David Moyes on Everton's Ownership Turmoil
David Moyes has revealed he has never met or spoken to Everton owner Dan Friedkin since returning to the club in January 2025 – despite the turmoil of a summer in which the board’s decisions enraged supporters and left the squad threadbare.
Friedkin, head of The Friedkin Group, completed his takeover in December 2024 but has not attended a home game since. The club is effectively run from Houston, with the day-to-day power delegated to his son-in-law Rishi Majithia and chief executive Angus Kinnear.
Asked on Friday whether he had had any contact with Friedkin in the 20 months since his reappointment, Moyes did not dress it up.
No.
Moyes’ thin line to the top
Moyes laid out the chain of command in blunt terms before Sunday’s meeting with Manchester United.
“My real contact is Angus,” he said. “Angus is the one who I would go to see. Rishi is the next one and then the head of the Friedkin family in America.
“I don't really get any direct conversations with them, but I do through Rishi, he is the one I would speak to.”
That distance between owner and manager has been a live issue all summer. How Everton are run, who signs off major calls and who carries the can for them have all come under fierce scrutiny during a chaotic transfer window.
Armstrong saga lights the fuse
The tension boiled over at Bournemouth last weekend. News broke during the game that Everton had accepted a £40m bid from Nottingham Forest for Harrison Armstrong, one of the club’s most highly rated assets and an England Under-19s midfielder.
Fans reacted furiously in the away end. Banners and chants targeted the board rather than the dugout.
The club eventually pulled out of the Armstrong deal, but the damage to trust lingered. For many supporters, it felt like another example of a hierarchy prepared to cash in first and think about the football later.
Moyes publicly sided with them. He reminded everyone the club was “managed by an Evertonian” and added that “supporters aren't always wrong” – a pointed line in a week when the board’s judgement dominated the conversation.
Striker sold, replacement vanishes
The Armstrong row was only part of the story. The final days of the window piled on the confusion.
On deadline day, Everton sold Beto to Fiorentina before they had a replacement through the door. The plan was clear enough: bring in USA forward Folarin Balogun from Monaco. The move collapsed late on Tuesday, with Balogun backing out at the 11th hour.
The result is stark. Everton closed the window with just 18 senior players. Only one recognised striker. One right-back. One left-back. A Premier League club operating on the margins.
Moyes did not disguise the scale of the rebuild required behind the scenes.
“We've got new owners in who are still feeling their way in the club,” he said. “I think if we get to know each other more it will get better.”
“I wouldn’t have come back for anybody but Everton”
For all the upheaval, Moyes insisted he has no intention of walking away from a club he previously led to regular top-five finishes between 2002 and 2013.
Asked directly if he had considered quitting, his answer cut through the noise.
“Everton's different. I wouldn't have come back for anybody but Everton.”
He leaned again on the power of the fanbase – the one force at the club that still feels united.
“I think the club here has had enough days where the people find a way of recovering. People saw the face of Evertonians last week and it can be really powerful. I would expect them to be really powerful now.
“But powerful for the team, powerful for the players. What we're going to need from them is extra because we're short, so we need them. If they're not with us, then it's terrible. And they are with us, I believe they are with us.”
The owner may be thousands of miles away in Houston and out of sight at Goodison. The squad may be light and the structure still taking shape. But as Manchester United arrive on Sunday, Moyes is betting that the old Everton formula still holds: when everything else frays, the crowd can drag the club through.
