Grand old team, brand new vision. Last December, a week before Christmas, the Friedkin Group took over English football’s then-biggest basket case and quickly set about changing the story. 

Before only the rubbish Quality Street were left over, they had already put the wheels in motion for what has been described to Daily Mail Sport, by one of many well-placed sources spoken to for this piece, as ‘realistic transformation’.

Nine months later, Everton head into the first Merseyside derby of the season a club revitalised. They are in sixth place and are in a new, £800million stadium. They have a marquee player so popular that his arrival sparked a 70 per cent spike in shirt sales and, while those of a blue persuasion would never get ahead of themselves, there is optimism again.

What follows is a tale of rapid change coupled with long-term strategy. It includes secret visits to that new stadium as part of a transfer sell, an old-school manager with what they call a ‘growth mindset’ in the Friedkins’ US homeland, and an overarching plan to turn a laughing stock into a serious player.

It helped, back in December, that they knew what they were getting into. The Americans, whose portfolio includes car dealerships and AS Roma, had come close to buying the broken-down Toffees six months earlier, only for the madness that had engulfed Everton to intervene in the shape of unresolved issues with the previous potential suitor 777 Partners (who are now in limited receivership). They had done their due diligence long before the ink ran dry.

Since 2016, no fewer than 14 people (some more than once) had taken the role of Everton manager or caretaker manager. Profit and Sustainability (PSR) breaches had triggered points deductions. This was a club screaming for help. An immediate review of the entire business was carried out.

‘The “p” word ran through everything they did,’ explained one insider. ‘Potential. They knew this was, despite the cleaning up, an incredible opportunity to grow a club that had not seen love for too long but they needed to be quick.’ 

Within a month of the takeover, boss Sean Dyche had been sacked and director of football Kevin Thelwell had been told he would be leaving at the end of the season. Angus Kinnear was identified as the man to oversee change although they would have to wait for Leeds United, his then employer, to seal promotion before he could cross the Pennines.

David Moyes was chosen to replace Dyche, in the first sign of the new era of common-sense thinking. Graham Potter had also been in the running, having not worked since he was sacked by Chelsea. The decisive factor was a simple one: win ratio. The Scot’s was around 20 per cent higher than his English counterpart and based on a much longer time period in the game. Moyes had a knack for winning matches, as some managers do. It is safe to say, with the benefit of time, that it is not a decision they have regretted.

With safety secured at rapid pace, they could really get started.

Daily Mail Sport understands that, in times of desperation, it had been made clear to prospective buyers that anyone who took the club on would have £70m ready to cash-in in the shape of talented defender Jarrad Branthwaite. Indeed, there were informal offers from Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham. 

But in an early meeting with Moyes and Kinnear, now in as chief executive, it was pointed out that if possible, retaining Branthwaite would be not only a sign of intent, but a smart move that would be key to footballing success. 

The argument was that a defence that featured Branthwaite, Jordan Pickford and James Tarkowski had effectively kept the club in the Premier League and that it was a solid foundation on which to build. The offers were subsequently rejected and the defender doubled his £50,000-a-week salary. A £70m gain had turned into a big outlay – a clear sign of ambition – and the view was that it would be worth it.

There has also been a shift towards data and analytics. Initially, there were concerns that Moyes may have been reluctant to engage, given his longevity and standing in the game. That has emphatically not been the case, according to those on the inside. 

Moyes is the first at the training ground and the last to leave. Sources based there describe the 62-year-old’s work ethic as ‘incredible’. On an almost-daily basis he meets analytics staff for two hours. He has embraced the shift. ‘He is an Evertonian,’ another source explained. ‘If he thinks something will help him, then he will use it. He loves the club and what they are trying to do.’

The desire was to set Moyes up for success and to shift away from the director of football model which was believed to have created more problems than it solved, a job far too big for one person. How could a director of football carry out a safeguarding audit for the academy, for example, while looking at AI-induced analytics, before contacting clubs and agreeing fees and contracts with new players?

Kinnear swiftly introduced a team of four, bringing Nick Cox from Manchester United as technical director, James Smith from City as director of scouting and recruitment, Nick Hammond, formerly of West Brom and Celtic, to lead player trading and Chris Howarth, managing director of Insight Sport, a consultancy which worked with 14 clubs across Europe and which was acquired by the Friedkins to focus exclusively on Everton, to lead football strategy and analytics. It is an impressive group which had to move quickly, given Everton had started the summer with just 12 contracted players.

Targets were identified and presented the vision of a ‘club reborn’, with the 53,000-capacity new home at Bramley-Moore Dock - now Hill Dickinson Stadium - playing a key part. Some were shown a behind-the-scenes video of the new ground on the banks of the Mersey while others made discreet visits where they were given a guided tour of the venue. 

The sales pitch appeared to work. When the deadline arrived on September 1, Everton had added nine new players for an initial outlay of £110m (£155m should clauses be met). The arrival of Grealish, who was sold on that vision, is understood to have had a knock-on effect, especially in the late captures of Germany Under-21 midfielder Merlin Rohl and promising Southampton winger Tyler Dibling. 

‘Those players had seen that we’d signed Jack and earlier (Kiernan) Dewsbury-Hall and I think it had an impact on persuading them of the level the club was operating at,’ explained one source.

Everton are paying around three-quarters of Grealish’s £300,000-a-week salary at City in a loan switch that will cost close to £12m. Aside from his impact on the field, there are already benefits elsewhere. Shirt sales are up 70 per cent since the playmaker’s arrival. They are selling five times as many jerseys with the name Grealish on the back than the next most popular squad member. 

There is, perhaps, a view that they remain a striker short but there is also a confidence that this is now the strongest squad for some time, with more creativity in the ranks than there has been in years.

Grealishmania is not the only reason behind considerable progress off the field. The new owners also realised the power that the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of the new stadium presented, and one which needed to be capitalised upon. As a result, there has been a vast turnover of commercial staff, with recruitment ongoing. 

Already, they are expecting commercial revenues this year to be 50 per cent up on the Goodison Park numbers. Deals have been penned with the likes of Budweiser and Pepsi. Season tickets and corporate packages are sold out. The venue itself has quickly established a reputation for being second only to Tottenham in the top flight. It is built for football and its vertical stands, coupled with Everton’s raucous support, have ensured that Goodison's atmosphere has been retained.

All of this is met with approval from the new owners, who have a light-touch approach but who keep updated on goings-on at the club via twice-weekly meetings. ‘They have learned from their time in charge of Roma,’ explained one source. ‘They want discipline, strategy, considered decision-making. A clear vision and plan and no madness. It goes back to them wanting the club to be run the right way.’

Clearly, given the outlay, this appears to be a long-term project and not a club to be ‘flipped’ and sold on quickly for a profit. According to those with knowledge of the workings of the club, the Friedkins talk about seeing results in five years in each area of the business.

Turnover this season is likely to be around £250-269m. There is a belief that figure will quickly rise to around £300-350m, which puts the club in the ballpark of a £1bn valuation. The Friedkins are thought to have paid around £400m.

This is not, and will not, be a return to boom or bust. It has not gone unnoticed that squad valuations of those in the Big Six tend to be around £750m. From seventh to 17th that figure drops to £350m. It is a difficult gap to close, especially in the era of PSR. 

Steering clear of the constant relegation scrapping is the priority. Tenth is seen as acceptable, but the desire is to challenge for Europe each year. More attention is likely to be paid to cup competitions. The impact of Carabao and FA Cup success at both Newcastle United and Crystal Palace has been noted. Should they progress to the stage where each year is not simply an exercise in survival, and the early signs are good, then such focus would be achievable.

The hunger is for growth, growth and growth, and that stretches to the women’s team, who were recently handed the keys to Goodison Park and sold to a parent company. It is understood that they are soon to benefit from further investment. The view in the US is that the women’s game in this country remains undervalued and the ambition is for 20,000 to flock to the club’s ancestral home on a regular basis.

And so, regardless of the result at Anfield, optimism about the future is likely to prevail on the blue half of Merseyside. They believe they are seeing the first chapters of a new story.

‘It’s stable,’ said another insider when asked to sum up what had changed. ‘It feels like a proper football club again that behaves in the right way. We’ll probably go to Anfield on Saturday and (Alexander) Isak will score the winner in the last minute, but it feels like we’re going to be able to enjoy Everton again. It’s incredible how much things have changed.’

The hope is that this is only the start.