Everton's New Manager Must Learn From Ronald Koeman's Failed Partnership With Steve Walsh

The Everton board may need the message simplified .

I cud do dat, gizz a job, mate.

In this case he picks the rather arbitrary age of 23. Who does this catch in that bracket at Everton?

Beni Baningime (19)
Tom Davies (19)
Ademola Lookman (20)
Nikola Vlasic (20)
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (20)
Jonjoe Kenny (20)
Mason Holgate (21)
Sandro Ramírez (22)
Shani Tarashaj (22)
Jordan Pickford (23)
Ross Barkley (23)

How many of those players are to blame for the current predicament? They are arguably the better performers this season.

The issue is mainly due to the ageing defence and the players in the 'prime bracket', Schneiderlin, Keane, Klaassen, Gueye, Martina, Sigurdsson and Mirallas all underperforming.

What about all the young players at Spurs? Dele Alli is what 19? Harry Kane has just turned 24, in fact our former striker who everyone is saying the loss of is the basis for our woes is what 24?

Again, the issue is the majority of the defence are over the hill. Not one or two players but 3/4s of the defence past their prime, the other first choice member of defence, Coleman, is injured as well as Funes Mori.

I'm not sure Kenwright is 100% behind him, otherwise we would still be courting or have Allardyce and Shakespeare in by now.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not defending Koeman at all. In fact, most who know me will know I was against his appointment in the first place primarily because, unlike Moshiri and his advisers, I had looked at Koeman's overall managerial record since his Ajax days and was terrified at the prospect of that man doing to us what he did to the likes of Valencia and AZ Alkmar. They call it due diligence Mr. Moshiri, something you appear to have ignored in Koeman's case.

Anyway, back to Walsh. Whatever he thought /thinks his remit was/is, surely his absolute priority has to be finding players that will fit the manager's needs, as the man responsible for the everyday running of the football team. It surely is NOT a job that allows Walsh to put his personal thoughts on recruitment for the future ahead of the current needs of the playing staff. In this important respect I feel Walsh completely and utterly failed in what should have been his primary role during the summer. He knew as well as everyone that our biggest need was for a centre forward and what did he do about it? Unless we're all missing something, he spectacularly failed to deliver on that front.

Koeman wanted and continually asked for a left sided defender, and who did Walsh find? Nobody of course. Seems Walsh is unable or unwilling to look at players over the age of 23 or thereabouts.

So why is Walsh still in a job? What has he brought to the club that has helped us in terms of the first team since his arrival?

Just who is his guardian angel? What makes him more important and productive than Koeman? As far as I can see, he's just another waste of a job title, and another expensive and unnecessary failure.

What's the indisputable facts about Walsh?

1. Koeman requested a Director of Football... why? We now all know he went home at 4:00 pm every day and wanted to pass on the more tedious aspects of the manager's job. He wanted to oversee coaching and pick the side. He never watched the teams, rarely scouted anyone, and didn't participate in transfer negotiations.

2. Koeman had the final say on transfers. Walsh was interviewed in The Echo and said he had to convince Koeman. Koeman told the press that he'd stay out of transfers in January as he was too busy fixing the problems on the pitch – which implies he was involved in the summer.

3. Where Walsh did have an input, we were swift and decisive. Loads of early transfers, loads signed for the academy.

Now maybe my reading between the lines is totally out. Maybe I have put two and two together and got five. But no-one can argue that right now, Walsh is not in total control of transfers. Therefore, he should have something lined up and ready to go on New Year's Day. It might be more difficult without a permanent manager but it's time for him to take a risk and discover another Drogba.

Think about what Koeman said before we signed Schneiderlin. Did he do this over the striker? Why not? Was he at least complicit? I think so.

My guess is that Walsh gave him a list and he turned his nose up at them. He wanted Giroud and only Giroud. Then, when he didn't get him, he went golfing in Portugal.

Whether that is due to Walsh not finding the right targets or Koeman being too picky/showing poor judgement is hard to say. Perhaps he expected more impact and goals from Sandro and Calvert-Lewin.

Jury is certainly out on Walsh and, if we do poorly in the January and Summer windows, then perhaps his failings will be proven. Having said that, it may be that his best work will take longer to bear fruit and will be realised when the likes of Onyekuru, Lookman, Gibson, Adeniran etc are performing for the first team in 5 years time.

Signing a player like Giroud is not it, surely? The world and his dog knows him. And if the manager has the final say, then it's the negotiation team that will sign him.

So it's finding someone like Drogba, Kante, or Mahrez, where it's a decent player but with a lacklustre history, who just needs the right team with the right players to explode into life. No one else is finding any such players, so maybe they just aren't out there right now.

A young talent in the lower leagues like Vardy or Alli? We've clearly doing our best here with the likes of Lookman.

Young proteges? Here he really is making his mark as we signed 9 or so in the summer. We've been hovering up youth. The fact that we play so many will surely help us. What we learnt from the U20 World Cup is that the likes of Brewster left Chelsea to join the RS to have a better chance of first team football. How many now think it would be best to play for us?

It may take 5 years or even more before we can really judge Walsh, and at his age, he'll probably be retired by then!

An actual football professional needs to be in that position. Not Kenwright.

What do I expect Walsh to do?

With the money available to us I would have expected a replacement striker to be lined up and already in place for when the window opened in August, not scratching around at the end of the window!

Why did we bring in 3 number 10's?

Walsh has brought in youngsters for the future, which I accept.

Why is Walsh advising the board to bring in Shakespeare from Leicester alongside big Sam?

Find us a quality striker. Before the season started to implode, we (me anyway) had high hopes of being in the top 6 at least, now it will be even harder to convince a top quality striker to join us now!

"An actual football professional needs to be in that position. Not Kenwright."

How many "actual football professionals" are currently chairmen of premier league teams? Bruce Buck? Khaldoon al Mubarak? Joel Glazer? Tom Werner?

Please enlighten us as to the link between successful premier league football clubs and "actual football professionals" as their chairman.

People are quick to point the finger at Kenwright, who has many faults and failings, but you're barking up the wrong tree on this one.

"Jim, the difference is that none of the names you mention have such a defining influence over the tone of the club as Kenwright has over Everton"

You're clearly not familiar with the workings of the Glazers or that middle eastern chap mentioned above.

The fact is that we could replace those names with Jennings and Flynn. Like the former two, we latter would be answering to a 72-year old musical theatre impresario on all player matters.

Something bald-faced wrong in the running of a top-league football club. Not sure why you can't see this.

In reality we all know that whilst Koeman and Walsh have not covered themselves in glory, it is the double dunces Kenwright and Moshiri who have brought a great club to it's knees.

Of course had we been fortunate enough to have had a real takeover like Chelsea and Man City, the soppy chairman would be no more but it's beginning to look as though the only money Uncle Farhad plans to invest has ended up in
In the Soft One's pocket. And he's still calling the football shots !

Sorry to say it but however culpable Koeman and Walsh may have been, the real Villains of the piece are undoubtedly the two graduates of the Randy Lerner school of football management we are blessed with as owners.Unsey will be fool to act as their fall guy !

In order to break into the top 6 or 4! , you need a mini squad of attack and goal scorers.

Take a look at Arsenal who have qualified for the CL nearly every year.

Wenger knows how to win games how to put lesser teams to the sword , he has attack options for every match and from the bench. He gets wins by whatever it takes.

Against us he didn't just have one proven striker to call on.

He had Sanchez , lacazette , Giroud , welbeck , Walcott to choose to start Or to get a win from the bench. Pace ,Aerial threat ,guile.

Until we can match the attacking and goal scoring quality of the team that finishes 4th or 5th every year we will not do any better than them.

Investment in our attack and it's diversity needs to be much better. Miles better. 200m times better.

Your original assertion was that "An actual football professional needs to be in that position. Not Kenwright"

My question was how many clubs have this mythical "actual football professional" as chairman and the fact you have not (could not?) answer that says it all.

Can Newcastle or Southampton afford his wages. Rafa would take him without hesitating.

Perhaps Steve Walsh should be negotiating a loan deal, but he's probably too busy cosying up to his old Leicester chums.

Moshiri should take the lead if he's that determined to land Simeone, could be a good starter to land him.

However, I guess Walsh wouldn't be interested in a recognised world cup winning striker.

Walsh seems to me to be dining out on his past overhyped reputation.

In the real world, your only as good as you are now, not as good as you were before!

Time to move on Steve, you are certainly fooling BK and Moshiri, but I'm nowhere near convinced of your 'smiling assassin' persona.

If it's to hoover up young talent then he's made a decent fist of it (as mentioned above)

Who on earth knows what his interaction is with the first team?

Brian #9: the fact is that you don't know what his job is so you can't criticise HIM for what you think it is ot what you think it should be. That's daft and unfair

I hope that isn't true, but if it is, first of all it's another big reason not to appoint Allardyce. Unsworth has done a fantastic job with the U23s and would continue to do so if he didn't get the manager:s role

Secondly it would prove to me, at any rate, that Walsh doesn't really give a toss about Everton much as Koeman didn't. He wants his pals in and if he thinks big Sam and Shakespeare are our future it also tells me much about him in terms of his real football acumen and indicates he should,stick to scouting and stay out of team affairs.

If we kiss Unsworth and Royle goodbye, we may as well close the academy down because a man like Allardyce certainly won't be investing his time or his influence in trying to develop youth players

I'd be happy to see Walsh follow Koeman out the door if that really is how he sees our future. Bad form, Mr Walsh.

I was always suspicious once it became clear that he was staying on. I suspected Moshiri was part of Kenwright's shenanigans (new tv deal, commonwealth games infrastructure bonanza) but was willing to give him a chance. Well he's had his chance and has done nothing to dispel my original suspicions. Anyway let's wait and see what Jim White and Dan Meis have to tweet.

Whoever is going to be the manager of Everton, has a footballing Gorgon's knot to unravel because of the reasons outlined in The Sportsman article. It's a huge job.

In any business the roll of a director is to develop an operational model strategy for the long term. The manager's job is to concentrate on the effective and therefore successful day to day running of the business (club) a manager's job.

From what I can make out Walsh has been doing his job – Koeman wasn't so he had to go. Until we have a permanent manager appointed the club cannot function properly and the problems on the pitch will continue.

So – why hasn't an announcement been made on the manager? If the press reports are to be believed it is because their is disagreement between Moshiri and Koeman on who that man should be.

If that is the case I expect more upheaval. As the saying goes – a house divided against itself cannot stand.

On the other hand if they have agreed that David Unsworth is the man then he has had a huge responsibility placed on his shoulders. The upside could be that Walsh and Unsworth may actually be a very effectual partnership – IF David Unsworth is good enough.

November 2017 is a very important month in the history of Everton Football Club.

People are saying that they don't know what Walsh's job is, yet they want him "out the door". Why? If you don't know what he does how do you know he's doing it badly? I echo one statement from above, that Walsh appears to have brought in several sought after young players who may well have a defining role in the future of the club. Players like Onyekuru..

Why bring in three no 10's?. OK, Rooney was a Kenwright romantic gesture (apparently), Koeman wanted Klaassen and Siggurdsson. Why blame Walsh?

A striker? OK, there are shed loads of quality strikers knocking around, in fact there are so many that they outnumber the homeless and can be found in T.K.Maxx doorways, sleeping on a cardboard box next to a fuckin' dog made of sand. Yeah, just open the door and shout "Striker! Here, now" and there'll be half a dozen vying for the opportunity to wear the Blue shirt...
Strikers, good ones, are as rare as rocking horse crap, maybe Walsh signed the best available in Onyekuru..or maybe we should have gone for Carroll, who Moyes said he looked at loads of times yet knocked him back due to concerns over his injury record.

I feel that Walsh's input may well be appreciated a couple of years from now.

Walsh recommends certain players but it was Rigid Ron who made the final decision. Rooney ,Sigurdsson, Keane, Klaassen were all Koeman's signings. Walsh is basically the chief scout at Everton.

Link

It appears we are not as rich as I thought we were. Maybe that has something to do with it.

That pretty much underlines how I imagined things at Everton. The turd in the punch bowl was Koeman. I also think he may have thrown a strop and buggered off to Portugal when the Giroud deal floundered. He has been a major and expensive mistake.

Kenwright has absolutely no idea about football and has overseen practically the worst period in our history. Now he is joined by a man with even less knowledge about the game. It all adds up to a recipe for disaster.

When Sir John Moores was running the club, he backed the manager. He sacked one or two. Sir Phil was seen as a John Moores puppet. It worked out quite well for him.

Directors' and owners' primary function is to ensure the financial viability of the business. Expertise in the individual roles of its employees is rarely the criterion.

Most of us have a reasonable idea of who we would like in charge of the 1st team. According to the TW poll a fifth of us want Big Sam!!!

The board should and can only appoint the candidate who fits the business model best and is the standout candidate. I don't believe anyone is dithering but rather after two failed appointments they are looking more carefully for a manager/ head coach who will fit the business model and work within the structure provided.

Personally I would like a head of recruitment, a director of football and a head coach and assistant head coach. All would need to work as a team to select the best targets with the Director of Football having the job of advising the board.

Is this the end of the East Midlanders' stay in the top flight due to "financial irregularities"?

Some equate success to "Not doing a Leeds". Premier League survival is the sign of well run club. How many times have posters on here referred to relegation battles? Albeit 20 years ago.

Others are happy with "A good run in the Cups". I've also read a top 7 finish is something to be satisfied with.

All fair enough, you never know where people want to set the bar when it comes to the club.

Personally, I've just about given up to be honest. Winning trophies is now just a distant memory. People openly pour scorn on any expectations placed on the custodians. The best thing we could do is accept our place as a Stoke, or West Brom, and concentrate on survival. Everton in The Community seems to be what people look up to nowadays, which is nice, isn't it?

The Arsenal fans want a new manager because they've only won 3 FA cups in 4 years. I wish they would pipe down. I wonder if they will ever accept our position in another 20 or 30 years? Just forget about the good times, and praise their board for keeping them in the Premier League?

Foxes owners are being sued for money that they allegedly owe to the Thai Government, quite what that has to do with Leicester City Football Club I'm not sure; however, it would be wise to remain fairly quiet on this subject as you never know what any owner may be involved in when it comes to finance.

As for Sir Phillip Carter, well of course he was a puppet of Sir John Moores seeing as Sir John 'owned' the club and Sir Phillip was the Chairman. The difference in the current scenario is that Moshiri owns the club but appears to be marching to Bill's tune – this in my opinion is a recipe for disaster and has already had an adverse effect on the club at a time when we should all have been quietly optimistic about our future

Bill has been used to shopping at Kwiksave and looking for goods that are almost outside of their use-by date. This served the club fine during the financial lean years, but, now that Moshiri wants to shop in a superior market, Bill is still applying his cheap and cheerful negotiation tactics but the sellers just laugh and name their price with a take it or leave it message to our Chairman.

Eighteen years is a long time for someone to be at the sharp end of a football club, and it is an eternity when that regime has failed to deliver much by way of success... but as Kevin @ 45 notes it depends how you measure success.

My own view is that, if you can't have success, ie, trophies, then the team playing good football will suffice; however we have had precious little of either for far too long. Even those 'long suffering' Arsenal supporters that Kevin mentions have endured three FA Cups in four years and a plethora of fine players and teams in the their 'barren' years, I imagine the Thames would be full of red-scarved North Londoners if they had to enjoy our clubs success in the last couple of decades.

I can't speak for the honesty of other chairmen as I haven't researched them; however, what I will say is that ours has "misled" the fan base on many occasions. Is that enough?

Since then, we have bought some very promising young players, some of whom will make it at some won't. Hopefully enough will make the first team and/or recoup decent sale fees.

The impression I have is that Koeman sanctioned the 'senior' signings and Walsh was responsible for the 'promising youngster' signings. But who really knows?

Of course, any professional business would immediately explain the different roles and how they will work together. We're not that kind of business, are we? The moment they decide on the interim/permanent manager post, such an explanation would be in order.

Will we ever be that kind of business?

When Koeman or whoever writes his book in 10 years time we might get HIS version of events at EFC, but until then no-one, ToffeeWebbers included, have any real idea what happens at Goodison, Finch Farm or anywhere else. It's nearly all speculation , rumour, a friend of a friend etc.

It'll be interesting to see just how good some of these Walsh signings are, though.

I'm not a fan of our chairman nor do I dislike him but we were in serious trouble with Johnson in charge at the lower reaches of the table.

I'd be interested to actually hear a positive case for Kenwright. Each transfer window is much the same as the last and the ground is a disgrace with fans of smaller clubs taking the piss. This latest TV deal is enormous and yet we were still aiming to break even on transfer spend. Yes we'll get a striker in January because he does just enough to take the pressure off himself and no more.

I have only got to comment 15 but I find your logic baffling. You defend Walsh for hovering up young player's, however non of them are good enough to start in a very poor side.

We sold very good young players in lukaku, deulofeu and stone's during his tenure... He's found non anywhere near this level. And we also tried to sell Barkley.

You go on to say these youngsters may be good in five years. Fantastic that isn't it? We may be in the championship in one year!

And according to you Walsh is that old he may not be around by then.

Then you list his great finds as Drogba??? Mahrez and kante.

So he's old and in all his time he's found three players, one of whom was known to every man and his drog, sorry dog. Drogba played for Marsille and destroyed Liverpool in front of tv audience of millions in europa league semi? Or 1/4? Then went on to win the trophy I think. He was so unknown they picked him up for only 24m.

Speak sense mate, so far under Walsh every signing has been poor and worse than the good young players we already had in Barkley, stones, lukaku and deulofeu.

Only pickford starts and he has a habit of palming everything back into danger. Oh and he's under 6'1".