Everton’s new Friedkin Group owners have landed a significant coup by hiring a former key executive of Liverpool’s owners Fenway Sports Group and Chelsea’s co-owners Clearlake Capital.
Dave Beeston was poached from FSG by Clearlake Capital only five months ago, but Telegraph Sport can reveal he has left his role as managing director and is understood to have agreed to join the Friedkin Group in a sports-only chief executive position.
It is understood that Beeston, who left Clearlake around two weeks ago, will be Boston-based and will work predominantly on sports projects in the United States for the Friedkin Group. He will not be Everton’s chief executive and has not been hired in any sort of multi-club role, given the group also owns Roma.
Beeston was appointed managing director of Clearlake Capital O.P.S Group in September last year. In more than a decade at FSG, he was co-head of Fenway Sports Management, where he was primarily involved with baseball’s Boston Red Sox and ice hockey’s Pittsburgh Penguins.
Although his involvement in Liverpool was minimal and he was never hired by Clearlake to work at Chelsea, the appointment of a former senior FSG executive who had been poached by Chelsea’s co-owners is seen within the industry as a significant coup for Everton’s owners.
Clearlake have offices in Los Angeles, London and Texas, and his role there was around college sports in North America. It is understood that Beeston left with Clearlake’s full blessing and support, and an understanding that he did not want to relocate.
Announcing the appointment of Beeston and other executives at the start of September, Chelsea co-owner Behdad Eghbali said: “We’re proud of the multifaceted team we’ve built, who possess the expertise needed to develop and deploy flexible and creative investment solutions, while managing risk, in today’s dynamic market. We welcome our new team members and congratulate our long-tenured senior executives on their well-deserved promotions.”
Chelsea co-owner José E Feliciano added: “Having the right team in place is critical to driving the firm’s continued growth and global operational reach, and Clearlake is proud to welcome a group of accomplished senior executives while also promoting our talent from within. Clearlake is focused on broadening our global capabilities to better serve our investors, and we will continue to add the best talent and resources as we expand.”
Clearlake’s appointment of Beeston in September had corresponded with operating executive Chris Jurasek stepping down as Chelsea chief executive after just 15 months at the club.
It also came amid news that co-owners Clearlake and Todd Boehly were prepared to buy each other out to take sole control of Chelsea. While a full-scale takeover battle is yet to break out, there remains an expectation that either Clearlake or Boehly will eventually take sole ownership of the Stamford Bridge club.
