Kenwright insists Board changes aren’t the answer

The man is a narcissistic egomaniac. He actually thinks he’s been doing a good job over the last two decades. What a fraud he is. We have no future with this albatross around our neck.

As usual in these circumstances, it is not the manager or the board who are to blame, it is the underlings, who should do their job and not question the hierarchy.

We can all say that we are lifelong passionate supporters, but Kenwright is in a position of power, pulls the strings, and is ultimately responsible.

This is why Everton are failing all over show. Because the delusional people at the top think they're doing a good job. "Think of those good times."

If we stay up, it'll be by the skin of our teeth.

An absolute fraud and charlatan. He still manages to convince many that he's their saviour. Mind boggles.

He won't go until there is a mass, near full-house sit-in at Goodison Park to demand it.

Otherwise he will just cling on, as he has allegedly protected his position, and weather the storm.

In terms of “Good Times”, this to me, means winning things – nothing more, nothing less.

We've had one FA Cup Final since 1995, which we lost. So we've had nearly “A Good Time”

Kenwright Out!!

Bill's a parasite who's got very rich off our club's failings. All under his watch. It's time to go!

Kenwright won't go until Moshiri wants him out. And after this week's letter from Moshiri, there's no sign of that happening any time soon. Everton is an absentee billionaire's plaything.

I see his point.

The criticisms aimed at Bill in particular assume we would have done better without him but we just don't know.

Moshiri offers a potential insight of what might of happened. Who could have predicted a billionaire injecting £500M would make us worse but here we are a laughing stock on our way to the Championship.

Indeed, alleged big money takeovers seem to follow the same pattern. Great fanfare at the start, quite a lot of money spunked achieving little or nothing then the chequebook put away as the reality of the footie money pit hits home *see Lerner, Venkys, Ashley, Hicks and Gilette etc.

Beyond the exception proving the rule - Leicester - only Man City and Chelsea have transformed via big money but they really do have big money. As with every meandering club outside of the Mancs, Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal, we can't spend our way out of a mess; we need lady luck to smile on us and I suspect this season she's had enough.

Whether fans like to admit it or not, the board have tried every type of manager and it hasn't happened. And does it really need saying: board members don't score goals?

Kenwright feels that he has to respond, because is knows that Moshiri is susceptible to fan pressure. It is okay when it concerns the manager, but it is different when the Board is targeted.

The problem is the lack of goverance and accountability. The only way is to pressurise Moshiri to the table, as the #27 Years campaign is trying to do.

Kenwright brings it on himself when he's championing Roberto Martinez to fix our defensive woes. There's also stories that leaked out over the years that he was still involved in transfer negotiations when we had a DoF.

What hope does a DoF have when you have Bill, and Moshiri getting involved. Moshiri seemingly bought Iwobi himself on a whim. We just need clear structure so that the DoF and manager get on with the job.

The left hand doesn't know what the right hand's doing.

The sit-in was well organised and appropriate today. It will be interesting to see the media follow-up.

There is a cancer in the club; multiple managers have failed despite having a decent squad of players and an open cheque book from the owner.

We as a fan base are increasingly searching to push this cancer out of our club, but by its definition, it's a massive unknown.

I really don't see what more Moshri could have done as a ‘dream' owner: he's put half a billion into the club, is delivering us our dream stadium, and continues to be committed to the club - unlike Venkys, Lerners, etc that fans compare him too. Sure, he's made mistakes, but that's part of the course…

BK was a constant target on here, he refused to sell the club saying he would only sell it to a ‘dream owner', in my eyes he achieved that, I'm glad he didn't sell us to the Venkys or to Lerner, and if Moshri ever chooses to dispose of us, I think Bill on the Board is very useful. He is far from without criticism, do I trust him 100% no, but 20% of an Evertonian is better than no Evertonian on a board,

I remember being managed by Koeman, Silva, and fans putting (in my eyes) fanciful Magee requests – and we actually got one in Carlo. We were still shite!

So it's not the owner, it's not the manager (as too many have failed), it's not the DoF as we've chased them out too…

In my opinion, we should have doubled down on Brands, backed him to pick the manager, pick the players, created a culture...

But we chased him out, we chased the manager out, now we're after the Board. We throw bottles at players. What have we become as a fan base? I'm ashamed and embarrassed,

I think, if you look at the whole history of Everton, then it's fair to say that we would have done better without Kenwright. He's actually saying that a club, who are in there most barren trophy-less period in their entire history by some distance, have had some good times?

A trophy every decade of our existence, except after the war and into the 1950s, and nothing for 27 years equals some good times?

I've heard it's easier to be fooled than to admit you've been fooled, and this is probably why this jester has gotten away with absolute murder over many years, but surely his time has got to end now, for the sake of Everton FC.

Board members can only score own goals, Barry, and Kenwright has a list as long as his arm, and seems to be the one influencing our dunce of an owner.

The trouble with Everton Football Club, as it is nowadays, is simply there is no ambition no real ambition. There's token gestures.

All it appears to want to do is exist. Remain in the Premier League to make up the numbers.

Well, that very limited outlook is now under immense pressure and scrutiny because actually, we might go down. Because actually our fans care about the shape and direction of the club.

Board member says board isn’t the problem. Shock.

Andrew @13,

I agree entirely.

The ego and arrogance of this deluded twat.

He will still deny any wrongdoing if we slipped into the Championship. Herein lies the root cause, right there.

Do you know what, we'll still be stroking our chins and gazing at our navels when we're in League 2, weighing Bill's overall contribution and telling ourselves that these things can happen. The fella's a greedy fucker and we've let him kill us slowly. There are other factors, I accept, but he's a big one.

The loss of beautiful simplicity is our essential fault down the decades. I'm very sorry to cite Shankly but here we are:

"Football is a simple game based on the giving and taking of passes, of controlling the ball and of making yourself available to receive a pass. It is terribly simple."

He was right and Liverpool have never forgotten it. We have, and we are in a whirlpool of our own devising which has been dragging us down for years and years. Bill's done all right, of course, and various others in the big seats; but we are indeed dying.

Keep it simple, stupid. Too late, I fear, but it's still the recipe for salvation.

Andrew@13,

Bill waited years to find a dream owner, sadly it was a dream owner that suited him, and not the club.

Moshiri was the only owner who agreed to keep him onboard, even now with 94.1% ownership of the club, it is Bill pulling the strings, while the owner leaves him to it.

Roberto Martinez says it all about Bill wanting him.

I've said it for Months on here, we need to get rid of Bill and a few others; only then can we start to rebuild, with proper people, professional people, who know how to run a football club, coming in.

The email sent out the other day, has all the makings of Denise and her PR team, blowing up the board members backsides, the first part was well put, but the add ons praising the board was up there with a Fantasy Island episode. Strangely enough, Denise probs gave a nod to Bill today, and said it's the plane boss.

When he said "What difference would it make if I resigned?" Is that arrogance delusional or what?

That email they sent – do they believe any of it deep down. Dangerous people with our life and club in their hands.

I would have liked to have heard what looked like a measured conversation going on with the tall bloke.

Credit to him for actually facing fans but you can see from that clip that it's not really worth it in that forum.

The Sun claim Moyes is going to offer £80M for Calvert-Lewin. Sell him. Just don't reinvest all the money in a Scottish Premier League sub and a Ukrainian.

Remember the good times, Kenwright?

4th place with a negative goal difference and a feeble Cup Final defeat in the 22 years of your custodianship!

It's only thanks to the Belgian FA that we didn't have Martinez back today.

The charlatan is totally separated from reality.

If this carries on, surely the strain of an ageing man and his health will see him give up. No way he will make the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock as he dreams of.

Enjoy your time with your partner, Bill, and let us grow again.

Just shows that a playwright and a scriptwriter can hoodwink the majority that what they are portraying is good while their bank accounts and egos are filled by fools.

Kenwright should have been run out of the club over the Kings Dock fiasco but the king of smoke and mirrors played a blinder on that one too.

I estimate he has made over £40M and enjoyed lavish expenses courtesy of Everton FC and – despite claiming to be the “greatest” Everton fan – has not put one penny of that towards helping the club.

I’m more and more worried about Moshiri influenced by super-agents lining their own pockets with whispers of the emperors new clothes. Reminds me of Briatore when he took over QPR.

Also footballers these days stroll around half-arsed. I can’t think of any other sport in which that happens.

By having had “Good Times” he means himself and his bank account! So in a way, he isn't lying.

Good times as in having a few Babychams with Jenny and Denise and reciting the story of that time he went down to Milwall with Moyes to see Cahill play.

£80M for Calvert-Lewin?

I'll take him up to London myself.

Over my dead body, Dave. I'll drive him myself… lol.

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool… you know the rest.

The EFC board, is effectively “Only Fools and Horses!”

They are not and can't be arsed with running the club, and take the proverbial, for nigh on 30 years.

Each decade has had its high but, on the success scale, sweet fuck-all. Dereliction of duty, care and the rest...

This season is going like the Great Escape, but there's no leaders on the park.

On a separate note. Calvert-Lewin, glad he's supposed to be match fit, but his lay-offs today, in my view were of a player who is weeks away from full fitness and tuning.

But even when match fit, he's generally taken some hard chances in games, but has fluffed so many 0-7 yard, contact chances for himself, like the couple today. Generally in my view, he doesn't pass to colleagues in better positions, or does a crap pass to them.

So now to find a dirty dozen Everton players and a few more up to the task of staying up, but I fear there's not enough mental character and fortitude in this squad to meet this challenge.

God prove me wrong.

Dedicated to the Chairman of a once great and proud club.

Nile Rodgers & Chic - Good Times

Please leave.

"Fat man on gravy train denies gravy contributes to obesity"

It's Through The Looking Glass stuff now, isn't it?

He's never put a penny of his own money into the club yet continues to preside over our demise.

Unbelievable. The man is a charlatan, a parasite. We will never amount to anything while he and his cronies, Barrett-Baxendale and the rest continue to bleed the club dry.

A quote in Parliament this week to another imposter "For God's sake, go" couldn't be more apt for Kenwright.

We are 5 points better off than Watford who have played the same amount of games, and are second to bottom. Then comes Burnley who are bottom but with 3 games in hand on us and 8 points behind us.

Going on yesterday's performance, we will be relegated, and probably when all the teams catch up and we have all played the same amount of games, we will be in the relegation positions.

I never thought it would happen in my time but shit, it's closer than a lot of people want to believe.

Andrew (13), that is a very brave post. Well said, sir.

People said our medical team is useless due to the number of injuries – we replaced the head to the medical staff, we said the Director of Football is useless – we got rid of him, we said the manager is useless - got rid. Now the board is useless.

Okay, if we get rid and still the results don't improve, what then? What if Moshiri feels he has had enough and sells Everton FC to some finance company who only know how to pick the bones out of a dead corpse?

The results have been horrendous, yes mostly due to the decisions of the owner, but he decided on a structure that he felt would work. Maybe he changes the structure in due course of time; maybe he will make better decisions. But until then, wouldn't it help to keep supporting the manager in charge and the players who put on the blue jersey when they step on the football pitch?

I greatly admire the passionate fans who are trying to bring about change and improvement but, at this point, I think it is more important to support the team to ensure our survival in the Premier League.

Anyone else notice the Kenwright sycophant, “Terry White” has stopped posting defenses of Bill on here since he was accused of being the man himself?

Kenwright himself got lucky with the Moyes era.

I know we didn't win a trophy but the fact Moyes, with limited funds compared to the top sides, could get a competitive top 5 or 6 team most years bought Kenwright time and space.

The fact he can talk about "Good times" but the reality is there have been zero.

We haven't featured in any Cup Final in any shape or form since 2009.

We have never reached the Champions League in Kenwright's time here; clubs like Leicester, Newcastle and Leeds have in that same time frame.

We haven't even been in the Europa League now since 2014-15.

The man is under pressure now and he knows that the patience the support he had in the Moyes era and Martinez's first year or so, has well and truly worn down.

Yes, Jim, and we haven't had the success of dropping into the Championship like Leeds and Newcastle either... (Yet!)

We have at least been in a position to be in the Premier League and watch top flight football, unlike most clubs in football.

Yes, money has been frittered away and many things could have been handled far better by various characters on the Board in those times. But compared to 95% of clubs we have been successful as we have survived in the top flight. Compared to Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal we have failed to achieve or operate anywhere near their level.

Leicester City are probably the only example of a club to break that stranglehold for any length of time recently.

You are quite correct in a lot that you write but just staying in the Premier League can be counted as a success story. Unfortunately, we happen to have neighbours who have set standards of success we can only dream of.

This season is looking the bleakest of my many years and I fear this Premier League membership could well be at an end.

He's right – Board changes aren't the answer... to the short term problem, like getting 21 points from 18 games (for the magical 40 points).

It might be a start in relation to the longer-term problems though.

Meanwhile, the real 'Elephant in the room with a view of Monaco' sits there, making Monty Burns look a Warren Buffet or Jeff Bezos, pulling Kenwright's strings, who sings the football version of the Lego finale song 'Everything is Awesome'

Andrew @13, dream on, sunshine, dream on.

Phil

So basically we are just what Coventry City were for 30 years between 1970 and 2001?

A midtable boring club that will never threaten the top sides again but, as long as we muster enough points to survive in this league, then that's all okay.

If that's the case, then perhaps we need to look at the club motto and find a new meaning in Latin.

Two football clubs in a city with a great football history. Both clubs with huge followings and great success… then one of the club's falls away and goes years without a trophy while the other continues to succeed.

The conclusion: one club is well run and the other is not. Why?

Success comes from having a plan and having the right people to implement it. We at Everton do not have those people.

Relegation is rapidly becoming a reality.

I think we need to brace ourselves for another Wimbledon or Coventry day. That's if of course we can actually get enough points to keep us in the fight until the last day. That is the reality of this situation we are in because of the owner and board who lack everything needed to run a football club.

The players are poorly coached and fragile and, although we saw a slight improvement yesterday, I'm not sure they can give anymore than that. Not conceding in a game would be a big improvement.

So, we now need to win around 4 or 5 of the remaining fixtures and it has to start at Newcastle. Lose that and we have one foot in the Championship.

I still remember vividly that sickly feeling in my stomach before those 2 games all of those years ago and I started feeling it again last night.

Let's remind Kenwright of those times to go with his Destination Kirkby venture and Kings Dock failure.

Good times?

The last 27 years has been awful – our own chairman declaring this good. Last league title 1987 and cup 1995 – I have a photo of Goodison with the honours list… this was framed 22 years ago… nothing has changed, Bill.

We have turned into a club with no winning culture and let's try and beat Liverpool every season as our main goal.

We have lost our way, on and off the pitch – who are Everton anymore?

This anger and frustration needs to become a tsunami to force this fraud out. Unfortunately, the brain dead morons who decided to throw objects at the Villa players have overshadowed the protests at yesterday's game.

Kenwright has more lives than a cat.

Kenwright wants to surround himself with yes-men and women. Hence the call for Moyes and Martinez plus the ex players on the board and coaching staff. Add to this our CEO.

Kenwright is an ego seeking fraud. The media are now saying that he doesn't have any influence; of course, it's him pulling the strings. Moshiri needs to act swiftly and bring in experienced football people.

He's the Chairman, Alan. If he has no influence, then he should be resigning.

I actually believe he probably doesn't have the kind of influence the role should have.

In the same way, I believe the DoF and first-team coach didn't have clear responsibilities.

Basically it's a shitshow in there.

Who's job is it to ensure those kinds of things are in place?

With Bill in sole charge, we were widely respected as a well run club. Since Moshiri's arrival, we've been a basket case. And people want to force Bill out?

After 6 managers and 2 DoFs, who's next?

The fact is, it's bloody difficult to achieve success at the top of the English game.

Off the pitch things really aren't bad. It's on the pitch where we're in trouble.

Rafa was a bad hire (and I say this as someone who was keen to see him appointed), and for some reason we waited an age to pull the trigger when it was clear that the morale of the squad was on the floor.

There's only one tonic for Everton: wins. Not strategic reviews or boardroom changes – wins and points on the board. Relegation would be catastrophic and it's looking likely at this point.

Next three league games are Newcastle (A), Leeds (H), and Southampton (A). If we don't get a win from those, preferably two, then I think we're gone, as we play Man City, Spurs and Wolves after that.

When Kenwright says there have been good times, he means when the shares he bought for next to nothing became worth £60 million.

Danny #50. You're quite right: we need wins. A strategic review etc won't help us in our next few games either.

The off-the-field mess has been a huge contributing factor in our demise though, and it needs sorting out as soon as possible.

I'm struggling to understand the criticism on here for Big Dunc.

One, he had less than a week to try to change a side that was so terrible and weak against the bottom team

Two, he had nothing to do with buying any of the players on the pitch yesterday.

Three, I saw more fight and passion out there yesterday than I've seen all season.

Four, look at the tackling stats, and that's probably the highest we've made all season.

And Five, let's not forget that we were playing a very good Villa side, which the manager as bought in players he wanted, and drilled them like he wanted, compared to a wet lot who over the last few months, have had no fight whatsoever in them.

I saw a lot of positives yesterday, and more importantly some effort. So one defeat for our manager and most of you want him out, and it's the same ones who have been moaning about us keep swapping managers. Honestly, some of you, get a grip.

We can't change the board, not in any meaningful way.

Moshiri financially owns the club and the only way Blue Bill will sever ties with the club is when he's six feet under.

Until then, the shit show continues.

Robert 53, fair point. Although I think a lot of the off the field 'mess' was simply the lack of financial headroom last summer after investing heavily under Carlo.

We can criticise this investment with hindsight but at the time we were over the moon with Allan and James joining, and sitting second at Christmas suggested it was money well spent.

The club have manoeuvred to give us that headroom. It's undoubtedly weakened the squad though.

Get out, Kenwright!! And take all your so-called True Blues with you.

They are nothing but leeches ripping every supporter of this club off and laughing up our backs. It's been the same since you turned up! Get out!

Kieran Kinsella #39.

I am in regular email contact with Terry White. As with many friends, I agree with him on some things, disagree on others. We exchange opinions without resorting to insults.

Terry has taken a break from TW for his own reasons.

Your post is an insult to a loyal Evertonian.

Kenwright is a fraud and has flattered to deceive for decades, he has become immensely rich on the back of our football club while investing none of his own assets.

He has sat on his growing wealth these past 20+ years and been more than happy to turn the club into a relic where maintaining the status quo was the objective. No desire to progress, just keep the machine ticking over with occasional empty platitudes to our once proud history.

This was never more obvious than when we were building something under Moyes (who was also complicit) but failed to build on a promising foundation peaking in 2009 when some players (at least Osman and Hibbert) were obviously coming to the end of their careers and needed replacing.

The bottom line is that the Machiavelli of the Everton boardroom needs to go ASAP, along with his finger puppet, Denise Barrett-Baxendale, as the vitriol is only going to increase to the point of nastiness and further stain the tarnished reputation of this once proud Institution.

ps: I think relegation is inevitable this season.

Danny @50 well said. I sit somewhat on the fence in the Kenwright debate but you can't deny the truth in Danny's post. We were considered a well run club until Moshiri came on board.

I suspect it is the misaligned combination of the two which has made this go so spectacularly badly, polarised views and ideology's equating to poor decision making. Pure conjecture of course, same as the rest of you.

I am grateful for the money Moshiri has put in, nobody can question his commitment. However, his decisions are a continued embarrassment to the club. I just watched the highlights of a number of Premier League games from yesterday. I looked on enviously at lesser teams with midfielders we would kill for, signed for buttons and I see how we can't string a pass together. It hurts.

I understand these protests and we all have a right to vocalise our opinions, however, right now its points we need and I am sure this is not going to help with that.

Daniel, 55, the sooner the better.

Too much bile and venom being directed towards Kenwright, IMO.

What if Moshiri decides to listen to the fans – again! – and pushes Kenwright out, will he magically start getting his managerial and DOF appointments right? Steve Walsh, Koeman, Silva, Brands, Ancelotti, Benitez – perhaps Allardyce as well – were all Moshiri signings.

The real person who should be targeted should probably be Kia Joorabchian, because he seems to be influencing Moshiri's footballing decisions.

Danny @50,

There is no evidence to support your assertion that Everton was well run when Bill Kenwright was in sole charge. You have forgotten recent history very quickly and there is a substantial weight of evidence to the contrary.

The 'well run' narrative was projected by Kenwright himself, ably assisted by David Moyes, for their own self-serving reasons, to lower expectations and have a ready-made excuse for lack of achievement.

The reality of such claims has no factual basis and was not supported by those outside of Everton – or even inside – ask Trevor Birch and several others who took one look and walked away for their own integrity and reputation.

Reading this thread it's clear that us Evertonians only have ourselves to blame for putting up with Bill Kenwright for all these years.

When football was changing, we put up with a skint owner, saying we would never get anyone better to run our club, than him.

We put up with the Fortress Sports Fund bollocks, because it was obvious that Peter Samuelson was a front, and definitely looked like an extra that Kenwright had met in his first line of profession.

We put up with the ring-fenced lies of the Kings Dock, and a man who was trying to move us to Kirkby, allegedly even saying I'm glad it never happened, after his plan was thankfully fucked right off.

I could go on, because I despise what this jinx has been allowed to do to Everton Football Club.

And as for Moshiri, he his obviously very rich, because he's very good at his first line of profession...? So this tells me the man must have a great academic brain. But looking at the way he's performed since he's been at Everton, it looks like he also suffers fools very gladly, and has been tailor-made for the devious actor.

The only way to influence these people is to vote with our feet. Don’t go to the cup game.

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum has become "mediocrity = good times." My beef with Bill is he has put nothing money wise into the club. His mindset is clouded with blue-tinted glass unfortunately.

The "real" problems lie on the pitch. As soon as I saw Kenny and Holgate on that team sheet, I feared the worst and this is down to Big Dunc.

Mykolenko dropped after 2 games (poor games admittedly) and is Patterson acclimatizing to the NorthWest weather from Scottish climes, as why else is he not being giving a debut??

Tony, Moshiri is certainly astute enough when it comes to the stadium. The stadium is professional business. The football is personal vanity.

It's the same for Kenwright. He is a very vain man with a narrative of Everton saviour to protect.

As a double act they have been appalling.

Moshiri must stay to deliver the stadium and provide the financial clout.

Kenwright must go, and his antiquated club culture must go with him.

Hopefully Moshiri can cut him a deal with the promise of a statue or something. We can all push it in the dock if it ever gets made.

I would certainly advise Kenwright to resign his chairmanship of the club; he is 76 years old and he has done his stint at leading the club.

I would also remind people of how grateful we were that he did put together a consortium to buy out our previous chairman, who thought selling Ferguson to Newcastle without telling the manager was acceptable.

I think he like us is a Blue and I am sure he is as disappointed as any of us and where we are as a club. But by stepping down, then all the focus can be directed at the real problem at Everton and that's Farhad Moshiri.

Because he has pumped money into the club, some supporters seem to want to give him a free ride. His many and disastrous decisions are why the club is in such a perilous state, and unlike Kenwright, who was at least there and did go and talk to the protestors, he decides sending an email to all us season ticket holders is the right approach.

Dose anybody really believe that Kenwright sanctioned having Allardyce or Benitez as our manager? These two should never ever have been allowed to manage our club.

The reason why we are in a relegation battle that we might not survive is because Moshiri – despite at least 80% of Evertonians telling him not to sign Benitez – ignored our pleas.

This is no surprise that we are in this position because as the stats show Benitez is the worst manager we have ever had. So, if anybody thinks that things will improve when Kenwright steps down, I think you are in for a rude awakening by leaving Moshiri in complete control of everything.

His profession is being an accountant and he couldnt even make sure we avoided contravening the FFP rules. I mean, the one thing you would expect an accountant to do would be to make sure the financial aspect of the club was looked after.

I have little or no faith, even if we do miraculously avoid relegation this season, that we will ever win anything with Moshiri in charge.

In many respects, Everton was well-run under Kenwright.

I run a small business, which only employs me. It makes a profit, provides me and my family with a living. I love my work. It is a very well-run business.

If you gave me an enormous influx of capital and raised expectations of success, there's a chance I'd flounder. I'm not sure I currently have the skill set to run that kind of business successfully. The first thing I'd do is bring in people with the know-how to make it work and teach me how to carry on their good work.

That is where Everton is right now. Influx of capital, raised expectations, complete lack of know-how, poor choice of advisors.

The club needs some independent assessment and action on it's recommendations.

The board is not the issue. We have an expensive squad of players who haven't cared much about their performance. This squad is capable of far better than we have seen. A revolt against the board could well make matters even worse at the moment.

What we need to concentrate on is the team. We all see the need for a couple of midfield players but do we have the funds after spending £28M or so on full-backs who didn't even make the bench yesterday? If we don't, then who can we sell to raise money to buy a couple of midfielders and indeed who are they?

Moshiri appears to have interfered with some transfers and has been let down by players and by managers. It is highly unusual to blame the board after the owner has put so much money into the club for transfers.

Yes, we need a CEO who is an experienced football person – I don't know Denise Barrett-Baxendale so whether she is that person, I can't say. Bill Kenwright has been in football for a long time and at least he knows his way around football circles and is experienced, whether you like him or not.

Now is not the time to be calling for more heads to roll – we have got rid of a number of staff over the last few weeks and we need a bit of stability while we fight against relegation. Once, or if, we get safe, will be a better time to kick off against the board if that is what people wish to do.

For now, we need to sort out a manager in time for the next league game, get a couple of midfielders in (most likely on loan) and work on the playing squad.

Calvert-Lewin is some way off match fitness and needs intensive work. We need to consider our formation as we all know that two in midfield doesn't work. We need to decide on our best centre-back partnership and let them have a few games to establish themselves.

We need to see whether our new full-backs can be trusted to play for the first team. What a bizarre decision to buy them with the manager one game from the sack and with midfield crying out for money to be spent.

There is so much work to be done with so little time and this break must be used wisely, not to demand more departures which I fear will only add to the current turmoil and can be used by our weaker players as another excuse to accept defeat. It will hardly help in encouraging a new manager to jump on board either!

I fully understand everyone's anger at our situation – I went through the Wimbledon and Coventry games and remember them like they were yesterday – but now is not the time for further turmoil. Stick together, fight this dreadful situation, then sort it out when we are hopefully safe.

Paul, 69, that is the problem. The current assessment is being carried out by Kenwright and the outcome will be everything is fine, carry on doing a good job.

Chris Bascombe in the Telegraph, gives his observations on these trying times at Goodison. Nothing most of us don't already know, but a sign that Everton are becoming the crisis club of 2022.

Yesterday's match, was notable for the palpable anxiousness on show from the fans, all of us hoping for three valuable points, but deep down realising that no matter which combination of players or formations we use, there is nothing and nobody we can pin our hopes on. We'll need some big slices of luck to go our way and soon, else this crisis will result in the worst possible outcome for the club and the fans.

Insdie Everton's Civil War

Dave @70, the second sentence of your post gives a large part of the truth. Since Martinez's second season, our various teams have downed tools when it suited them in order to get rid of managers.

This time, they are not good enough to pick them up again and, combined with bad luck on injuries, they have left us in this awful situation.

Our problems run deeper than the board, and deeper than the manager – I see some of our biggest issues being location. Liverpool the city just isn't sexy or interesting to footballers unless they're playing for Liverpool, challenging for titles and the Champions League. London clubs get first pick, even when they aren't top teams, purely by location.

What can we offer? We're a club who haven't been anywhere near the top in the lifetime of a footballer of age to play professionally, so who or what is Everton to the modern footballer? A mid-table-stalwart of the Premier League at best.

As a result, you can have all the money in the world but you're still only going to attract players on their way down (see the majority of our signings for proof) or very young, inexperienced up-and-coming players using us as a springboard to join a top team (we aren't a top team).

The above leaves you with a mish-mash of players with varying degrees of motivation to do well, and as a result you get disjointed football that feels flat regardless of who the manager is.

We're like a rudderless boat bobbing about in a sea of mediocrity with no sight of land.

Everyone talks about the manager and we keep sacking them, but to what end? What's the plan? Who's the navigator? I don't get it at all.

It seems to me that the board are now just trying to limp to the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, in the hope that it transforms our appeal overnight and suddenly all the bright lights of player and management staff suddenly come running to Everton, but they've forgotten that you need a good team to grace a good stadium when it opens, not down the line.

We're the relic Moshiri referred to some years ago, a museum of a bygone age long since departed and nothing will change until the culture changes from top to bottom. That includes our fanbase who are also stuck in the past.

The Kenwright propaganda machine will be in full flow this week, smoke and mirrors deployed, the fella should've had a career in that bastion of lies, deceit, fraud and deception – politics.

Yes, Moshiri has made a right fucking mess of things by not getting the right structures and people in place as Abramovich did but let's not kid ourselves, super-blue Kenwright led him along this path of cronyism and mismanagement to further his own devious ends.

I can't see it but, if we do manage to avoid relegation then Everton Football Club need to have a complete clear out of staff (and players eventually) right through the whole structure of the Club from top to bottom and people who know how to run a top football club need to be brought in at every level.

Nepotism and cronyism must be banished from our club if we are ever to re-establish ourselves amongst the "top teams".

Dave @70,

If you think we can influence the things you are saying, you are completely deluded. I have no confidence in the people running the club to bring in a decent manager. They have had 6 attempts.

The ones they are looking at now are the left overs from summer. None of them are good enough.

So we were a “well run club” under Kenwright? Really? We were skint and, until a willing fool came along, we'd still be skint as he has the financial acumen of Michael Carroll.

The Kings Dock, Destination Kirkby, the Arteta money, turning down the sheikhs, letting Manny Fernandes walk out of the stadium, forgetting to renew Gosling's contract, “Watch this space (Moutinho)”, “What a manager!”, threats of stadium closure (health and safety), banning AGMs and another litany of mishaps, screw-ups, bungling, lying etc…

And people have the nerve to say we were a well-run club under this snake-oil salesman? Give me a fucking break!!

The sit-in average age about 15, as was the 27 thing... as was the "Benitez out of our club" banner. Really, are we serious? The same people no doubt throwing the bottles. That whole section of the ground should now be banned until the culprits are shopped by everyone around them.

The fringe of this club's supporters are more of a problem than the board. The board has to be changed starting with everyone below Bill and have him as some honorary figurehead with no power whatsoever because, whether you like it or not, he deserves that.

Colin @77,

I and perhaps others are not necessarily defending Kenwright here. I agree he really is a snake-oil salesman as you say. I was merely saying, objectively the club was "seen" as well run pre-Moshiri. Stable management of the team and coaching, careful spending, good recruitment – yes, glossing over perhaps some of the failings you refer to.

The point I was trying to endorse is that we are not objectively viewed that way anymore, certainly not under Moshiri's tenure. In fact, we have become an embarrassing joke.

I was positing that their clash of ideologies might be the most damaging mix, ie, Moshiri's impatience and ambition vs Bill's teary romanticism and desperate clinging on through cronyism and hyperbole. All conjecture of course.

Colin, 77, true.

If we had been a well run club for all those years we wouldn't now be in this alarming mess. Some people just delude themselves.

Blame won't help us here. Blame gives us a sense of control but actually just breeds frustration and anger, leading us away from understanding.

We must unite behind this team of ours, we have to do what we can to help them survive this. It is absolutely the worst time for these protests, in my opinion.

Football and business need to be kept separate.

The business has stunk. Commercially, for such a big, historic club playing in the richest league in the world we have been terribly run. Luckily a billionaire owner eventually saw an opportunity and should at last ensure that we do not fail and keep in existence.

Depending upon what the football expectations are, ie remain in the Premier League, we have managed to achieve that. 20 years ago and on more than a few occasions since, such as the position we are currently in, that hasn't been assured.

But as fans, maintaining our Premier League status isn't success, it's just not a complete failure.

Bill is an Evertonian but, other than remaining afloat, he has not achieved anything in his role.

The strategic review is decades overdue and something our billionaire accountant should have done years ago.

But it's never too late, they say. Hopefully this year will see a proper structure in place for business and a separate football strategy. I see no part of Bill as part of the answer.

Every man and his dog can identify the problems with Everton FC, and there are many, some real, some imagined, but until the board acknowledge those issues, they won't identify the solutions. What we need now is somebody who can not only identify those problems, but find viable solutions to them.

In previous years, the current situation would have called for the club to spend its way out of this mess, but, that can't happen this time, because of the financial restrictions which the owner and board have gotten us into.

It looks as if we may have to sacrifice a player or two in order to address the weaknesses in the squad and if they decide to do that, they'd better get it spot-on. However, past dealings of the current Everton regime don't fill me full of confidence that they can do that.

Blame must be shouldered at the top but also it has been those at pitch level who have been remiss in their duties, especially those well paid underachievers who get selected to start.

The intensity and desire has been sadly missing for so long and doesn't look like it's coming back soon. They look like they are going to lose the game right from the kick-off. The Hull City game being a prime example which they managed to somehow crawl out of.

Everyone involved with the club is responsible for this mess and it's been coming for years.The product on the pitch has been awful for a few seasons now and mainly due to poor performances by players who are just not good enough.

Everton have signed more deadbeats than most clubs, Delph, Iwobi, Walcott and the latest one Rondon. These are just a few and I suppose we all have our favorites to bash.

The scouting system is badly flawed also. We spend big money on 2 new fullbacks and then they don't play, instead we play others in their places who have already failed as part of a porous defence. Sure we have had injuries and Covid but all the other clubs have had the same problems to deal with.

Finding the next 3 points is the priority and Ferguson has the burden on his shoulders to get that done. Burnley are bottom with three games in hand but Everton are the worst team in the Premier League at the moment and every teams wants to play us.

Benitz was a bad choice but so were all the others before him whose qualifications were questionable.

What we need Is this group of players to collectively find some humility. To somehow realize that great rewards bring great responsibility, to discover some sort of connection with the supporters, to unite and find a common purpose.

That is: lose the fear, stand up like men, display some integrity, rally round the coach and treat each game like your life depends on it. That will be enough.

Since 1995, Liverpool have appeared in 20 Cup finals winning 11 (the league with be their 21st), we've appeared in one and lost it. And Blue Bill says we've had good times.

The man is completely deluded saying we've had good times, and more frighteningly it leans to the fact that one cup final defeat and one 4th place finish means good times for EFC. The lack of ambition is frightening.

Our sole purpose is now to exist in the Prem, which the way we are going won't be for much longer. Depressing times when the board refuse to accept any blame at all for the mess the club we love is in.

Steve @79,

20-odd years of Kenwright's lies and now added to that, Moshiri's gross incompetence we find ourselves in a perfect storm.

Neither of them, in my opinion, are capable of getting us out of this mess. Kenwright, let's make this clear, is in charge of the day to day running of the club so it's naive, to say the least, that he is not responsible for this meltdown.

Kenwright may not have been keen on either Sam or Benitez but they account for only one full season under Moshiri. If he was so firmly against them, why didn't he resign?

Moshiri is a football idiot but he has put his trust in Kenwright and let him run the show to our misfortune. It's a shame we can't get rid of both of them.

Steve Shave,

Hardly going to protest whilst on a run of great games and wins – when is the best time? Once the club has collapsed and been relegated?

The arguments about Kenwright have been done to death on here already. I think most of us know he's a nice man with a heart, but an absolute lead weight around our necks.

Let's just ignore the history and ask this one simple question:

“We are absolutely in the shit, in league and finances. You've just authorised £30M+ of spending. In what way will this benefit us in our fight to survive relegation?”

Given the lads aren't even making the bench, there is currently no other answer other than ‘it most likely won't help us'.

That alone justifies the need for change. It's not isolated, and we can talk about the summer we lost Zouma and Gueye for Gbamin and Delph too… but again, only recent history is enough to justify the need to change.

Talking about recent history being enough evidence, let's also touch on the hiring of Fat Rafa too. Whilst common whisper is that Bill was opposed, he still allowed it to happen. He could have made it clear the only way it would have been allowed would have been over his resignation.

He didn't do that, he again put himself first. He allowed us to hire a manager our Red friends are now gleefully believing has sent us down. What an utter humiliation it was, is and will be to our fans.

That fat idiot has then allowed Kean to be swapped for Rondon, James and Bernard to be swapped for Gray and Townsend, and Digne to be swapped for Mykolenko… arguably making us worse off not better off overall. Sure, FFP might have influenced, but which twat allowed us to get our bollocks in that vice? Yep, Bill.

So, all history aside, on the last 6-12 months alone Bill, you've let us down. Go and retire, and stop using us as your plaything.

Just to clarify, after 27 years, he's not a nice man, he's a lousy actor and lousy showman. He's Tom Parker – all bluff and using other people to make him look good.

He's the worst thing that had ever happened to the club he supposedly loves. He's made a pretty fortune out of it. He's conned his way, lied and cheated every step of the way.

He's found the mug he's been looking for hence why he's still there. He's supposed to have stepped down once he'd found a buyer – long steps them, Red Bill.

He needs to go and Moshiri needs a good kick up the arse and get shut of the rest of the Yes-men and leeches and get people in who know how to run a club upward instead of into the ground.

“It hasn't been 27 years, has it? We've had some good times.”

To another fan, he argued that changing the Board “is not the answer”.

Good times? There is the problem. We haven't had good times. We won an FA Cup against the odds and then failed to capitalise on that.

We won a semi final on penalties against the odds. We lost a final having taken the lead and then bottled another semi-final against our neighbours when they were there for the taking.

We choked in Europe despite being done by an unjust referee decision. We choked in the second leg of a semi-final against Man City and then again when we played Man Utd.

Good times? That's failure in my opinion and my expectation of Everton.

Good times?

I follow a 9 times English league title winning club that has won a European trophy. I want more of the same.

My expectation is to be aiming to add to that. Not to be calling out the last 27 years as resembling some form of good times because we had a few good away days out. I've had that this season.

Of course he will say boardroom changes aren't the answer. But they are. Boardroom, structure, governance. Rip the club apart. It needs it top to bottom. Grow a pair and take ownership Mr Moshiri or get me to do it.

The board is the problem and they're deflecting from the reality of the problem to preserve themselves.

Reaching for my inhaler.

Danny almost getting angry. Dark times indeed.

I know the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock is a massive thing for the club but how many of us would swap it for a good owner with a well run board and exciting team who challenge for trophies?

Count me in all day long because we are currently the worst run club in the prem, an embarrassment to our supporters and the media are loving our demise.

Somebody should put a banner up with ‘SOS from this board’

I'm baffled at the non-appearance of our new right- and left-back, meaning the inclusion of Holgate and Kenny. Add to that Gordon not starting.

No way were we going to win against a savvy manager and a Villa squad with a lot more quality that we have. The result was obvious before the kick-off.

For those who think Kenwright isn't part of the problem, why does he not go to Moshiri and tell him, "Look, Farhad, I don't think I can take this club any further in the day-to-day to running, appoint decision-makers who will advance this club further and take it on to the next level buy putting in the correct structure and governance in place and I and Denise will walk away."

Instead, we get more of his delusional soundbites like yesterday: "We've had some good times in 27 years."

Nick Ames reported for the Guardian on Sat 27 Jun 2020 The super-agent’s involvement in some eyebrow-raising deals has sparked fears that the once famously resourceful club no longer has a coherent approach to recruitment. It seems as if this same guy is also an influence on our owner Mr. Moshiri, to the detriment of Everton FC, given the paucity of our current squad.

href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jun/27/kia-joorabchians-growing-influence-arsenal-identity-crisis">Kia Joorabchians growing influence sheds light on Arsenal identity crisis

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jun/27/kia-joorabchians-growing-influence-arsenal-identity-crisis

Accountability starts at the top of the house.

What has happened at Everton FC Co Ltd the last 6 or so months is unfathomable.

You cannot simply let your manager try and shake things up, fall out with your DOF, Head of medical and best players, hire in some relatively random players of unknown quality for the Premier League, and then fire him.

If that is not the board's responsibility, as a function of the oversight of the club, I'm not sure what is.

This deluded man actually thinks that Everton won something in the last 27 years.

He rescued the club from the clutches of Johnson and then, to express his love for the club, smothers it to death. Missing chances to get the right owner while Man City and Liverpool and many others did.

Then, when we had a chance with Moshiri's money, the board went on a spend spend spend binge and put us on the slippery slope to the oblivion of the Football League.

Barry, Kia Joorabchian is well-known in England for his 'ownership' and involvement in the headline grabbing transfer of Tevez and Mascherano to West ham in 2006.

Less known is at this time his company had taken control of one of Brazil's mega-clubs, Corinthians, since 2004 where the two players were playing before their West Ham transfer.

There was a huge court case against Joorabchian and partners about corruption and money laundering which stood for years, but was finally archived 8 years later without charges being made.

Absurdly, with Joorabchian's penchant for third-party ownership of players, Corinthians – a Brazilian equivalent of an English top four side, if you like – directly 'owned' only five of their own players and ending up relegated for the one and only time in their history when the partnership with Joorabchian ended and they were left with a skeleton squad.

Be very wary of this man.

I can see Sharp having no choice but to walk away from his Kenwright-appointed job. I'd like to think he has more about him and can't look a blue in the eye and say he's not another Kenwright cog. The club is imploding as we speak in any and every way.

Sharp is not of the same mindset as Kenwright and had to step away to protect his own legacy and morals surely.

Peter (46), I have a photo of Goodison with the honours list………..this was framed 22 years ago… I have 'On the 8th Day he Created Everton'. It really
could do with a good dusting.

Dude who doesn’t take questions claims to know what isn't the answer. This is like the deaf senile uncle who pretends to hear a question and says what he was going to say in the first place.

It's only taken 15 or so years but glad people are finally waking up to this parasite. We still, however need more people to come forward and less apathy, get the momentum up and get rid of him and his many minions.

Fresh thinking from a professional board is what is needed. It's absolutely astonishing but at the same time no surprise he flatly denied any wrong-doing, and he will cling on to power like a North Korean dictator.

We've had one Cup Final and he thinks that's okay. We hadn't gone a decade previously without a trophy. Sums him up beautifully.

Remind yourselves of where we've been with this charlatan pulling the strings:

I'm more concerned about Everton.... Colin Fitzpatrick, 2010

Kenwrights thoughts on a well-run club were for us to stay in the top flight and only because of Moyes doing well on a tight budget did we manage that.

These were good times for Bill because he had all he wanted and that was full control of the club he loved. The fact that we hardly ever challenged for trophies or beat a Top 4 team, home or away, was nothing to him.

He could go back home to London and sit back in comfort while the money poured in from the Premier League and sponsors.

He admitted he knows little about running the club and there's no way he would have risked his own money on trying to help us challenge for silverware. He did not know how to anyway.

At the same time he would not sell the club to anybody unless he had some control. This is why we stagnated for so long and are trapped by his incompetence to this very day because the new owner thought it fit to let Bill run the club.

So 6 years into new ownership with half a billion spent and mostly wasted we find ourselves in a relegation fight due to some of the worst handling of a football club I've ever known.

Given how bad the owners and board have been we can only hope that Ferguson can somehow get a few victories out of the players he's got and without interference from the board.

My feeling is that they will push for Rooney because they will think it will pacify us in readiness for the drop. This would be a bad move for us and a worse move for Derby County. That's my thoughts on how stupid but cunning this board can be.

Moshiri needs to right some wrongs in order to get the support back on his side and if he has any brains then he would already be looking for a new board.

He should start by getting rid of the man he has just backed in his statement. In fact we should try and force him to do it through severe pressure on terraces as started yesterday. Bigger banners but no bottles.

Danny Baily (#50), how on Earth can you say, "With Bill in sole charge, we were widely respected as a well run club"!!!!

What The Fuck!??

He sold everything the club used to own, made us dependent on very dubious loans to merely survive, squandered the chance for a new riverside stadium nearly 20 years ago, and filled Finch Farm with a plethora of ass-kissing ex-players with at best moderate ability.

Danny @50.

Not forgetting he had to sell Rooney or we would have gone under.

Regarding the football chant "Sack the board" – is that even possible?

Dave @ 108,

I do wonder about that Dave, if it was ever proven financially. Quite a coincidence that right at the time we had a very saleable asset come through (a rare event), we happened to apparently be the one (large) club at the time that was in imminent danger of collapse...

We need to get Kenwright out by hook or by crook and then install a professional who knows what he's doing, with a clear vision and strategy to become a successful well run club. That man is Brian Marwood. Not sure if he's still tied to Man City but he's the man.

Terry would that be the Marwood who almost ended Inchy's career?

And people thought Rafa's appointment was controversial!

For all the criticism heaped upon Silly Billy, he can point to more than 20 years of keeping us in the Premier League when other famous clubs have suffered relegation.

I have a feeling it will be our turn for the drop come May but, if so, it will be the fault of the mega rich looney owner who now makes all the decisions whilst Kenwright gets all the blame.

Everton FC Co Ltd is a private company so the non-Moshiri shareholders have no power to sack the Board and/or its Chairman. On leaving Villa after its last drop to the second tier, owner Lerner said "I've blown nearly half a million but failed to find a manager to keep us at the top."

How lucky was Bill to find Moyes who, if he had been given Moshiri's vote (money), would have seen us winning trophies long before now!

Kenwright was asked what was his favourite Everton memory, his reply, "Staying up against Wimbledon" – sums him up totally. Anyone else's favourite moment would be winning a trophy!!!

I wonder if Marco Silva will wave to Kenwright & Moshiri when they pass each other. Everton going down and Marco (Fulham) going up!!!!!

Mick @114

To cap all of what you have said, what could be the last game for Everton in the top flight would be at the Emirates, where some Gooners cursed the day that Usmanov and Moshiri left to take over at Everton.

I think James Marshall makes some interesting points.

Given the relative prosperity of Liverpool, it's been a miracle that we've had two teams in the top flight for so long. Even Manchester teams have had their ups and downs and no other provincial city has achieved what this city has.

Everton, not being the brand leader here, attracts mediocrity which is endemic within the club from top to bottom and the chickens are coming home to roost. Kenwright has to take responsibility for his decision making. His deal with Moshiri has been a disaster apart from the stadium. I cling to the new stadium like a drowning man.

The only way forward I can see is that the stadium is built and we get proper new owners (not investors) in after that.

Barry

I didn’t realize Villa (as opposed to Arsenal) have the second most top flight seasons. If we make it back within a decade we can retain that “honor” at least.

I think Everton v Villa is the most played top flight fixture, Kieran, though I'm not sure.

the majority here are very unfair on Bill and seeking a scapegoat for all the club's ills. He isn't blameless, but I would put 90% of the current problems of the club on Moshiri and his meddling. People think Bill is in complete control, he may be in control of mostly minor issues, but the big calls are all made by Moshiri, for example:

1: Bill wanted to keep Martinez, Moshiri wanted to show he is the boss and booted him.

2: Bill wanted to being back Moyes, Moshiri initially accepted, then backtracked when the Italian was available.

3: Bill was against Benitez being hired, but Moshiri forced this decision down everyone's throat.

4: Bill wanted to sack Benitez, but Moshiri vetoed him and kept him in the job for a few weeks more unnecessarily.

I think without Bill around, Moshiri would have inflicted much more and worse damage to the club. The people's anger should be directed towards getting Moshiri to sell the club to a responsible owner before he bankrupts the club.

Maybe Kenwright was referring to some of our European away journeys when he talks about “Good Times”

Yeah Bill, getting twatted 5-0 at Benfica was really good, as was getting twatted 5-1 at Dinamo Bucharest.

How about the attack on fans for no reason by the local police in Lille, or the way we were badly treated at Fiorentina, eventually leaving the stadium to be faced with an army of riot police with water cannons etc?

Paybe even having to fend for ourselves in Split, when there was not one Everton steward in attendance at that game.

All the time though, Bill, you would have been in your luxury 5-star hotel being wined and dined by your lovable hosts. Maybe that's what he meant by “Good Times”.

Tony,

I guess that makes sense. It's just surprising to me as, in my lifetime, I've seen Villa as a bit of a yo-yo team but I guess before the '80s they were pretty much ever-present.

Peter Johnson, love him or hate him, did more in those few years, than Bill Kenwright has done in over 20 years.

Johnson made some mistakes, especially with Dunc and Martyn, he goes downs as a disaster of an owner, even going to issuing Red season tickets. Oh yes, he made big mistakes, but at the same time he had the new Park End stand built.

We landed an FA Cup under his watch, brought in Duncan Ferguson,then sold him, brought Kanchelskis in, yet still sold up and left Everton football club still £12 Million in the Black.

Within a few years of Bill, we were just over £22 Million in the Red, despite Finch Farm sold off.

So yes Johnson goes down as a lousy chairman in most peoples books, yet he still had some success.

So when people are still behind Bill, have a damn good look at our stagnation under his watch. It says it all when even Peter Johnson has a better Chairman record.

Yet Johnson is held in bad regards, and rightly so, but when you have a Chairman like Bill that can still hoodwink some fans, it leaves me scratching my head thinking how and why.

I've just checked, Kieran, and it is. But if Villa hadn't been promoted in 2019, we'd have been overtaken by Arsenal v Man Utd. Everton v Liverpool is next... then Everton v Arsenal.

Our present state definitely is more to do with Moshiri and his weak management than blue Bill but, my God, he has been stinking the place out for a good few years and I would imagine he is behind the return bid for Martinez as he brought him in first time round.

You could say that his only good decision was bringing Moyes in but that was on the say so of Walter Smith so not really his stroke of genius. One dodgy person making decisions on the club's behalf is bad but we have two! We need a director of football with the Midas touch.

How long is this bloody review going to take as the new manager is supposed to align to this. Madness, we are fucking drowning here whilst they are just testing the temperature of the water.

Kenwright just doesn't get it. It is simply inconceivable to him that he could be in any way, shape or form even partially responsible for the abominable mess that is Everton Football Club.

His massive ego will never allow him to think he could be in any way responsible. He will never stand down. He would take the club down with him before he would even consider that.

I thought he was referring to the day Evertonians gave David Moyes a lovely send off to Manchester United, after helping us punch above our weight, for eleven beautiful years, Rob.

I wasn't at Goodison that day, but that was the day when I knew that most Evertonians had changed, and winning had ceased to be the be-all and end-all for most of our fans, and this must have also seemed like a personal acknowledgment of the fine work Moyes and the owner had done for plucky little Everton, maybe?

Bill Kenwright is a Hyman Roth character, he thinks he's done a great job and he also thinks he's invincible, which isn't surprising really, when you read so many people say, “at least Bill never done" this or that! Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhhh.

John 120 - the architect for Moshiri was Kenwright - Moshiri is a rich man with no concept of cost and value in his decision making but if Kenwright felt he was being undermined, he can walk away tomorrow (or in my mind preferably many years ago).

Add in the acolytes within the club and at Finch Farm who owe Bill Kenwright just about everything they own and get dressed in every day and he still has a substantial and very damaging power base at the club - a power base that is clueless, without a strategy and with outdated tactics to even save this season let alone provide a blueprint for the club to go forward.

Tony 127 - as you know I agree with much of what you say - I see that Moyes tactics and results have reverted to kind recently - cannot say I am too saddened by that - Kenwiright would have had him back here in a shot - that just about sums up the ambition and knowledge of our boardroom.

To be honest whilst Kenwright needs to go, the fact Moshiri had his super agent mate at Goodison yesterday is telling.

The whole board needs to go and have a revamp but that’s not an overnight fix. We still need a director of football, manager, medical staff, players alongside that. With how chaotic we are I honestly believe we’re in big big trouble.

John @120 you’re completely delusional if you think Kenwright is being made a scapegoat. In fact are you a family friend or Bill himself? I’m all for open debate but is this a joke? I’ve never read such utter tripe. I suggest you go and educate yourself regarding the machinations of William Kenwright, starting with the link I provided in my post 105 above. Kenwright a scapegoat - shameful.

John @ 120 how can you say that? Moshiri has invested invested a huge amount of money in our club. You obviously know what Bill thinks. You obviously admire him. You clearly have an inside view as to what is happening at the club. What are your sources, by the way?
Also, you say that Bill wanted to keep Martinez, but Moshiri wanted him out. Holy fuck, is that your defence of Kenwright?
Martinez was hounded out by supporters who put pressure on Moshiri because, he was utterly fucking lamentable. And Kenwright wanted him back?? Pay ten million to fuck him off and offer two million to get him back. Well, that's blue Bill. Not his money.

There was quite a few rumours going around that Joorabchian, has Moshiri eating out of his hand, with our owner, the man who’s spending all the money, thinking it’s the other way around, because he’s somewhat delusional, with his thinking being, that power comes with having loads of dough, and not always being, about what you do with the money!

John #131, Andy beat me to it. Kenwright wanting to keep Roberto is an indictment of his judgement, not an affirmation. Moshiri was absolutely right on that one.

Moshiri was also right, at the time, to want Ancelotti over Moyes, who was riding a years-long string of failure at that point.

On Benitez, however, Bill was right and Mosh was wrong.

I'd say there's plenty of blame to be shared by both.

I would like to know what people expect from our board ?
Yeah I get all the kenwright stuff. I know of his crimes...But what do people expect from this board ?

I see lots of rhetoric stating the club needs a clear strategy, a new direction, but isnt that just words ?

its players and managers who win trophies. the board can only supply them with funds to do it. What are we looking for ? A club that backs its managers to the tune of 700m in five years ?..What else are they for if it isn't to support the manager and his staff ? ...The team

What does a clear strategy look like ? Is there a strategy which provides managers with a bigger war chest than our managers have already had ?

Can a club like Everton who were asleep when the Gravy train was pulling out generate more money through good business practice than they can through a sugar daddy ?

The medium term solution is to get rid of Kenwright and DBB and bring in professionals to run the club and take us downward with a proper business plan and structure. However. We have a more immediate and short term need which is on the pitch. We need a new manager who can eek out 17/19 more points and we need him now given that our next 3 games give us a reasonable chance of 5/6 of those points rather than the 3 games after that.

We need a new manager who can pick a stable back 4 and teach the team how to defend set pieces and we need a manager who will play 3 in centre midfield (that means signing someone probably on loan) just so we can get a foothold in games and not fund ourselves behind as we have in the last 9 games running.

The only constant during the tumultuous years of our new owners tenure is the boardroom and particularly the Chairman. He directs the board of directors. Also since the summer we have lost 2 directors who, it may be argued, represented the interests of the man /men who put the new money into the club. This left the Chairman with a clear majority of voting powers in the boardroom and yet we hire Benitez. So my question is this, who is running our club?
The root and branch review of the club governance is long overdue, I hope it is not too late. Changes must be made and very, very quickly, if suitable candidates have been identified and are available. Get them installed now.
Sorry for the rambling rant, COYB.

Mike @133, I think Moshiri was fair in his call on Benitez too but he failed to grasp the depth of hatred of the fans and the extent to which Kenwright would not let his decision lie; plus, of course, our pathetic players flopped predictably to secure his demise.

Benitez certainly did not help himself, notably on his stupidity with Rondon, but - if he had received support - he would have been better than anything else currently on offer.

Happy days.

What we want from the board is simple. If you have a DOF, let him hire and fire managers, let him buy and sell players. Instead we have the owner bringing in a winger at the behest of an agent. We have the owner buying Tosun cause he saw him in Monaco and buying Arsenal players he knows. We have a DOF, a manager and a chairman each going out and signing their own options for a number 10. We have a DOF wanting to work with a coach, them having no control as he’s sacked and replaced by an all powerful manager. We have a chairman bringing back a popular medic only for the manager to sack him over the heads of everyone else. In a nutshell we have chaos. So what we want is clear lines of command and accountability. This is your job, do it without interference. My job is to sack you if you fail not to do your job for you when it takes my fancy then blame you for my mistakes.

We all probably saying the same thing ( well I am ) in that any upturn in results which as blues we all pray for will once again deflect away from kenright with the jam tomorrow emails press statements etc. If the unthinkable happens no way he will survive the venom already coming his way. So we can’t really win this fight either way. He thrives on the odd storming comeback which gives him the oxygen to say stick with me and all the usual bs.

I think when I look at Everton, the last thing that I see is an organized football club, which obviously comes from not having an organized board.

The older I get, the more I realize that most of the people who get on in life, usually do so because they have a plan. Yet Everton, have just let a manager on his last legs, sell a defender which helped create a load of animosity, and then sign three players, two of whom it’s alleged he didn’t want, so who is actually in charge of transfers? Never mind a proper coherent plan.

Bill Kenwright’s plan was always to get investment, but still have a major say in how the club is run, just as long as he gave Evertonians some happy days!

Having a clear strategy isn't just words. It's about, for example, being clear on what we want to achieve in the next few years (beyond, of course, survival in the EPL); how far we want to achieve that through, say, player purchase (and, if so, what sort of players in terms of e.g. age and experience profile); how far we want to achieve it through youth development; whether we want to provide a structure for all that through the DoF concept (the Brands role) or by placing greater control in the hands of the manager (as we did with Benitez); how we want to fund further developments (income generation etc); and so on.

It's really not just words, rhetoric. Players and managers winning trophies is unlikely to happen in a vacuum, outside of any context of overall direction and strategy. In fact, hasn't our problem of late had a lot to do with a lack of clear and consistent direction and strategy? The board doesn't just provide funds for the manager to decide what to do.

Then what is the answer Bill? Looking forward to your communication soon…But i’am not holding my breath.

When you make changes it needs to be for the better.
The easy part is getting rid, the hard part is finding a replacement that is an improvement.
Manager wise we have tried a Belgium national coach, a Dutch one, a England one, two Premiership winning ones and yet they are supposedly not good enough for us. Doesn't really make sense does it.
I have not heard one sensible suggestion on who would be an improvement on the ones we have already tried.

Darren @134, what we need - and have needed for many years - is to recognise that we are fighting in a different way from the top sides.

The Atletico Madrid model has always been the one for us. They are in a city where their rivals are ultra dominant but they have developed a steely view of themselves and have operated accordingly. They buy and sell cannily and they play in the same hard, streetwise way. They are not intimidated.

We had a version of this with Moyes but it never carried conviction. Of course, Simeone is a factor but they have a character and a purpose; we do not - we are a random assortment of moods and currents and, above all, we are soft. I accept that this is not an exact comparison with Atletico and things have gone a bit astray for them this season, but the point holds good.

The board has to set a tone, it has to show itself united and tough in pursuit of a clearly defined objective. We have none of that.

Some of us foresaw that the lingering presence of Kenwright when Moshiri bought in would be structurally problematic: you cannot have two chiefs, certainly not two chiefs who are on different wavelengths and/or have different powers and influence. One of them has to go.

You and I have different views about the threat of relegation but what is clear is that we cannot drift along hoping for the best, fuelled by sentimentality and corporate gobshitery.

If we survive, we should drop Kenwright tosh and develop some ruthlessness throughout the club.

I would love to rant and moan about the board, but the truth is I'm not sure who is responsible for what nor what the expectations are.

For many fans, players, owners, just being able to get and compete in the Premier league is a success.

But for Everton, this basic requirement is not enough. I ​applaud the peaceful demonstration as clearly changes are needed.

I think the majority of fans agree Moshiri is a novice at running a football club. Bill is an Evertonian and wants the best for us. Sadly, it is not working, he isn't good enough.

The whole Director of football clouds accountability for recruitment, our footballing style, how Everton want to be seen as a footballing entity.

The business side of things should be separated but is another area of failure.

6 years after Moshiri invested the footballing operations have been awful. The business side not much better. The new stadium the obvious exception to the rule but its early days.

My priority as a fan is the first team, end of. But I agree we need change, we need to do better top to bottom.

Dazza, I think you're way too simplistic on this thread too. We both remember our owner Mr Moores, don't we? You know, the guy who provided copious funds to Carey and Catterick on the proviso they deliver, or all but deliver, success every season under his close personal scrutiny. He didn't hive off responsibility to managers, and we thrived, didn't we?

Darren #134, I'd say we need more of a change in culture,rather than a 'strategy'.

I had first hand experience of the changes that occurred just after Mansour took over at City. All the depts were under pressure to succeed, whether it was the scouting team, the people doing the catering, hospitality, etc. Some were shocked and bricking it, some relished it. It was a clear change from what had gone on before.

Now of course, City have an limitless budget. The big difference was that they created a culture that demanded success, from top to bottom. You don't achieve, you're out. And while they've built this, they regenerated a large area of Manchester. They realised there's more to success than just hiring a coach and buying players. Same happened at Chelsea, once Abramovitch stopped buying has-beens, hired a heavyweight CEO and recruitment specialist and let them get on with it.

We could do that, if we want to. The simple act of setting standards and accountability. It takes hard work, maybe a bit of grief along the way.

How badly do these people want to be successful?

Now Brands comments "Is it only the players?" just shows what a messy scenario any DoF will have walking into Everton. You have 2 people at the top dictating transfer policy, hiring and firing of managers and not allowing them to set the foundations we need.

Brands never wanted Benitez so clearly Moshiri chooses he wants and doesn’t even listen to those around him.

We need both of BL and Moshiri gone, or just BK and Moshiri to let a DoF actually come in and run the club.

Not that Brands was blameless at all (before everyone shoots it down). Some of his transfers have been questionable but this is not a club pulling in the same direction, it’s being pulled apart with different priorities and egos.

Paul T

Judging by the last 22 years, they don't want success at all None of what you describe has been in evidence

Paul #147 I'd go along with your comment about the importance of culture - though I'd say as well as strategy. Culture oils the strategy wheels, makes it happen.

A lot of people jumping on Danny's 'well run club' comment.

If you don't remember Everton being referred to that way pre-Moshiri then you weren't paying attention. It was a standard comment by the media and by other fans. It used to grate, but Danny's right.

The external perception of Everton has changed from 'well run' to basketcase.

As for the current state, yes it's a mess and needs an overhaul. The structure (what structure?) and accountabilities (what accountability?) are inadequate.

But if we'd got 500M of value from 500M of transfer spend we'd all be feeling substantially better right now. How hard was it to not sign a plethora of expensive players all in the same position?

The business exists to fund the team. The team has been funded. So who buggered up spending the money? Was it Brands? Managers? Moshiri? Kenwright?

Moshiri and Kenwright surely know. Someone got to invest HALF A BILLION pounds of the club's money. And they did it terribly.

What changes so that we make better decisions on that front?

Nick #130

I'm referring to the period of time since Moshiri took over. Since then he has no real power, all major decisions are made by Moshiri and others sitting in the shadows (Usmanov). Bill has made many mistakes during the time prior to that, however under his watch, the club was run in a fiscally responsible way, unlike the way the 'accountant ' is currently running the club.

Andy #131

I don't admire him, and the example of wanting to keep Martinez was to demonstrate that Moshiri will do what he wants regardless of what his Chairman thinks, just like he was also doing whatever he wanted regardless of what his former DOF thought. Brands like Bill was another person employed by the club with a grand title but no real power.

Mike #133

I don't blame Bill for the last 5 years+ because he has no real power, same as Brands was a lame duck DOF, same like many others like the CEO. They are just glorified administrators. The blame for all whats wrong with the club falls fully with the true owners of the club who Moshiri just happens to be the face. Bill is an easy target for people looking to blame someone.

"We've had some good times" should go on the crest.

Bill #153. Cracker! My only laugh this weekend!

On the subject of Brands. I have no sympathy for him whatsoever. Signed a new contract and maintained the status quo.

As an alleged leader in his field he could have walked on a matter of principle and landed another lucrative job, if he was that good.

Another leech IMO.

Maybe we should ditch Z Cars and play this as the team comes out………….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er9xGRolrT4

John - if that is the case as you seem certain, where is Kenwright's backbone and personal integrity - he should have walked away

As I said in my earlier post to you, I doubt Messrs Birch and Wyness for starters would agree with you on the so-called 'well run' club - they saw the riddle wrapped in a puzzle of dodgy external financiers Bill created to give the illusion you have fallen for

Ken #157

Regardless of what opinion you may hold of Bill, its undeniable that pre Moshiri, the club lived within its means. I do not justify that means as sufficient as I don't think the club did everything possible to improve revenue generation especially commercially, or keep up with the latest coaching, management trends, but what they always did is manage spending more or less in line with income.
Since the club had new owners, income has remained mostly flat, while spending has completely gone out of control, to the extent that the club has the highest wage to turnover ratio in the league, losses are continuing year after year, with the 4th year of losses about to be posted soon.

Let me sum up Kenwright.
This is the man who said he wanted to give Bury £1m to save them.
When he presumably knew full well that he wouldn’t be able to as it’s against the rules to have a financial interest in two clubs.
So of course he got quoted as being such a great guy and it literally didn’t cost him a penny.

To Bill there has been good years only in the sense that he sees Everton as a mid table team, and anything above that is a good year. He's never been hungry. He got Everton cheap and thanks to Moyes operated within budget and managed to finish higher than mid table most times so of course he would say we had some good times. Therein lies the problem. We had an owner and board who got so use to finishing in the top ten, they got complacent and lost the hunger to be the best you can.

Then came Moshiri who had Everton at heart just guided by people who new only mediocre and safe, while teams around Everton used the tv money wisely and set there clubs up to survive in the premiership financially and with a direction on recruitment and playing style. I can't think of any club in the Premier League that continually buys players that never seem to fit into their style of playing football. We just buy who ever is available hence the amount of misfits we have, but it comes back to the club's hierarchy who are so use to mediocre and trying to balance the books.

They don’t know any different, and don’t have the hunger to go to the next level while all the teams around us do. And unfortunately so do the top 10 teams in the Championship. Even now the board are trying to sign a manager without a plan or vision for the future and once again we will get whoever is available and be in the same position next year but in the Championship.

Ernie (#151), with respect, the media having said that Everton we're a well club is different to it actually having BEEN a well run club and WAY different to the opinion of so many of us who were paying attention to weekly machinations of Kenwright when he ran our wealth into the ground whilst he was in league with his dubious Virgin Island acolytes, awaiting a muppet to make him rich at our expense beyond his wildest dreams.

As an aside, so-called integrity-heavy media still support our lying evasive arrogant self-serving Prime Minister and, Lawd knows, plenty of the meejah on your side of the pond backed his bastard father, Trump.

Cricky. Some fans on here are still praising Billy blue still in his corner.

I saw one comment maybe it was a bit of realism, but saying Billy blue may think it a success keeping us in the PL during the last so many years while other big clubs haven't been so lucky. Doesn't that tell you anything? It tells me a few things. It tells me that the way the club is run is just to make up the numbers. It tells me that the club are not shamed and embarrassed by NSNO and our glorious past to change the way we are. It tells me that they do not see the warning signs of other clubs that have gone before. It tells me that the club have been operating in a careless way. It tells me that they are in fact negligent in allowing the club to fail in so far that the trap door is opening. It also tells me that many of our fans are happy to allow the club to continue to decline as it has been for many years. Accepting what we are. I'm just wanting the club wake up before it's too late. Make the changes from top down.

And what of the likes of Aston Villa, or Leeds, for example, who've been down. To exchange glances these clubs have been down in a mess and come back up; we haven't, yet we're still floundering.

As things stand we have 2 hopes Bob and well you know.

Rob @ 156, Nah, it would only be Billy the Bullshitter singing along to it ! :-)

Don. I think that's exactly the point I was making. The media used to refer to us as a well run club, which grated on us.

That said. We were a club who desperately struggled financially but seemed to be able to get some football basics right. You can point to Moyes for that I guess. We were the best of the rest but only ever that. Moyes got slated on here for dithering on transfers. He was overly cautious. That was Kenwright's Everton. Which was really Moyes' Everton working within the constraints of his own character and the club's financial boundaries.

Since then we've had investment, tried to modernise our organisational structures, gone for some pretty high profile managers and been pretty aggressive with our transfer gambles. Pretty much what fans asked for through the Moyes years.

It hasn't got better. It's got worse. I know that's the fault of the way these elements were delivered but there's a lot to be said for keeping things simple and working within your capabilities. And not changing things too quickly as the organisation cannot cope with such a fast evolution.

I wonder if we have considered an approach for Moyes as DoF? Or maybe as a manager transitioning into a DoF role over the next few years? That would give us the gradual evolution of that role with someone credible. He's approaching 60 and might be open to something a bit different - it would be worth finding out.

Can someone please tell me how Moshiri became so rich ? Was he an Importer and Exporter of Snake Oil ?

That would at least explain how he met Slippery Bill.

I remember Bill selling the aforementioned Snake Oil, on Great Homer Street Market back in the day. He claimed it as a Nostrum, a Universal Panacea, The Cure All. I pretended to be interested and asked if it would rid all manner of pestilence, fleas, parasites etc. Oh Yes absolutely he replied.

I took a bottle and removed the top, and proceeded to throw it all over him !

Proof, if any was needed the Maggot is still with us some 40 years later! :-)

Derek

I think the answer can be found among the following words in no particular order: laundering Mafia Russian money corruption

Kieran, that doesn't come as any surprise, and I have raised similar suspicions before, but didn't actually allude to or name the source. Having said that, no business can be run successfully, displaying such profligacy, even adopting questionable practices. Or can they ?

Paul T

Better answer than I expected to be fair mate. And thanks for dumbing down a little for me

I constant see people with about as much business sense as...Well me, spout "we need a new strategy", but they don't have any idea how we will achieve it, or if it will achieve anything. To me its a bit like sitting in the Bullens road stands shouting "score".
I like to read and follow P T E's stuff but the waters always get muddied by Alan sugar wannabe's and I get lost.

My problem is this, Kenwright spent years trying to flog the club (I know, I know) but they were hardly lining up to buy it. So if we don't believe Moshiri can change the culture how do we find an owner that can ? Moshiri wont change after five years of doing it his way, so who delivers this new culture ? and will it bring about more money to fund the first team than we get now ?

Its going to cost an awful lot of dosh to do what you saw when you were at City or what Roman has done at Chelsea...They really do subscribe to NSNO.

I have no clue what DBB does so I couldnt miss her and although Kenwrights departure would be a gratifying sight for all, That still leaves the drunken sailor. Does new culture mean new owner ?

You put that well Paul Tran. I've used the phrase change the culture many times, to the point I think some started telling me off for it. But it's needed alongside a strategy. The 2 go hand in glove. The City example is a very good one, especially when you look at where they came from.

They still have their history and traditions, but they are not living in the past. The culture is a far cry from when we used to stand on that uncovered corner next to the Kippax or on those moveable benches behind the goal at Maine Road.

But they had a strategy that changed the culture. This is board room level thinking now rather than the actual football and I know there are various operating models out there, but I like to think of it in a relatively simple way (because I'm simple):

Vision, Mission, Goals.

Vision: Where we want to be, what we want to achieve.
Mission: What we need to do to get there.
Goals: The individual objectives we need to hit to achieve the mission and realise the vision at all levels throughout the club.

This is obviously high level so can appear as just words, but it's not. It forces a framework and operating model that demands all areas of the club strive to achieve the vision, the mission and the goals.

We have Bill who goes the match and occasionally decides to go out and buy a player, sometimes without telling anyone. Denise who has done sterling work on the community side. And Grahame Sharpe who I can only see as being an advisor - maybe I'm wrong; I don't know.

Last paragraph is flippant of me, but I left it in there because I'm still stewing. I'll take my medicine.

Sort your vision out Mr Moshiri and put a board in place to execute on it.

Stick around Derek Moore. We need a good range of good views and opinions.

Darren, I'm not convinced there were no other buyers. Reliable people have told me about various would-be buyers, who wanted Kenwright out as part of the deal. Bill deemed them 'unsuitable'.

My suspicion is that Bill convinced Farhad that we were a well run club that just needed money. So we had that summer where Moshiri, Kenwright, Koeman and Walsh were all looking at/buying players. Made worse by the fact that Moshiri is being advised by 'super agent' Joorbachan. That's why we ended up paying over the odds for an imbalanced squad. Would never have happened in a business with a proper structure and governance.

The way forward will be when we limp to BMD and Farhad gets his big pay day, selling to someone with deep pockets, business acumen and the ability to hire and delegate well.

A bit of reading into recent Russian history will show that you don't have to be a business genius to get rich quick out there. As my arl feller used to say, 'it's not what you know, it's who you know'

Thanks for giving my work good marks, though!

And Derek, I'll happily share a couple of Doom Bars with you if we get the chance!

To answer Darrens point, what do we expect from the board, I'll have a go at that.
1. Clear structure and defined responsibilities.
2. Clarity in Communication. One voice, operating in the interests of the club. Without a conflict of interest.
3. An AGM, not a sham. Where shareholders can ask legitimate questions of the decision making.
4. A stated shared Vision and an outline of the plan to get us there.
5. Transparency were appropriate in commercial dealings.
6. Honesty. The truth might hurt but lies will destroy integrity and trust forever.

I could go on but as it stands the current board and those involved in it for the past 25 years have not adhered to a single point. That's how well run we are. That's why this club thinks it doesn't have to abide by any of those points. A love affair based on personal pride and greed, a business run for a benefit other than football. The first applies to the chairman, the second to the owner.

Will it change? Not under the ownership of a wealthy investor and a conniving manipulator, so a final question for both of them, What is your end game? Sale? Profit? 3 years? Sorry, that's No 6... I should have realized...

John,

We don't know anything about Everton Finances in the Kenwright era. As I recall, he cut off most avenues of contact as soon as people started asking about the finances, missed opportunities for a ground move, associations with people of ill-repute and opaque financial dealings.Those facts determine my view of Mr Kenwright.

Whilst you are promulgating him as some form of saviour, might I remind you he has presided over the most calamitous era in Everton history and managed the decline of our club to its lowest point in football hierarchy ever.

It could have been worse if he had got the Tesco groundshare move – we would have had a stadium befitting the Championship which is slowly but surely where he is taking this club.

As I said before, Birch and Wyness were respected professionals and as soon as they started peeling Everton's onion, they left. In one case, after weeks and in another when he realised he could do nothing about it.

Like most under the last 22 years, the boardroom wants agreeable pen-pushers not people of professional competence who might challenge them. Do a review of Paul the Esk's articles if you want proof of that

Paul T@172, second paragraph, last sentence, is 100% correct imo, but he’s talking about years ago, and still nothing changes at Everton, except the manager, on a regular basis.

You nail it better than me Christine.

You say it, but the word is transparency.

And you touch on a point that makes sense. These 2 can't be successful together.

Either Moshiri takes ownership and puts his people on the board.

Or Moshiri's sells and we wait for the next Blue Bill benefactor who will let him play with his train set.

Tony #172, that's a good point. When Bill spoke of 'good times', I genuinely think he was referring to the Moyes era, when we were a well-run, unambitious business who redefined success as 'punching above our weight'. Many people on here agreed with him at the time.

The moment we had an influx of money and expectations, it all evaporated. You need a different skill set to run a genuinely ambitious business with a much higher budget. I don't see anything changing till we get those skills on the board, which will probably happen when Moshiri sells.

Since 2016, Everton have sacked six first-team managers, used 2 x 2 = 4 caretaker managers, sacked two Directors of Football… and it's not the board's fault?

Marcel Brands was sacked before he could elaborate, so I hope Bill Kenwright has a chance to elaborate before he's sacked. I also hope the 27 Years campaign, are all over what our Chairman said outside Goodison on Saturday afternoon.

If nothing will change with a new/proper board, then Mr Moshiri obviously doesn't want help, even though he's stated he doesn't want to spend to much of his time on Everton FC.

It's time this fella stopped getting away with murder just because he's helping to build us a new ground, because he's taking us further back than Kenwright did at the minute, and that's something that I genuinely didn't think was even possible.

It was possibly a lot easier to balance the books, prior to Moshiri's arrival than it has been after the Iranian arrived, because no sooner had he started to spend his money, transfer fees and wages began to spiral out of control.

Many of the Premier League clubs are pretty close together now, in relation to income, due to the share of TV monies etc. therefore the teams outside of the established rich clubs are far more competitive than they were a decade ago, but not competitive enough to challenge the established rich clubs.

Any competitive advantage that Everton FC may have had, due to them having a manager who usually made the right calls on buying players and those players usually being value for money purchases, dissapeared almost as soon as said manager decided to jump ship.

Moshiri's arrival didn't signal a change of culture or the arrival of good governance, it merely meant that the club carried on as before, but, without a dour spendthrift Scot to raise a red flag or two, and the club was so unused to having money to burn, that it made mistakes that were far more costly than previously seen at Goodison, and instead of somebody asking themselves are we doing this right, the owner decided to pile on and add his lack of football knowledge into the mix and made things worse.

When Moyes left, the club's lack of football knowledge was laid bare for all to see, and although Moshiri may have wanted or even demanded success, the club wasn't ready for it and it still isn't, six years later.

I can forgive mistakes made in the transfer market, I can forgive the errors in managerial appointments, but what I can't forgive and will never understand is how the club didn't seem to be aware of the profitability and sustainability issue that was looming large on the horizon. In fact by appointing Ancelotti and giving James a king's ransom to play for Everton, the club exacerbated the P&S issue and it now finds itself trying to keep Everton in the Premier League with one-hand tied behind its back.

And perhaps the greatest of all disgraceful comments... "the good times"!

Indeed they were, but he wasn't talking about the team, winning stuff, playing brilliant football… no, he was referring to his pay-off.

The times couldn't get any better for Bill Kenwright but just how insulting to the average Evertonian to say we have had good times.

Perhaps he has fulfilled his dream?

Kenwright bled the club dry, never spent a penny of his own money. Gregg's wife loaned him the money, he then stabbed them in the back.

Sold everything: Bellefield, Finch Farm, the merchandise, got rid of Rooney to stay out of administration, and then made a massive profit selling to Moshiri.

The board are a laughing stock after the Benitez fiasco. If Pereira is picked as our next manager, we're definitely heading for the Championship

Nick #105, I just read that piece, what a read. The man is a snake. Yet still he prevails.

John 158
John you say pre Moshiri the Club ran within it’s means

Do you really mean that?

The dirty dealings in the Virgin Islands, selling Finch Farm, buying enough lawnmowers to mow the Lake District, dealings with “a great friend of Everton” and the other fraudsters

Peter Johnson left us with cash in the bank and a Park End
The Worlds Greatest Evertonian and his mates has just used us as a saleable asset that netted him and his mates a tasty profit on absolutely no outlay

John Keating, we know a leveraged buy out when we see one.

Ken #174,

We actually know plenty about the Kenwright era: all audited financial reports dating back to 2003 are available on the website.

I'm not saying Kenwright is an angel or didn't make mistakes. I believe that, pre-Moshiri, there was financial stability, some years the club made a profit, others it made a small loss, which it would usually compensate by selling assets (players). He never took any big risks with the club financially, he behaved in a prudent way overall.

That doesn't mean that he ran the club as well as many would have wanted or thought possible. I always thought throughout his time, the club was well behind the curve commercially.

After Moshiri arrived, the club started spending far beyond its means, record losses year after year now.

John #183,

I don't mix the stories with the numbers. Things like the Arteta money, lawnmowers make good stories, but I'm basing my judgement of living within the means on the financial reports stretching back many years.

The biggest difference between how Kenwright and Moshiri operate can be seen with the stadium. Kings Dock didn't happen because the club couldn't arrange the funding at the time to complete it, so it dropped the project.

Meanwhile, Moshiri has not arranged the funding for the new stadium, yet has commenced construction with his own funds, in the hope/expectation that loans will be arranged in future somehow.

He is taking a huge risk, because if he is unable to raise funding and he isn't able to self finance the construction, the project will collapse and it will lead to many other legal, financial, political, economic problems for many stakeholders.

I bet Kenwright goes to bed at night, settles down and suddenly the noise in his head starts the choir of pre-broken voiced schoolboys singing "Show me the way to go home" the tears start flowing Jenny says "Do you want it, Bill?" and he says "Oh yes, oh yes, the Boys Pen! I want it so much my jim-jam kecks are wet already."

Jenny gets up in a huff flings off her flannelette nightie puts on a black leather bra and pants and says "Stuff you, John Deed will stuff me" and off she goes as teary-eyed Bill joins in "Show me the way to go home".

I think Freud had a name for the psychotic episodes Bill has: Freudenschader – the inability to bring himself to 2022... he still lives in the '60s.

Len, I think you've been watching Porn Hub again...

Will thanks for the tip is it good.

Why does Bill have to screw Jenny, when he has been screwing us for years.

John #185, you've hit on my biggest reason for optimism about Moshiri. He has courage and the willingness to put his money into his ideas -- particularly the stadium -- with or without a safety net.

The man has made some big mistakes, and we've yet to see signs that he's learning from them, but none of them are down to a lack of cojones.

John, the club could arrange the finance for King's Dock, but it would have meant Kenwright relinquishing control, which he wasn't prepared to do. So he saved the Club from having the new stadium at King's Dock, even at the cost of having to bear the responsibility for continuing to be the Club chairman for all these years. Even with the new owner, Kenwright is still determined to carry on serving the Club as chairman!

Thanks for the OP Lyndon, very thought provoking; and indeed, it has brought about some excellent, and many varied posts.

I'm not going to repeat anything from above, what is needed to be done is obvious.

Set the goal, determine the strategy and work on the plans on how to get there. yadda, yadda, yadda; and yet...

I'll don my tin-hat now, and kevlar vest too. Please allow me to tell you a true but very truncated account of a conversation I had this weekend.

Recently, I had learnt that an 'associate' of mine, has a very, very good friend who works at EFC, within the Empire itself.

I was greatly surprised when said associate asked if I would care to join them and their friend for lunch yesterday. Of course, I agreed, and we all met at a local hostelry.

Obviously, I can't disclose who the person is, or what job role they have, other than they are middle-management within the Footballing administration side of the organisation. I'll refer to them as Q.

More or less at the start of the conversation, I was invited to ask anything I'd like to by Q, but, an answer could only be provided if it wasn't deemed sensitive by Q.

I started off by asking Q what they thought of the state of the club, and how the season could be saved.

Shockingly, Q replied, that they and a great number of management, think that EFC internally is a 'total shambles'.
There IS a definite 'Us and them' mentality between the pro-BK clique, and the rest. As well as a major issue with a 'little empire' mentality that is rife within EFC.

Apparently, if your face doesn't fit, or you make waves and rock the boat, then you're toast basically. Not to mention, that you're usually questioned by management, if your work doesn't toe the 'party line'; which, in turn makes your job much harder because of constant interference.

QED Chris Perkins, former EFC Head of Academy Recruitment. Apparently he was supported by Brands and Steinsson, but was constantly undermined in his role by other staff within the academy. When Perkins realised that Brands couldn't help (as indeed Brands was being hamstrung within the academy too), he made himself available, and the Spurs moved in for him.

As for the season, Q was quite ambivalent about what may transpire. Obviously Q 'hopes' we stay up for the obvious reasons of job security and EFC maintaining EPL status. Yet, Q also feels that 'if' EFC were relegated, then maybe, but not certainly, change may come about.

One thing Q did say, is that relegation is anathema to the clubs hierarchy, as the loss of revenue and status would more or less doom the immediate future for the club. In other words it would mean the current setup would be financially untenable, or in other words, there would be a financial implosion.

I.e. There would be immense outgoings and debt to service, yet there would be a huge reduction in revenue streams and income. Ergo, most players of any quality would have to be sold, and the club's workforce would have to be radically downsized; but for all that, the hierarchy would probably try and hang onto the reins, and claim only they can get promotion quickly back to the EPL.

I was stunned by the openness of these admissions.

There are also 'rumours' within the club that Mr. Moshiri, is currently considering all options for the future of the club... Up to, and including selling the club.

This coincided with listening to Paul the Esk's 'Talking the Blues' podcast last night (23.1.22). In which Paul suggested that Moshiri may make a compulsory share purchase option, and buy up all the remaining shares of EFC the private company, which would include the shares owned by Kenwright. This would then obviously give Moshiri absolute control of the club, with no regards for any 'minority' shareholders at all. That thought makes me shudder...

Yet, Q made it clear, that as far as they are aware, the BMD project, is being pushed as hard as it can. I.e. regards finding finance. (NB Don't be surprised if a Russian lender, or organisation that operates in the Oligarch circles, provide the final finances needed.)

Q also mentioned that changes (some major) are going to be made within the footballing system, from the first team, to the Academy (especially!) and USMFF.

When asked about the manger situation; as Q is not privy to the highest echelons of the clubs, Q has heard nothing about a final decision having been made yet. Although arguments regarding appointing a new DoF have been ongoing since Brands walked, both for and against.

Speaking of Brands, as Digne said "Don't believe everything you have read."

For those questioning him (Brands), he always operated with his hands tied, and there was so much external interference (No names given by Q) that he could not act as a DoF truly, from the day he was first appointed.

However, Q did confirm that Brands was one of the 'good guys', who tried and failed to 'fix' the issues within the club. His retort in the famous fan exchange "Is it just the players?" wasn't just a barb aimed at Benitez, but at the whole rotten core of the most senior management (and by inference, the ownership) of the club. Q believes at that point, Brands had already decided to confront Moshiri and the board, with an ultimatum. His way or the highway, and we all saw how that worked out.

Most interestingly to me, the majority of transfers at the club, well over 80% according to Q, during Brands tenure weren't advocated, or welcomed by Brands. Including the signing of Moise Kean... that was apparently thrust on him from on high.

Rather than carry on, the basic synopsis of the rest of the conversation could be summed up by Q's parting thoughts.

These are quite simple really, even if we do maintain EPL status this season, the way the club is being run currently, and without major change, nothing is going to change on the pitch.

"Unless the owner decides he needs professional above-competent guidance, advice or personnel; then the current setup is not fit to run an orgy in a brothel!"

"The current board are dominated by a singular personality."

"As a matter of urgency, the club's financial position needs to be addressed. It is as if the club is existing hand to mouth."

"The only genuine rehabilitation of the club, is by a complete clear out of management of the club, even down to junior management. With all jobs being advertised on the open market, and the best candidates being put forward by the most professional recruitment consultancy. This includes the Chair and CEO roles, especially the CEO! This alongside a new, more prudent, and savvy owner taking over too."

Q is a lifelong Bluenose, and could not believe their luck when they got their job. However since being employed by EFC, they just cannot believe what a 'total shambles' it is. They are surprised that they are still relatively solvent, and that they haven't sunk without trace before this. (EFC that is!)

No club is big enough to fail remember...

I think we all need to reset our expectations to survival, until Moshiri finally decides what he wants to do with his train set, all the while being impeded by 'Bleed you dry Barnacle Bill'.

Heres hoping to a 2022/23 EPL season for EFC, despite the above.

Relegation could have calamitous consequences for the club.

Mike #190 you could say that, and you call also call his behaviour reckless in putting the future of the club at risk. I have not seen any sign that the man the people he represents have any idea how to run the club or spend wisely. Besides all the well known waste of money in the last 5 years, he just authorised 18m to be spent on a left back from the Ukrainian league, weeks possibly before Russia invades that country and highly likely leading to the cancellation of their upcoming league campaign. Basically they should have gotten such a player for around a quarter what they paid.

Dennis#191 None of us would know the details, but I would imagine it could have been possible to arrange financing but with unreasonable conditions which wouldn't make the project viable. BK rightly pulled the plug. Even now, the new stadium makes absolutely no sense from a financial perspective for the club. I challenge anyone to prove otherwise. Yet the new owners carry on trying to build it as if its going to be the gate to the promised land.

Post #192 by Simon Harrison is one of the most explosive I've ever read on here.

Mind bending stuff.

Simon Harrison 192*

Probably the closest perspective of what we all thought was happening in the club. It’s probably accurate too. Two factions, toxic management and yet there are people questioning why Kenwright needs to go.

He has no choice. Stay and he will forever be seen as the one to blame for taking us down; go and he will be seen as a rat deserting a sinking ship. His only play is to sort it out now, get the players needed, stay up and leave.

Simon, I should be shocked at the revelations but quite honestly it’s confirmation bias. Two incompetent men, owner and chairman, smiling to each others faces across a boardroom table. Why hasn't Moshiri acted?

John, Just remind me what those large sums written off time after time as 'operating expenses' were again. I must have missed the club's full explanation at the time.

Christine [195]

It is a genuine perception of a current middle-ranking member of management at the club. I doubt anything was stated for effect, nor embellished to create drama. The conversation was so matter of fact to be honest. It's not so much that there are two factions within the club; there is the pro-BK 'faction', then there is everyone else trying to build their own little Empire within. The internal communication and cooperation, is as bad as the external communication we can all see for ourselves.

Hence the toxicity, or 'aggressive' management within the club. Some people keep their heads down and crack on, whilst others try and control areas of influence within the club. Which makes for a very fractious work environment.

By the way Christine, internally, I presume (dangerous I know) Kenwright isn't considered to be a (the?) problem. I think it was Paul Tran above, who made the analogy between his business and EFC, and the differing skill sets required from running a low revenue SME and changing to a multi-million (billion?) operation over-night. This I believe, has been, and still is the problem.

As for Kenwright himself, it is a case of suck it and see. Yes, he may try to hang on till BMD is built; he may decide at some point enough is enough; or he may, just may, have the decision taken out of his hands (though that would be doubtful right now)

As for being shocked, I knew from the public domain that EFC have internal problems, infighting, or as a journo has recently called it, a civil war going on in the corridors of power. Yet... I wasn't ready for the level of the problems described to me.

I don't think that the blame can be laid solely at the feet of any one individual, it is a case of wheels with wheels really I suppose.

Think Moshiri, and his dream of a 'Hollywood' Everton springing and leaping into the ECL; then throwing wads of money around as if P&S rules didn't apply to him and Everton.

Think Kenwright wringing his hands that finally he has the control and means to 'build' a bigger, better train-set for an absentee owner.

Think DBB being way out of her depth and capability.

Think incoming managers making demands, and being obliged with the necessary funds, but no plan or strategy.

Think two DoFs, who were never given the remit and control they needed in order to perform.

Think of Directors not being given clear direction, as to how to progress the club. This in turn leads to an aimless, rudderless wandering much akin to pre-Moshiri.

Think lack of attention to improved financial operations, instead relying on external loans from the owner (Which is unsustainable, as we now know)

I could go on, but...

There are a cumulative amount of issues which have lead us to where we are with the club; yet, IF the owner had a vision and a plan, and not just throw money at the project, would we be where we are?

If the CEO was competent, and/or sought external expertise to assist in the transition from small club, to an aspirational club, would we be in a better position?

If the Chair actually performed as laid out in the Company Handbook, and looked to enhance the board with the best possible members, and give professional guidance to the board; would the circumstances and fall-out of the last six years have occurred?

Have no doubt, right at this moment, Everton are on the cusp of disaster, meaning relegation.

By the Gods it's sobering isn't it!

Also Christine, on a personal note, I hope that you are feeling much better now?

Simon @197
I posted this link yesterday on another thread, however, given your posts, if you or others haven't already read the piece, you could change the names of the parties and the club and see the exact same scenario playing out at the club we all support.

Link

Simon, what many of us have suspected and, albeit from an uninformed and unqualified perspective, have been calling out.

Those who target manager after manager are shooting at the wrong target. Brands wasn't the problem. He was the solution if he'd have been allowed to do his job.

Restructure & re-organise. It should have happened when Moshiri came in. He's left the previous committee in charge of the pigs trough he provided them. They didn't know how to feed from it sensibly and they certainly didn't want change, just a comfort zone financial buffer that they've well and truly blown through their incompetency.

The owner is accountable through his allowing it to happen, but I don't see what options we have unless he get's the broom out and has a spring clean.

Get rid of Everton's version of George Orwell's "all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others". Which, from what you say and if true Simon, seems to eptiomise the Everton board. Bill may be all smiles and crocodile tears on the outside, but there's a sinister side it would seem.

All about staying up. That's what matters now more than ever.

Simon (192), very good post, unfortunately, for me and a lot of Evertonians,it comes as not too much of a surprise, the writing has been on the wall for a good few years. Mr.Moshiri not being helped,or insisting on doing it his own way.

The Chris Perkins episode was also no surprise, in fact I pointed it out at least a couple of times on ToffeeWeb, he came from Derby County, possibly Brands doing, very highly rated but only lasted about eighteen months before he moved to Spurs, I didn’t know why he left but wondered why Unsworth was appointed to be in complete control of all sections of the Academy when Perkins seemed to have more knowledge of how an Academy is run.

I was a supporter of Brands, then he was made a member of the Board, seemed to me he didn’t look like his own man after that, reading your post it now looks like ‘if you can’t beat them join them’ and he just went along with the situation, although I thought his parting shot was more at The Boardroom than Benitez.

The most important point is now: Who is there anywhere at the club to come and get the whole lot of the people in charge together and get someone with the talent and knowledge to get some central midfield players signed by the January transfer windows closing time, about six days away.

If no players are brought in then relegation is almost a certainty, no doubts about that whatsoever. Cometh the the hour, Cometh the man. Where are you mate? Come on we are really desperate here mate, whoever you are.

Simon, yes thank you, learning to let some things go by and not get too stressed, but sadly, I am an Evertonian, I love my club with the sort of passion that borders on irrationality. It has been the longest love affair I could imagine, from learning to walk and talk to the day I shuffle this mortal coil.
So what? I hear people say, well when someone or something you love is threatened, you fight or flight.
Technically I may not own a single share, but I have more invested in this club than the current owner or our chairman. To Moshiri its money, to Kenwright its power and pride. I would run this club for nothing. I would wake up every morning determined to improve it, I have a lyric on my laptop as a screen saver.."What have you done today to make you feel proud?"
Ultimately Kenwright is responsible. He is the man who has hired most of the team, that you say is so toxic that they cannot, will not speak out. If that is so, then the whole management team is a sham because they cannot act independently in the best interests of the club. They are acting in self interest.

Still find it bewildering that Moshiri over these 6 years has thrown millions of pounds at players/managers and DoF yet hasn't spent a fraction of that at a top top CEO.

Astounding.

If anyone needs clarification as to why ANY organization such as Everton FC needs a strategy, a plan, Simon Harrison's posts have spelt it out.

Manchester City's greater riches alone haven't made them the dominant power in English football. It wasn't achieved overnight, in one giant leap. It came about gradually, founded on a clear strategy and a standard of excellence in everything they do.

From manager and player recruitment, to the fellahs checking people through the turnstiles.

They now attract the best coach in the world and the best players in the world because of all the hard graft and ground work they put in at the start of their visionary project.

Moshiri doesn't have their riches, but nor does he need to to change things for the better. Look around the PL alone for clubs with less funds than Everton, but whose entire infrastructure is better geared to success than our own club.

Look at us in the last 6 weeks alone, never mind the entire 6 years of Moshiri's ownership. We have shelled out our own club. No DoF. No heads of medicine, scouting and recruitment. No manager. No auxilliary training staff. No contingency plan in the event we lost any of those positions. No senior footballing person at the club advising on who now to appoint. The decision is being made by the very same suits who delivered the above self-sabotaging scenario.

There are many different models and many examples in the top echelons of football showing how it could be achieved. Even at lower levels. Check out the following story:

The Club Where Johan Cruyff Lives On

Am I advocating that we should hire Wim Jonk and his coaching staff? No. But I am advocating that we DO formulate a plan, a strategy, and apply it. Hire the very best people possible to achieve it. Don't fetter or interfere in their jobs. We don't do that.

What we have right now reeks of failure. Mild turbulence has escalated to out-of-control tail spin without a pilot. Heaven forbid that the only parachute available is the payment awaiting PL clubs relegated to the Championship.

Interesting article on the BBC about the way Volendam is being run in Holland - very progressive, with long term planning. If only we had people at our club with vision and a plan like this.

Volendam: The legacy of Johan Cruyff lives on in Wim Jonk's side (see Jay’s link above - great minds, mate).

Simon, 192, 100% accurate.

I don’t know if you’ve ever glanced at various articles I’ve had published on TW, but in those I’ve been saying pretty much the same views that you’ve relayed from Q for 6 or 7 years now. I totally respect Q’s need for anonymity because I know how vindictive the CEO especially can be when anyone is impertinent enough to disagree with her.

Q’s description of empires within resonates precisely with my descriptions in articles of a “silo culture.” You can get away with anything at Everton from laziness to downright incompetence so long as you bend the knee to the dominant faction. Once you’ve done that and continue doing so you can build your own silo of those below you in the food chain and you have your little self enclosed empire. It’s no way to run a railroad!

Sadly Q is a victim of this corrupt practice. There are many decent people working for Everton but too many of them become disillusioned and move on or accept a status quo they are powerless to change.

Unlike Q, I had nothing to lose by criticising the way the club is run but it is only quite recently that the message from the likes of Don Alexander and myself has begun cutting through to the majority of fans, most of whom, understandably prefer to concentrate on playing matters. Frankly I became a bit fed up myself with some of the negative responses, particularly with a small group of posters who go into bat for the CEO when she’s criticised because sadly they belong to a coterie of devotees whose devotion is rewarded with private visits to Goodison or the Liver Building, honorary positions with match tickets etc. I feel another article coming on where I name some names.

BK is the big boss, but Barrett is the gateway. She pays homage to him and then she’s free to run her own empire. My role from 2007 to 2015 was ostensibly in security but at Barrett’s request it was widened considerably and I got to see a lot of departments at first hand. I spoke my mind freely and I know more than a few employees wondered how I managed to get away with it. Well for you oldies think of the last verse of Peter Sarstedt’s immortal Where do you go my Lovely. Yes I “remembered the back streets of Naples” and I could look inside her head.

Gerard " I feel another article coming on where I name some names."

Go on! Spill!

Gerard, we need to discuss this in the Metal Box. Or maybe the Elephant or White Horse in Woolton!!!

Ged, write the, article. I know that you have the utmost integrity and that you have shown remarkable restraint. Please do it.

Danny, happy to meet you in any of those pubs (come along Andy!). Sadly I can’t meet you at the match as my attendance seems to be monitored these days and it can be uncomfortable for anyone with me waiting to see if I rise to the bait and smack the monitor!

One example: (brief as I can) one of the most sought after steward positions is in the tunnel and close to the dressing rooms. It is a role that calls for some discretion and we tended to keep the same team together more so than for other stewarding positions.

It came to my attention that there was possibly a little scam going on with one of the stewards in the tunnel and a member of EFC staff. After watching things over several games I decided that it would be in everyone’s interest to move the steward to another post. He refused and stomped off. Unfortunately it was a match day and he left me short knowing as he did there were several absences through illness.

I noted all this in a report to my line manager and his line manager was the now CEO. A while before this happened I had put a young, bright steward into the tunnel team with a view to him learning the ropes and being integrated into the team down there. This kid is a fanatical Evertonian and it was a dream come true for him. He no longer is a steward and doesn’t go to the match.

He hadn’t been working long in the tunnel when he was reported by the experienced guy who later walked out. What did he do wrong to be reported? Everton were leading in a derby going into the final minutes when the other lot equalised. The young guy was reported for shouting an expletive in exasperation.

The report went on about how badly this reflected on the club as there were various outside people in the tunnel at the time: tv crew, a PL official and so on. It was taken “upstairs” and it seemed inevitable that I’d be told to sack him, but then I had a thought: at the end of matches a member of the senior management team often went down to the tunnel. I went to him and asked some questions. Yes he was standing in the tunnel when they equalised and yes he would be prepared to write down what he saw and heard.

To this man’s eternal credit he reported that he had heard no one shouting an expletive and in fact if anyone had done so it would have been him!

The guy who made the report was censured. Some time later when I simply wanted to move him he walked off. Some time after that I wrote in disgust to the now CEO that too many dodgy things were going on and I was resigning.

A while later ( I could look up all the exact dates) I was a guest of a friend at his table in one of the lounges. I had heard that the CEO had sanctioned the return of the steward who’d walked away and I’d heard he’d got his job back in the tunnel but that was nothing to do with me anymore. Anyway the word got out that I was in this lounge and next thing is this guy has been told to leave the tunnel and go to the lounge, where he spent the next hour standing against a wall near to our table smirking. Pathetic and worrying for my friend if I’d decided to rise to the bait.

In the last 24 hours I have learned from Simon and Gerard of the rotten inside of the administration, from Arsenal sources that Usmanov is a gangster, ex-con and former KGB man and that Wayne will not work with Duncan. Lets hope that we get some good news, at least for the short term.

Does anyone believe that in the world of football just about every significant person isn't fully aware of what Simon's post at #192 spells out?

It spells out that Kenwright once again tops Trump and Johnson for outrageous lies, told to us fans repeatedly. He treats us with contempt.

If "Q"s account (#192) has a grain of truth in it Kenwright deserves to run out of the club for his proud boast in early 2021 when he said, "One very famous football club said to me two or three days ago 'whenever we have a problem we say 'what would the Everton board do because they always get it right?'"

Deliberately or not he and his muppet boss are killing our club in plain sight.

Simon and Gerard, many thanks for the update. I suppose many organisations are run this way but it does seem that the mainstream media are, at last starting to look more closely at the goings-on at our club.
I listened to about half of "The Monday Night Club, on 5 live last night.
The usual tired crew of Sutton, Richards, some journo and Mark Chapman.
Sutton said he thought it was out of order that fans had asked Bill questions, as he was "an old man".
None of them knew anything in any depth about the club. Only that it was a bit of a shambles.
Basically they seem to think that Bill is doing his best because "that man loves Everton", that Moshiri has kindly pumped in £500 million, (which they all think has been spent.) They then got bored and didn't decide who was responsible for the poor recruitment, purchaes, contracts etc. Just reeled off a list of managers who had all failed.

These "journalists" are loath to criticise incase they get denied access or complaints are made against them. They are all feeding from the same trough.
Sacked managers sign non-disclosure agreements and are handsomely rewarded. So we only get these little tit-bits now and again.

You never see Big Nev on anything...I wonder why?

Thank you Simon and Gerard for your posts. I’m pretty sure the club monitors fan sites (they used to have one or two “moles” I’m sure some of you are familiar with, lol), so it’s brave of you to share your experiences! I also had it on good authority, the machinations from within, actually over many years and I’ve just seen him lie and lie and lie to the fanbase whom he treats with utter contempt ever since. He’s lied so much he can’t actually remember what he’s lied about. Retiring at 70 was one. He likes the limelight afforded him and won’t ever give it up willingly. Such is his delusion - narcissist, sociopath? - he actually believes he saved Everton. And such is the lack of interest from the national media, they go along with it. The local press are however, utterly deplorable in the way they have cosied up to the big actor - looking at you Prentice - and never once questioned him on anything. Sycophants. We need a reckoning at Goodison Park - it’s our club, not Bill’s - to show him up and chase him and his cohorts out of the place once and for all. It won’t be easy as many have tried and failed but It’s the only way. It’s either that or oblivion.

Don - you have beaten me to reminding about 'that quote' - it would be truly laughable were it not for the significant emotional investments we have made to Everton FC over our lifetimes and see the club being run into the ground.

Everton have become the joke of the Premier League and an absolute shambles. For the love of god, I can't believe Moshiri sitting in Monaco can't see this. If this board was running one of his companies, they would all be fired.

Moshiri – open your fucken eye's before it's too late!!

From what Simon and Gerard have posted above it looks to me that an outsider has to come in and sort the lot of them out.

My perspective is that Farhad Moshiri needs to appoint someone in a completely autonomous role purely to look after the football side of the business while the “outsider” sorts the rest of them out.

Simon, Gerard, just to add to your experiences - this from a good friend of mine who in turn had a good friend who left the employ of EFC:

I think there's something really rotten going on all through Everton. I had a friend get a job there safeguarding the Young'ns. X found loads of dodgy goings on. When X tried to challenge it for the kids sakes X was bullied out. X said the atmosphere there was horrific, bullying rife top to bottom. X feels the need for organisational change top to bottom

All adds to the cancer that’s rotting at the club 😡

No doubt Kenwright rejects boardroom changes because any changes surely means he'd be out on his ear. It's well overdue.

We all know this muppet lives in his own, strange, fantasy world so no doubt he'll be congratulating himself on the job he's doing.

His determination to cling on is helping to destroy our club. He will drag us down with him before he relinquishes his position of power. The man needs to be forced out before he does any more damage.

No doubt we won't get any help off the media who sickeningly continue to kiss his arse rather than call him out.

"Those who target manager after manager are shooting at the wrong target".

Yeah, Lets just exonerate the managers. Apportion no blame to them for squandering 700m on the never ending stream of duds they have signed...Lets just happy clap the Zombie football they have served up...Lets pretend two wrongs make a right.

These managers have squandered fortunes the size of which managers of "well run clubs" all around the world can only dream of. Theirs is not to reason why, Theirs is to assemble the team they are being paid handsomely to assemble. But fuck it. They are blameless...They're the victims here. Victims of those orrible fuckers in the stands who expect them to do a little of what they have been so richly rewarded to do.

All we have to do is get in another DOF and hope he has the balls to stand up to a fat old thespian who has held a bus pass for 16 years...Gone well so far hasnt it ?
If Moshiri cant find the guy with the silver bullet. He has to shoot the werewolf himself. Kenwright simply has to be gone. Evertonians will continue to tear their own and each others hair out until he is.

Brians account is disturbing. Every bit as bad as we feared. but our problems are not ALL behind the scenes. Despite the creepy goings on he talks about. The managers have been given the tools to get their side of things right. They've failed. We've been a complete shambles on the pitch too. Those responsible should not be exonerated of the shite we have had to endure.
If these fucking Charlatans did their job, we'd have long since been playing decent football at the right end of the table...Despite everything

I don't think anyone is suggesting the managers are beyond criticism or blame Darren, for what has happened on the pitch. Any of them.

I'm just beyond using the manager position as the root cause. The root cause is elsewhere. Provided the tools? I'd say in recent years provided the money. But the tools would be a well structured club and well oiled machine behind them, not just a bag of cash, which from what rumours suggest, wasn't all theirs to decide on how to spend anyway as others wanted to go shopping with it too.

Darren, you are half right, sort of almost all right but the search for the magic bullet has in fact stuffed us up royally on the pitch. Every manager who has come in looks at the squad and decides who he needs to play the way he wants. Trouble is he doesn't get the 4 or 5 players he needs, he gets two plus two he didn't want.
5 Managers down the track and you have a right mixed bag of a squad, some not good enough, some past it, some good, some just bloody awful. With each manager in line the problem grows as more players are added.
Finally, end of line. 15 players, half not good enough, playing out of position, gaps and shortage of the right players in the right positions.
We cannot afford to start again, we cannot afford not too. We have no time, we have no money.
So in short the problems have been caused by incompetent recruitment of managers and players by the owner and Kenwright. You can blame each manager but frankly this is a corporate fuck up of incompetence from owner and Chairman resulting in the passing of poison chalice from one manager to the other. With each hand off the potency is worse, the life expectancy is shorter.
This snowball of incompetence has left us with shortages of key players and in key positions and managers trying to impose a new regime on players who don't know if they are in the team one match after another, or asking the question, "Where am I playing this week?'
As we head into the next match, our third manager of the season will have taken the money and drank from the chalice. The chances of finding a silver bullet to sort this out is remote, but the best a new manager can do is shore up the midfield and stop the goals going in. After 3 games he will have to stick with a team and make it work. Something other managers have either given up of or not been allowed to do.

Dazza owd lad, you're still barking up the wrong tree (like thick dogs do) in lambasting mere managers under the employ of a club 95% run, allegedly, by the guy you in effect eulogise for employing vast numbers of ex-players at Finch Farm, whilst lambasting him above as I have, without relent, for years.

Make yer mind up, or continue to present yourself as the site's chief buffoon.

Answer my many times asked question of you Dazza: Why do you denigrate like I do the calamity that is Kenwright to our club... yet you eulogise all of the ex-players he's personally appointed to coaching at Finch Farm?

Much better articulated than I could Christine.

I suspect we'll be on another search in the summer.

But the more than ever glaring problems will still be there as yet another fall guy is lined up to take one for the board. Our managers are like a close protection squad.

I get the football thing but what happens on the pitch is directly linked to the goings on behind the scenes.

Our managers and coaching staff are becoming akin to Soviet Russia's use of Eastern European states as a buffer zone to protect them. The worrying thing is it took the best part of half a century for that regime and it's puppets to fall. I guess on that basis, we're half way there.

Sorry for going deep so early in the morning. Up earlier than usual with the dogs today. Or they were with me depending on how you look at it.

Thank you Danny, as you get older you sleep less!
I should have patented that expression, "The snowball of incompetence" keeps rolling on, getting bigger as we speed downhill... sort of makes sense really..
So, we need to be led better by a Chairman without a vested interest.
We need a professional CEO with clear objectives to run the business.
We need a DoF who is allowed to do his job.
We need an owner who has the confidence in his Chairman, CEO and DoF to act in a manner that he does not have to!

Its a simple solution. Get a professional team in to reorganise the club. Remove the current board.
Review all management positions in the business.
Let a new team set up the structures that safeguard the owners investment, the fans expectations and enable a manager to construct a team worthy of our standing.
Couldn't be simpler really..
So why hasn't Moshiri done it?

Christine, a fine post. "...in short the problems have been caused by incompetent recruitment of managers and players by the owner and Kenwright. You can blame each manager but frankly this is a corporate fuck up of incompetence from owner and Chairman".

And this on manager recruitment "We cannot afford to start again, we cannot afford not to." That's our nightmare paradox at the moment.

Wonder when the investigation into financial irregularities will start. They surely must with this agent involved. Just read the history.

Barry [198 ] Thanks for the link, and yes, the story of Munich 1860 could well be the precursor, or similar pattern of affairs, for a potential demise of Everton.

Regarding the names, well you don't need to change one; Kia Joorabchian, 2015/16 facilitating four transfers that proved, well, here is a cut and paste from the article (Does this sound familiar to anyone?) But yes, dodgy self made billionaire, rough-riding the country's ownership operating rules, and a team that was stable, and on the up, being relegated, and more-or-less being made insolvent. Oh, and a shady, unlicensed 'super-agent'.

From Barry's link;

""After narrowly escaping relegation in the 2015/16 season, Ismaik spent about €10 million signing new players in the summer transfer window – at times against the will of CEO Thomas Eichin – when he bought Brazilian striker Ribamar for €2.5 million and signed Portuguese winger Victor Andrade on loan. Those transfers were arranged by Ismaik’s confidant, Kia Joorabchian, an Iranian agent infamous for his shady business dealings. Ismaik boasted that the club would now push for promotion. The euphoria, however, quickly faded as every single one of the new signings flopped, and it swiftly became apparent that the squad was helplessly imbalanced.""

Downfall!

Danny [199] I wholeheartedly agree with your post, and I love the analogy to Orwell's 'Animal Farm', though I feel that has been the case since Farmer Johnson was ousted by Napoleon Kenwright!

Alas, unfortunately, I can tell you that the veracity of the post is complete; sadly.

Ged [205 & 209] Thanks for the posts, they make even more sobering reading regarding the club unfortunately. It's also good have a second voice in the TW 'echo chamber' that has persuaded me even more into believing in Q's comments and views on the club during the said conversation above [see 192]

Like Brent, Danny and Andy said [206-208] please get that article written and posted. Please, please, pretty please. :D

By the way Ged, I've been contacted regards being allowed to divulge any more information from Q, or should that be 'Deep throat' now? hehe; which I am seeking their permission to do so. If you're interested please could you contact Lyndon, and allow him to forward your email address to me please, or I could provide mine to you?

I only ask this, because your repeated mentioning of our current CEO, DBB, also was a 'topic' which kept coming up during the lunch.

'Allegedy', DBB currently is like a 'cornered rat' (Not my words), and as such, fights as dirty as they do. 'Allegedly'.

Simon and Ged,

I truly hope there is more information - much more information - to come, because it is only the truth that can set anyone free. And that even applies to hugely dysfunctional organisations such as EFC.

That said, there is very sadly often a cost for doing the right thing. It may well not be possible or advisable to reveal further revelations at this time. The amount of insight gained by Evertonians from both of you gentlemen information cannot be overstated; but I feel I speak for many of us here when I urge you to consider the possible ramifications of pushing the envelope further.
In such a scenario, I would feel quite guilty should someone end up losing their job or similar for what amounts, in some ways, to revealing how the magician is performing his tricks.

It may well be that too much information has already been revealed. "Cornered rats" "couldn't organize an orgy in a brothel" - both distinct turns of phrase you've used, and if they are indeed Qs own words may have already inadvertently revealed their identity to those in the know.

Thanks for pulling the curtain back this far, and if it can safely go further then we should welcome that. But I do urge caution in the course of doing so.

To be honest, the club seems such a shit show from the owner (or above?) down through the Board & on to the succession of hapless managers employed & then sacked, I doubt that there is "the right man" out there. Whoever, takes on the challenge will be doing so with one hand tied behind their back, it seems to me.

We may survive to fight another day, but I'd rather hoped that all these years since he took over the club, Moshiri would have actually moved the club forward rather than backwards. I foolishly dreamt of competing for European places rather than battling for survival.

It'll be rather sad if the club's next piece of silverware arrives as & when they achieve promotion. If that proves to be the case, let's at least hope it's promotion back into the top flight!

Darren,

I am by no means a happy clapper; frankly, I think I am painted as the exact opposite by some on this sight, but what I try to do is step back and view the whole picture as we have at that moment of time.

As I said in my reply to your post, mistakes have been compounded at every turn, bad managers selection and with each bringing their own version of player recruitment.

For one I was pleased to see Ancelotti, James and Allen because they were light years ahead of the dross bought by Koeman or Kenwright, or Moshiri, whoever. I was disappointed to see him go, truely was because it condemned us to Benitez.

So yes, Darren, you can be amused but I'm not, I am sad not one manager has got a team together on a consistent basis, annoyed that Kenwright still runs the club but Moshiri feels he cannot keep his fingers out of the pie.

In short, I am fed up with the entire bloody mess that sits not at the door of the players but the management of this club – and looks like being, once again, another stuff up.

The sacking of Brands has put the whole mess into broad daylight. Bill still has his train set, and Moshiri is keen to keep influence by ‘owning' the manager. I think the latter is why Duncan is simply never considered… because, if Moshiri allowed it, then Bill would have end to end control.

What the fuck Brands actually did, I'm not sure, but I suspect it was act as a referee between the two camps, and deal with scouting (the latter in competition with Moshiri's ‘special advisor' and Bill's old boys network). The man had an impossible job.

For me, Moshiri has two choices:

1) Sideline Bill and Denise into ‘honorary' and ‘community' roles respectively, hire a top class commercial CEO, hire a top class real Director of Football, then leave them to it.

2) Back Bill and let him appoint Ferguson (or whoever he wants) and all the ex-Everton players into key roles. Support the commercial side outside of Bill with the right board appointments there.

I don't think there is any other way. Not unless he fancies moving from Monaco and being a hands on CEO himself.

It's this Schizo (no offence meant) approach that is breaking us. This is what needs fixing yesterday. More important than a manger, and only slightly less important than a need for midfield addition before Monday.

Christine, a balanced post, as ever. Both Bill and Moshiri are culpable in the whole mess.

Arguably, the whole mess is Moshiri's – as he allows Bill the freedom that he has.

Thanks, Derek, 230.

I'm more concerned for Q than myself as I no longer work at Everton. Also I can evidence everything I've written and to the best of my knowledge I've never been particularly rude, unless you count honest, straight talking as rude.

Simon, 229, will do.

I think the incompetent recruitment of managers is labelled at what has happened at Everton over a long period of time, not individual short lived recent stints Darren. Glimmers of hope by an appointment, very brief success but mainly near misses and failure. That's mostly been Everton and managers throughout my lifetime.

For every Duncan Ferguson advocate their's a cynic. Similarly with Ancelotti or whoever. Why are we still talking about him anyway, he's gone and possibly going to add another title to his CV. At least Ferguson is at Everton. If we're talking recent and post Moyes, I only advocated Ancelotti. I support (happy clapped) the others, but I didn't want them in the first place. I still shudder at the thought of Allardyce in our dugout.

I find the happy clapper label is amusing because it can be applied both ways; to any supporter favouring a certain manager that another supporter doesn't and vice versa.

I was excited at the prospect of Ancelotti at Everton. It didn't work out. He's not alone in that long list of aborted attempts to take off.

To repeat my tired point; I'm past looking at the managerial position as being the main problem at Everton. Part of it if you don't get it right? Of course. But it goes beyond that.

Only one occasion Darren. Ancellotti.

That was it for me in terms of wanting and to be honest it caught off guard as I didn't expect it.

The rest were all a big no thank you for me apart from Joe Royle and second Howard Kendall (sentiment kicked in).

I was even nervous about Colin Harvey, but I think I was still in mourning about Howard Kendall departing for Bilbao.