The new recruitment structure at Everton is taking shape

Is it 'too many chiefs and not enough Indians'? It's to be hoped they turn out to be better than most of our appointments over the years.

"Cox has had interest from clubs in the Premier League and Europe, as well as governing bodies, but is believed to feel the prospect of working with Moyes, under new ownership as Everton enter a new stadium next season, is an opportunity too good to turn down."

Must admit I had no idea Moyes carried this much of a reputation. Players coming to play for him? Certainly. Executives coming to work with him? Quite unexpected.

It'll be interesting to see how the club handles this critical window without Smith or Cox fully aboard and the new scouting structure not yet pulled together.

Unfortunately, in my personal experience, it's how shit works in the corporate world. New Broom Inc puts in place a multi-layered management structure and reduces the number of people who do on-the-ground work.

Basically, jobs-about-jobs increased, actual jobs decreased.

When I heard that HR had been further boosted by the arrival of Mr/Ms X, I thought: "Pah, why don't you get a proper job?" I spoke against it, but to no avail.

A couple of people said to me that I would have made a good shop steward, back in the day. I took that as a compliment. Bolshy Scouser, moi?

I don't really know in honesty, and it's not my business with regards to Everton.

I view it as restructuring.

We will be as good as Leeds now.

Can't wait.

Alan - the powers-that-be will present us with a three-legged horse with two heads, for sure. Question is: will it win us the League Cup? That's what it's all about right now.

Just as well really, as it's so immensely frustrating watching other clubs get a headstart on bringing in new players, whilst we have to sit on our hands waiting for an artificial accounting deadline to pass before we can begin adding to the squad of actual players...

Definitely the new buzz words with TFG are 'continuity' and 'data'.

Can we honestly see that happening. I can see the nightmare of getting Jack Harrison back, keeping Michael Keane and caving in to DCL unless we start to get a move on.

It'll be interesting to see how the club handles this critical window without Smith or Cox fully aboard and the new scouting structure not yet pulled together.

That was may take form all this too, and I worry that Patrick is swallowing the journalistic Cool-Aid with this 'transfers are next' tagline when a good number are not in place — and will not be in place before the end of the summer.

One thing you might not be familiar with, Mike, is another interesting 'productivity' difference each side of the pond when it comes to Vacation accrual.

I think I started on 2 weeks back in 1985, and had earned my way to a whopping 4 weeks by the time I finished in the US — 35 years later.

Compare that to the UK, where I believe guys like these will be on at least 6 weeks and perhaps 8 or 10 weeks vacation in the sun — at exactly the time we need them in post and working their bollocks off!

As an aside, I was searching for a photo to go with this piece — this shows the unique lighting in Everton's corporate offices in the Royal Liver Building.

But that set me wondering as the place has hardly been mentioned since Moshiri split the coop (except for him wanting to sell his share of the building). Is that still home to EFC Corporate? Or have the corporate offices also relocated to Bramley-Moore Dock???

All I can do is follow the team. What I post on here and what I shout at the match won't make much difference to decisions made at board level. I am a mere mortal like most of us.

A thoughtful piece Micheal. The new structure is taking place. It is a different structure, but one that the owners are obviously dictating.

A lot of what you write is in tune with what some of us suspect. Moyes will say what he wants. The recruitment team and scouts will go out and find it. Hammond will do the contract negotiations. Moyes will get to agree, but is taken away from the nitty gritty.

The academy has oversight.

Moyes can focus on the first team and coach the players he is provided with and has available to him.

No problem, MK. Like I said on the other thread, I understand the editorial rationale, although it did make it seem like I was responding to someone who didn't actually exist! Still, all fine. Let's do this...

PS: hope you continue to work on TW under the new managership.

He built a team and that meant people who bought in and fought. Sadly he got some wrong. But if all we are going to work on is their stats, then we can see with teams who look good on paper, it doesn't always work.

To quote the great Brian Clough: "We had a great team on paper, but we played on grass."

I'm quite simplistic when it it comes to football and Everton. What you say Phil, you judge by what you see on the pitch as you quote Brian Clough.

I think many have to remember, there are generations of us that have seen Everton lift titles and trophies. We live by our Moto. Never will that standard drop.

Michael, I haven't figured out how to drop a picture on here, but I've sent you one via email of the Royal Liver Building lit up in Royal Blue. I hope we maintain our presence there. It's our city.

We won't be successful until attempts to modernise do pay off. We won't succeed by trying to do it the way we last did it in the 1980s. Football has transformed beyond all recognition since then. Indeed it's transformed into something new entirely since Moyes's first spell with us - as with all walks of commercial life the big difference is sophistication in data analytics (and Phil # 17, I don't see any problem at all in reconciling data analytics with character assessments - in fact the former can help to better inform the latter).

So hopefully this works. It's the right thing to do to try - and the people seem of the right sort of calibre at least. But the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.

I agree: it is a "both and" not an "either or".

Will this “new recruitment structure" bring us in the players we desperately need for the budget we have to spend?
Will they make Everton a more attractive proposition for young players than we have been over the last few years?

That's the time to judge them, but I hope they can hit the ground running because it seems a little late in the day to me to be making these kind of appointments.

Other than Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea who else in the Premier League has signed anyone yet?

Can't say I've seen any of our real competitors getting a head start.

Few years back a Man City scout came to our club. There were a load of age groups playing. I said come and watch my U12s, some good players.

He said "No, we only looking under-8s and below." If they haven't been picked up by then, they won't be worth it.

Did you ever find out how that City scout happened to visit your club's ground or is it just a general sweep as obviously there won't be any data analytics.

Or do they have some sort of access to League tables?

I believe they are allowed to go within 60 miles of their location. I live in Huddersfield these days so used to get scouts from all over up until they were under-10s.

From that age up until under-16s, would get the odd scout turn up. They used to contact me before games and let me know they were coming and who they were looking at. Usually they've had a recommendation or something. (I think it's a lot dependent on if you know someone...)

Some of my lads played in a 'training academy' set up by Danny Cadamarteri in Bradford during the week and he used to recommend some of them to clubs like Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield Utd. They'd get trials and stuff. My goalkeeper is at Blackpool and centre-forwared at Huddersfield. Few others in non-league from National League down.

I always found they were interested in goalies or CFs with speed. They were the ones that could be 'missed'. Once they turned 10, the interest was mostly from lower leagues. Never had a Premier League club come beyond that.

To be blunt, who in the current first XI is the right character and who isn't?

To my mind, Beto is the right character but the wrong football player. For me, Ndiaye ticks both boxes as do Gana, Tarkowski and probably Pickford but, beyond that, I'm not so clear

(Seamus, yes, obviously, but I don't see him in the starting line-up in 2025-26.)

I once told my American boss about taking a 5 week vacation to visit the USA when I worked in England. His reply was that if you took 5 weeks off in the US they would figure that they did not need you.

There was "Havago" for the very young usually sponsored by companies like Milo and Woolworths, U10s in which every game finished in a draw albeit the kids all knew exactly who had scored the most runs and competition for U11s, 13s, 15s and 17s and because of numbers had to have U14s and U16s. Then the 5 Grade clubs in the area (from which State teams are drawn for Sheffield Shield cricket) have 5 senior grades and juniors (District cricket) at U13s, 15s and 17s and compete against all senior clubs in Perth. Coaches at all levels need police clearance and are encouraged to undertake WACA coaching courses.

Sorry if I digress but I'd have thought that a big money outfit like English football may have been set up more formally.

For example, to determine someone's character, there might be analytics metrics like:

- attendance / punctuality for training
- distances run in training (as a proxy for levels of effort)
- performance metrics in games where you go a goal down early (which might show whether someone's head drops)
- any drink / drugs / domestic violence etc type issues
- statistics on whether they buy their fair share of rounds (a key indicator of a "good bloke")

For more famous and / or UK based players you might not need a lot of this sort of thing - because it might be common knowledge amongst people in the game.

However, the sort of data described above would support (or possibly more helpfully contradict) things you are being told or might have assumed from watching just a couple of games.

It would also seem to help very much if you are casting the net wide beyond more visible players.

I suppose the other thing to bear in mind is - how are people assessing character without data analytics. We have had our fair share of lazybones, party-boys, drinkers, troubled souls and maniacs. So who was judging the character of Dele Alli, Van der Meyde, Drenthe and Nyarko? And, sadly, the likes of, say, George Green who seemed to have no shortage of ability when he arrived from Bradford - but soon fizzled out. So relying on a sixth sense or the grapevine isn't necessarily a good way to approach it all.

It survives through volunteers, fund raising and weekly subs.

Thank you for your insight into structures on America and the UK.

It looks like TFG are imposing their Culture on Everton with the Flat structure, which is all good.

Everton have needed structural change which put a emphasis on performance and measurement for years.A self serving Culture which was not based on performance or measurement allowed underperformance to develop and become ingrained with bloated layers of non performing Management, The Flat structure is better because duff Management is identified and under pressure.

Every department needed such structures and cultural change. For TFG to takeover Everton and not impose Cultural change would be a waste of time.

Really onto this is in place and sorted out no transfers will take place.

I see Man United are trying their usual offloading of rubbish, Fred being the flavour of this window.