Everton’s prospective new owners, the Friedkin Group, are having a tough time of things at Roma.
Despite plenty of investment on the playing side they have sacked unpopular manager Ivan Juric after just 12 matches in charge. It follows the controversial sacking of fan favourite Danielle De Rossi and comes amid poor form and fan protests at the group’s ownership choices.
Roma are expected to appoint a new manager in the next few days and the Friedkin Group has confirmed it will continue to invest in the club – and while the takeover of Everton rumbles on a new appointment should mean better management of Everton’s boardroom when it completes.
According to The Athletic the Friedkin Group have hired talent identifying firm Nolan Partners to find a new CEO for the club and replace Colin Chong, who has been interim CEO of the club since the departure of Everton’s disastrous former board after several years of mismanagement under Farhad Moshiri.
The news that Nolan Partners are scouring the market is good news for Everton. The firm has a long and impressive track record of hiring CEOs, sporting directors and technical directors at top football clubs around the world. Previous placements include Liverpool’s Chief Operating Officer, Manchester City’s head of academy, director of football roles at Aston Villa and Spurs, and an impressive roster of MLS and NFL teams.
Nolan Partners were the team who brought Dan Ashworth to Brighton, where he developed a stellar reputation for spotting transfer bargains. He later moved to Newcastle and then Manchester United. Ex-Everton defender David Weir, now technical director at Brighton, was also placed by Nolan Partners.
The firm also placed Johan Lange at Aston Villa, the man who started the incredible revolution of the club and was responsible for the signings of Emiliano Martinez and Ollie Watkins among others. He has since moved to Spurs to drive their recruitment strategy.
They have also worked with highly-rated director of football Paul Mitchell, who made his name at Southampton and has had spells at Spurs and Monaco since.
At CEO level Nolan Partners have previously been tasked with finding people to take up the Chief Operating Officer positions at City Football Group, Liverpool, and place senior executives at the Premier League and EFL. The company says: “We acutely understand the challenges in the business of sport and the need to marry performance, on and off the pitch. Nolan Partners has conducted Executive Searches across a wide variety of sporting organisations including world famous sporting clubs, governing bodies, professional leagues, venues, agencies, broadcasters and the major corporate organisations involved in sport and to date we have worked with over 30 sports across the world.”
The Friedkin’s have been rumoured to want to make several appointments to revamp and rebuild Everton’s leadership team. That would mean an entirely new board including a CEO, CFO and COO. The group is also rumoured to be keen to have two senior positions; one for the football side that would be similar to Kevin Thelwell’s role and another for the commercial side of the operation.
The good news for Everton fans is the use of Nolan Partners, one of the largest and most respected firms in world sport, the chances to finding competent leaders at the club are greatly improved.
Pic: Barnzy on Flickr