'Comedy, horror, weepy and romance' - National media react to fitting Everton win after takeover deal

Hollywood, Downing Street and Burnley each received a mention as national reporters attempted to capture the drama of Everton’s first Premier League win of the season. The takeover deal that is expected to bring the Friedkin Group to power at Goodison was a theme throughout the coverage.

Plenty pointed o prospective new owner Dan Friedkin’s Hollywood links and Everton’s ability to conjure dramatic narratives.

There was room for football, too and, unsurprisingly, Dwight McNeil and Jarrad Branthwaite were the characters who dominated the headlines.

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“Timing is everything”, wrote Andy Hunter for the Observer, as he hailed a “superb double" from McNeil while drawing parallels between the Blues’ first win of the season and the breakthrough in the long-running ownership saga that was announced days earlier.

He continued: “At the end of a week that brought hope of a new era for Everton under the Friedkin Group, Sean Dyche finally tasted a first Premier League win of the season. A fresh start does not have to be confined to the boardroom.”

Friedkin has performed as a stuntman in Hollywood films due to his specialist pilot training, while entertainment interests are prominent in his group’s business portfolio.

On a day when Everton were terrible in the first half then magnificent at the start of the second, Chris Bascombe wrote in the Telegraph of the hosts providing an entertaining script for those working to take control at Goodison Park, adding “comedy, horror, weepy and romance – there is no genre the modern Goodison audience fails to witness in the same afternoon.”

Dyche’s future - his contract will expire in the summer - will be one of the big, early questions for the Friedkin Group to consider should they overcome the regulatory and legal challenges that are not expected to halt their bid.

With that in mind, the article continued: “When pleading to keep his job beyond the imminent Everton buy-out, Dyche has put some observers in mind of a sodden Rishi Sunak standing outside Downing Street, knowing his days are numbered as he seeks public support… By full-time, Dyche could revert to imagining himself as an under-siege president seeking a second term, demonstrating his capacity to overcome a period of austerity in the hope of proving he can excel in sunnier times.”

At the Mail, Joe Bernstein focused instead on Dyche being rescued by one of his most trusted stars in McNeil - a player who excelled in the survival run that followed the manager’s appointment in January 2023 and who is having an impact once again for the man who gave him his breakthrough.

He wrote: “Dwight McNeil has spent almost his entire career playing under Sean Dyche and the Everton boss was glad of his protégé’s match-winning contribution on Saturday. The feelgood factor created by the impending takeover from American businessman Dan Friedkin was in danger of flatlining when Everton trailed at half-time to their fellow strugglers.

"Step forward McNeil, a regular for Dyche at Burnley and now his main man at Goodison having recently switched from the wing into a more central position."

In the Times, Paul Joyce captured the nerves inside the stadium as Everton sought to hold on to a lead for the first time in five games - though reflected the feeling was more pertinent in the stands than on the pitch due to the return of Branthwaite.

He wrote: “Having carelessly surrendered advantages in each of their three previous games [in the league, Everton also lost on penalties after scoring first against Southampton in the Carabao Cup], it was inevitable that nerves were evident inside Goodison Park. Yet in truth that was in the stands, heightened by the sight of Palace goalkeeper (Dean) Henderson venturing forward for a late free kick, rather than on the pitch where Jarrad Branthwaite grew in composure on his first start of the campaign after injury.”

Meanwhile in the ECHO, Branthwaite’s impact was given prominence. So too was the pattern of comebacks that marked the Blues’ week: “This was not the perfect performance from Everton. But it was the perfect ending to a near-perfect week. The return of the Friedkin Group to the negotiating table has the potential to remove the existential crisis this club has been troubled by for several difficult years.

“Branthwaite’s return was a step towards ending the defensive issues that have plagued the start to this season. And this comeback win ended a miserable winless start to an emotional league campaign. Finally Goodison Park has something to celebrate.”