Everton’s chances of taking over have improved since Farhad Moshiri has been out with an injury.

Although Dan Friedkin and his son Ryan have no plans to show up until their takeover is accepted, it is known that representatives have been in Merseyside for the past two weeks to meet with club staff.

Since Farhad Moshiri hasn’t owned Everton for a long time, the fact that the next people who want to take over the club are staying away while their plans to take it over continue to move forward should be seen as a sign that things are finally turning around on the “Royal Blue” Mersey.

It was three years ago today that Moshiri fired Ronald Koeman, the first manager he hired in 2017 and a year since the death of chairman Bill Kenwright. It was also three years ago that the Monaco-based businessman set foot inside Goodison Park for a Premier League game. That day, Everton lost 5-2 to Watford, even though they were ahead 2-1 with 12 minutes to go. Watford was destined for relegation that season.

Kop Idol Rafael Benitez was in charge when they lost. Four months earlier, Moshiri hired Benitez, the former Liverpool manager, against the advice of director of football Marcel Brands and Kenwright. It was the most controversial hiring in the history of English football’s most passionate city. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a terrible choice, just like many of the other big decisions the now-leaving main shareholder has made.

Benitez had problems with James Rodriguez and Lucas Digne, which led to both players leaving the club. Moshiri fired Benitez on January 16, 2022, the day after a 2-1 loss at Norwich City, the team’s worst opponent. Benitez had only won one of his 13 Premier League games in charge, which Kenwright would later call “unacceptably disappointing.”

The Spaniard was fired because of his bad results—he had losing records at the now-defunct Chinese club Dalian Professional and at Celta Vigo before and after his short time at Goodison—not because of his previous job across Stanley Park, where he called the Blues “a small club” after a goalless draw at Anfield.

That terrible loss to the Hornets was the last straw for Moshiri when it came to watching Everton play for three points in the most valuable domestic football league in the world.

Since then, he’s only been back once, for a 3-0 win over Burnley in the Carabao Cup on November 1, 2018, when Goodison remembered Kenwright. But unlike that year, when he and the chairman walked out together on the field to lay a wreath for Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha after he died in a helicopter crash in the King Power Stadium parking lot, when there was a lot of discontent about how the club was being run, he left flowers for the late chairman’s daughter Lucy and her partner Jenny Seagrove, as well as former player and manager Joe Royle.

Some people who have tried to get the 69-year-old to direct them have not been as shy. Representatives from 777 Partners, the controversial and now bankrupt private investment company based in Miami, were seen at a number of Everton games last season, both at home and away.

A little over two weeks after 777 agreed to buy Moshiri’s whole stake, the Iranian said, “I believe they are the best partners to take our great club forward…” Everton’s co-founders Josh Wander and Steve Pasko showed up to their wet weekend in Walton wearing their famous baseball caps. The Blues lost 2-1 at home to Luton Town, which was the Hatters’ first win in the Premier League in over 31 years. In that time, they had been down to the Conference and back.

Throughout the rest of the season, there were several more visits. One of the 777 fans went crazy in the directors’ box when Andre Gomes’ free kick made the difference against Crystal Palace in an FA Cup third round repeat.

John Textor, who also wants to be the manager of Goodison, owns a part of the Eagles. Textor wasn’t slow to move forward with his interest in Everton.

He also owns clubs in France (Olympique Lyonnais), Belgium (RWD Molenbeek), and Brazil (Botafogo). The businessman from Missouri said that getting the Blues would be like becoming president of the United States. But before the man known as “Hollywood’s Virtual Reality Guru” got the keys to the (Blue and) White House, the current top brass at Goodison slapped him on the wrist for talking about how eager manager Sean Dyche might be to work with South American players.

You only have to look to Liverpool, which is less than a mile away, to see that one group of potential American buyers doesn’t have to be the same as another.

The unfortunate Tom Hicks and George Gillett were chased out of court after a fight. While the Fenway Sports Group, led by John W. Henry and Tom Werner, has been much more successful.

As the i was the first to report, there is already a quiet change going on in Goodison’s power circles. This month, Dan and Ryan Friedkin may only be in the UK to participate in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St. Andrews, which is where Friedkin senior’s great love of golf comes alive. However, the ECHO has learned that TFG representatives have been in Merseyside for the past two weeks to meet with club staff.

As the Friedkins think about how to make structural changes and where to put their resources in the first 100 days after buying Everton, a source told Mark Douglas that they are focusing on “finding out the day-to-day stuff like working out flow charts and how things actually work and get done at the club.”

When he starred as a pilot in Christopher Nolan’s 2017 hit Dunkirk, “Spitfire Dan,” who won a Taurus Award for Best Specialty Stunt, is now speeding down the runway and getting ready to take off with the Blues after a deal fell through in July.