Everton owners have eroded trust over Harrison Armstrong and Iliman Ndiaye sagas - now they must win back the fans... and manager David Moyes, writes LEWIS STEELE

When The Friedkin Group were handed the keys to Everton in December 2024, they could have walked into any pub by Goodison Park or the swanky new waterfront stadium and had a queue of thousands trying to buy them a pint.

Their arrival was a rescue act similar to supremo Dan Friedkin’s mission in the blockbuster Christopher Nolan film Dunkirk, where he was the stunt pilot flying a Spitfire to save Allied soldiers on the beaches. The American billionaires had given Everton a leg-up after years of financial worry.

Now, the Friedkins would probably get an earful of abuse. Frontman Dan need not worry about that, mind – nearly two years after buying the club, he has still not been seen anywhere near a match. 

That, in itself, is indicative of an ownership group detached from reality, which was thrust into evidence this weekend amid fan mutiny.

There has been something of a civil war brewing for several weeks at Everton but it escalated intensely on Saturday morning when reports emerged that the club was planning to cash in on 19-year-old homegrown midfielder Harrison Armstrong.

The next day, the club agreed to sell Iliman Ndiaye, one of their best players alongside Kieran Dewsbury-Hall, Jarrad Branthwaite and Jordan Pickford.

It was not the fine details of the proposed Armstrong exit that mattered but the principle.

Armstrong is not going to suddenly take the club to the Champions League on his own this term, nor is he the second coming of academy graduate Wayne Rooney and, prima facie, the mooted £40million fee might be good business for a player with 24 first-team appearances and zero goals.

But he is the best talent produced in some time from a faltering academy which was set back several years by the previous owners plunging the club into a financial pickle meaning they had to sell their best youngsters and were not able to invest properly in the development teams.

Because of that, versatile and hard-working Armstrong represents a sunflower sprouting in an acre of concrete wasteland. He represents a role model to every other kid in the academy. A Scouse heartbeat of the team living out most fans’ dreams of playing for their boyhood club.

Supporters who made the arduous trip to a rainy Bournemouth rightly voted with their voices before, during and after the 1-1 draw by singing about rioting if the club sold Armstrong. Fan power eventually won with the club pulling the plug on the move.

Daily Mail Sport understands the board was unanimous having considered the offer put on the table from Forest. On Sunday morning, calls were made to the Midlands club to inform them that Armstrong would be staying put.

So that’s that, then, TFG would hope. It does not work like that, Mr Friedkin. Trust is a precious commodity which takes significant time to build up but just seconds to erode.

If the final days of the transfer window go as Everton fans hope, they might forgive the owners for this embarrassing episode. But they will not forget. The owners not attending games does not help and it is fair to question whether their finger can truly be on the pulse of how the club works.

Although he would never publicly admit it, few could blame David Moyes if he were left irked. This appears to be the nadir of a frustrating month for the Scot.

Let’s rewind slightly. Moyes has cut a dejected figure in press conferences this season and body-language experts might describe him as in a sulk. Some fans have picked up on it and were aggrieved at him last week for his comments on the importance of cup competitions.

But the last few days have seen supporters understand why he has looked grumpy. It is clear the manager and the hierarchy are somewhat at odds.

This began when chief executive Angus Kinnear said in an interview with BBC Radio Merseyside that last season was a ‘failure’ when Everton flirted with returning to European football but ultimately missed out.

That would be a fair comment in, say, a couple of years had the board backed Everton in the transfer window. As it stands, though, 14 top-flight clubs have spent more money this summer, according to the online Transfermarkt database.

There are a lot of moving parts in the final days of the window but Ndiaye, one of the club’s best players, now looks likely to leave. They have needed a right back for well over a year but have waited until the final days of this summer to agree a £9.4m deal for Kenny Tete, 30, from Fulham.

Ndiaye is extremely talented and at £60m, Tottenham have got a bargain. Moyes values players who can keep the ball, relieving pressure on team-mates, and he will certainly be losing one of those. Richarlison, 29, will come the other way for £35m.

The owners could justifiably claim that Ndiaye has turned down offers of a new contract and that cashing in at some point was a sensible – perhaps inevitable - move. But it would be an easier sell to fans had Ndiaye had pushed to join a team like Real Madrid or Manchester City or Arsenal – and if they had received an eye-watering sum a month ago, with plenty of time to recruit a replacement. But days before the end of the window for such a small fee? Supporters and Moyes are right to question the ambition of TFG.

This summer should have been about strengthening the attack, not letting their best attacker go. Striker Thierno Barry has started the season well, with four goals in three games, but the youngster is not yet consistent and a real No 9 would have transformed last season.

After beating Chelsea on March 21, Everton were three points off the Champions League spots but did not win another game and fell down the table. The feeling was that, with a few more players, they could take that next step and become a disruptor to the so-called Big Six.

But clearly the board had other ideas and maybe their hand has been forced by squad cost ratio.

Some fans that have become aggrieved with Moyes but in declaring after the Bournemouth game ‘the manager is an Evertonian’ he demonstrated he wants fans to know he understands how they feel.

Had the boss had his way this summer, he might have already signed striker Folarin Balogun from Monaco, or defenders Ola Aina from Nottingham Forest or Guela Doue at Strasbourg.

Perhaps alarm bells should have sounded earlier this month when a £2m deal for Manchester United’s Ethan Wheatley – eyed as a prospect who could make an impact in the first team - fell down with Everton citing finances.

Yet the window has not been a catastrophe. The signing of Hayden Hackney from Middlesbrough is shrewd business, while Moyes likes Brennan Johnson who can play across the front three. Tyrique George, who made a loan from Chelsea permanent, has impressed this summer.

Richarlison and last year’s loanee Jack Grealish look poised to return to the club. Both would be marquee signings — if Ndiaye was not being let go on the cheap — and are fan favourites but they are now aged 29 and 30 with sketchy injury records.

Tete, too, is an experienced asset who Moyes tried to buy last year. All three are good players but potentially past their peak years and recruitment of younger players would likely have left the club in a stronger position to reach their goals in the long-term.

Fans hoped for a window where Everton made the next step in their pursuit of European football and maybe winning a first trophy since 1995. Newcastle, Crystal Palace, West Ham and Aston Villa have all shown how to do it in the last few years.

Instead, with comments from the CEO about ‘failure’ and an ownership seemingly out of touch with the fanbase, Moyes will be left with more questions than answers when the window slams shut.

One answer we do have, though, is the reason for why the Everton manager has worn an upside down smile in public so far this season. Just like that, the Toffees are back to having a hierarchy on trial with the fans.