Nottingham Forest had a £35m bid for Harrison Armstrong accepted by Everton before the club were forced into a U-turn following a furious reaction from supporters.

Rule one for owners: never destroy hope, never take away a fanbase’s right to dream. For Everton supporters, Harrison Armstrong represents exactly that: hope, and the chance to dream. The 19-year-old midfielder is a local boy from West Derby, one of their own, living out the same dream by wearing the famous royal blue shirt of the club he loves. Rule two for owners: do not sell treasured home-grown talent.

Everton fans at the Vitality on Saturday left their feelings in no doubt over the proposed £35m move of Armstrong to Nottingham Forest, directing their anger at the club’s owners, The Friedkin Group (TFG). “Don’t sell Armstrong, Harrison Armstrong, I just don’t think you understand,” they sang. “If you sell Armstrong, Harrison Armstrong, you’re going to have a riot on your hands”.

Everton manager David Moyes was plainly opposed to the transfer. TFG saw and heard the backlash, realised the mistake in the plan, and abandoned the sale of a player widely viewed as Everton’s finest home-grown prospect since Wayne Rooney. Armstrong is unquestionably worth keeping and backing.

“The potential sale of Harrison Armstrong goes against everything our fanbase stands for, a young talented Scouser who is the future of our club,” Everton supporters’ group The 1878s said in a statement. The group warned it would stop organising the flags and tifo displays that add so much to the match-day atmosphere. TFG was meddling with the very fabric of Everton life.

There is also the question of what is best for the player’s own development. Moyes has a strong record with young footballers, handling the gifted Rooney as carefully as possible when the powerful teenager burst on to the scene so memorably in 2002. Moyes seeks to protect such prospects in an almost paternal, certainly pastoral, manner. He understands they will eventually leave the footballing family home, so he tries to prepare them while also getting the best from them.

Moyes also provided crucial support to a teenage Ross Barkley when he suffered a double leg break in 2010, even making sure a new contract was arranged for a youngster lying in a hospital bed and worrying about his future.

He will ease Armstrong in and out of the side, without placing too much physical or mental pressure on the 19-year-old. Armstrong appears capable of coping with expectation. Part of that comes from the education he received after Moyes sent him on loan to Preston North End last season.

A wider issue is also in play here, and it affects supporters across the game. Financial sustainability regulations are not fit for purpose when it comes to nurturing young talent. From FFP to PSR to SCR, there needs to be a rethink not only of the terminology but also of the substance. The “pure profit” aspect of selling academy products is far too tempting for owners with short-term thinking. It was one reason why an exasperated Eddie Howe had to sacrifice Elliot Anderson in a rushed sale to Forest. It is why TFG considered moving Armstrong on. The player becomes an accounting entry rather than a sporting asset.

TFG does need to balance the books at a club that has posted troubling figures in recent years and has been punished for them, but there are other, more acceptable routes, and other players who could be sold. From a Premier League point of view, it would make sense if clubs were given greater encouragement to keep “one of our own”. One option would be to allow the first few years — perhaps 50 first-team matches — of an academy graduate’s salary to be offset against SCR calculations. That would create a financial reason to retain home-grown talent.

Everton supporters are fully justified in taking immense pride in the fact that a local player has appeared in every league campaign since the Football League began in 1888. In truth, the tradition goes back even further. Liverpool-born goalkeeper Charles Joliffe played for Everton from 1885 until he was eventually replaced by Robert Smalley, who arrived from Preston.

To Evertonians, Armstrong is more than just a footballer. He is a symbol of the area, almost an antidote to the money-drenched modern game.

The bond with the community matters enormously, particularly in an era when the Premier League is so heavily filled with overseas players.

Everton’s owners should have known there would be outrage. If TFG did not realise that, then the group needs better advisers — or better lines of communication with supporters. That is among the most troubling aspects of the entire episode: TFG’s failure to understand the issue in the first place. It borders on arrogance. Everton Football Club is more than a business; it is a footballing institution, a community asset, a producer of local talent and a beacon of hope. The Armstrong episode underlined that. Owners should take note.