024/25 Season kicks off Friday August 16 when Fulham travel to Man United.

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2023/24 Finish - 15th Place

Excitement. That seems to be the right word for Everton heading into the 2024/25 season. Three consecutive seasons of avoiding relegation, an ownership situation that is up in the air, and the last season at their historic stadium.

A Struggle. It has been a rough couple years for one of the founding members of the Football League in 1888. The Toffees have flirted with relegation the past THREE seasons finishing 16th, 17th and 15th. Last season they had to overcome an 8-point deduction for violating Financial Fair Play rules, twice. In November they received a 10-point deduction, the most in PL history, that was then reduced to 6 points in February, and then a second 2-point deduction added back in April. This comes after 20 years of consistency finishing between 4th and 12th place. In addition, Everton have been in the top division of English Soccer more than any other club, 122 years, and have currently been in the top division for 71 consecutive seasons, more than ever other club but Arsenal (99).

Who’s On First. In late 2023, it was announced 777 Partners (a US based private equity firm) acquired Everton. During negotiations, 777 loaned Everton $250M, however the deal fell through as there seemed to be some “shady” business dealings at 777 (not related to the loan). To add to the confusion, 777 and their co-owner Josh Wander were accused of “fraud”. The deal fell through. Enter The Friedkin Group, who also own Serie A club Roma. They were approved to buy Everton but during a 4-week exclusive period of due diligence they backed out of the deal.

Goodison Park. Since 1892 Everton have played their matches at Goodison Park. The upcoming season will be its last at the “Grand Old Lady” as Everton are set to move 2 miles to Bramley-Moore Stadium. Located on the Bramley-Moore Dock on the Merseyside River, the new stadium will increase capacity by over 30% to 53,000.

The Royal Dyche. Sean Dyche, Gaffer, is a proven winner who has stuck to his “defensive” approach. Only three teams allowed fewer goals last season than Everton and Keeper Jordan Pickford will be back and provide solid leadership on the back end. New signing Iliman Ndiaye should help up front, and expect some additional signings before the season get’s underway.

The Club

Located in Liverpool

Goodison Park, 40,000 capacity

Rough estimates

$255M Annual Revenue (30th in world, 11th in PL)

$80M Player Payroll

History on the Pitch

  • 9 Titles, last in 1987

  • 5 FA Cups

  • 1 Europe Cup

Ownership

ONE WORD - CHAOS

Everton F.C. is a limited company with the board of directors holding a majority of the shares. In 2016, Farhad Moshiri, a British-Iranian businessman based in Morocco, bought a 49.9% stake in the club, and then upped that to 59% in 2018 and again to 94% in 2022. Moshiri is the chairman of USM, a diversified Russian holding company in the mining, telecom and tech sectors.

See above for the turmoil.

Sponsorship

Home Shirt

Biggest Rival - Liverpool Merseyside Derby

  • Stadiums are less than 1 mile apart and can each be seen from each other across Stanley Park.

  • Merseyside is the county in which Liverpool is located.

  • The longest running top-flight derby in England, a match has been played every year since 1962.

  • In 244 Matches Everton has 68W 99L 77D.

The Culture

The Peoples Club.
Everton is a more local, blue collar fan base than many of its rivals and big clubs in the PL. 30% of their fans live in Liverpool, and 50% live within 44 miles. For comparison's sake, Liverpool and Man United average 82 and 78 miles. 71% of Everton fans earn less than $40k per year (2003 data). In addition, a 2013 study showed that the houses around Goodison Park averaged $80k, a full $45k less than the next lowest of the teams in the PL. It’s a good-sized club with A LOT of history and a big fanbase, however it falls below the top 6-7 revenue/spending clubs in the PL.

The fanbase is very passionate…..

  • In 2013, the club launched a new crest to improve reproducibility of the design in print - most likely for Nike. The redesign was not received well by supporters with 91% said to not like the new logo. Over 22,000 supporters signed a petition to have it changed. The club apologized and created a new crest with the involvement of supporters who voted on 3 designs. The winning design was voted on by 80% of the voters and became the new crest in 2014.

  • The club gets great attendance despite having the most obstructed views and poor sight lines in the Premier League. A 2006–07 fan survey by the Premier League listed 15% of Everton fans as being unhappy with sight lines at Goodison Park, and only 19% described match views as "very good".

  • Everton has great supports clubs all over the world.

The Everton Lock-Up

Also known as Prince Ruperts Tower, was built in 1787 as a holding place where drunks would be taken overnight by parish constables. Release would involve some sort of community service. It is one of two lock-ups still standing in Liverpool, and became the centerpiece for Everton’s Crest in 1937

Supporters You May Recognize

  • Paul McCartney

  • Matt Damon

  • Sylvester Stalone

  • Dame Judi Dench

  • John McEnroe

  • Tommy Fleetwood

  • Roger Bennett - Men in Blazers

  • Patrick Fetherston

Song

Spirit of The Blues - 30s crowd version

Spirit of the Blues - Official music video

First released in 1985 after Everton won the league title and a Europe Title, a music video was released in 2020 and took the song to the tops of the UK Music charts.

Everton, we never shone so brightly
Everton, the spirit of the Blues.
Everton, we never shone so brightly
Everton, the spirit of the Blues.

The Everton Lock-Up

Game Day Pub Guide

If in Chicago - check out AJ Hudson’s Public House. @AJHudsons on Twitter. Highly recommended by the CleanSheet.

Fan Sites

According to the AI tool COPILOT - here is an image of an Everton fan in front of Goodison Park, based on Wiki’s description of an Everton Supporter.

Official Twitter

@Everton

High Follows on Twitter

@LivEchoEFC (75k)

@EvertonintheUSA (15k)

@EvertonUSA (22k)

The Team

The Gaffer

  • Sean Dyche (England), 53yo

  • Burnley manager from 2012-2022 with a bunch of success including Europe qualification for first time in over 50 years. That success got a pub renamed to The Royal Dyche.

  • Hired by Everton in January 2023 he did enough to keep them from being relegated with a win in the final match of the 2023 season and again overcoming an 8-point deduction in the 2024 season.

Dyche

ODDS

  • To Win League +75,000

  • To Be Relegated +150

  • To Finish Top 4 +10,000

  • To Finish Top 10 +350

Roster Notes

Full Roster click link

Projected to finish 14th

Americans on the team (as of July 28)

  • None

Interested in playing Fantasy Soccer? Here are the basics. Typical teams have a budget of $100M and 15 players - the average player is $6.7M.

  • Dwight McNeil (MID) – $5.5m

  • Jack Harrison (MID) – $5.5m

  • Abdoulaye Doucoure (MID) – $5.5m

  • James Tarkowski (DEF) – $5.0m

  • Jarrad Branthwaite (DEF) – $5.0m

Goalkeeper

  • Jordan Pickford (GKP) - Top 5 in POL

FINAL YEAR at Goodison Park

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