Meet Everton’s Kevin Thelwell, the scouting supremo charged with rebuilding Frank Lampard’s shambolic squad

So maybe, just maybe, the Goodison hierarchy are letting him get on with his job. And maybe we've got a DoF who can work with the manager… until we sack one of them.

The phrase ‘start again in the Championship' sends a shiver down my spine, but it's looking about 50/50 at the moment. We need at least three wins.

Back to the article, I used to get really annoyed at TWers who'd post after a season where we came 7th and reached a quarter final saying hardly any of the players were good enough and we needed a complete overhaul. It always seemed ridiculous.

Now though, we seem to have reached that point for real. I'd keep around 10-12 of the current squad, and some of them would be based on potential not production.

The article seems to imply that Koeman and Walsh didn't see eye to eye and that reached a new level of animosity between Benitez and Brands. But it seems that Thelwell and Lampard are singing from the same hymn sheet, which is exactly what has to happen if the DoF model is to be successful.

Hard to evaluate who had the most influence in bringing in players at Wolves: George Mendes or Kevin? But they certainly recruited better than Everton have over the last 6 years.

I think the problem is that Lampard wants to play in a similar style to Guardiola and Arteta, but the group of players he has inherited don't have the skillset to play that style of football. So he has said that philosophy has to be put on the back burner for the rest of the season, which is the right decision. That's why recruitment of players to play that system is vital going forward, but it will be made significantly harder if we aren't in the Premier League next season.

Also, if this last 6 years has taught us anything, it's that you can't keep changing managers every 18 months. So, whatever happens, Lampard and his coaches need to be kept in position if the unthinkable happens. Now whether we could afford to keep him and his coaches or if they would want to stay is another matter.

I think the majority of fans are behind Lampard not because he has revolutionised Everton, because he hasn't but we realize he has come into a club in a very poor state and should be given time to put that right, whether it be in the Premier League or the Championship.

Now I don't know if Lampard has what it takes to turn this club around but he should certainly be given next season to see if he can.

If we do go down, will we change manager yet again? It seems highly likely to me, based on our recent history.

And, will relegation mean all our best players leaving, while the shit ones cling to their contracts like limpets? How suitable for a promotion drive are players like Keane, Holgate, Kenny, Godfrey, Gray, Iwobi, Doucouré etc? I'd be fairly confident they could prevent us going down to League One, but no more than that.

The likes of Thelwell come and go, but the owner and the chairman are going nowhere.

This summer alone will see some big wages and wastes of space off the wage bill: Tosun, Man on bail, Delph. Kennys is up too but I can see is keeping him.

El Ghazi (why oh why was he signed?!? This one alone needs a full investigation as it stinks of dodge!), and Van de Beek will be back with their clubs.

The likes of DCL, Richarlison, Allan, Mina oh and Moise Kean I can all see being off in the summer.

All in all, around 11 players could be out and so this would give us the blank sheet of paper to start again. Serial losers like Keane, Holgate, Townsend and until recently I’d have said Iwobi, aren’t good enough for what we need so add them in the mix and it’s then 15 players out/need to be got rid of.

Whether it’s championship or PL this is going to be a crazy close season at Everton and this guy needs to earn his corn

Recruitment and strategy in the same sentence. The fact ours has been all over the place (the scattergun approach). A unified playing style throughout the club (the top to bottom system).

Come on, come clean ToffeeWebber. Who are you?

And as a matter of course, the DoF and the 1st team coach/manager must consult each other on any major, costly signing, anything less would be counter productive although there will be room in the recruitment of "junior" players such as Branthwaite, Gibson, Nkounkou etc.

Surely?

Frank was the wrong manager for a relegation scrap, whether we stay up or not. The evidence to this is the results, performances, lack of fight and ability to get a cohesive team to defend or attack. Therfore he should not be kept on should we drop because he has failed.

My opinion, should we stay up, is that he has 10 games to prove why he deserves to stay with us; otherwise, we get a new, young but experienced manager who is as sensible in his style of football as he is in getting the most out of the team rather than spending money on more half-arsed players.

But Holgate, Godfrey and Keane are contracted to 2025 so good luck shifting them. Likewise Iwobi and Gomes 2024.

There are possibly very difficult decisions ahead, but they must be pragmatic ones. ie Steve Cooper of Nottingham Forest who has transformed them from relegation fodder to promotion playoff favourites beat Arsenal, gave the RS more problems than we did. Would he have us more organised and be a better fit for that kind of challenge ?

I don’t know the answers, especially as there is some small, sporadic signs of better play recently, also Frank signed on deadline day and needed more time to assess weaknesses and get his own players in. It is all worthy of lively debate.