Rebranding?

Translating to "only the best is good enough for my pockets" by Bill Kenwright.

Form a partnership with a global commercial brand by all means but if the people at the top don't understand what Everton stands for it, explains much about why we have fallen away.

Manchester City today are different to the club that occupied Maine Road but it's core values are similar and their support is pretty much the same. Only difference is it has started to win trophies year after year – the same as Chelsea.

If Everton begin to compete and win trophies, there's no need to re-brand. I don't want Everton lite – I want the proper Everton returned.

It is not necessarily about performance – other clubs are famous and big – Man City (how football fans abroad tend to refer to Manchester City), Manchester (how football fans abroad tend to refer to Man Utd), Real Madrid - these clubs are famous because they win a lot (or did win).

Chelsea a few years ago were a popular club I'd see many with shirts on when I first moved to Brazil, but who are now forgotten - their brand fades as they stopped winning).

But Liverpool and Barca have brands that transcend their form. Liverpool base their brand on the city they are from, basing themselves on the working class history, history of unity "You'll never walk alone", of community. Of football being more than a game. And they have done that very well... bastards. With foreign football fans, I'd always try to point out how Everton is the true club of the City of Liverpool but it was a losing battle.

Barça's identity is linked to their style of play – the Barcelona way. Ever since Cryuff, maybe from before then... but Barcelona – La Maisa – that is their identity, and their brand.

For Everton, I feel our rebranding would need to coincide with a real, long term plan on the field. A long term strategy. Yes, nothing but the best – but what is the best?

School of Science? Dogs of War? What will be the philosophy that defines our academy, and thus our style of play (not in a dogmatic, ridgid way). When people talk about Everton, what is it they'll think about.

At the minute, we are just another mid-table Premier League team making up the numbers. If our club was a clothing brand, we'd be 'Basic'.

Football clubs that win things obviously become famous but Leeds, Villa and Spurs are recognised brands too without a great number of trophies won in the last 30 years. Maybe we should move to Birkenhead and become the noisy neighbours of Tranmere.

Getting beat and failing regularly is a trial but giving up is far worse.

However, I agree with a few that have posted already. The brand is not a problem – the way the club is run including the marketing and merchandising needs a lot more attention, although little Miss Dynamite is doing a fine EitC job... pity about the football side though.

But hey — let's leave that to Bill; he knows what he's doing.

Everton currently clings to the past and soft power. These need to be aspects of who we are but not at the centre. At centre, we are a club that needs to win.

There is a big club trying to get out and us all getting behind that is an important step. Simplify the badge, clarify the aim, underline the motto.

Maybe it was falling behind when he acquired us, but Kirkby? The city's oldest club – he never wanted to – but he was prepared to take us to Kirkby?

Enough said, it was a democratic vote, and the rebranding was already done. Plucky little Everton, and an acceptance of an absolute phoney – singing "We Shall Not Be Moved"!

Yes, the branding has taken a terrible turn for the worse in that time... and, if you thought they couldn't make it any worse, remember — this lot paid £32M for Bolasie

Philip Neville identified it as a Comfort Zone culture, where anyone who sought to progress was not treated as the norm and ridiculed and isolated as being different ("teacher's pet").

The question is: Why those that managed the club allowed such a situation to arise? It was because they were quite comfortable to be unchallenged and in the position they were in.

The money was coming in from Premier League, the sale of top players, the loyal Goodison faithful, and the sale and leasing of assets. There was no objective to put in place a strategy, to win competitions, to develop the facilities for fans, and plan for future development.

The objective was to stay in the Premier League, to seek outside arm's-length investment for finance and facility development. Any marketing was about low input and low-finance parental and parochial projects. The objective being to keep 'the people' onside, and resonant to such an ethos. The arm's-length investment strategy even continued with the sale of shares to Moshiri, with a shareholder's agreement aimed at in maintaining personnel in place, maintaining the status quo.

I have seen reverse takeovers before, where the struggling firm that has been taken over is able to impose its culture on the company that took it over. Often in such a takeover, it is wise and lucrative to offload the combined operation within two years, because of increasing costs and losses.

This is still the culture that exists today and rebranding, as you have said, is in the offing; it will be a battleground between two conflicting cultures. Moshiri has started by trying to initiate change on the playing side with Ancelotti and Brands, but he still will have to fight an even more difficult battle on the management of the club business side.

Paul the Esk, I totally agree with your Rebranding strategy. If Denise Barrett-Baxendale is in charge of rebranding, we will know which side is first on square one in the battle.

The next few weeks are vital and this is the most important season for Everton's long term stint in football no-man's land.

Really, we need some good signings to give hope for the next season and there can be no excuses. Get beat trying and working hard every game, but giving up and in many instances last season not turning up, won't be acceptable.

Forget the rest, Everton must get the mindset and attitude right this season, and get a winning mentality and fighting spirit. I hate having to see Everto go to pulp so many times the last three seasons.

Get the basics right, and keep improving, on the park and in football; success and commercial result improvements normally go together.

Maybe I'm in a minority here – I certainly was after the derby! – but I can never escape the chilling words of Sir John Moores and the very clear high standard he established for Everton Football Club. There's a snippet of an interview with him on one of the Everton History videos from a few years ago. I've looked for it online without success, however, and have to go by memory... something like:

The supporters of Everton expect the best. Only the best is good enough, and if it's not the best then they will demand the best.

I don't know if I'm right on this thought but perhaps it's part of a broader Evertonian culture and sense of being, that we are inculcated with the essence of our motto to the depth and extent that Sir John reflected upon, rather than just playing lip service to it. Isn't that what "born not manufactured" was also all about?

I know I've raised this viewpoint before and not got much traction for it so I won't push it. But for me, it is absolutely fundamental to our identity as Everton Football Club. And demanding the best – from our players, our managers, our coaches, our Directors of Football, our Board, our owners, and yes, our supporters – is just that, absolutely fundamental.

If that means criticising players who are not good enough, so be it. It's part and parcel of having those high standards.

I would go further and say that the dilution of those high standards, the acceptance of "plucky little Everton", making excuses for players who are not giving or doing their best – right down to the mindset that has Evertonians saying "that was one point I never honestly thought we would have got today" after a derby game – underpins our long downward slide in the Premier League era.

The element of pride was the reality of a balanced club, an example for them all. I do hope they can pull off the super club image now Carlo is in; looking at where our managers end up it's dead certain that the big guns do know who we are.

But if that image is left in the hands of an agency then they have to be the very very best and they have to have absolute control above everything. I've said it before but I reckon it all went to shit when Angry Birds came along.

The problem with focusing on our motto is that it seems like a self-deprecating piss-take. We've embraced less than the best for 30 years. It's like Last Night of the Proms singing “Rule Brittania” when the Navy is now minuscule and the “Empire” amounts to the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar.

Instead of harping on about that albatross, we should raise funds through merchandising. Pay some K-pop to wear Everton shirts in a video. Do link-ups with clubs in Oz and the US. Get a decent club website with functioning links and reliable feeds etc.

The problem is that frustrated by expensive flops, a lot of traditionalists have latched onto mediocre local lads as a bright spot. The sort of “so what if he's shit he grew up in Toxteth and only makes x amount.” Which is well and good but gives us a huge caveat to the motto through this patronising support of sub-bar players.

Granted, a lot of kids get over-the-top abuse but there's something to be said for honesty. When Rush came back to Liverpool, I met John Aldridge's Dad and said I was surprised they felt the need to get Rush back. His Dad said, “John has done alright but Rushie is much better.” That was the pragmatic view of a top player's Dad.

In our fan base, we get middle-aged men making every excuse in the book for strangers they've never met – no matter how inept they are.

In a previous post about 'Alternatives' I floated the thought that Moshiri would be a worried man. I now read that there may be tension between him and our DoF – that we have not had the players the DoF was expected to deliver and that the DoF has only one more year on his contract.

Our DoF happens to be a fellow called Brands, coincidence?

In a random poll some 78% were unhappy with Mr Brands's results to date. If
another poll was to be taken, I wonder how many people would be happy with the Chairman's performance to date. Somewhere the same?

If the club is to adhere to its motto, and I totally agree with Paul's take on the matter – there has to be a massive change in the club's attitude. I believe Moshiri is losing patience fast and there will have to be changes, starting at the top, if this club is ever to compete at the highest level gain.

So, re Brands. He has 12 months to deliver on his vision and get us up the ladder. Nil Satis Nisi Optimum – starting with the Board of Directors and the election of a new Chairman – there is no room for complacency, nostalgia or Boys Pen stories.

The time to act is now – get that big Russian to bring his yacht up the Mersey and make a BIG statement of intent; after all, he will probably be supplying all the steel to build us a new stadium! So let's put some steel into the Boardroom while he is at it!!!

Excellent post summing up all that is wrong in the Kenwright era.

It's jobs for the boys and We're Alright, Jack.

Sorry if this seems like a conspiracy theory, but we are dealing with the same people who got Everton here in the first place.

Jay #24,

Thank you, but I have picked a fair amount of what I know from your posts over the years.

Back to basics, earn self-respect and the respect of the opposition, and there is the chance with belief, tonnes of luck in the transfer window and intensity on the park, that Everton could start improving.

Until the basics are in place and the club is tuned in, then I see the continued struggle. Bramley-Moore Dock is a great opportunity, and should be part of the driving force for the team to improve.

Watching Bayern, PSG, and Milan of late is like watching a different game. Taking the player standards out, as it's unfair to compare our squad pro rate, but they play dynamic football with pace, and support for each other.

I'm hoping like all of us, that the squad will be possessed for the new season, and gets off to a solid and winning start.

We've experienced True Blue Ken, and what that underlying, emotionally driven philosophy and approach has delivered. Best of the rest. And not always that.

Now we've got a businessman at the helm with the whys and wherefores to facilitate success. Or at least give us the best chance.

I want to watch Everton play well, compete with the best, and win things. Get on with it, I say.

Barcelona's identity and brand is little to do with football and everything to do with being the visible representation of Catalonia.

If the correct strategy is in place, and carried through the branding, to a large extent, will look after itself or be used to re-enforce the values and aims, indeed the very identity, of the club to potential sponsors etc.

As many have already pointed out this club has, for decades, had no real strategy in place other than to survive in the Premier League. If Moshiri has recognised this and seeks to change the culture, image and thus the branding of the club, in a positive way, then this must be to the good.

Previous attempts have been a joke – does anyone remember ‘blue moon rising' or the badge redesign or Dixie the mascot? The stuff of nightmares.

Re-Branded

I think most know what it means, and its context as simply a rather old sports motto. This is a football club, not a post-privatization utility justifying its new cash cow. Whilst not there at the time, I highly doubt the motto was selected as a means of exhorting the personnel to achieve business goals.

I agree with others above. We need to play football first, fix the team, and corporate mission statements won't cut it in that area.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the club motto, for me it goes back to Commercial Marketing. What Bill Kenwright and Robert Elstone did, giving Kitbag a 10-year deal for £3m a year, where you could only buy kits and merchandise in the Everton shop, and all the profit for merchandise sold, went to Kitbag.

An absolute shambles and the Everton brand or kits were never sold or advertised in any big sport shops anywhere in the world.

How about Cardiff's change of kit colour to red? Worked so well, they changed it back. That is the stuff of nightmares!

Many football clubs, most football clubs, and ours notably, have precious history and tradition, now called "Brand". Damage that at your peril. Is it a sport supported by a business, or a business providing sport?

If John Moores was running the club, he would turn the whole thing around within 5 years, led by excellent rebranding as Paul the Esk has suggested. You would see improvements in the first year. There is no way he would tolerate the way Everton is being currently run.

I think that particular gem smacked of a shady grab at some "Pocket money". I don't know if 'shambles' is actually the word...

"What some perceived as McCann's abrasive manner, coupled with his preoccupation with building a sustainable infrastructure for the club off the field rather than a title-winning one on it, prompted sustained criticism during much of his tenure. Although credited with rescuing the club from imminent bankruptcy, McCann stated at the outset that he would stay for only 5 years, with the objectives of placing the club on a firmer business footing and returning the league championship to Celtic Park. The latter goal was met, halting Glasgow rivals Rangers in their quest for a record-breaking 10 consecutive league titles. "

This was the calibre of businessman that John Moores was.

No disrespect to Denise Barrett-Baxendale but we need a football-focused leader, not a shining light in the community or a dewy-eyed supporter. Boys Pen Bill has taken us to a place where football is secondary.

I think the model of size-buys-success also has a much better probability in Scotland, as evinced by exactly what he did. He was also repairing an existing large, though failing infrastructure, as opposed to trying to build one.

Not to belittle what he did, mind you.

Oh, and I agree about Moores.

Good deeds are good deeds, but there has to be suitable and realistic precedence in the structure too.

To me, it has become tedious and cheesey. I love Everton but it's like a North Korean convention – the honourable leader would like you all to sing his favourite song!!!!

Original terrace ditties are what builds an atmosphere – not cheap manufactured shite...

Our current motto may embarrass the hierarchy because of the passionless and pitiful performances we put in on the pitch but they have sanctioned the stupid purchases we have made, we should at least never ever lie down or fail to compete as we have so often in recent times.

We need players who live and breathe our current motto because genuine total commitment takes you a very long way in football; Jordon Henderson is not a footballer but he is committed. And we bought Delph, Sigurdsson and Schneiderlin (gone at last); enough said.

Who is going to do the rebranding? It will not be Evertonians, thanks but no thanks.

1. Bundesliga
2. 2 Bundesliga
3. 3 Bundesliga
4. Oberliga
5. Verbandsliga
6. Regional Liga
7. Kreisliga
8. Bezerksklasse
9. Kreisklasse.

Now under these Klasses there are North, South, East and West Conferences. As an aside, I played not in the top 4 but not in the bottom 3 either!

The achievement of RB is astounding, and, was coupled with the Red Bull Energy drinks drive to be the best. They have a number of football teams as well as Formula 1, extreme snow sports, airplane racing teams and hundreds of athletes from all kind of sports the world over, that they sponsor. Their drive to achieve the best and nothing else will do, is similar to our motto, with the caveat that they become Nike, and Just DO It.

Helps also the amount of money they throw at each sport/club. They sell over 7 billion cans of their energy drink annually.

Just sayin'

Like those Stately Home / Chateau rebuilds that you see on TV. But you have to be a tad eccentric and keen, really, really keen and a bit obsessed – plus have a vision of what it once was and what it now could be.

If there something wrong, in your neighbourhood, who ya gonna call?
Who indeed? ... and I see nobody like that at The Club right now

If we do get a Re-build it won't be 'The New Jerusalem' more like Biff Tannen World in 'Back to the Future II'.

Not only do you have to know your History, you have to know the present and more importantly - The Future...or a version that will allow you to function in a proper way.

Rebuild (buy) cheap, Rebuild twice, or even thrice... or fill in your ongoing false dawn total here.

Corporate incompetency has brought us to this state and no doubt the same corporate incompetency will cock up a re-brand too. Maybe the weight of our current motto is too much to bear and some sanitised Corporate Logo and Worthy type statement underneath it will be coming our way.

I would suggest that whoever they are they create a Logo cast in a really dark shadow, with "Once we were Something", written under it, though this should be difficult to read as it's already tired and worn.

I say this because unless, whoever they are actually grabs the club by its ever shrinking balls and squeeze until it really hurts and I mean really hurts, nothing will change.

As someone once said you can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig and Everton FC right now are a great big elderly sow, lounging in its own shit, and loving it.

All the rest will merely be the usual combo of smoke, mirrors & other window dressing, all wrapped up in parsimonious claptrap & corporate double-speak.

As you can see, anticipation of the new season is really filling me with a sense of positivity!

Jamie, if you read this, I apologise for that: you were right and I was wrong.

You saw what was coming and we are there now. But we won't be able to improve the Everton brand without a seismic culture change throughout the club.

In fairness to the owner, Farhad Moshiri, he has tried to change the image of the club through his managerial appointments but he just got it wrong – except for his latest appointment Ancelloti. Carlo should be king when it comes to footballing matters.

Nil satis Nisi Optimum is a mindset and one that everyone involved with the club, including the fans as Michael Kenrick said, should be required to adopt by the owner right down to the last detail.

For example, when the grounds men cut the grass at Finch Farm it should be done NSNO (“nisno”) style.

Same with the preparation and maintenance of the ground (can someone please clean, or better still replace, the corrugated Perspex at the Church end of the Goodison Road stand). People around the world see that eyesore during every broadcasted home game. Not a good look.

The required culture change won't happen though unless it is driven from the top of the pecking order. The chairman has to set the standard and then drive the change from the top to the bottom of the organisation. It won't happen with the current incumbent.

Here is a daunting thought – there will be a next chairman of EFC – who will it be? My pick would be Farhad Moshiri's business partner. He'd sort everything out very quickly.

He should have given the Fat Controller his marching orders after he bought into the club. Is it four years now and 5 managers and we are worst footballing team than when the ginger one jumped ship...

Our motto is dead and that's a fact, its no surprise the idiots who run the club are trying to rebrand..

Here is a brand for you: "We live in the shadow of the Red Shite".

I can save Farhad a fortune.

An emblem of a broken down expensive car full of sad looking clowns. (Perhaps with a red trophy laden bus speeding past)?

Motto?

"We're mediocre and we know we are".

Why not the one motto that has been copied by a lot of the world's largest clubs; "Bluebloods" and has a record of success and prestige while recognizing the past and the present?

He masterminded the new club shop build, Everton One as it's now known, which back in 1995 it was a thing to be envied.

When we won the Cup in 1995, we had a quite superb merchandise marketing going on in which fans could easily get their hands on anything Everton related.

Obviously it turned sour but ever since then, Kenwright has been an astronomical failure, the man that survived on more struggles as David Moyes turned water into wine taking the steam off Kenwright over the years.

Moshiri has been a man that just doesn't quite get the football side of things and sadly seems surrounded by equal nonentities like Brands (what we trust in I'm not sure) Barrett-Baxendale and of course Kenwright still lingers.

The club convinces its supporters regularly with the "we are heading in the right direction" claptrap, but they don't have a clue how to steer a club forward.

On and off the pitch, it's been a joke for a number of years now.

That's a huge discussion, but there is no ‘one answer'. Marketing abroad we need to focus on message of quality and the rich history (if you know ). This is what many associate the British with, so use it. We also need to use the Liverbird, any links with the Beatles, etc. to make it clear where we are from.

At home, we've got to keep building the EitC / The People's Club approach. This gives us an actual soul, and – let's face it – no amount of corporate branding is ever going to get us positive messages from the TV darlings of spitty c, Gary Neville, Souness, et al. Maybe the key there is trying to train up ex-players and help them get those slots in the TV room instead.

Branding is big business.

At its core, there is a simple truth. It has to start within a business. How it goes about its every-day activities. What it's core beliefs and values are. What it's priorities are. How it behaves, communicates, recruits, rewards, structures itself. How it treats its staff, partners. And how it chooses them, how it listens to them. How it treats its customers, how it attracts new ones. How it can be different. What messages it wants to send out.

You have to be honest about what you are and what you want to be. A vision of the future. And have a detailed plan of how to get there.

It can be a long tortuous process. Painful too. But without it, any branding exercise is empty and meaningless. A badging exercise with empty slogans, staffed by disengaged, disinterested devious or confused people and led by people who maybe have a vested interest in maintaining the comfort and power of the status quo that they are part of.

Everton FC ceased to be a Brand many years ago.

Hence the number of critical comments on here about culture, standards direction, NSNO etc. Why we are on the receiving end of mediocrity at best are feeling so thoroughly disenfranchised.

The communication exercise about Bramley-Moore Dock was pretty well done, many people seem to feel. Maybe some of the thinking behind that can be used.

Paul's article again raises an important set of truths here. And it's an important debate to have before too long before we fall further behind into worse difficulties, and flounder about again and again in the transfer market.

It will be interesting to see how it develops.

We need the current club management and staff and playing side management and staff to live, breathe and be completely committed to the current one.

Otherwise, we should rebrand to:

"Well, we'd like to be great, but it's hard and we're just not that kind of club, are we?"

As other have rightly said, they could speak with Fergus McCann and the guys that own RB Leipzig. I suspect too many at the club wouldn't like what they'd hear and start plotting straightaway.

"Not one of us, doesn't get us, arrogant, we're not like that."

This club won't change till the people running and working for it realise what we actually are and fully commit to change.

Since then we've had a fun season with Roberto, but then a huge decline since the money man arrived. Getting our pants pulled down in big-money transfers, appointing new managers willy nilly and filling the squad with mercenaries who won't put in a shift for the badge.

We have basically become like Watford, West Ham, Newcastle, and Crystal Palace... clubs with very little identity. For me it's only going to be success on the field and a long term manager creating a brand of football that is unique to Everton. I'm hopeful that Ancellotti will stick around and be that man, but he'll need to be given more control than his predecessors.

Walsh or Brands pulling the strings clearly hasn't worked, and since having this ‘director of football' in charge, we haven't once looked like a team.

I don't care what they think of us in the various corners of the world, and branding will have little effect on merchandise sales, if that is what the club want. (Most fans in the Far-East buy counterfit gear anyway.)

It is really quite simple: produce a highly skilled squad, and get them playing a good "brand" of football. The rest will take care of itself.

Most fans in the UK don't know our motto, and I confess that Aston Villa's is the only other one I know. The vast majority of footy fans from other clubs have never heard of EitC.

The team will appear in more televised games and will recieve plaudits for their play, other quality players will be keen to come and join in and things will improve.

The other big bonus will be getting into the new stadium. This will in itself illustrate the club's ambition and provide a glamorous scenic opportunity which will help to attract more fans from all of the little towns whose children wear the shirts of the Sky Five.

Just get the ground built and play some good football and the rest will fall into place. The best marketing in the world will not change anything if we are in 12th place playing crap footy.

Just giving an example of the dynamism and leadership needed for effective rebranding. You are right in the differences you say. In addition, Glasgow Celtic had approx 60, 000 season ticket holders around the millennium. Glasgow Rangers in the early nineties was the richest Club in Europe.

Off subject, it shows how a lack of competition in a League plays out, looking at it from now. One advantage (inappropriate to speak about) of Covid-19 is that it may level the field in the Premier League.

The comments I come across are poor and hopeless.

Is all very well and good, but there has to be a well-oiled machine behind it to achieve that. Achieving it through a simple strategy combining efficient work and incremental progress is the only way.

With regards branding, Mr Moshiri could take a good look at Bayern Munich. The Brand perception of Bayern is where we should be aiming.

Well run, efficient, fan inclusivity, well thought out targeted recruitment, commitment throughout the club, optimism and a unified confidence, an unshakeable sense of purpose from all.

If Everton can work to have the qualities that underpin Bayern Munich's brand, we will be on the right path.

The games you describe where one-offs and the pattern was two results and a defeat, really no progression over years.

It was Moyes who came up with "The People's Club", which is quite condescending, reflecting his nice comfortable job, not depending on consistent results.

Use money in advertising getting music stars film stars to wear the top whilst promoting what we do in the city around the world. We have a platform let's use it.

Kenwright never put a penny in. We had a great chance to build at King's Dock, Gregg's idea: he got rid of Gregg, who wanted to keep Rooney, and who gave him the loan in the first place to buy the club.

He sold our best players, sold Finch Farm, sold our merchandise to Kitbag, and with Woods, Earl, and Green, sucked anything good out of the club.

Bramley-Moore Dock will not only give us a shiny new stadium but also the opportunity to reinvent ourselves. We have a proud history but I can't help feeling as fans we live in the past. Let's embrace the future and change with it – and we can start by dropping that awful Z-Cars intro and get something more up to date. Suggestions anyone?

I have spent 58 of 64 years living in Liverpool. The sole topic of conversation is often football. Scousers eat sleep and drink the game. In all those many thousands of conversations I have been involved in, I have never once heard anyone say "So what if he is shit, He grew up in (insert your own area of Liverpool) ". Anyone who has spent any time in this City knows that sentiment would be laughed out of the place.

There are thousands and thousands of young hopefulls in every generation in and around this City. All of them dream of playing top class football. 99.9% of them don't make it. Those who do are subject to an incredible amount of jealousy. Not by everyone, I would add, but there are plenty who are bitter and that bitterness takes root and spreads.

Trust me when I tell you. It is ten times more difficult for a local boy to be accepted. Every single move, on and off the pitch, is scrutinised. Every night out. Every errant ball is greeted with howls of derision from people who know they could/would have done better.

Abusive singling out of local boys will always be met with objection. You make the mistake of misinterpreting objection to abuse as a ringing endorsement of the boy's ability. It isn't.

Knowing Tom Davies isn't good enough doesn't blind me to our real problems. If Brands and Walsh had spent a tiny fraction of those hundreds of millions wisely, people like Tom would never get near the team. Yet a succession of managers have all seen him as their best option.

For anybody looking for reasons as to why standards have slipped so badly. I think X marks the spot.

I get that you don't live in the City and can only be led by perception but, if you think we have scouse fans who believe being local is a good enough reason for being selected, you are not only barking up the wrong tree — you are in the wrong woods.

I grew up with Tommy (Tucker) McMahon, dad of Stevie, and he told me it was unbelievable the stick Stevie used to get coming through the local leagues in Halewood and after joining Everton as a schoolboy signing. Tucker said you just had to turn a deaf ear and a blind eye – otherwise, you'd be fighting every week.

Clearly this has not been the case for donkies years, and until the club, at every level gets belief and believes, then, the demise, won't change.

Not knowing what goes on within the commercial department, but the recent trend seems to be improving, but miles away from the Sky 6, revenue generating opportunities, the collect each season.

This Transfer window is critical, as the clubs motto, is serving sadly as only an aspiration, and a legacy of by gone times, when generally EFC, were good and reliable.

EFC, must change it's mindset, believe in every task, they undertake on a daily basis, and make this transfer window count, big style.

This season, is massive and BMD, permission to dig, approval looms, this autumn.

Plenty to contemplate and the club must look to maximise its gravitas on the park and off the park.

Seen the new season, fixtures, brings back memories of our opening match in 1984. Chedozie done us good style, but that team had character and guts, like no other.

Hopefully the EFC first team, will be ready and a reversal, of that result, any win would be great.

Hope eternal at EFC.

But fast goalscoring football helps. In the mid 90s, Newcastle didn't win a sausage but the football style was lauded, and they were good to watch. Slow, low-scoring football just has a negative effect on the club's image and fans, and wins no new fans.

Just over 10 years ago, in the course of my work then, I had to visit both Anfield and Goodison on the same day. I parked in the car park at Anfield and walked into the reception area. It was like walking into a really swish hotel lobby.

Immediately I was approached by a young man in a smart suit asking if he could help. I was then directed to the reception desk where a beautifully turned out young lady politely asked me to wait while she contacted the person I needed to see.

From Anfield I went straight to the park end carpark at Goodison. It was quite open and there were no parking bays marked out. When I entered the reception area I found a rather pokey small room with stained furniture. There was no one to greet me.

Behind the desk was a young lady dressed in what looked like an oversized, dirty club anorak. She was engaged in conversation with what I assumed was a club workman in dirty overalls. Eventually, she decided to address me with a "Yeah?" I was dismissed to the other side of reception as she said she would get someone.

What an image! What a difference!

1. The benchmark for a brand is to go to the deepest darkest reaches of the Amazon and see how many kids have shirts with Crown Paints on.

2. Get someone in to run the club who knows what they are doing.

Our problem is that, since Moshiri came in, we've tried to be a shit version of Man City. We need to get back to what we were good at, working hard and unifying as a team to become more than the sum of our parts.

This means an emphasis on youth development and continuity of staff, especially players. Our current strategy seems to be to desperately flash not-quite-enough money around and hope for the best.

We need to play our promising young players and bring in signings with character. We need a squad of players who give a shit and work hard and collectively for the good of each other. Those are values you can market and sell anywhere in the world. The commercial problem has not been the lack of a brand, but the failure to market it successfully.

We're at least a decade away from Nil Satis Nisi Optimum having any relevance to the team. In fact, I see the motto as a millstone which holds us back from making progress, as too often fans allow the ‘perfect' to be the enemy of the ‘good'. We're now the 12th best team in England. We can only become ‘the best' if we stop sliding backwards because we're trying to skip to the top in a way that isn't possible and move through the spaces in between.

We've thrown away all the positives that were built over years in the Moyes era, simply because that era also had negatives. What we need to do is re-establish those positives (hard work, team spirit, unity, identity etc.) and then take the steps to improve upon the negatives (lack of ambition, inferiority complex etc).

- mediocrity & lack of ambition

- the poor relation of Liverpool

- boring football

- decent youth set up

- chronic instability / deterioration since Moyes

- was lucky to have Moyes and would otherwise be much like Sheff Wed and Forest, other clubs that were 'big' about 30 years ago

- was lucky to have Lukaku

- probably lucky to have Ancelotti but maybe not a good fit for the club - possibly should have got Moyes back

I don't say I agree with this (although not without bitter truths). But it is what you glean from pundits, commentators and supporters of other clubs

Is our current CEO a charity worker or a successful business developer?

The Board needs to make its mind up whether to focus in future on being Everton in the Community or Everton in the Premier League.

We currently have a top manager who has played with the big boys all his career, so that part is in place.

We have a handful of very promising young players with potentially eye-watering values if their progress continues: Digne, Holgate, Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison, Branthwaite and Gordon.

We have a great community involvement which is probably the best in the Premier League and there is no harm in continuing this work as it sets us aside from other clubs.

We do not have a figure at the club to drive us forward with a rebranding. All due respect to Denise Barrett-Baxendale, who I think does an excellent job in her field, but we need an experienced football CEO to take a hold of the club and drive us forward – someone like Levy or the David Devin of twenty years ago. Someone who will set and demand the high standards and discipline required by the club motto.

The Director of Football post has not yet shown any signs of working with both Brands and Walsh frittering away vast sums of money. Moshiri gets his share of stick but he has made huge sums available in fees and wages and only sees standards dropping.

Some say that there are now early signs of Brands sorting out the youth structure so that it provides more players for the first-team squad and if so then maybe the post is worth some further perseverance but we cannot afford to get any more big transfers wrong.

If Usmanov is really involved in the future of the club, then he will not be likely to tolerate the current state of affairs – you don't make that sort of money by accepting mediocrity (or worse). A rebrand can be used to sweep changes through a business and start or restart it down a clearly defined path with performance and standard targets which will be rigorously applied and those who resist will be left by the wayside.

With the new stadium there will never be a better time to do this as we have a few years before it will be ready to get ourselves in a position to make the biggest noise commercially that we possibly can when it arrives. Look at the shower across the park: what is it that we constantly hear about?? Anfield and the Kop. My next-door neighbour has just bought a car number plate with KOP on it and everyone recognises its significance.

We are about to build a stadium on the waterfront of an already iconic setting- what a great marketing opportunity- so much better than Spurs who have a marvellous new stadium in exactly the same place – a very rough, scruffy and run-down suburb of North London, I bet Levy would pay millions more to be able to have the Bramley-Moore Dock location.

Rebranding specialists will come up with all sorts of new straplines and PR ventures but a root and branch review has to happen on both the playing and non-playing side of things to ensure everyone is on board.

With football the performance of the team will be the most prominent aspect and Carlo will hopefully show a ruthless ambition to sort out the players who were not bothered last season and if that continues then don't allow them to be involved.

These will be exciting times IF Moshiri really goes for this – there will never be a better opportunity.

That's the media narrative and it's always been so. It took years to have the 1985 team looked upon favourably by the national media, for whatever reason, Everton FC has never been held in the same esteem as the rest of the big clubs even when we were a club to be reckoned with.

Today, it is hard to argue with that narrative, but what pains me the most is that the fans, the club and everybody connected to Everton, at best meekly accepts the narrative as truth, and at worst aids and abets such a narrative until it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.

There must be something positive about Everton FC, because the Season Ticket sales would be far lower if the sentiments expressed on here and elsewhere were a true reflection of how the majority of Evertonians see their club.

We've always had gallows humour in these parts but some of the comments I hear and read relating to Everton, are so cheap and easily made, that the cumulative effect is highly corrosive and it doesn't help the club to progress.

The only way to stop this decline is for the players who represent the club to give and do everything in their power to win football matches. It might not alter the narrative but it would help the fans to realise that carping on about everything that is negative, serves nobody connected to Everton FC.

A clean sheet is required and that can only happen when the old-guard serving on the board, do the honourable thing and step aside, to allow fresh eyes to look at the issues and hopefully provide some solutions.

I highlighted earlier in the thread, we lost our Brand identity when our charity work became so successful. Denise Barrett-Baxendale is a top-class operator within the area of social conscience and social value.

However, footballing operations are most definitely not her bag. Boys Pen Bill revels in the social niceties of being thoughtful and charitable. But Everton's halcyon days are from an era where the football was the only focus.

We diversified at the detriment of footballing operations. We need to totally separate the two arms, leave EitC at the Goodison Park legacy site, merely fund EitC but focus on all things football. Boys Pen Bill can be EitC patron. Moshiri now needs to be ruthless; otherwise, we will never have a true footballing identity again.

I haven't been to the reception at Everton, but how you described it is how I envisaged it. Once in the 90s, with Johnson in charge, I tried to join the Everton Supporters Club, sending off a letter stating my age and details, then in my forties.

I got by post a Certificate for the Goodison Shooters, under-12 Club, a few nicknacks and a copy of the Evertonian. I phoned the Club Marketing Department, getting a nice middle-aged lady on the phone, who would make sure I got the proper Certificate from the Marketing Department.

I got another Certificate for the Goodison Shooters. I gave up after that, knowing all I needed to know about Everton's Marketing Department. I bought the Evertonian in a shop, where the owner, a supporter, put his copy up for sale. My yearly subscription had got me one copy.

The satellite Club idea was a debacle as well, according to a Home Farm supporter I came across on holiday. Remember Home Farm Everton, in Dublin, which was the first satellite Club? The fact that this idea has recently been resurrected tells me little has changed. The Evertonian changed to a more expensive glossy magazine, that is now defunct.

So I am a bit sceptical of this rebranding idea, from Denise Barrett Baxendale and her newly titled Marketing gurus. I doubt if they know what a Mission Statement is, even if it bit them on the ass.

I didn't know that, Jerome. Things have certainly changed.

Speculating but not without some foundation...

His primary aim is to keep Everton in the top flight and public eye. That costs him circa 50m net spend on players every so often, recouped when we sell a Lukaku.

That keeps him on track for stadium redevelopment and redevelopment of the whole dockside with Usmanov steel.

And that's it.

He will know that there's no point spending more because we'll always be outspent. There will therefore usually be 6 better sides at least.

Brands is there to ensure that our limited spending is still effective (and kept down by youth development); however, the need for additional spending to avert the unthinkable (the Tosun and Walcott emergency) is not to be repeated.

On this basis, we will assume our rightful place as best of the rest (now 7th place) with occasional forays into the top 6. Ancelotti's job is to deliver this.

Looking at it this way explains a lot, I suppose.

I think it is a positive step by the club to take a look at branding now, rather than two weeks before we move to Bramley-Moore Dock... that will make a splash (errrrr, hope not, given the location) worldwide and is the time to show who were are (to the world) at that point. So the club needs to anticipate that now or miss out on a once-in-two-generations opportunity.

But to echo many others, the team has got to be loads better and hopefully either winning or very close to winning something by then, an energetic, classy young team with a good number of Academy graduates in it, who have been at the club long enough to know what it stands for, plus two or three crowd-pleasing world-beaters who have respect and admiration around the game.

My issue is... do we have the people to anticipate where we will be, what we will look like, who we are, at the time of the move? And, as a follow-on, if they do, can they put the measures in place to make it happen between now and then?

Then it's about maximizing opportunities such as they arise. Holding onto the incredibly rare Rooney-type or high level talent that comes through the system, and more likely, having a good shot at bringing quality players in (Easier said than done).

Then it's a case of slow growth over many seasons with a real plan, careful investment, and sticking to the plan, and learning as we go. No other way without the gazillions.

Hold on – sounds like football years ago...

I don't believe that's the aim anymore. Stability at 6th or 7th place is what we're after, at least until the stadium is built.

They used to have there own Pools company and just had built a £41 million state-of-the-art stadium, fully paid for. But things, as you say, have changed a lot since then, Murray and all that.

Martinez showed what could be done, but the comfort zone culture got him in the end.

Do Everton need a full rebrand? Maybe we do. The club certainly needs to revamp the parochial irrelevance it's become in recent years. We all love our history but currently that's all we have and it's no use to us anymore when trying to convince a prospect from Denmark or wherever to come to the club.

Everton are barely known for anything other the than the 1980s and that's to anyone over 45. Sadly we are a backwater brand were sharks and agents can make a killing, that's the ‘brand' we've become. We rarely buy players on the up, largely because in the Premier League at least we are maybe 8/9th choice at best.

Brands was brought in to help change that narrative and help attract younger players who look at Everton as a chance to advance their careers. Perhaps we will have one last hurrah with Ancelloti but our chances of spending our way out look forlorn.

Even the appointment of our Italian master – a radical departure from coaches we've had before – hinted at the past, his past and glory not ours, as if somehow we are trying to graft or confer his success onto ours. Will anyone buy it? Maybe they will play for him, but when he's gone?

Then we move onto us, the fanbase, similarly raging against the dying light of our past, almost everything set in context to Kendall and his team. I'm just as guilty because what else is there to justify the pride we have in the club? It weighs us down and nostalgia is yesterday's currency; how about wanting to create new success and talk of that?

A rebrand is a must. Perhaps, a good example of my view is Jesus Reiner, bought by Madrid, a player we apparently courted. He has been loaned to Dortmund for two years, he was a happy to go as ‘Dortmund have a reputation for playing younger players'. I'm paraphrasing but you get the gist.

It feels Everton aren't even in the conversation.

In these times of Covid-19, things are changing and, coming through the other side, things will be very different. I believe it's that seismic that an Everton rebrand is essential so we have the agility to adapt as a business.

Moyes back. . . you might as well put the Closed sign up. Both Kenwright and Moyes knew the writing was on the wall. Kenwright managed to find the goose with the Golden Egg and Moyes went to Man Utd, a cushy number so he thought, changed all the backroom staff to make sure, but he got found out anyway.

I understand people getting fooled by Moyes. Alex Ferguson did as well, Luvy Kenwright licking his ear.

At the time, I thought Moyes was okay, but I could put the kettle on for his pattern of results in the end, finally had to admit after the FA Cup Final performance that I had been encouraged to fool myself for years.

Yes, Brands and Ancelotti are a lot better. Don't know what to make of the Brands - Moshiri tensions over interference, as reported on this thread. But I do know that Brands and Ancelotti have to resist any interference, if their current policy, similar to your suggestion, is to come to the fore. The fact there is tension over interference could be a good sign.

Transformation can happen. At Christmas 1983 we didn't know where we were going. 18 months later, with Peter Reid and Andy Gray giving us the winning mentality we were the best side in Europe.

We will not progress so quickly again, but Leicester did ok a few years ago from a low starting point. We have one of the greatest football managers ever at the helm, we have money and we have ambition.

Last season was so bad, but 3 more wins and a draw would have us finishing 6th. Should be attainable this time around with some astute signings, and let's do better than that. Carlo has said Europe is a minimum for next season.

We shall not be moved. Except to Bramley-Moore Dock!

The Brand is the reflection of the mangement objectives and infrastructure backup within a club to achieve them. There needs to be change throughout the organisation and proper implementation of the objectives at every level.

Get a good team in place – top six at least – and most of the image problems will float away. Merely top half won't crack it but Ancelotti should have little problem improving on 12th. More than two seasons to become part of 'the sextet' and the man is toast, famous or not!

I'd hoped (and still do) that Brands would be a major part of this, but the truly awful signing of Iwobi makes me have doubts.

I don't know, for example, what Wolves brand is but they appear to have followed a plan for the past 4 years or so. They have a positive image as they play attractive footy and are on the up. Do that and the rest will follow.

At the moment all we have to brand is our history and that will make no difference while we recruit so poorly.

A bit like opening a McDonald's next to an old fashioned threadbare Michelin starred restaurant trying to hang on to its last star. The majority will go for the gaudy over the top manufactured atmosphere at McDonald's but occasionally someone with taste will go for the historical quality.

Example: Man City have started winning after a take over and their brand is starting to get more exposure but they are battling against a Man Utd club whose brand has been front and center since the early 90s.

Everton will have a more difficult task as they will be competing in a City against a team with the same name as the City.

Michael #18,

Yes, they were the words that Sir John Moores said, but remember at that time, with his money, we were known as the Merseyside Millionaires and he could back it up.

Today we are competing with other clubs and to get exposure to worldwide media and fans, and the first thing is to show is both stability in the club, and a winning team.

Rebranding is admirable to attract future fans and I believe that it is essential for the future of the club, but it is something that will have to gradually be brought in with competent people with experience in this field.

The article was on NewsNow Everton, yesterday.

Obviously the club would have to consider other sports organisations in other areas of the world and try not to step on their patches. However, EitC is possibly the only vehicle that would immediately garner goodwill, and the club by association could gain positive publicity for itself.

Short of winning footballing trophies, there isn't a great deal you can use as a unique selling point to promote and advance a football club's reputation.

'Heart and Soul' was a good strap-line and that could be used by the club and the charity arm to good effect, depending upon what it is that the owners wish to achieve via a rebrand.

Now when we had Tim Howard and Landon Donavon 2 USA internationals, we should have been marketing our club in the USA, but parochial Everton don't do things like that, so another opportunity lost. You didn't need a re branding company to do that just someone with a business head of how to project your club in the Worlds biggest market. I am sure our T/W supporters who live in the USA will no doubt still say they struggle to find outlets selling Everton shirts.

When you look at the most profitable clubs, certainly in Europe, the thing that makes them stand out is how often they are seen in top Champions League games, or as it used to be called the European Cup. Yes, winning domestic leagues brings a certain kudos but winning the Champions league elevates you into a completely different league.

That's why Liverpool are so well known all over Europe because of their successs in the European competitions, this is substantiated by the fact that their domestic record for a big club is very mediocre as the last 30 odd years have proved.

I have read many posters extolling Sir John Moores and quite rightly so, but his wealth compared to other chairman was enormous, hence why we became known as the Mersey millionaires. With his wealth no club could out bid us, so Catterick had the pick of the best players around.

Having just said how European success was a prerequisite of status, Catterick for some strange reason considered winning the league far more important than winning the European Cup, in fact he thought the European Cup was in some way a distraction.

Now maybe if Catterick had viewed European football with the same enthusiasm as Busby and Shankly and Stein, maybe it would have been Everton who would be revered around Europe and not our neighbours.

I think the physical presence retail ship has sailed, at least when sited away from the club/ground itself. It will all go online medium term I believe (regrettably) in every country with developed logistics, so I don't see much attention and investment given to that area from now on.

There'll eventually be either licensed/partnered sales agreements with Amazon (eeuuw!) or similar, or exclusive access through our own website. Likely better for revenue and reach, but the passing of another era.

YouTuber Answers Everton Question

Some YouTuber called David Ornstein (Who?) answers questions sent in to him. The Everton subject is the first in this 10 minute Q&A session.

His response got lifted and recycled here on the This Is Football gossip website:

Tensions Between Moshiri and Brands

All very tenuous and doesn't appear to have much basis in truth. Typical of how a rumour grows out of speculation and snowballs ever larger as it gets picked up by other rumour mill websites.

I had no idea who David Ornstein was either, but apparently he joined The Athletic in October 2019 after 12 years as a sports journalist and correspondent at the BBC. In the role of Football Correspondent - He appears to be a supporter of Arsenal.

But now let's all hope and believe that this preseason the team can get belief and with some essential key signings, take every game by the scruff of the neck and play to win every game.

A good start to this season is vital, and as ever we need a change in luck with injuries, and not even injuries sustained in games.

That's a complex one as we know we have some very unlucky players, with bad injuries and but we also have regular crocks, Monday to Friday footballers, who don't give a crap about Everton and its supporters.

Hopefully this season, Everton can put their mark on the Premier League for the right reasons.

Walking down Crosby beach this afternoon and seeing the energy of nature and the tide and how it ebbed away... This season, Everton must get and sustain a belief, and fight for success, like no previous season in recent times.

If such were to happen... what would Twebbers suggest as our new name?

United States of Merseyside, conveniently incorporates the initials USM or Underachieving Slack Mercenaries also works.

I don't pretend to have professional insight into the minutiae of such a process. In that, I'm sure I'm with 99% of the football world's fans and players - and that's a very big problem to Moshiri and/or whoever is truly in charge of our club. It's those guys who need to recognize and appreciate our rebranding as an enticing thing, not the 1% of worthy academics.

I suggest if he, she or it is serious about rebranding then he, she or it needs to reboot the boardroom by deleting the malware that's reduced us to mediocrity for the past 25 years, and still counting, and still costing us, as ever.

Internally, the key to a successful rebrand is that every stakeholder understands and values their role in delivering on the brand promise. That those brand values are then clearly interpreted for every role into daily tasks that contribute to the shared objectives.

Externally, the brand (and motto) should ring true with all who come into touch with the club. Neither works unless there is the right team, the right strategy, and the unwavering commitment to deliver.

For those that despair that ‘branding' is a modern affliction, a reminder that our Nil Satis Nisi Optimum motto is over 80 years old.

The club's owners (presumably with no consultation with fans) gave itself this official ‘brand' in the 1930s. It had every right to do so, of course, but we were motto-free for the first 50 years and that period saw 4 league championships, 2 FA Cup wins and a host of pioneering firsts.

Whilst I agree, Paul, with your main point that this is a huge opportunity, I think the problem with our motto is the word ‘best'. NSNO has rung true from time to time – the best stadium, the best forward in WR Dean, the best midfield in Ball, Kendall and Harvey, the best keeper in Neville Southall, the best manager and best team Kendall's 80s etc and arguably the best former players' and community services.

Self-evidently, however, no club can be the best all of the time. NSNO literally demands exactly this, so we are doomed to fail more seasons than not. We have ‘only' been the league's best 9 times out of 142 attempts. We can not get anywhere near consistently delivering on it. This eventually demotivates and so it gets ignored for the easy life.

And this is why, when Paul calls for a rebrand, I humbly suggest that we consider freeing ourselves of ‘the best' burden and take the opportunity to select something aspirational but perhaps something a little less ‘measurable'. None of the best teams in the world have the word best in their motto, many don't have a motto at all.

Our owners, like those that introduced NSNO, have every right to impose their own vision and values in any rebrand, no doubt next time consulting fans comprehensively. Football has changed, fans have changed, consumption has changed. Change from owners happened before, why not again?

Question is, if we did rebrand and had the task of creating a new motto fit for purpose, what would it be?
Suggestions please!

The motto is meaningful for many Evertonians who can recall when we achieved the standards set by the motto, in the sixties and eighties in particular.

My view is that the motto should remain as it is aspirational. The main problem over thr last 30 years is that the gap between aspiration and reality has been immense.

It is not the motto that should change for the club – it is the club that should change for the motto. Sorry – you don't get my vote.

From our existing, 'Nil Satis…' is the driving aspiration which is realised from our motto, 'the School of Science', a style of play the combines art, passion and pride of playing for the team and its fans. Community is at the heart of our values which is represented in a loose way by our motto "The People's Club" and more practically by the real life-changing work of EitC.

To these existing values, I would prioritise the new demands and values made by voices marginalised in football: the demands for equality and representation by BAME, LBTQ, women players, staff and supporters.

The strategy would be to represent these values through success on the pitch and in our community work by:

Supporting and improving both the women's and the men's team, as success on the pitch will improve our standing and profile;

Developing and supporting young players through the Academy;

Increasing greater representation of BAME, LBTQ, and women at all levels of the club including board, management, coaching and support staff and fans.

Promote EitC as a model by which all football clubs nationally and internationally should recognise and ‘give back' to their communities.

To deliver this strategy would require the implementation of these values throughout the club and a board committed to these aims and values. The new Stadium would provide a perfect opportunity for Everton to develop its identity, profile and success.

Everton's unique profile within football could combine 'Nothing but the best', School of Science, successful on the pitch, representing the values of diverse communities and new sets of fans.

Really not having a go at Bill Kenwright, but John Moores knew what Everton fans wanted and had the nous and the money to help us get it, especially the nous, although the money was important.

Did John Moores make money out of Everton? I'm really not sure, but he did give the club interest-free loans which certainly helped the club. Johnnie Carey was a good manager but not good enough for Moores, so he went.

We have had three or more managers under Mr Moshiri. Now he has gone for one of the very best, going on his reputation, so we are moving in the right direction, with the next moves by Brands and the manager to help us get to where we want to be.

Rebranding, as I understand it is to make us known everywhere as a successful club. All we have to do is become one, on the field, by playing good attacking, attractive football. Do that and rebranding will go into the background.

Once we were one of the very best clubs, on and off the field... a long time ago, too long. Now, we have a chance to change that. Mr Moshiri has given us that chance. It's been cocked up the last four years... Now we have to learn, fast, from those mistakes and move on, up and up and up.

You're right in your thoughts about rebranding. Known everywhere as a successful club, hits the nail right on the head.

John Moores instinctively knew what made a successful business and he had the highest standards consistently and constantly, and insisted that everybody else had them, on and off the field. He and Harry Catterick were basically of one mind, both with demanding high standards.

This consistency of approach delivered a series of good and successful teams, some brilliant teams. They created a successful brand in today's parlance, for a decade, and beyond.

The reason we are currently so poor, is not because we've been short of money. It's been because the club has not had the high standards and a consistent and demanding approach. It's poorly managed on and off the pitch. Only once this is addressed can matters truly improve long term.

Changing the badge, the motto, Z-Cars, won't do it sadly.

Rebranding, as a process if done properly should start off the field. Excellence off the pitch, bought into by everyone, should lead to excellence on the pitch.

It's a long job, but you should see some improvement quite quickly, once underway. Fundamental issues need addressing first. If they start rebranding, it will be interesting to see if they are.

A definition of excellence? NSNO.

After enduring a diatribe on the merits of Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea and West Ham, I asked how Everton were viewed by he and his fellow scribes.

"About like a number of clubs who make up the Premier League", he replied.

"Historically proud but generally of little consequence since the new league was formed. Strange really, as they were so involved in its formation", he added.

"In summary, another stolid middle-order club always well behind the leaders both in image and achievement. Moyes has done much to endorse that image although he is obviously constrained by lack of spending power. Very friendly and enthusiastic chairman though, always available but with only his loyal past to talk about."

Not much has happened that would change that view from afar, I suspect, even though we are now more comfortably monied. Re-branding, though? Probably cosmetic and a waste of money. Only real success on the field will ever see us live up to that 'Nothing but the best' bullshit trotted out by our 'friendly and enthusiastic' No 1 fan!

In all, a pointless article, Mr Esk – although it has provoked 'learned' responses in this terrible summer.

Clearly, our brand should reflect our motto. There has to be a commitment from very top right down to grass roots on this. Kenwright and Moyes to some extent diluted the brand by embracing "The People's Club". This by itself is not a bad brand but translated to the little underdog club in Liverpool and punching above our weight (suiting the clubs criteria at the time to finish above relegation zones) and they never challenged the elite.

The top dog, Moshiri, has diluted the brand even further. Koeman a massive mistake – brand was ruthless / his way or highway, nothing like our motto or school of science. It was embodied by quick fix signings (which proved anything but). He further killed us off by employing Big Sam / fire fighter – he knew he wasn't good enough but short term strategy.

The new brand ought to reflect the motto and everybody must adhere and set the highest standards and not deviate or of they do be shown the door. However, Moshiri (who I feel really sorry for) has not delivered on this at present.

Perhaps signing Carlo, promoting Big Dunc is a step in the right direction. The EitC appear to reflect our motto – fantastic and so proud of everything they try and achieve – sheer class. I never understand the criticism aimed at this part of our club / they should be lauded by showing the team and playing management the way forward.

They all seemed in good spirits and full of enthusiasm especially Moise Keane and Iwobi.

There was, however, a tall black player I couldn't make out. It may have been Bolasie but I thought he wasn't training with the first team and it didn't look like him.

Can anyone confirm?

Bolasie was in that training clip and he looked sharp and very committed to me.

Ajay I think you may have it, on the other hand Dave W may be right.

Where is Dave Abrahams when you need him.

Dave (134) 'John Moores knew what Everton fans wanted and had the nous and the money to help us get it, especially the nous, although the money was important.'

Chris (135) 'John Moores instinctively knew what made a successful business and he had the highest standards consistently and constantly, and insisted that everybody else had them, on and off the field.'

Agree with you all but you kind of prove my point. Given that you had our entire 142 year history to choose from, you can only refer to two individuals who truly delivered NSNO in two short spells, John Moores and Howard Kendall. And only the former had the complete power (and relative wealth) to impose his will, his undiluted interpretation of NSNO on the club.

To deliver NSNO today and in the future, we need uber-wealthy, street-smart owners attracting 'the best' in every position on a clear mission to catch up with and overtake those with hugely-fortified advantages. Our motto's 'the best' was a tough ask in 1938 when we were amongst equals. Living up to it hasn't got any easier, particular over the disparity of the last 30 years. Who knows how well Moshiri, Usmanov et al can make up ground?

I understand the powerful emotional attachment to the historic, the comfort of the status quo. We have a rich and hugely important history. Nothing will change that. But we do have a record of successful and progressive changes for the better too. The decision to settle on a blue kit, the move from Anfield to Goodison, the appointment of Moores, the many Goodison firsts – all positive changes from what we had before.

Changing NSNO isn't giving up standards, it's acknowledging that in order to attract tomorrow's management, players, fans and sponsorship, we have to reflect, refocus and stand for something that is aspirational, inclusive and indisputably TRUE – and can't be so easily used as a stick with which to beat ourselves!

ps: We're not alone:

Five Premier League clubs whose mottos have proven to be bollocks

Bramley-Moore Dock is potentially the next big change and, as previous posts have mentioned, provides the perfect opportunity to rebrand our key messages.

I was trying to use John Moores and Harry Catterick to demonstrate the effect that a rebranding exercise can have. The internal stuff was sorted once Catterick was appointed to deliver and share Moores's vision.

The club in its entirety is the brand, not just the motto, badge etc but unless you get its internal operations right, in terms of structure, focus, standards, buy-in, people, culture, process, communication, how it deals with customers, partners etc, the cash will be wasted, the wrong appointments will be made, the wrong signings will be made, the wrong partners will be selected. The wrong people could be in key positions and the football will be dire.

Without doing the above NSNO is effectively an empty statement, a lie.

Any rebranding exercise I've been involved in has started with the internal stuff, strategy, and the external stuff grows out of it, organically. Basically, if you don't sort out the way a business behaves, any tinkering with corporate ID is a waste of time and money.

I agree with you about the change of context these days but, if you get it right, you increase the brand value, and can become more attractive to potential buyers, with deeper pockets.

If that is a desirable outcome.

It's a specialist care home, one of the few, that's there for dementia and it's in our community. Is there anyway EitC could be involved to support I wonder? Seems a perfect cause for the club and confirming it's commitment to the community.

When this dreaded pandemic abates, the need for this care home will increase as more will use its support without fear or concern of putting a loved one into a care home once more.

It's a just cause, an Everton in the Community one; if the club could come to the party, it would fantastic. Can anyone make the club aware?

Fair enough and I'd love nothing more than Everton to be 'the best' too. Who doesn't want that?

It's the self-inflicted choice of 'the best' in the motto which changes everything for me. It's the inference that, while we wait to be the best, we shouldn't enjoy loftier league positions or lengthier cup runs in the meantime as both are patently obvious failures.

For most real-life football fans, there's a lot more downs than ups. If we beat that lot at Anfield next season but finish 8th, I will still rejoice in ending that particularly embarrassing statistic. "Look how far we've fallen" I hear. Tell me about it. But let's start having seasons where scoring more goals than we concede is the norm first and then I'll get all excited about being the best.

I lost my mother to dementia a few years ago and totally endorse your point.

I can only hope that this pandemic brings out a more human and supportive case for spending more on healthcare.

With all our young and healthy millionaires, it would only take a small gesture from the club to help save this facility.

I agree and, having also been involved in branding exercises, I acknowledge your excellent points about the importance of the whole process and it being much more than a motto.

My argument is contained to the wording of the motto itself. It simply must be true for all stakeholders to work. And it's wise to avoid 'the first, the most, the best' if you ain't or it's so open to dispute.

ps: Do you find when undertaking these rebranding exercises, the room first full of shy wallflowers suddenly turns into vocal experts, unshakeable in their beliefs? Initial agreement is rarely universal – a little like TW.

I've been on the receiving end of 2 such exercises, very badly done, both in the same company, where in the first their corporate ID went from blue to orange, the second where the staff was completely traumatised and it also failed. The firm was based in Liverpool.

I did 4 further exercises as a consultant and as part of a management team put in to sort businesses out and then sell them. None of them were a football club.

Please bear with me here.

There were common things I found in the ones I had some control over:

The top management were appalling and we got rid of them. They tried to sabotage the process.

There was internecine warfare between different departments and a lot of politics.

Individuals had built up personal fiefdoms and just did their own thing.

A lot of the staff were brilliant, but some left because they didn't agree with the changes. Others championed the process.

Yes, there were many opinions, some of them helpful.

Results showed quite early.

I only say all this because I'd guess an awful lot of this is going on at Everton FC. It needs rooting out before any progress can be made.

As I said, NSNO is just an empty slogan currently, but whether it should be ditched is a big call.

I have also been involved in several (5) rebranding exercises over the years, as a straightforward employee, as a senior exec, and as a board advisor. With varying degrees of success, I might add.

It's important to communicate early in the thought process exactly why rebranding is necessary and determine what you want to achieve as a result. A clear goal, clear communication.

To make it work, you need to work with all the staff and be honest, no hidden agendas (cut the workforce, get rid of the deadwood, etc). If any revamp means changes, then admit it and work out who and what is required in the final end result.

But most of all, the key to a rebrand is buy-in – everyone must be on board, understand what's trying to be achieved, and go for it. Those who don't have to either move on, ask for more time, or as a last resort, be made redundant. Nothing is worse than a lack of buy-in or having those work against you to succeed. It will destroy the whole rebranding process and indeed the company if left unchecked.

Change is difficult in every walk of life but more so in the workplace, the experience is often thrown out of the window because poorly done rebranding is no more than an excuse to cut costs and people (bottom-line profitability vs loyalty). Rebranding can be done well if approached correctly... or badly (British Airways?) if not.

With respect to the club, the motto cannot be changed because it is integral to who they are. However, a mission statement that defines it on a present-day basis is what is needed. For example, "Nothing but the best" could be qualified with a statement that said;

"The club will conduct itself in all its dealing with the highest integrity. Its staff shall go beyond expectations in delivering the very best outcome to its customers and each other. We will be seen by others as an aspiration and inspiration. We will give our best in all that we do and endeavour to excel on a continual basis."

Okay, not the best maybe... but you get the drift, it's the how it's done and how it's communicated that matters and then how it is actually implemented and monitored as a standard.

"Nothing but the best" is an inspiration – not just an aspiration – but it can mean different things to different people. It's a flag, a standard carried into battle, something to believe in, something to belong to. A sense of Pride that should not be lost but accentuated.

I totally agree with everything you say there.

I've had rotten experiences on the receiving end. And I've also had rotten experiences when I was involved on the other side so to speak. It can be brutal, can't it?

The Liverpool company I was referring to was Littlewoods Chain Stores, by the way.

In the Echo, Denise Barret-Baxendale is creating a new role for Leighton Baines at the Club, apparently with the help of Brands. Rebranding probably is one of her ideas to increase the Marketing budget, so she and Bill have a thank you draw to splash out funds from. Whilst most Chiel Executives are looking at costs, she is going on a spending spree.

Hopefully Ancelotti can turns things around and keep Brands concentrating on his work, and away from distractions. It's our only hope.

Why would Denise Barrett-Baxendale want to pursue a rebranding exercise, if her life is so cosy just now? I would think that Moshiri having invested huge sums of money into the club would want to see a return on it.

Moshiri is therefore likely behind any notions of rebranding Everton as it would be in his interests – help to bring on board other investors or perhaps even sell the club to another investor.

I don't think the rebranding exercise will have much effect on the football side of things – it's merely a way to try and increase the value of the business without relying on the vagaries of football results.

Because she feels she has to do something to be relevant.

Moshiri won't be there to implement it, the Chief Executive will. I agree that the rebranding will be separate from the footballing side, especially if the present Chief Executive of Everton is leading it.

But unfortunately, a proper rebranding doesn't work that way and, when implemented by idiots, can do more harm than good. I have seen rebranding shams before, agreeing with Christine regarding most of their outcomes.

I think Moshiri would be better to concentrate on the football and stadium development side in the meantime, the current management of the club are muppets as far as rebranding is concerned.

Lots of wisdom and truth in all you say especially the communication, honesty, and buy-in aspects. If we are rebranding, I hope we do it properly. All your safeguards to ensure rebranding is a positive are correct too.

You offer a qualifying statement for NSNO and then dilute it somewhat with ‘Okay, not the best maybe, but you get the drift'.

And that's it in a nutshell. My whole contention is the use of ‘the best' in our motto – did you feel the weight of it and pulled back? Did you envisage that it would be difficult to prove?

I hope I don't come across as negative or a pedant. During the '80s, I thoroughly enjoyed NSNO because it rang true for the team (not necessarily the club, however). Thirty years on, not so much. At different stages of our history we've unofficially rebranded the team because at the time it was essentially true – ‘The Black Watch', the ‘School of Science', the ‘Mersey Millionaires', the ‘Dogs of War' etc. I want the branding for the club to ring true every day.

Pleasure to exchange views with TW royalty, btw!

I fully understand the reticence of rebranding, but I have a feeling that this is more to do with Moshiri moving away from the plucky Everton and the Kenwright legacy. In short, I think it has all to do with commercialism going forward and the perspective of Everton being "seen" as a top club rather than an also-ran with a history.

We are about to move from Goodison Park, so our image will change. Our profile will be bigger in the media and commercially, so it makes good sense to step up a gear and enter the 21st century rather than be seen by the media and commercially as another Aston Villa. Our profile is important if we want to increase sponsorship and attract better players, so in short, there is nothing wrong with rebranding if it's done well. Right now it's the best time to do it.

John, I guess my qualifying statement was a version off the back of a cigarette packet and I am sure there may be far better incarnations of it. The point was, what does the motto mean is dependent on the relationship you have with the club, as a fan, as a sponsor, as a player, as an employee. The "best" could mean how the relationship you have is as good as it could be with the club.

As fans, we expect / hope for, the best football, the best players, the best management team, the "right way" to win. A player might expect the best facilities, coaching, other players, a club with serious expectations, a place they can improve.

An employee would expect good pay, good conditions, a supportive place of work, and pride in what they do and who they work for.

So "Best" is an aspiration we all have to work for, how the above is communicated, and how it's acted upon will prove if the term is applicable to Moshiri and the board.

ps: Royalty... haha.. whose queen... lol

Thanks for a very well thought-out article.

Our family business went through a rebranding in late 2018/early 2019. We worked with a small Brisbane based company.

The first question they asked is, "What is your story? You have to think about this because every successful company has a story and everything you do, say, write etc has to align with the story!"

Best thing we ever did and I agree with you about the true realignment with NSNO for Everton.

Thanks again for a truly thoughtful and mind-provoking article.

The People's Club was an attempt to re-brand but meant nothing outside the Everton 'family'. If results improved, it was 'Moyes what done It'. That's if they did!

After years in commerce, I became convinced that 'Mission Statements ' meant as nowt to staff and customers alike. It was sales / results that mattered.

But the synergies of developing a common culture of say perhaps called the Everton Way (if, whatever the club decides), then the same values must be followed on the pitch at all levels.

Bayern Munich over the last almost 50 years have grown into a monster, dominating large chunks of the past 4 decades in German domestic football. Their brand is massive across the world. Everton can aspire to this but without doubt they have been one of the most successful clubs in Europe over that time.

Back to basics but the trophy cupboard and league position don't lie, and on a positive, perhaps the club is preparing to transition from being consistently rank and making up the numbers, as that's sadly what Everton has become after years of inconsistent levels of performance on the park for donkey's years.

Success and the ingredients for success anywhere is not an easy formula, but hard work and belief and motivation, plus potential and ability. Does the Everton currently have this?

The Everton teams must now step up and this transfer window is massive. I'm praying and hoping Carlo Ancellotti can transform the playing side and start playing with style, manner, and consistently winning games.

Hopefully the club can secure the quality players they are genuinely aiming for. Forget the rest and focus on Everton's needs. As they say, no gain without pain, but the club can't sustain more years in never-never land.

I agree, now is the time for rebranding, but I do feel that the current management are more liking to try to ride on the back of any future commercialization, with Moshiri's hands-off approach, rather than be effective in actually implementing strategic change.

The "create a role for Baines" move spelt out to me that little has changed management-wise at Everton and the main hope of change is via Ancelotti and his team. A bottom-up induced change, leaving Moshiri having to bite the bullet in specing up the actual management of the club.

In my opinion, with such inertia, the existing branding of the club would only need to be realigned and fine-tuned by someone who actually knew what they were doing.

I refer you to posts #79 and #88. I doubt much has changed. I went to see my daughter at college in Lancaster two years ago and decided to head down the coast with my daughter with the aim of getting to Goodison. I could not believe how rundown the place was, in comparison to how I remembered it. The rainy day seemed appropriate.

By the way, she is in Adelaide, where I now think Bob lives.

I think you are missing the point as well, rebranding done badly is a cosmetic exercise but done well repositions a company, invigorates staff and sets objectives. The operative word is done badly, I have seen it done well and done badly, the outcomes were light-years apart.

Results on the field are a direct correlation to others doing their job off the field and doing it well that gives the players the best chance to excel. From enticing the right players to join, from ensuring we get the best out of what we have.

Whilst you may have seen it done badly, it doesn't mean its always done badly.

That change we need is now. The people at the top are different, different board, different CEO; you remain unconvinced as to the motives or the benefits. But we have to change; to do nothing is not an option but a recipe for failure. Here's hoping they do it properly!

Founder members of the football league, no team has played more top-flight football than the once great pioneers Everton.

Winning the league again (how sad) and be the first (maybe only?) team to win it in three consecutive centuries. This should be the aim, singing We Shall Not Be Moved! (Sorry, I've heard this is what Bill sings in the shower every morning.)

Of course successful re-branding might well improve the club's 'off the field' image but would it contribute towards better performance by the players? I somehow doubt that the present lot could ever 'sing in tune' and if the exercise were to be led by the present Board and Executive we all know it would result only in window dressing. So why waste more of Moshiri's money on bullshit?

Or perhaps the Russians are softening us up to become Merseyside FC with Putin as the new President?

The northern dock regeneration will generate billions for those people involved and Usmanov with his ruthless business acumen, money, communication, steel etc will be in prime position to reap the rewards. Any form of rebranding is to enforce this possibility and ensure a golden product is in place.

The only 'footballing' concern Moshiri and Usmanov have is that Everton remain premiership quality..no more no less. Ancelotti was brought in to maintain this status quo and will be deemed a success if he achieved this.

The hopeful real uplift in Everton's fortunes will only begin once Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium is a working, viable and profitable business. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that we will then be taken over by another entity thereby freeing up Moshiri and Usmanov to embark on their true vocation in making billions out of the regeneration.

I totally agree.

As I said in the article, a proper, effective re-brand starts at the top & requires the complete buy-in, commitment to change from those at board and senior executive level. Change or be changed (as in here's the exit door).

Of course, very few senior executives can make the fundamental change that is required in a failing business. Few change experts have ever promoted the philosophy that those that got you there are the best ones to lead you to recovery & success.

Herein lies the problem, if this exercise is being driven from the board then the prospects for real change are limited, particularly in a board made entirely of executives, all paid employees of the company that rewards them. The absence of independent non-executive directors is a fundamental weakness.

Thus the change has to be driven by the shareholders, specifically but not exclusively, Moshiri. I say not exclusively because some 17% of the club is still in the hands of small shareholders. Whilst insufficient to form a majority, it is still sufficient to make themselves/ourselves heard.

The patience of fans and shareholders has been extraordinary. Now is the time for the fundamental changes driven by true re-branding. If the majority shareholder, nor the board recognise this, then it is down to smaller shareholders and fans to make their concerns and demands known.

As far as I could tell it didn't happen, and one reason it didn't happen was our own perception that we had happened upon a good team, we might get a few good years but no-one was talking about dominating for the next ten years, several key players were far too old for that.

Even when we were champions we didn't prosper like others have done. The same could be said of Villa for one. The mindset, the club structure, the commercial side were still those of the Corinthians and to some extent, if a criticism has to be levelled at Kenwright, it is that those values were still in place 5 years ago. Fine though they are, they are now trampled all over by more ruthless, more commercial, less moral clubs.

A rebranding should realign those values, should not involve the current board, with the aim of pushing us up alongside our competitors as a first priority. It runs from top to bottom driven by external judgement and presented by an external team headed by Moshiri.

Many will say we will lose some of our identity, but if any part of our current identity is holding us back it needs to go before we get to Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium.

I agree 100% with your vies on how this club has been run by Kenwright in the past. The direction and success of any organisation is a reflection of the leadership. If there is a lack of leadership and ambition in the boardroom that reflects in every department of the business. Kenwright has been reminiscing of our past successes and has cherished those memories for many years. He's not alone in that though. We all have. The big issue is that those memories were well before he gained control. He's done nothing but look back.

All companies have to have a plan. A plan on its own is a start but unless it is actioned and the CEO delegates it's implementation to ambitious and motivated personnel then it is doomed to fail. Your assertion that Kenwright has accepted the status quo is 100% accurate. As the Premier League funds grew it became obvious that the club just need to stay in the league to survive. This meant ambition was binned. The aspirations of generations of Evertonians was secondary.

I hope the club get its rebranding right and follows through with an ambition that matches all Evertonians not just the teary-eyed melancholic one in the boardroom.

Players have been sold a pup by Kenwright and on arrival immediately suss out that this club's ambitions are in the past. This soon leads to negativity in every department and is infectious... I hope to see a sea change of attitude at the club before I pop off to meet my maker but fear that the longer this cancer at our club remains it won't happen.

I've seen so many businesses that have been massive in the past that have seen their ambition flounder while those that are more agile, focused and continuously adapt to change in their markets, go from strength to strength. That sums up our club really.

Yes, he was... but surely we should be hoping beyond hope that Howard's team isn't our lot. There needs to be someone to take that title off Howard but, while Kenwright pulls the strings, no-one ever will.

I don't see Bill pushing this, so it must be from The Board and aimed sideways and downwards. Did The Board convince Moshiri or the other way around?

If the new Brand is anything like the recent saccharine emails I've been getting then god help us.

I maybe (am) a bit old fashioned, but these days winners set their own brand and the brand is Winning, Success, and, sadly money.

We used to be best of the rest... but still with a chance of bridging the gap... now we're 12th.

Our actions and the media will define our brand and with the RS / Sky / BBC etc. Media, we have to knock them out to get a draw as Henry Cooper used to say... and even then the draw is not guaranteed.

Start winning in a new Stadium... both will take 4 or 5 years.. .and the Brand will define its self.

Successful Winners.

NSNO, is impossible to achieve, but good to aim at, so let's not do away with it.

Get the team right and all the rest will follow.

Going by last year's AGM, which had the look of a stitch-up, it will be a while before what you suggest happens. Your comments regarding the Board are 100% right.

God knows where Moshiri is at physically and mentally in relation to all this.

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum, Nothing but the best is good enough.

If things divest from that, and they have, then it's not in the best interests of the founding fathers and, ultimately, Everton Football Club and us, the fans, and the people exploiting our club for their own benefit should be removed.

Kenwright has ridden roughshod over our shareholders in AGMs and ignored the ethos of Everton since he walked in the door, at the same time appointing and anointing himself as our saviour. All the people employed or involved in Everton are his appointments or acolytes. The results have been catastrophic.

Only quality at every level of the club, from scouting, coaching, the expectations required of players, will begin to redeem the mess we're in because they've been flushed down the toilet for decades. Nil Satis Nisi Optimum is the only branding we need if it is followed because for 25 years we've been getting fleeced.

Heysel destroyed our chances. Kendall and the players wanted European football, and this tore us apart.

We did go from rags to riches very quickly, the fans were having a whip-round to buy Terry Curran for £80.000 pounds and, 3 or 4 years later, we were selling Lineker for over 30 times that value.

This is in no way a slight on Leighton Baines; however, this role smacks of the old boys club striking again. Baines is a true Toffee legend however this making a role for him is a clear example of why we will never rid ourselves of mediocrity.

Baines should be a millionaire based on the contracts he has had at Everto. As I said, this isn't a dig at Baines – more an indication of everything that's wrong with the club.

Everton need to be business-driven – not a sentimentalist tear-fest. Football as a sport died a long long time ago.

We made a fortune on selling Lineker but when Kendall left the team either followed him out of the door or went into decline and Harvey wasted the significant funds he had by paying way over the odds for Cottee – price started at £750 k and ended up at around £2.1m, and Nevin when the tribunal set his value at a ridiculous £900k.

Add big fees for Beagrie, Johnston and others( the latter being a Kendall buy) and we have never quite recovered. Kendall would have stayed if not for Heysel and who knows if he could have continued his success.

Up!

The fact that Liverpool and Arsenal both won the league twice in the 1980s after the European ban for English clubs while we quickly faded away tends to suggest a difference in attitude in some way. Why did we fall away so much, never to recover, when all clubs were banned and other clubs showed much more resilience?

Squad depth? We have never wanted to spend money on players who aren't getting on the pitch perhaps. I often wonder.

My immediate thoughts after reading yet another great article from The Esk is the mess the owners made of Hull City and Cardiff by trying to change their identity to gain more exposure to a wider audience whilst all that they achieved was relegation and betrayal of their loyal fan base.

What are the motives for the rebrand? To raise our profile so that Moshiri can offload or genuinely try and compete with the elite?

Besides success on the pitch, for us to improve our brand we need to be associated with successful partners like Adidas, Nike or Puma though we end up with Hummel. Similar with our many main sponsors over the years, not a major brand amongst them.

The Angry Birds sponsorship is interesting as the online and games market is massive.

The off pitch work since Moshiri bought the club is dominated by USM hardly inspiring though obviously lucrative.

Be interesting to see if the rebranding does take place. If Moshiri genuinely wants us to mix it with the big boys, he needs to step up.

Years ago, teams relied on fans filling the stadium for revenue. Today, fans in the seats is irrelevant. I read that if every Premier League team played the entire season with ZERO fans, they would still make money due to the massive media contracts the EPL has in place. That's right there is when the fans world changed. That is why generations of season ticket fans have been priced out. The club doesn't need them.

Maybe you all saw that video the Liverpool fan (I know but bear with me...) crying and saying that his club has become a tourist club. This is true of Manchester United and the other top teams. People travel from all over the world to see them and, since it's a once in a lifetime opportunity, will pay just about anything.

Now hopefully Everton does not come to that, but there is a happy medium that should be realized. If we continue to not keep up, we'll become Norwich, or Southampton, or Aston Villa. Teams that were once dominant but faded into yo-yo clubs but have strong local fan bases.

But let's face it, the strength of the local fan base is not enough in today's football world. You can't fight it one bit. If Everton is to survive the next century, the new concept of the fan and their needs has to be adopted. We as fans see the club slipping slowly. We were great in the '80s, then in the '90s, consistently in the top half. Early 2000s more in 7th to 10th. Now fast forward to late 2020, we're in the low teens consistently. If that isn't a signal that it's time to embrace change, I don't know what is.

Every club needs their hardcore supporters, the ones who bring their voices to the game, inspire and win plenty of matches for them. That will always be the case.

I dispute your assertion that fans fulling the seats are irrelevant. You are advancing an opinion that football is now solely a business venture, that fans are just customers and that ever-increasing commercialisation is inevitable. Football (if it truly is a business at all) is a very badly run enterprise and most clubs hover on the edge of financial ruin, including the so-called massive clubs both in the UK and in Europe.

I would imagine that fans not attending for any protracted period of time will dent the enthusiasm of TV companies to keep forking out vast sums of money for a ‘product' that is diminished by the lack of fans present in the ground.

I'm not suggesting that football can return to a pre 1992 model but there is no reason why football can't evolve into a more sustainable future than the current fiasco. The impact of the pandemic may even allow ‘fans' to play a more substantive role in the governance of their clubs.

Significant writers on football, such as David Goldblatt, have suggested that the time for greater fan involvement is now. We don't have to look far for more sustainable models, eg, Germany.

Football is our national game and we need the state to play a far greater role in ensuring that game at all levels is better governed and more equitable in its distribution of profits.

I lean more towards Dean's view that the ever progressing broadcasting of televised games all over the world is changing the game totally.

Some who can't get to the game or others who would rather pay £50 per month than £50 per game and get the benefit of watching a bunch of other games.

I also think the predictability and bias shown towards the so-called top clubs is switching some fans off too.

This pandemic has brought it home to me. Throw in some artificial crowd noise and you're Hollywooding your way to an experience you get accustomed to.

Armageddon is on its way, certainly for football supporters.

That's quite a depressing viewpoint and if football continues to continue on its current path, then we will probably left with a very small cabal of English teams playing each other. I've only watched some of the Everton games since lockdown as I've no interest in watching sterile games that resemble a game of EA Sports FIFA football games only less exciting.

It's not just the Wigan's and Bury's who are at risk due to insufficient regulation and governance but in the medium to longer-term clubs such as ourselves might be at risk. Perhaps a more likely alternative is that professional football in Europe mimics baseball in the US with Everton deemed to be a minor league club.

I'm not sure I agree with your sentiment. The current model of football isn't the only possible model on which to organise the sport. The premiership with its attendant tv deals has largely been a disaster for the majority of the football pyramid in the UK including grassroots football.

It's the ‘also rans' as you call them that make our football unique, interesting and have value. I'm not a Luddite or an overly sentimental person but the implication that football's current governance with its reliance on free market economic principles espoused by Hayek, is not a sustainable
model. Football, along with other cultural activities has a fundamental social capital value mostly rooted in their local communities.

Keep EFC as is. Everton in the Community... and so on.
Everton Tech – invest in tech companies – as the world has tech touch every part of the organisation and home life, have Everton touch as much as possible.

Keep adding subsidiaries such as Everton Land & Property, so we become the biggest physical football global brand in the world.

Can involve Everton in all areas such as in new music platforms, to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as an investor, to Tesla.

NSNO. Live up to it.
Success. And the new stadium. But ultimately the tide will change when we start winning bloody trophies again.
Act like a big club. The last two decades but never mind that the last few years (Elstone, for example, and the EITC mantra), as people have posted and it's patently obvious, those in the club seem to see Everton as parochial those outside (like the RS) now call us a small club. Jesus Christ they couldn't even have the balls to make the new stadium 60,000. Despite the detractors and the lack of success we're a big club but they ought to start acting like it.

Despite Moshiri and possibly uncle Ussie, we're still robbing Peter to pay Paul. What does that say.

Everton and to a lesser extent Liverpool both sat on their hands with crusty old men in charge at board level, unable to to see where English football was heading. Liverpool have managed to recover, and were still picking up trophies along the way. Everton, on the other hand, were left far behind, the halcyon days long gone, never to return I fear.

At the end of this window, we will almost be at the point where we are at the beginning of what we are going to be. The players we are signing are top players. The player that will turn all of your heads though is Gbamin.

Everton today is on sounder footing than at any time in the last 40 years.

Everton FC is too often parochial, more concerned with what Liverpool FC are up to than our own plans. I guarantee that Klopp barely registered us during his first 5 years, he had more to do. And so should we.

I particularly hate "The People's Club" and al the community stuff. They can follow on – but the Brand must be expansionist and ambitious.

The second point is about the direction of travel. Too much looking at the past, clinging to old idols. Every time I look at our bench I hate to see dinosaurs sitting there because of what they did 20 years ago. Sure we can take pride in our past – but not at the expense of future.

What brings both things together is the fans' obsession with Kenwright. It's both parochial and backward-looking to vent spleen at the Chairman. Sure he's made mistakes but to blame him for the last 30 years is idiotic. It's more to do with clinging to the past and obsessing about the local rivalry.

Ancelotti is a world player and he can take Everton to that level.

You're right to raise parochialism and clinging to the past as too big a part of our obsession. There is no bigger example of that than Kenwright I'd guess, and for sure he can't be part of any meaningful future.

As to EitC, it's now a firmly established part of our Brand ID, and arguably the only part that functions adequately. It enhances the brand and all that's required now is for the football bit to get its act together, as Christine has pointed out in her excellent post.

Living in the shadows has always annoyed me but mainly in response to the jealousy it engenders in Blues who are forever comparing or trying to prove through some bizarre gymnastics that we are superior in every way – except the one which really matters.

And then there's "The People's Club". I hate that for so many reasons... mostly who coined it: Moyes... and what it says about our aspirations: utterly nothing. We should be so much better than this... but just look above and how many love this awful moniker.

We are so the Museum that Moshiri warned of. Yes, our history is important. Looking back, knowing and understanding our history, is an essential part of our identity. But we tend to do it a bit too much is all. Again, the focus must be forward and achievement. When that is accomplished, then look back and celebrate.

The community stuff would be fine again if we were actually doing what we are supposed to on the field. Until then, I just don't want to hear about it. A total distraction from The Prime Objective. We have to be single-minded... and sadly with such excessive luvvie promotion of all this Charity stuff, we are not.

How do you make a Brand out of that? Gawd knows.