A New Everton

My concern about all of this is the overall strategy at Everton. I still don't believe there is one in place apart from "get to the new stadium".

When Moshiri came in, he obviously had the impression that throwing money at the wall will work, which it didn't.

Afterwards, I actually felt in safe hands when Brands and Silva were in charge. The idea of buying young players with big resale value in the long term would have kept us in a financially stable place. For whatever reason, we abandoned that at some point and have never looked back at it.

The big worry was as Ancelotti left. The second P&S was announced to be a problem, I feel like our plan has been short term and each year makes it more difficult to change. Gone are smart investments for the future and our on-the-field plan Has literally been Premier League experienced players regardless of age or even sometimes ability.

We're now in a position where buying young promising players is going to be hard because we now have other teams in the league (Brentford, Brighton etc) who have that idea and are more attractive.

My big concern is Moshiri isn't interested and it's been clear for a long time he's not invested. He's never been a big communicator (one of our biggest flaws) but I honestly remember about three interviews in the last four years, two of which came out on TalkSport and the other saying we'll get a striker which we know how that ended.

He's been to a handful of games in the last 3 or 4 years and whilst in his early days he was accused of getting too involved, the question I pose is who actually runs our club? Who makes the decisions for the future regarding where the team is going? It certainly wasn't Brands and you could understand if an Everton fan asked "Who is Kevin Thelwell?" because the bloke is a ghost.

The same goes to all the off-field issues. We generate no money. That has shown no signs of change anytime soon. We clearly relied on a certain Oligarch and had no backup plan. Commercially we are non-existent. There are Championship clubs that, sky money aside, bring in more money than us.

Right now, we need leadership. Even if that was a club communicator who said "this is our plan for the next five years, sacrifices will be made for the long term". It still feels like panic stations and nobody is willing to take the accountability and make the tough choices needed on and off the pitch.

The shining light could very well be that MSP come in and revamp the club top to bottom. This summer, with all the stuff going on off the pitch, the club seem to have forgotten that, right here, right now, the team needs quality or we will be relegated. Then any plan is truly out the window.

This has been far from evident at the club both in an off-field and on-field capacity.

What concerns me is that ugly word ‘debt'. Managing the debt is going to be crucial. Moving to the new ground is without a doubt a game changer, but the challenge is to make it work financially for Everton's investment in the squad as well as returns for our investors.

This is a crucial summer indeed.

That is exactly the issue that he has no success in, and therefore he needs to be jettisoned. The Director of Football should be doing this.

However, with us, a constantly revolving door of the relevant people continues, whilst (in my view) an interfering buffoon makes the incorrect choices, but with no accountability.

The new regime is a hodge-podge of the old regime. Things are not going to change anytime soon. I am absolutely convinced that the present regime will continue as it always has done.

The single factor that will determine the coming season will be how Dyche manages the threadbare squad.

Especially during a de-facto Transfer Embargo being imposed due to the imminent incoming of a sizeable shareholder in MSP.

We now know how Walsh, Brands & Thelwell have been compromised by Moshiri & Liar Bill on everything from Players Recruitment to Club Infrastructure: we were able to attract quality professionals who can put together the right type of strategy for the club. They were never, however, allowed by Moshiri & Liar Bill to do what they are capable to do.

Moshiri wants out and the first offer he feels he can live with will see him gone... and sod those left behind.

We need a new Everton. A fresh and forward-looking Everton.

Be proud of our history and heritage. We should be and take it with us. Other clubs do so but look forward.

But don't live in the past. Everton never did. We were a forward-looking club. We had many firsts in terms of team, stadium and even down to the pitch.

But then we stood still. We lived in the past. That has to change and, to the theme of your article, we need a new Everton.

A new Everton that can embrace its history and heritage, but moves forward to compete.

That's all we want. Compete.

We have an opportunity to do this now. So grasp it.

I wouldn't call it last chance saloon. Those who know me know that I wouldn't ever accept that. But the runway is getting shorter and we need to apply the throttle and take off.

Realise your potential Everton. The term 'sleeping giant' is an often coined phrase. Being around the grounds and amongst the supporters these past seasons, a neutral really would have struggled to understand we were fighting relegation.

Forget sleeping giant status. We are a dormant volcano waiting to explode on a Vesuvius scale.

But that can only happen with a new Everton.

The abstract noun would be Liar-Bill-ity.

We all have visions of Everton being great again, but our more recent history tells a story of decline on the pitch, and of some serious financial issues off the pitch with a board that has a strained relationship with its fans (to say the least).

A new Everton would consist of stability on and off the pitch, with a great squad, a manager who has an aura about themselves, bringing enthusiasm and enjoyment to the players and the club and the the fans.

We only need look at Man City to realise the benchmark that we need to achieve to have any chance of being a ‘A New Everton'.

The "noisy neighbours" soon made their way to the top and had their voice heard.

Anything is possible. Believe.

Anyway, we do need a new Everton. But the idea of a new Everton as an Everton that wins things is a pipe dream.

The system is so concretely and obviously set up to protect a super league Top 6 that we won't be dining at that table for a long long time.

There are very few outliers in the league table versus wages stats in the Premier League era. Simply put, the rich are getting richer. It's almost Tory in its make up. You have to be a rich successful business to be allowed to spend more, ensuring you will keep pulling in huge revenues. If anyone else wants in, they will be punished.

It's sad but the likes of Brighton are the blueprint. UTFT

One of them is an interfering fool and the other is a divisive figure with a track record of also bungling interference in transfers and appointments.

Will the professionals be allowed to do their jobs?

We need players, so need funds available. The new investment is for the stadium. We shall soon see if the budget is zero or if they have any kind of war chest.

We had one idiot on the board who knows nothing about football, now we have two. Sharp has gone and not been replaced so there is no football knowledge whatsoever.

The problem is we have an Owner and Chairman who have different agendas.

The Owner is not a football person. He seems to have no clue or interest in the main product of the club, ie, football, rarely making an appearance at Goodison, leaving the day-to-day management of the club to his chosen Chairman.

I still can't get my head round why he would even consider owning a football club with his business background. His decision to leave the running of the club to his chosen Chairman and then staunchly supporting him despite his appalling record and steady decline of the club is one of the root causes of our problems.

As you quite rightly say, we need reformers, visionaries who are concerned with taking the club forward to the next level.What have we got? Dabblers! No structure, no coherent plans, sometimes even disagreeing on transfers and appointments in the club. A recipe for disaster! with no end in sight!

In this respect, Paul, your article is idealistic, a wish list for an ideal world, unless new investors come along with enough money to insist on a complete clean sweep at the top.

I'm afraid MSP are just not putting up enough money to do that, so we will be stuck with these two yo-yos at least until Moshiri can sell the new stadium and recoup some of his losses.

Bar the exception proving the rule, Leicester (what happened to them?), no club has been transformed into challengers by tinkering around the edges.

I'm always a bit dubious about 'change'. We hear it a lot, 'Oh you mustn't fear change, embrace it, it's coming anyway'.

'Change' it seems to me, as a concept, is meaningless. We need competence. We need Bill to go, and people with professional sports experience to pipe down the idiot in Monaco, and start to plan for next season the way all the other clubs are doing.

We already have a competent manager and some good players, we just need 3 more players, a bit of churn, and on we go.

There is no doubt in my mind that the crux of the problem is engendering cultural change – reputedly the most difficult process in driving up organizational development.

That said, I feel that in Dyche, we have the ideal manager at this point in time to keep a cool head, and hopefully he will be given the resources to bring about the improvements needed on the pitch.

Dyche and his coaching team had little or no time to "learn on their feet" last season. All I think we are entitled to expect –given the challenges you highlight – is a reasonable improvement, particularly in home results next season

Also, an overhaul of the fitness and conditioning regimes, as clearly until Dyche came on the scene, the players were not fit enough on match days, and this will have been reflected also in a higher rate of in-game injuries.

Change always brings two things; discomfort and opportunities.

The oligarch's mate has to admit he doesn't know how to sort this business out. Young Mr Grace has to admit that his culture, along with himself, is outdated and must be swapped for something fit for purpose in 2023.

This is an opportunity for both men to sit back and let others run the place properly and increase the value of their investment, shareholding and assets.

It's an opportunity for the staff to play their part in turning the club into a professional, effective business.

We found competence for the dugout almost by default. Now it's time to have that competence at the top and throughout the club.

I saw first-hand at Man City the daunting and exciting view some senior staff had of the Mansour takeover. Cosy, coasting City was about to be turned into a competent, demanding business.

We won't have City's budget, but the principles of competence are universal. It's all about the will required to install and maintain them.

Paul's best point is that standing still would be the ultimate betrayal of our history and values. It's a big test of what Moshiri and Kenwright really want, isn't it?

We have been tinkering around the edges for years mate, but the nepotistic poison is embedded deeply into the fabric and, unless it's removed, then we will be very lucky to avoid relegation a third time.

Possibly our new investors can insist or ask Moshiri to bin Kenwright… who knows? If so, maybe we have a chance to progress. If not, I doubt nothing much will change.

We have learned over the last 23 years that the totally selfish and incompetent Kenwright is only interested in himself, whilst Moshiri’s unbelievably stupid decision to retain him as Chairman, even if for only a few more weeks, leaves our club in a desperate state of limbo.

Unless MSP appointees join the board within days and start to implement change, the prospects for next season appear to be extremely dismal.

Their football portfolio is unimpressive and it is very disappointing that they seem unable to fund a much larger shareholding which would surely be required for them to take control.

Is their plan to eventually gain control and then sell out to a mega rich Middle Eastern buyer? Does Moshiri have the same thoughts?

In the meantime we are left with salvation delayed by every second Moshiri and Kenwright remain in position.

Have a listen to Paul the Esk's podcast with Roger Armstrong for some of the answers you seek, I realise that it's only one man's opinion but it does give us all a little hope as far as I'm concerned, even if it may take longer than we'd like.

results business Episode 3

Dave @35

We narrowly avoided relegation, we haven't got much wriggle room in the market place, what on earth are you expecting from this summer?

It seems to me one way of starting to restore confidence among everyone connected with the club would be a much earlier than usual publication of the accounts for the current financial year ending tomorrow. That’s assuming they show we have moved towards compliance with Profit and Sustainability rules. If we haven’t we really are in big trouble and not just with the 25th October independent commission hearing in mind.

You may find a lot of fans share your feeling but the dreaded "stop being negative" shout precludes their head popping above the parapet.

Arguably we are in the grimmest times in the club's history.

I might live another thirty years, I may be gone in the next thirty seconds, however, there's no point in worrying about it, therefore, despite the knowledge that the end will come at some point, I refuse to be pessimistic and hope to continue for as long as possible.

I apply the same attitude to Everton, it looks bad, it may get worse, but at long last, it looks as if there are some changes afoot, at least let's see how it goes before throwing in the towel, because if there's no hope at all, we may as well fold the club and find something else to occupy our time.

You're absolutely right about ownership / investment etc but I am confident that we will finish the transfer window with a better squad than we finished last season. In particular, I am sure we will have a decent striker to compete with DCL - we just will.

The key really is to hang on in there until we've moved into BMD. Unless there's big investment (unlikely) then we'll just have to run frugally for a few seasons - but crucially it doesn't stop us buying very good players.

Be patient, see what we look like when the window closes and support Dyche. That's all we can do.

"To call the optimists out for trying to see some positives because it flies in the face of most of the evidence doesn't really help does it?"

If they are wrong and Moshiri is making decisions based on apparent fan consensus from forums (positive or negative) then yes it does help.

I would suggest the revolving door policy of managers in and out is a direct result of listening to fans and it's nearly killed us.

Diverse opinion should not only be encouraged but pursued with vigour.

It's losing the new stadium or just being it's Tennant.

Immediately.

Seeing the emerging majestic new stadium this morning makes me wonder, “How” and “Why”, and I guess we will never know most of the facts.

But hope for Everton is eternal and for sure Everton is again on the precipice of disaster but the will of the Evertonians, as magnificent as they are, won't see the club break the shackles of failure and mediocrity as has been ground into the club for the last 30 odd years.

So the time for change, real decisive change is now.

I have no trust in the board but, based on the recent communication regards the stadium completion and opening schedule by the interim CEO, Colin Chong, that seemed genuine.

But the communications must be consistent and genuine henceforth. Time will show.

Everton could be on the cusp of a new beginning or what may be a mirage of great times but what could be a painful, lingering demise.

Faith and hope drives life every day but Everton takes its toll and tests the resolve of all Evertonians. Surely this opportunity to start fresh can't be missed and can provide genuine hope and deliverance – a word I've used many times on TW.

Praying and hoping Calvert-Lewin's treatment in Germany improves his fitness and at least 5 or 6 new players are brought into the squad.

So another excellent thread is evolving, and the billion-pound question: When will a new beginning really start for Everton Football Club?

I'll say it again, the new stadium is looking majestic and deserves a professional CEO, chairman, and board to take Everton on the journey from mediocrity to being genuine contenders in British and European Football.

This will take time and immense patience, but the time is now.

UTFTs!

If he does that, any chance we can buy Goodison and tell him to shove his new ground where the sun don't shine?

Even entering into Championship level players now they want £20mill plus. To have any meaningful budget to invest in the first team would require hundreds of millions to make that short term improvement with no guarantee that it would work.

We need to be looking at South American leagues etc for value, out-of-contract players and academy as, to compete, you don't need billionaires but trillionaires!

Everton owned their training ground but Chairman Bill sold it, deciding that it would be better “for himself” if the club paid extortionate fees instead.

“If” his Billionaire does the same regarding the new ground, then it's nothing that hasn't been done before with regards to saddling the club with a lot more debt for something they won't even own.

Everything is mere speculation but, until Kenwright and Moshiri leave, I don't think we will ever get what The Esk is asking for in his title.

But as long as our Chairman remains, I cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Our Chairman must have some serious dirt on Moshiri and Usmanov, when the other three board members resigned and the 48-hour later news that never arrived, I just knew Bill would put it in a way of "I will offer to resign, leaving no board members, and no doubt Moshiri will ask me to stay on."

I have said it many many times, nothing surprises me any more with our Chairman, absolute disgrace that the guy is still chairman of our football club.

As frustrating as this period is, especially with the urgency surrounding strengthening the squad, I'll stress as I have said in my podcasts that Kenwright's tenure as Chair is now very limited. A new Chair will be appointed when the MSP deal completes.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to get on the FAB, but to no avail.

Switzerland, Tranmere and Stoke it is before Fulham!

Keep up the good work.

I am still half-expecting a Life President or something that will keep Bill there, hope I am wrong.

I have never bought into the idea that Kenwright has enough dirt on Moshiri to ensure his retention as Chairman because he would surely incriminate himself by doing so.

In the unlikely but not impossible event of Moshiri making him Life President, we can gain some satisfaction in the knowledge that Kenwright can never ever attend another home match.

I have always said that to be successful you have to create the conditions in which people can be effective.

With divisive interfering egotistic individuals like Moshiri and Kenwright, I think this is impossible – especially given they are running the show from Monaco and London respectively.

We need a champion who will walk through the corridors of Goodison and Finch Farm and light the places up with good positive news and direction.

I am usually a positive person, but I see the MSP involvement like throwing a pebble in the ocean and, instead of Moshiri welcoming the involvement like a breath of fresh air, he is already putting up the protective barriers in the form of him and Kenwright on the board.

If this board is still in place at the end of the transfer window, I fear it will be another year of depression.

My question to Moshiri is: If Bill is such an expert in negotiations, why have our transfers been such a disaster over the last few years and why leave him as chairman if that is all he is doing?

What I'm worried about in the event us not owning the new stadium is what happened over 100 years ago.

The most famous of the disagreements concerns the level of increased rent Everton were asked to pay.

In 1889, Everton paid £100 to Houlding in rent which by the 1889–90 season had risen to £250. Everton had to pay for all works and stands.

The dispute escalated to a rent of £370 per year being demanded. In the complicated lead up to the split in the club, the rent dispute is too simplistic to be singled out as the prime cause.

What happens if whoever rents us the stadium holds us to ransom over-charges. Say a Mike Ashley takes us to the cleaners over rent then does a Coventry and kicks us out because he's got plans for turning a profit on the site.

Where do we go then? Build another stadium?

I can't see the people from MSP who end up on the board having any football knowledge either. They are businessmen who are only interested in making money. They will have some input to the financial side but not the playing side. I think their buying in is a disaster with Moshiri retaining the largest share. It was a complete takeover the club needed.

Have MSP improved the playing performance of any of the other teams they have bought into? I doubt it, looking at their league positions.

With the three other board members leaving, is there a possibility that Moshiri asked Bill to remain, so that Bill would deal with the October hearing instead of himself?

Or am I overthinking the reasoning and it's just a simple changeover, once the MSP deal had been finalised.

I would have imagined that the case for the defense is already in the hands of the lawyers who will deal with the matter.

I can't imagine Kenwright subjecting himself to any interrogation. At least I hope not.

As soon as I saw Moshiri was joining the board and keeping Kenwright on, I thought to myself he is not gonna give MSP any control of the club.

Let's hope I'm wrong.

It does concern me that the club will have no one with first-hand knowledge of previous discussions with the Premier League giving evidence in front of the independent commission.

A defence along the lines of ‘nothing to do with us… it was all the fault of our predecessors' is unlikely to cut it.

McNeil improved when Dyche came in somewhat. I assume he brought Vinagre in as he knew him from Wolves. That went well!! He must have approved the Maupay signing. He'd better improve this summer or we'll be in the Championship.

I don't think MSP have any football knowledge, they are financial people.

There can only be a new Everton with the removal of the obvious.

Meanwhile, think about Switzerland, Tranmere, Wigan, Stoke and Sporting.

Then Fulham and Villa away.

And now 5 weeks to go before the season starts, still waiting for new investment with no information of what influence they will make or be allowed to make. Very little signs of any comings or goings, only lazy journalists with rumours. Premier League is a very demanding league that does not wait around for clubs to make their minds up.

Momentum started when old board members left. No time to wait, to decide what to do… a plan should already be in place. Get it done before the window closes.

Overall, I would count Tarkowski, Coady, Gana, Garner and McNeil as successes. We may well end up making a substantial profit on Onana, a player with clear potential but currently lacking maturity. Vinagre did not work out but that was a low-risk loan deal on relatively low wages. As for Maupay, we had £15M left to spend on a striker and it was case of Maupay or nobody.

In any window, any club is doing well if half of the signings work out. After our profligacy of earlier years, Thelwell finds himself operating in the bargain basement end of the market at a club selling and buying under acute financial and footballing pressure.

It is a difficult balancing act. Some of Thelwell's signings last summer were to address the here and now, Gueye and Tarkowski being the two obvious examples. Others like Garner and McNeil were with a view to improving the squad in the longer term.

Of course the recruitment of goal scorers is now the glaringly obvious area for improvement. Thelwell's performance in this window will rightly be judged on that aspect.

If MSP doesn't get a board seat, Moshiri gets no money from them. Bank on that.

Tarkowski was a mixture of good and bad for me while Coady lost his place and the option to buy has not been taken up.

Gana's possession football was good but his tackling rate has gone down and he is not creative and will never score. Garner still has to improve for me to rate him Premier League standard.

Did you know Tarkowski blocked 78 shots in Premier League play last season? And that nobody else in the Premier League blocked more than 42? And that he was second in the league in clearances?

And did you know that Gana was third in the league in tackles? Not to mention second in the league in interceptions?

Wow, some people sure are hard to satisfy.
(Garner not Premier League standard????)

I presume you mean the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock?

What makes you think it is overly expensive?

How much do you think it should cost?

Or what are you comparing the value to?

I wasn't suggesting MSP won't get a seat on the board, in fact, popular opinion seems to be they will get two.

My inference was that Moshiri, in appointing himself, Billy Liar and 3 others to the board, would get the majority vote on any proposal and therefore controls the board.

Set your alarm clock for Friday 1 September, 3pm. That's when Chairman Bill plugs his cable into the switchboard to man the phones, and the magic starts to happen.

The world's greatest transfer negotiator is primed and ready for action.

Tarkowski was a rock. I thought he forged a decent partnership with Coady early on, but the latter faded. Tarkowski made mistakes, but who wouldn't in a struggling team as the last line? Who doesn't in football? Often, he was having to do a lot on his own. His sense of danger and awareness is polar opposite to Michael Keane. I'd be interested to see Branthwaite line up alongside Tarkowski.

But word of warning. As well as what I've said, expect mistakes and don't crucify him. At 21 years old, he is very young for a centre-back. You won't see the best out of a centre-back until they are 28, dare I say 30 and beyond.

Gueye covers so much ground and although not spectacular, he makes so many crucial tackles and interceptions. Another one who, with the young, raw and still developing Onana next to him, had to do a lot on his own. Often too much.

Garner is comfortable on the ball and always looking for the forward pass. Another young player with potential.

Despite the initial criticism, McNeil blossomed and became a very important player for us. Very strong in the run in. Another young player.

There is enough there for us to build on. Let's see what happens after 30 June now that has passed.

Moshiri has conceded privately at least that the stadium project has become "too expensive for a club of Everton's size".

Obviously we are committed and have to find the resources to complete but his comments relate to 3 points:

1. We haven't progressed as a football club, in fact regressed. Not having European football and finishing lower in the league than budgeted for has a huge financial impact.

2. Construction costs are significantly higher than originally anticipated.

3. The cost of financing has gone through the roof.

We are paying 12% on the Rights & Media Funding loan.
If we are fully utilising our £200M facility then that's £67k a day in interest charges alone!

The indications are change will come now probably with ownership structure but it will take time — certainly longer than the 6 weeks we have to assemble some sort of squad to survive next season.

Not convinced the moves made so far are no more than to just shut us up as fans and the death spiral of the last two seasons will continue. Immediate attention needed on the pitch and this is judgement time for Thelwell after the failure of the last transfer window.

Moshiri is an accountant who interferes in football matters.
You've just described problems of his own poor decision-making.

I have had it on what I consider very good authority, that there is at least one other interested party who want to buy Everton Football Club, outright.

My information might not be correct but, when you give us an idea of what Everton could be losing every single day, it does make me wonder why Farhad Moshiri doesn't just want to cut his losses and get away, especially because with him being a friend of Usmanov, he's probably getting looked at a lot closer now?

Jay H, I also get the feeling that something's wrong, or something is not quite right, so hopefully the people with a lot more faith end up being correct.

To think that we will also need to finance player purchases and wages, it makes me wonder how we can increase our revenue enough to make it possible?

Forget P&S. As I think Paul is suggesting, our immediate problem is cash. We don't have any money to invest in players even if we could within P&S, it all has to go to the stadium, including the much higher financing costs we face.

But give it, say, 3 years and we might be a club with a new stadium (assuming we're not renting it from a separate entity) and a zero or even a positive on the P&S calculation. Imagine what that might make us worth to an eager sports washer. We just have to stay in the Premier League with no resources (hello, Mr Dyche).

Somewhere among them may lie some of the answers but in a nutshell it all comes down to money.

Without big investment from the Middle East or the USA, it would appear little is going to change at Goodison.

They must have spent big money when bringing in the likes of Koeman and Ancellotti and sadly it was just wasted.

Without the quality on the field, no manager, no matter how big a name, can hope to succeed.

Yes, sometimes miracles can happen (Leicester) but look at them now.

Dyche has the experience with an unfashionable club and laid the foundation for their jump back into the Premier League but I have my doubts that Kompany will be able to keep them there.

I feel that Dyche can do the job to make Everton more competitive but he will need support from the top and it will take time.

Mark #85 yes it's much more a cashflow situation assuming we've not got some arrangement with the Premier League currently.

On last week's podcast, you seemed pretty confident that we'd have to make a fairly large sale before yesterday.

Do you think things might be (slightly) better than hoped – or that the sale will still be made with the paperwork backdated to 30 June?

Personally I think he should've retired a few years ago if only for his own health and sanity.

#89 Derek, given the imprecise manner in which BK speaks I'd have thought we wouldn't want him anywhere near the commission!

£200M x 12% = £1,666,666.67 / 365 = £45662 per day.

Or is there something else?

Mind you £45k per day is still a lot!

I think you need a new calculator.

£200 million x 12% = £24 million per annum = £65.7k per day.

I'm not a great believer in stats, trust my eyes more. The stat I do believe is 4th from bottom.

That tells us how good the team was.

I watched Branthwaite for the Under-21s team against Germany. He looked very ordinary to me. Never tried anything skilful.

Once he tried to take a man on and lost possession. Every time he received a pass in his own half, his time on the ball was round two seconds before giving the ball a sideways tap to the nearest team mate.

Once he made a block on a shot at goal; apart from that, nothing. He looked very average against a poor Germany side. I am sure he will improve but he is nowhere near a young Stones. I would worry him being in the first team regularly.

Yes it does, but it doesn't necessarily tell you how good some of the individual players were.

Those stats don't tell you how close he was to the player when making blocks and too often he seems to have backed off nearer to the goal line than actually marking somebody, especially when it seems he should have been marking the player whose effort he has blocked.

This is not to say that he is a bad player but I prefer my main central defender to be challenging for the ball in our penalty area and most goalkeepers prefer defenders don't back on to them.

I agree with the sentiment, we need to be careful with the expectation. At 21, very young for a centre-back and still a lot of development to do. I wouldn't compare him to John Stones. He was a talented football, which is why Pep now uses him in a defensive midfield role. A classic sweeper. No two players are the same, although I did draw comparisons between John Stones and Alan Hansen at the time.

We need to be patient with the other young players. McNeil was almost "Life of Brian" crucified within weeks of arriving only to go on to be one of our most important players.

Paul, your always detailed analysis on cashflow is quite stark and realistic. Worrying. Someone, maybe more are going to move on and allow room for manoeuvre for the manager to bring in who he wants? It would appear the only way we can do trade.

We do need to build on the defence. I think we are covered at full-back (providing Patterson stops being like a Bryan Robson Airfix model and breaking) and Seamus will Highlander-like play forever.

But we have lost Mina and Coady. It looks like we are shipping Holgate out on loan. Keane continuously worries me and won't improve. Branthwaite is young and developing.

It kind of leaves Tarkowski as last man standing. The forlorn hope.

Eventful season ahead. I can't wait.

I did expect players to be sold by now and can only put it down to being a buyer's market as far as Everton is concerned. We have had the usual PR leaks. but no-one appears to have taken the bait. I think the possible loan of the Dutch Striker has some truth, since Everton tend to hope for second chances in the transfer market window.

On the figures that Paul has provided, it is inevitable that something will give. Insubstainable cost of borrowing and losses do end things. Though it will seem to take forever to manifest.

Everton, like all businesses in such a situation, are always up for sale. I would not put it past Kenwright being in the mix. As for the independent commission, given that most Premier League clubs have issues, I don't think that what is written on the tin will happen. It has already been pushed out of sight

I still think that Everton are going to be very dependent on Dyche getting performances out of a threadbare squad, which will be worse than last season. The only hope is that he has a season, not part of a season, to get through.

1. Agreed, if we had achieved better league placings there would have been more money available.

2. On a fixed price contract the contractor takes the risk of construction cost price rises unless there is an inflationary clause in the Contract or the client makes changes.

3. You would have thought with Moshiri's background that he could get better deals than Chairman Bill's Wonga loan?

They will have built in flexibilities in the contract for inflationary factors. Each phase costed on a rolling material acquisition timeline.

There's no quotes from anyone directly involved in the process and most of the 'news' is littered with "the Echo understands" etc. I would imagine that Bill and Co will see the club through this summer transfer window and then we may get news of some changes… or will we?

The paragraph that Moshiri needs to read is:

"We need reformers, we need visionaries, we need credible, experienced, worldly business people who not only can recover this business but set it on a new path, a path to success"

This is the key to moving the club forward. I've said many times a top class Ceo may not be cheap, but it should be seen as just as important as a good player and we have seen what we've wasted on poor players.

The money we've had and wasted has left us in a position that we've not faced before it's a critical time for us. Some people under-estimate our predicament Paul spells it out...

Yes, we've had relegation battles but this is bigger if we don't get these appointments right it's going to affect us for years we will struggle to ever compete as we will be cleaning up Moshiri's mess forever.

We now have their old manager and a clique of his old players with more to arrive soon.

Always remembering that the likes of Tommy Lawton, Martin Dobson and Trevor Stevens honed their skills at Turf Moor, their recent brood hardly get the pulse racing – even if they are back in the top league!

What is becoming clear is that losing access to his master's riches has reduced Moshiri to the begging bowl and only the sale of the likes of Pickford and Onana will provide the funds to drag the Blues out of the knacker's yard.

Burnley, you have a new rival for 17th spot!

And remember, as a Design and Build contract, a good part of the fixed price is the engineering and procurement of specialist items, such items being long-lead and ordered very early on in the engineering phase.

It would be very unusual for your 'flexibilities' to be billed to a client in the way you describe but it would be a contractor's internal procurement practice.

It was Moshiri who said that the costs have increased by 50%.

Large complex projects are often split into phases to control those tight margins.

I don't beleive costs have increased 50% on a fixed price contract. They will only increase if the client makes changes.

When did Moshiri say that?

So he's expecting the stadium to cost £1 Billion in total???

A few carefully buys in this window, may get us a mid-table finish. I can't see us being third time lucky in the relegation stakes again.

A stadium is a fairly complex project especially one on an infilled dock with the various planning/heritage constraints.

* not pure construction as it's design and build so probably 20 to 25% of that is engineering.

Filling a hole with sand (dock infill) is not really complex. True, the preservation of the minor existing heritage components may be specialist, but building a stadium is surely not that difficult.

The project cost is essentially the stadium cost.

Yes, that includes the dock fill and preservation elements as they were all essentials not separate leveraged enablers nor ancillary developments. So they're all part of the bill to be funded by the owner/club.

According to him, that bill has risen from £500M to £760M.

According to LOR the stadium contract is £500 million and that's a fixed price. I can't see that having increased by 50%. It would only change if Moshiri added extras or changed specs.

That said; a Premier League club with (IMO) great potential and a brand new ground, might be seen in some circles as a bit of a bargai: 100k(?) shares @ £5000(?) + £750M = £1.25Billion.

What I think we don't need is the club and the new stadium as separate entities, but that mght be out of our hands.

I get the feeling though, as soon as Moshiri gets his hands on a figure he can live with, Club and Ground together or separate, he'll be off and it's devil take the hindmost.

This is the only reason I can see why Moshiri is holding on even if it means that he's got to have Kenwright's fingernails clinging to the window ledges. I hope I'm wrong.

Yes it includes planning, architect fees and project management, but they are quite small proportions compared to construction costs. The point I was making is that this is not part of a much bigger scheme. There is is no retail/commercial/residential enabling element to increase the overall project costs. This is just the stadium with the heritage/preservation element.

LOR do not control material costs and much of material acquisition was contracted out, operating more on a manufacturing type just-in-time basis. They would never have been able to take the hit for what has been a very inflated market, margins are far too tight in construction.

I said pretty much said the same at the time. Owners have often hyped stadium values by conflating whole project and stadium construction costs. They did it with Destination Kirkby, and Spurs have done it since. Of course, it is more difficult to do when there is only the stadium to show for it. However, material costs and inflation generally have rocketed since the start of this project, so I would be surprised if there wasn't some increase. That said, I always thought the original costs were hyped too (compared to similar stadium projects elsewhere) so who knows what the actual costs are at this point? I assume someone is keeping tabs.

As regards increased club value when completed... that is the hope, though quite speculative. Not sure that £1.25bn correlates with having to potentially sell one quarter of the club for £150m just to get to completion but maybe that's the type of step-change a completed project can make. It has to be!

So for LOR's £500 million Design and Build contract maybe £50 million is in-house design fees. We know £100 million was enabling works so that leaves £350 million "construction" cost. And remember that's including construction plant and procurement costs and internal project management costs.

So the actual Construction cost of materials and labour is even less. So increases in materials cost is not 50% of £500 million. Back in my day it was a 60/40 split materials to labour for construction but I've been out of that part of the game for a while now.

In your last para "much of material acquisition was contracted out" do you mean by LOR or by EFC?

If by LOR it's part of their fixed price contract. If by EFC and material supply is not part of LOR's contract then that's a completely different ball game.

In your reply to Derek you say "Owners have often hyped stadium values by conflating whole project and stadium construction costs." And that is the basis of my thinking that £750 million is whole project costs and £500 million is stadium costs.

I'm also a few years out of construction/structural engineering, but I don't remember architectural design/engineering/PM accounting for 20-25% of major project costs (anything over £20m). and this generally only decreased in percentage terms with size of the project. So I'd be surprised if they're higher than 10% for this.

Essentially, the stadium is the entire project there are no ancillary developments that are being paid for by others that can be added on. No retail, residential or commercial so what would account for the other £250m (if that's genuine)? Material, labour and logistical costs have risen since the start. Material inflation peaked at 26% in 2021 and almost 15% last year. No construction company would be expected to absorb that which is why fixed contracts usually exclude or factor-in inflation.

Maybe civil / structural engineeeing fees are lower but when I was in that part of the game it was as a subbie and main contractor so didn't get involved in the engineering side. Costs did go up though 'cos of claims for poor engineering.

The other project costs besides the stadium are the land acquisition, engineering fees for concept design, statutory fees, PMC fees, owners testing costs, financing fees (which at 12% won't be insignificant). These add up. PMC fees are usually on a body shop basis and are loaded, and if the contractor has to do overtime to maintain the schedule!!

As we don't see the contract, which I assume is FIDIC Yellow Book we won't know if there's inflation clauses in it. It's not unheard of, in FIDIC Red Book for example, but not usually in a turnkey project. The contractor takes the risk which is why the £500 million seems such a high price in the first place.

We'll have to wait and see but I don't think Moshiri is low-balling his investment by only stating stadium cost and not whole project cost.