Ryland Morgans leaves Everton after all

Thursday, 14 June, 2018 20comments  |  Jump to most recent
Dr Ryland Morgans has left his post as Performance Director at Everton as the latest of the raft of changes at the club.

Morgans had been expected to remain at Finch Farm following the arrivals of Marcel Brands, Marco Silva and his selected staff but there appears to have been a change in plan.  



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Michael Kenrick
1 Posted 14/06/2018 at 07:23:09
The Mail mentioned this yesterday that Everton had parted company with Head of Performance, Ryland Morgans.

The highly rated Morgans was expected to stay on but only coach Duncan Ferguson remains from previous manager Sam Allardyce's staff.

Steve Ferns... was this bloke any good? Should we be glad or shed a tear?

Steve Ferns
2 Posted 14/06/2018 at 16:05:36
Michael, I’m unsure about Ryland Morgans.

First of all what is a head of performance? Well look at his career. What does he actually do? He’s a fitness coach. That’s always been his domain. Allardyce gave him a fancy title, but essentially he’s in charge of making sure the first team is fit enough.

So, when Silva came in and they announced Ryland Morgans was staying on, I found it strange. Silva has a small team. He’s one of his own main coaches, hence the hands on part. But his small team also includes a fitness coach. Because fitness is a key thing for Silva, it needs to be for his tactic to work.

So, how does Morgans fit in with that. Is he in charge of Silva’s guy? It didn’t make much sense.

So not at all surprising to see him go. He is a man of significant repute (RS and Wales are on his CV), and I bet a significant wage. I expect the reason he remained was linked to both, and clearly Brands and Silva will have sat and talked with him and it’s now been decided that there is no actual role for him.

John G Davies
3 Posted 14/06/2018 at 16:20:08
The Performance Director has not been performing to the standards Mr Moshiri wants, so it's "Cheerio".

Another good sign from a fast-changing regime.

Derek Taylor
4 Posted 14/06/2018 at 16:26:06
Who will be next ? Unsy ?
Steve Ferns
5 Posted 14/06/2018 at 16:30:20
Derek, in the shake up Joel Waldron was appointed Head of the Academy. I assume Unsworth remains Head of Coaching. But doesn't this mean Joel Waldron is now Unsworth's boss? What does David think about that?
John G Davies
6 Posted 14/06/2018 at 16:33:33
Don't think Unsy will be going.

In my opinion he is tailor made for his current job.
Tony Everan
7 Posted 14/06/2018 at 18:41:48
David Unsworth loves his job, is good at it and loves the club. I think he is passionate about coaching the U23s. Like Seamus, he would do it for fun. I think he will carry on as normal, adopt any changes and leave the politics to others.
Derek Taylor
8 Posted 14/06/2018 at 19:07:52
Is it only in football that when the' top guy' is changed, a whole swathe of loyal staff get the boot to make room for the new bosses' mates to replace them?

Right throughout the game, millions is wasted on compensation in order to make the new appointment feel secure.

Brian Harrison
9 Posted 14/06/2018 at 19:26:28
David Unsworth has done a terrific job coaching the Under-23s and has seen some of his best players be sent out on loan or be promoted to the first team, which is the natural progression. Where, if none of his Under-23s was good enough to break into the first team squad then you would question his role.

I like Unsworth but for his own good he needs to move on and get himself a managers job, I know Oxford were interested and he turned them down. And yes, if he is going to move into management, he needs everything as he sees it to be in place, I guess that wasn't the case at Oxford.

He has done a good job but I don't see how he progresses by staying at Everton. For me, he should have got the Ferguson job, but I will be interested to see if Ferguson has the same input under Silva as the previous two managers.

Lev Vellene
10 Posted 14/06/2018 at 19:45:00
I think Unsworth loves the hands-on job of being a U23 coach, and that he loved the chance last season to try that at a higher level! From there, it's a big leap to going into other aspects of the club hierarchy!

Myself, I love my seemingly low-level job of working a front-desk at a place where I could probably step in for half of the more important people (I did that work years ago, and I disliked it a lot...).

But at 50, I'll pass at the higher salaried work that would make me unhappy overall! I try to hide my past proficiences, I'm sad to say... ;D

Jay Wood
[BRZ]

11 Posted 14/06/2018 at 19:46:06
Similar to Brian @ 9, I'm interested to see what Unsworth decides for himself this summer.

Being selfish, I'd be very happy for him to continue overseeing the U-23s. But when David took over as caretaker manager after Koeman, one of his first statements was "I am ready for this. I want this."

It didn't work out for him in the top job at the club, but given his declaration, I would expect Unsworth to take on the head role at any number of possible clubs.

He was strongly linked to the Oxford job, but stayed put. If he is sincere in his statement and also confident about his abilities, he must know that before much longer he has to cut his ties to Everton and take up club management elsewhere, or his chance to prove himself may soon be gone.

Steve Pugh
12 Posted 14/06/2018 at 21:36:14
According to the article about the shake-up, Joel was Academy Manager and is now Academy Director. To me, that looks like he was already Unsy's boss.
Steve Ferns
13 Posted 14/06/2018 at 22:06:42
Fair enough Steve, I was under the impression he had been one of the coaches.

In response to Derek Taylor, perhaps it's not loyal staff getting the boot to make room for the new bosses' mates. You wouldn't say that had you got rid of Allardyce, and replaced him with an "in his prime" Brian Clough, that getting rid of Sammy Lee and replacing him with Peter Taylor was just a case of getting rid of someone to get the mate in. We've hired Brian Clough, we want Peter Taylor. So, could it not be that to have the best of Silva, we need the rest of the team? That they aren't just hangers on, but part of what makes the manager himself so good?

In terms of Rylands Morgan, how long would it take for him to do what Silva knows Goncalo Pedro can do instantly? Pedro's fitness coaching is specifically tailored to fit in with Silva's tactics and coaching. How long would it take for Morgan to get to that level? Can we afford to wait that long? Would Silva be able to bring around that instant impact he has done at so many previous clubs if he was without Goncalo Pedro?

I don't think it's about getting mates in, it's the team we want. Let's wait and see how could Klopp is without his "brain", now Buvac looks certain to take a management job of his own. For me, Rafa Benitez was never the same after he lost his right hand man, Pako Ayestarán. Sure, Benitez won trophies after he left, but not the big ones. List his accomplishments and the stuff at the top is with Ayestarán, and the stuff at the bottom is without. Often the manager is part of a package, and when you get just the one guy rock up, then the results aren't the same.

Michael Kenrick
14 Posted 15/06/2018 at 16:21:36
Now The Echo picks up this story, but with a twist that suggests Morgans has not actually left the club yet:

Ryland Morgans set to leave Everton as backroom reshuffle continues

You'd expect that the local contacts of Kirkbride et al would be tied in well to club developments, and they should have the better grasp of veracity in this era of fake news... Just a little strange, the number of different versions of this story.

Steve Ferns
15 Posted 16/06/2018 at 00:04:55
I didn't see that Michael. How about twitter as an indicator? Ryland Morgans had Everton on his profile. I know because I added him when he came in and I did a bit of research to see if it was Brendan Rogers' old mate, and to see why he hadn't gone to Celtic. Anyway, Morgans has dropped Everton fro his twitter profile. Surely, that's finality from the man himself?
Nicholas Ryan
16 Posted 16/06/2018 at 01:13:20
'Ryland Morgans' : sounds like a Country & Western singer, fallen on hard times! ....'Starring Kris Kristofferson as Ryland Morgans...'!
Colin Glassar
17 Posted 16/06/2018 at 08:58:26
Wasn’t he on the X Factor a few years ago?
Phil Tottie
18 Posted 17/06/2018 at 11:09:21
Derek (#8) – no it isn't just football that works this way. Football is a results based business and like all other such businesses the guy in charge has to demonstrate positive results quickly. He can't afford the luxury of seeing if the current loyal staff are in line with his thinking so he brings in people he knows and trusts.
Jerome Shields
19 Posted 17/06/2018 at 15:42:04
I think the whole backroom staff is under scrutiny. It all depends on whether they fit in with plan that Brands and Silva have. It has been all too cosy for too long.
Dan Parker
20 Posted 17/06/2018 at 16:01:59
For me Unsy has to stay, he’s done great with the youth team and his enthusiasm and passion infectious.

Hard to tell what really goes on behind the scenes. I love Big Dunc from his time as a player but hard to see under a few managers now how our striking department has improved in any way. Victim of transfer policy or coaching? Who knows.


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