Brands's Challenges Make for Slow-Motion Summer

Definitely complex, and requiring patience and hopefully, EFC, will be using some stealth, derived in review of last seasons window.

Let's hope, but more so that players come in ASAP. Regards, Allan, surely the Italian transfer season window, would've been know, so let's hope this is the case and Allan, does turn up in good shape and ready to get a grip of our midfield.

I'd personally like to see Jonas in goal, to start, and remains at least x4 other positions, where we need cover, RB, CF, CB, RW, MF, but depends whom we can off load, and if JJK, is staying etc.

If we get Allan, Doucoure, Rodriguez and Tomori (loan) then we'll have had a very positive window.

Kenny coming back, the signing of Nkounkou and the promotion of Branthwaite keeps the average age down.

The worry for me as is the lack of noise around players being moved on. It's a horrible market for overpriced and underperforming players.

The list is long and that sadly seems to be the hold up for any incoming transfers as from what I've read multiple times personal terms are done with both Allan and Doucoure.

Ramirez
Besic
Bolasie
Sigurdsson
Delph
Walcott

What's the maximum we could expect (if anything) for these 5 players... £20m?

Anyway great article.

What I would love to know, but do not have the time or the skills to discover, is how many of the teams in 2014-2018 were home grown players and how many of today's PSV squad are youngsters.

Most of us are in utter awe of the "Ajax Conveyor Belt" of bringing through high quality young players. Many played in the great Ajax teams and many were sold for huge amounts to the moneyed teams in Spain, Italy and England. Was PSV the same?

So what is Brands's role? Is it keep us good enough with purchases to stay mid-table while bringing through youngsters? I do get the distinct impression that the set-up below the 1st team squad has been amended and players are moved up or moved out far faster than they were in the past. Is that an impact of his arrival? And is that his major role?

But how did he turn a bankrupt club in 2010 into one which became the best in the Netherlands just 4 years later? Promoting the youngsters or buying players?

And if the latter, where did the players play previously? Lesser leagues in Europe or Lesser clubs in the Netherlands. For me, this is what has never been mentioned and therefore how we should expect Marcel Brands to go about his business.

This window will define him.

So I don't think it is all down to Brands; unfortunately, a lot of the players we have don't seem to care about trying to get Everton to a European place and they are not helping the club. As many have said, think they are just there to earn the money.

I think your article is very balanced and fair as usual.

For the sake of our club, I want and wish him to do well, so my jury is still out, but his performance to date does not reflect his salary nor his position within the club to influence those around him.

Maybe he needs to be more demonstrative with his boardroom colleagues, to put it politely. To date, he comes across as a man who shirks the difficult conversation with colleagues.

The deadwood player situation is an embarrassment. To have signed so many players who have been out on loan and have remained on our books and still need to be moved on does not bode well for the wage bill.

We do have the core of a team that, with additions, may bring success, but we definitely need quality rather than quantity.

Focus was on recruiting young (<23), talented and hungry players who were keen to develop themselves, All purchased for under €23M. In 8 years went from lower divisions in German League to quarter-final of Champions League.

I fear that buying James Rodriguez is a continuation of a failed strategy of buying high-profile players who did not fit in to Champions League clubs. Not wanted for a reason, to me, would imply an inappropriate attitude.

When you list the deadwood we are trying to shift it really is shocking and helps to explain why we are in this situation. The amount of money wasted is eye-watering over the last few years.

For me, this is the key year as we all know that our midfield is relegation fodder at the moment and, if we don't get it right then, we can end up doing a Leeds and falling down the leagues. But we are 1-2 more years away from some of those players listed ending contracts and freeing up wages and money for better players.

Does Moshiri sanction investment in older players to secure us for the next year or 2 and give Brands more time to move players on and continue the long-term strategy or are the purse strings closed tight until Brands moves players on now.

There is also the new stadium project as well; none of us know the impact financially that this is having on Everton at the moment either.

Obviously the pandemic will have an effect on the transfer market and hopefully reduce the silly prices for bang-average journeymen.

Part of our problem has been paying good money for very ordinary foreign players, who might have exotic-sounding names but in reality are just as dour as Joe Shufflebottom from Eccles.

Brands was lauded on here by many on his arrival but, although he might have had a "car-crash" to sort out, it seems like he is operating under considerable restrictions.

We have so many overpaid millionaires with little resale value and we have been far too generous with contracts that the incumbents will naturally sit tight and few clubs in the lower reaches of the Premier League will want them or their wage demands.

It appears that we are stuck in a swamp of mediocrity and it looks like it will be a long, slow trudge out of the mire. No quick fixes here.

I find it incredible that Ancelotti would have taken this job without assurances that he would have the resources to bring in a reasonable amount of new faces. If not, I can see him packing-up his Fabbrica Pelletterie Milano and heading back home.

Just for some flavour, in PSV's overall top 10 outgoing transfers are players like Ronaldo, Van Nistelrooy, Stam and Robben. Obviously before Brands's time but it shows how good PSV was at the Ajax thing a couple of decades ago. BTW none of those guys came from PSV's youth setup.

The top 10 of outgoing transfers at PSV since 2010:

1. Lozano, came from Pachuca (Mexico) at age 22, went to Napoli
2. Depay, came from Sparta as a youth transfer at age 12, went to Man Utd*
3. Bergwijn, came from Ajax as a youth transfer at age 13, went to Spurs
4. Wijnaldum, came from Feyenoord at age 21, went to Newcastle
5. Strootman, came from Utrecht at age 21, went to AS Roma
6. Locadia, came from Willem II at age 16, went to Brighton*
7. Dszudzsàk, came from Debrecen (Hungary) at age 21, went to Anzhi*
8. Pröpper, came from Vitesse at age 23, went to Brighton
9. De Jong, came from Mönchengladbach at age 23, went to Sevilla (and scored twice in last weeks Europa League final)
10. Angeliño, came from Man City at age 21, went back to Man City who had a buy back clause.

(* These players where already at PSV when Brands arrived)

There is a very clear recurring line in the recruitment at PSV, get players around the age of 21 - 23 and get them from either midtable teams in the Netherlands or from abroad (btw, not one of those top 10 is from South America). Develop them for a couple of years, and sell at a profit. They have been highly successful at that the last years.

The question is, is that what we want at Everton? What Moshiri wants? Which players have we gotten in this age bracket since Brands arrived? If I'm not mistaken: Richarlison, Mina, Iwobi and Gbamin. Richarlison was a big success and I honestly believe he was on Brands's list before moving to Everton as Dutch teams (notably Ajax) were linked to him before he joined Watford.

Mina, Iwobi and Gbamin – if I'm friendly I'll say the jury is still out on them. But I feel most ToffeeWebbers wouldn't mind if they were sold at a loss just to get new players in. Don't know if that adds a little bit of light to the case.

My personal opinion: I feel Brands is not the right person for what Everton wants right now. I honestly do not believe that it was Brands' idea to get in fringe players from Barcelona or Juventus. And if I hear the antics from Ancelotti and see the player we are linked with, then you do not need a director like Brands. You don't need Brands to think of getting James Rodriguez, Allan or Doucouré. If we want to go the Brands way, get in players younger than 26 or so from lesser known clubs and be patient for a season or two to see if it develops into a top 6 team. But Ancelotti is not going to stick around for that.

Kean
Bernard
Gomes
Mina
Iwobi
Gbamin

The above, which add up to a colossal drain in salaries, may fit the concept of bringing in young talent with the potential of a hefty sell-on fee, if they showed good progress. Clearly none of them have, in terms of goals, assists or good defending, they have failed, almost completely. Their resale value has consequently plummeted, so the whole Brands experiment has been an expensive financial flop and I'd be shocked if he is kept on after this season.

Anceolliti is clearly picking his own players to sign in this window, none of the potential signings this summer look to have involved Brands's input, which has been completely bypassed, so what would be the point of rehiring him?

I think the slow motion in the title is what we are seeing, and not just with our club, with most. I think there will be a flurry of deals at the end of the window when there is more pressure on selling clubs to be realistic over prices. All the buying clubs know this.

However, we simply cannot start the new season with the midfield that absconded in the last 9 games. We need more strength and cohesion there starting September 12th. Allan is going to be brought in so we will have to take the hit and sign him within the next few days. Starting in September on the back foot is a mistake that could pervade and taint the whole season. It could disincentivise late signings.

So I hope Mr Brands has a fast-forward button as well as a slow motion one. Especially when it comes to the midfield.

Then he needs to turn his attention big time into bring some energy, mobility and dynamism into the team. We need one or two younger quality players who can add that.

Moshiri gave Allardyce around £50 million to spend on two players after already squandering a fortune with the previous manager, and so the mis-management continued on every level.

Last summer was awful, it left us short and left the manager unable to play his preferred system because a central defender with pace was not replaced. Was this because of Silva or was this because of Brands?

The tactics Ancelotti used after the restart showed everyone he didn't trust this squad but, in our better moments, sometimes I might have began to find some positives.

Some decent players, but not enough of them, and it's obvious to everyone we need some better players with more fight, more character and more ability.

It looks like Brands has now started to change things at the bottom (younger age groups) so, if we can sign the right players, then Ancelotti can start at the other end of the spectrum, and three years down the line they can hopefully meet each other halfway!

That's got to be the plan; otherwise, mediocre will be replaced by something far worse. I just hope they succeed.

With regards to offloading some of the deadwood, to date, it looks as if nobody wants them and it's a matter of winding down their contracts.

Jo Brand would do a better job.

It is obvious at the start of his contract that his remit was to reduce the age and the squad, getting rid of underperforming players reducing wages percentage, particularly those on expensive contracts. Removing deadwood, as it has become known on ToffeeWeb.

In my opinion in transfer policy there appears to be a conflict of opinion, between paying top dollar, with expensive contracts and seeking players of potentials and value. The other area where there seems to be conflict is role of I identifying a suitable player and the actual completion of negotiations in terms and conditions.

The latter seems to be a hierarchy including Brands, if reports of Ancelotti's view is correct. I don't think that this is a swipe at Brands conflicting board role, by Ancelotti.

Whilst transfer policy is important and Everton need transfers, the preparation of existing players is important, even more so if Transfer Targets are not met. Mauri the new Head of Physical Conditioning has put an emphasis in preparation on the need for competitiveness and the hard tackle as a standard required to avoid injury in the pre-season matches. He has computer records going back since he started his career on players response to training as a guide to the design of individual player programs. He is now up to speed regarding Everton's current players.

Of course being Everton there are concerns that something may happen to Mauri's laptop, but he appears unlike Brands to have one, given Brands deficit on uncovering hidden gems, who all assumed he would have come up, though unusually for ToffeeWeb, no-one actually researched his PSV years, particularly in this area. Brands has been working successfully on changing youth development at Everton.

As far as Everton transfer policy is concerned, there's a continuing trend, year on year, of lastminute. com. I hope I am right on the new approach in preparation of existing players, as the lack of transfer reports from Everton is ominous.

Ancelotti might change our fortunes around, Brands has had a thankless task in sorting all the misfits out when he got here, has added a couple more misfits but is still ahead of his job. I hope he stays to try and finish his task.

Being honest, could anyone of sorted out the mess that is Everton FC in quicker time than Brands has had to sort it out?

When Moshiri brought in Koeman and Walsh, we started acting like a kid in a sweetshop, overspending on players both in fees and wages, and as frustrating as it is right now, hopefully order and a plan are finally in place?

We maybe should have took the couches out the building before we made those door frames and those window frames littler, but don't worry it's all Brands fault, it's up to him to get rid of them, before he can concentrate on pulling those rabbits out the hat.

Allardyce had one mandate: to stop the club getting relegated. The team he inherited was in free fall, an unbelievably slow, narrow formation with no natural goalscorers, that was getting cut to pieces by everyone.

He had one January transfer window to operate in, which saw the arrival of Theo Walcott and Cenk Tosun, both for about £20M each. Looking back now, neither of those players are of the quality we need, but at the time we needed an injection of pace down the flanks and a goal threat and we needed them quickly.

Walcott was playing (on and off) for a top six side and had caps for his country, Tosun was a very effective striker in a Besiktas side that had topped it's Champion's League group.

I remember the general feeling at the time that (although little was known about Tosun) both of these players, or types of players were a necessary addition to the squad. The fact that relegation was avoided, was I believe, largely down to the fact that the opposition had to consider we had, on paper at least, an attacking threat.

Panic buying in January is never a good idea, but needs must. The two players we brought in were the best we could hope for, especially when you consider Allardyce had no extensive scouting reports to fall back on but had to act.

Allardyce is a mercenary manager with a limited skill set, not someone who I was ever proud to call our manager, but to lump him in with the architects of our recent downfall, transfer wise, is a little disingenuous.

Brands has spent big on the players Ancelotti really wants. He can then supplement the squad with a few more like Nkounkou and Branthwaite. Hopefully we'll even sign another Kean, only this time it will pay off.

What a well researched piece, and I wholeheartedly agree that if the possible transfers being linked to the club are true, this is more down to Ancelotti than Brands. For me the manager should always be the main driving force in first-team recruitment, and a DOF should be looking to bring in 16- to 18-year-olds to help develop into first-team players.

I also think the title of DOF needs to be changed back to what it really is which is head scout, Brands isn't qualified to set out a style of play, that's the remit of the manager. Brands is also – if we believe what we read – in charge of getting players out of the club... the problem with that is he supposedly brought some of these players to the club.

I know some fans love to have a go at him but Moyes not only bought some really good players, which helped keep the club competitive on the pitch, but his shrewd buys help keep the club in a financially better state than we have been under Walsh and Brands. Funny how some fans come on and talk about "knife to a gunfight" or "glass ceiling" quotes, oh how I would love a top 6 glass ceiling place in the past 4 seasons. I am not for 1 minute suggesting we should have brought Moyes back, but he deserves a hell of a lot more credit than he gets on here from some posters.

Quite interesting that many also had a go at Moyes for appointing Steve Round, funny after working under him Arteta wasted no time in appointing him as his assistant at Arsenal.

For me we should ditch the post of DOF it has been a complete disaster whether it has been Walsh or Brands recruits I think so far only Digne has proved anywhere near worth the money these DOFs have spent on players.

I'll add to that...

Unsworth hasn't produced enough talent – Unsworth out.

Davies puts people off joining by being a Championship player – Davies out.

Calvert-Lewin will never score – Calvert-Lewin out

How about that that! 😀 COYB

He would lose a lot of money on Iwobi, maybe some on Mina, but I'm sure he will get his money back on Delph, once we get a few players in.

A head scout, is not a director of football, that's probably what Steve Walsh was, a head scout, and I'm sure these changes being made by Brands will help to shape the club going forward?

I do agree a manager should pick the players though, it's why I asked whose fault it was why we never signed a centre-half last summer.

I don't believe Ancelotti has come here to slowly watch players in their early 20s fulfil their promise and flower into a great team (if they haven't been poached!).

He's looked at the squad and realised it's nowhere near good enough. Like all good, successful managers, he knows you need a blend of youth, energy, commitment, class, experience and nous.

I'd say we're woefully short on the latter three. And I would argue, if he remedies that now, we have a far better chance of winning more games, as well as attracting and improving younger players. The players that, presumably, Brands will bring to the club to develop and profit from over time.

The debate around FFP aside, if Carlo doesn't or can't do this, I can't understand why we hired him in the first place.

Not sure if Allan, Rodriguez and Doucouré are the answer but can understand why we are going for these players. I do think the first two I mention should be loan-to-buy like Gomes was. Let's have a look at them first.

Lyndon's article does make me think that Brands has bought young on the whole and there will be profits to be made. I think we need a run of luck for a change which I'm not sure we have had since Roberto Martinez first season.

I just hope we get some new faces in and quickly. I couldn't care less about FFP currently.

So, put your passport away Brands. Shop local.

It may not seem obvious nor a past practice but I'd have thought that there must be some discourse between the Manager and DoF on the required type or particular first-team player and the full Board on available transfer funds.

Mr Brands will, necessarily, have further responsibilities but I find it hard to believe that there is no background teamwork whatsoever. And, while the buck has to stop somewhere, you would expect it should be at the highest level. If, however, we are flying by the seat of somebody's pants, then we most surely will be in for another disappointing season.

Above that, he seems to be responsible for negotiating and bringing in players who meet the current manager's needs. If a manager decides he wants a wide player for his 4-2-3-1 system, his job is to identify possible targets, then get the deal done on the preferred candidate.

If Carlo then wants to play 4-4-2, he's then off on a different hunt for players and charged with getting rid of deadwood the current manager doesn't want. Then, of course, there is a budget to keep within, with someone above saying "Yes, you can buy him... but you can only pay so much."

Amongst all this, he's also charged with ensuring the structure below the first team is fit for purpose and joined up, so he attends U18 games and, as we saw recently, U23s games with Carlo and Big Dunc. It's quite a role he's got and it'll take a few years for anybody – manager or DoF – to turn us around.

I'd like to call us a Sleeping Giant but, in recent years, we just seem to have been sleeping. I would give him a further contract and let him and Carlo get on with their respective jobs.

Perhaps Marcel Brands is fulfilling the plan of the owner whereas the supporters on here are impatient and just want us to be winning the league in 2021-22. Fed up of waiting.

Brian #22. That is a very unpopular view on here because we never won anything, never won away at a Sky team and he came back to buy Fellaini and Baines on the cheap. Put those together and he was a complete and utter disaster.

We need to forget his last 6 years – we were consistent top 6 compared to consistent bottom 6 when he arrived – and that, by the end of his time, we played some very good football. Please attend the necessary re-education classes.

Happy to sign up for my re-education class Phil. Can you send me details of where to enroll.

Ancelotti is here to push us up the league and will get help from Brands to do that, including making the purchases Ancelotti wants. At the moment we have three or four clubs pushing us down to 12th that we should be above so we need an immediate upgrade and those players capable of doing that are going to cost us £80 million or so.

That's how it should be, but the business side regarding the players seems to have an element of questionable interference involved.

Too many disparate influences (owner and his advisers, chairman and directors, DoF, managers et al) have all had input into 'the mess of pottage' that makes up our squad at present and it has and will continue to take time to sort it out.

That is why I am battening down the hatches to either glory or relegation in order to expect no more than midtable until we are safely ensconced at Bramley-Moore Dock.

As ever, it's a case of 'expect little and hope for more'. Eitherway, COYB!

Even if we sign Allan, Doucouré, and Rodriguez, who is going to be the captain and the player that will drive the rest of them on when the chips are down?

When was the last time we had one of those characters? It's an issue that has to be resolved.

So what's happening this summer? Why do our three primary big-money targets appear to be Allan, Doucouré, and Rodriguez, all ready-made players well into their late-twenties?

Now they're obviously good players, and they'll clearly improve our team, but they are the very definition of players signed with the next two games in mind.

It suggests that the power behind our transfer strategy has swung from Marcel Brands to Carlo Ancelotti, and that the priority has switched from long-term planning to short-term appeasement of the manager.

It's a mistake. And it's the type of mistake we've been making throughout the Moshiri years. For all his excellent work with Bramley-Moore Dock, he's consistently shown himself to be easily-influenced and starry-eyed when it comes to recruitment.

Various threads have suggested numerous positions to be sorted from the fool Pickford to the useless can't score Calvert-Lewin. Personally, I can see the point with Pickford; however, that's for another day.

Surely at goalie and defence we can cope? Thankfully, Kenny is back, we have 4 to cover at centre-half.

Calvert-Lewin will score if given some sort of service. Presently, our midfield are shite, can't defend, can't create; change that and we're away!

Then maybe Calvert-Lewin, Davies, Kean & Gordon plus a few from the academy. In the meantime we get the more experienced players in to keep us top half and make occasional forays into the Europa League.

There is no intention whatsoever of cracking the top 4 in the relative short term.

Only Ferguson and Wenger could plan long term after success enforced their status. Carlo, for all of his achievements, will still get the boot if we are in the bottom 3 at Christmas. There is the dichotomy.

The DOF can stick around whilst managers come and go but big name managers don't want their CVs littered with relegations and will expect to be backed. This is why we will have to back Carlo in the market.

Let's face it, without some decent new blood we will be in the relegation mix because this lot are sinking fast. We are also likely to see Richarlison and Digne agitating for moves if we look to tread water.

I would make Holgate Captain and put our efforts into getting Danny Ings and a midfielder.

Brands major signings overall have been poor have not collectively improved the team and only Digne and Richarlison would generate significant resale value. We seem to have a stream of young talent that gets moved on for a modest profit but that is the nature of football in general and no managed improvement on the past.

Brands's success was in Dutch football and were his knowledge of that market was successful for Feyenoord. The era of "Brown envelopes and sleeping on parents couch" style of recruitment seems to be generally over but I would imagine for a "top talent" you would still have to look after the whole of the family. It was always thus if you read about Kendall signing for Preston just become more international if signing top talent from other continents.

Also, the immigration process in Holland seems to be far less rigid than in the UK so Brands methods of recruitment he used at PSV might not be as viable. The contacts Brands has may not be well established for recruiting players to the UK. Therefore, if he was given the job with that being a consideration then would need more time.

The marquee signings have been poor under his tenure ship but I got the impression they were more the owner wanted to make a statement of intent and was probably listening to various people.

All facets of the club need to be working in the same direction for the same goal with reasonable time-based objectives that are known to the fans.

I believe most Evertonians would support that if it means securing our long term future with a brand new stadium and slowly building up a footballing 'philosophy' based on bringing in and developing youngsters, and the occasional 'star' signings.

I think Moshiri should get realistic with his expectations knowing the limitations of his own capacity to fund player purchases as well as investing in the stadium. No shame in admitting your limitations.

That's exactly what Ancelotti is thinking and what he would have made clear from the very first talk they had with them. I am sure he sought commitment from the Board on those areas from the start and has plenty of time to assess what he has and what he needs.

Early on he would have been highlighting to Board and Brands the areas that need to be addressed amongst the playing staff and discussed under the financial circumstances the feasibility of bringing in players.

That didn't work too well for Koeman with Niasse though did it...?

In other media sources, I have seen the focus to be on the salaries and expected salaries of those players on the move in either direction.

It's not long ago that decent players could be bought for £120,000 whilst these days even players we've never heard of expect that as a weekly income. Most of those we want rid of are on at least £50k a week but have been found to be of Championship standard at most but the pandemic has closed that market completely. Similarly in lower leagues abroad. Thus my guess is that many of our 'unwanted' will simply sit out their inflated contracts with only the occasional interruption of a guest appearance in the Under 23s to train for.

It's hard for some, ain't it?

Carlo has managed Everton in 21 games. 20 Premier League games and 'that' cup game. He has selected 21 different players in his starting XIs.

Only one player started all 21. Jordan Pickford.

Next best is Calvert-Lewin with 20. He was benched just once, in the final game of the season, giving his place up to Moise Kean.

You then have Richarlison on 19, Digne 18 and Holgate 16. The only reason this trio missed games was due to injury.

So that is just five players of the current squad who, I think it is fair to say, in the eyes of Carlo, if they are fit, they play.

I would add a sixth also: Andre Gomes. After his re-introduction at Arsenal, he was selected for 10 of 11 possible games. He missed a single game after limping off injured vs Southampton.

The other players selected to start and the number of appearances (an asterisk indicates they were not available for some games due to injury) is:

Sigurdsson 15
Keane 14
Coleman 13*
Davies 13
Mina 10*
Sidibe 10*
Walcott 10*
Iwobi 9*
Bernard 8
Delph 6*
Kean 4
Gordon 4
Baines 3
Branthwaite 2
Schneiderlin 2*

Sigurdsson appears to be an automatic starter also, but when Gomes became available the Portuguese was preferred 3 times over the Iceman in 11 games, with Siggy benched.

Initially, when all 3 centre-backs were fit, Mina and Holgate was Carlo's preferred pairing. After the restart, with injuries to both, Michael Keane stepped up and became a regular pick by default.

Three players from that list – Sidibe, Baines and Schneiderlin – have already left the club. Some appearance numbers suggest a reliable squad player. Others indicate Carlo remains unconvinced.

A very simple appraisal of the squad based on Carlo's starting selections only. But it possibly offers a wee insight of who he wishes to retain. Who he is happy to play, but would like upgrades on. Who he would happily sell on to generate monies for better.

Clubs live on the pretence of hopes, dreams and glory. Plays a big part in commercial revenues too.

But the reality is that signing a few players in their late 20s now and again is not going to get us in the mix for Champions League places. The richer teams' players are always going to be much better. We have a really good manager but you can't hand Jimmy Page a ukulele and expect him to blow you away.

How can the board trust Brands to spend more money? Ah, sorry... Brands is on the board, you could not make it up!!

There does appear to be more emphasis on youth in the 23 and under teams but at the moment Brands's major problem is trying to transfer some of the deadwood out without losing too much money.

Ancelotti as manager is well aware of what problems he has in the first team, the type of player he needs to bring in to strengthen the team. but both him and Brands realize the financial restraints they have to work with.

We will most probably start this season with some of the deadwood playing in the team, all though we may get a reasonable fee for them the clubs negotiating for them will refuse their wage demands. After a couple of years of instability, there seems to be more effort to take the club back to higher league positions with a chance of entering the European competitions.

Brands was supposed to have the reputation of finding hidden gems in young players, but at the moment we need players who will fit in right away. After that, he can continue to look at bringing down the average age of the first team.

As Director of Football, he is responsible for all players in the club but still has to find the type of player the manager wants, and then start the negotiating process. He like the manager is still trying to sort out previous managers' signings.

It seemed that for all his sins, he spent most of his 'dithering' assuring himself that they were the right character for the club. Overwhelmingly they were. I'm struggling to think of one player we currently have who has the temperament to fit into his side, Holgate, maybe.

As others noted, I imagined that Brands was going to bring in these hungry little bargains as he had at PSV. So far, they've been mostly expensive and not all that arsed.

I've no idea what value he adds to the boardroom but would things work better had he kept to his original remit?

Perhaps it is the skill of the musician that is more important than the instrument they play? A different Jimmy getting a Zeppelin tune out of a Ukulele - Just for fun!

Jimmy Ukulele

With Carlo's superior coaching and motivation, that squad should see us safely in the top ten.

I agree with you on Moyes.

He was dealing on a vastly different budget and for the most part he got value for money and players that performed to a high level over many seasons, not just fleetingly.

I've already shared it on another thread, but it's worth repeating here. How Moyes and his team went about identifying transfer targets. It really is a blueprint that many fair-minded Blues would nod their head in agreement with as a good way forward even today.

Inside Moyes's Bunker

How do we know that Brands is "subject to Moshiri's whims"? What whims? I would also point out that some of us were quite confident in Holgate's ability to step up and predicted that Zouma would never be missed (and IMO he wasn't).

But overall, a good wide perspective, enhanced by the posts from Erik and Tony and Trevor and Phill.

One theme of the posts seems to be the objective dichotomy between the objectives of Brands and Ancelotti -- building for the future, as Erik describes Brands doing at Ajax, or for the present. My take would be that it doesn't have to be either/or -- that current needs and the scanning for youth can both be met if the resources are made available. Good organizations do that.

As to whether Everton is a good organization... well, that's another question.

We've been signing too many players each summer, of which only one or 2 were ever an improvement on what we had.

I'd settle for a rock at CB and a proper replacement for Gueye, with a back-up LB. They should then breed a bit more confidence in Pickford and free up the more creative players to make us some more goals.

I'd much rather have small, incremental improvements, with a logical gameplan, than a revolving door of shite that we've been watching for 2 or 3 years now.

Sold for £250 million and they are still a better team than us.

That's how to do it, Mr Brands.

We should be looking for Leonidas Sergiu from St Gallen, a centre-back, Velijko Birmancevic (Curakicki) attacking mid, De Paula (Palmeiras) central mid, Vladislav Karapuzov (Dinamo Moscow) winger and I was impressed with an 18-year-old forward Tziolis from Paok who scores 2 for them in the Champions League.

I could give Brands a help on scouting lower leagues, but I won't be cheap though.

As for the recruitment of younger players, at U23s Brands does the recruitment.

Moyes made some great signings, from the lower leagues, but that's because Bill gave him a mickey mouse budget, and he always had to balance the books. If he had to be able to buy a quality striker, like Martinez did with Lukaku, we'd have moved to the next level; instead, Kenwright made him sell our prized asset, Rooney.

The irony was that Paul Gregg had a feud with Kenwright; he wanted to keep Rooney, and Kings Dock was on his agenda, but Bill got his way.

Even though Gregg's wife Anita lent Bill the £7M to buy his shares in the club, he ousted them, and brought in his merry men, Earl, Woods and Green; none of them spent a penny.

Bill sold any asset we had including Finch Farm, and rented it back. A true blue.

If you are going to praise him, why don't you acknowledge these faults?

If you have, I apologise.

I doubt any of them would be that interested but maybe, just maybe, a couple of them might think how lucky they are...

Got to disagree with you there. Kenwright enticed Moshiri and courted him to buy the club. Moshiri has the money, or rather, he had the money, until Kenwright persuaded him to buy the club. He most definitely should have looked after his saviour much better than he did. It was his moral duty to do so; he never did and helped, along with others, with bad advice to waste millions of his “friends” money.

He never wasted any of his own, in fact he banked all of the profits he made out of selling his shares to the man he should have looked after.

Bill and Moshiri are mates, the figures may be eye-watering from our perspective but it equates to a good friend helping his mate keep his collection intact, whilst simultaneously donating new items to enhance his enjoyment.

Mosh owns the train-set but he doesn't have to care about the details of it, his enjoyment comes from making an old friend happy. BTW can you donate some of your vast fortunes to help me in my quest to keep the local brewery afloat?

What 'advice' is this? Moshiri makes his own decisions on how to run the club, surely? Which is obviously his choice, he bought it. Maybe if he wasn't so trigger-happy and kept with a particular guy we might have actually started making progress by now though?

We have an ever-increasing squad assembled by numerous different managers, each with their own philosophies and styles. We have lots of players stuck on the periphery that we can't shift and no-one wants to play because they're not their player and don't fit their ideals. The situation is absurd.

I didn't like, for example, Ronald Koeman. But, he was sacked after a crazy run of tough fixtures at the start of his second season in charge. This, while trying to get over the loss of Lukaku and integrate numerous new players in an attempt to get around the loss of what Romelu brought to the team. Would we be in a worse position currently had we kept him? Or any other manager that has been sacked after a disappointing run of results?

He (Moshiri) seems to think he can just keep rolling the dice and eventually we will win the league and it isn't working for him. Say what you like about Kenwright. But we were in a prettier position when he was in charge. Bailed out by Moyes? Or manipulated Moyes for his own benefit superbly. Or a bit of both. Who knows. But he made a better fist of things than Moshiri has in his 4½ years in charge.

Just had a text to say Ancellotti went to Moshiri to get Rodriguez, because Brands was having none of it.

Don't know how true this is, but the text says Moshiri is going to get Carlo his player, so I won't have to wait long to see if there is any truth in this rumour.

As I recall, he made more than the average mistake in the last 12 games.

Here's to hoping and good news soon in the transfer market for EFC.

Off the top of my head Bolasie, Coleman, McCarthy, Gomes, Gbamin, Tosun... I'm sure I might have missed a couple too. That's over £100 million of expenditure either devalued on resale and diminished talent from what they previously were.

I get most weren't worth the fees anyway but it has not helped the current situation. All teams get injuries but we seem to have had more than a fair share in the last 3 or 4 years. We seem cursed with new signings at times.

The issue for me is that we have a load of players that were bought for certain managers that now don't fit the current one. We are completely unbalanced.

There's no doubt some poor players have been bought, and Brands has a level of responsibility with that, but, for me, Mina would look good with a pacy centre-back to compliment him, Gomes looked great with a solid defensive midfielder next to him, Iwobi at his best for Nigeria is a number 10 and I still believe he was brought in to be Sigurdsson's successor and now we don't play with a Number 10.

The constant change of managers is our biggest issue as when you bring another one in who plays a different style and different formation, a lot of the squad become useless. If Ancelotti is here for the long haul, I suspect given a few years we will be up there.

I agree with your comments about Allardyce and the signings of Walcott and Tosun. People have forgotten what a mess the squad was in that season. Having lost and not replaced Lukaku the previous summer, we were desperate to strengthen in attack. We signed the two best players available, albeit at typically inflated January prices.

Walcott scored two on his debut to beat Leicester while Tosun contributed several vital goals. Ultimately we finished 8th, a position which the present squad looks incapable of matching without the midfield reinforcements we so urgently require.

You thought Koeman was harshly sacked? He spent big money on Bolasie and Schneiderlin, who played for him at Southampton, and flopped at Man Utd. But, for me, buying Sigurdsson for £45M, Klaassen £26M and Rooney, 3 No 10s, and not buying a striker to replace Lukaku, who had scored 30 goals the previous season, was absolutely senseless. We lost 5-2 at home to Arsenal, 18th in the table, players playing out of position, and using Barkley as the scapegoat, had to go.

As for being in a prettier position under Kenwright? Our club was on its knees, he and the board had our finances in dire straits, sold Rooney to keep us afloat, and in the dying minutes of the transfer window, sold Arteta to Arsenal, for £8M, giving Moyes no time to replace him; he never saw the £8M. Our good position was down to Moyes, not Bill.

I'm looking forward to the great attacking football we can soon enjoy being played by Everton very soon.

As the musketeers say, All for one and one more fall, or something. Sounds very Everton to me.

Just one Carlo, given to us, delicious football from Italy, dreamy dribbler and we score a screamer, given me Carlo to make us believe!

That would be worrying. Either we have a strategy for recruiting players and make this club great again or we are going to make the same mistakes again with Ancelotti. See my post at #10.

Buying individual stars who don't fit into teams at Champions League clubs is a dangerous strategy. Although individually talented, the pertinent question is, are they team players? What influence do they have in the dressing room? Do they have a driving ambition to win every game? Or is it just a well paid job where all they have to do is turn in a performance now and again to keep the masses at bay?

I believe we have too many of these type of players on our books. Rodriguez needs to be assessed on the above terms, not just on talent alone, and it would worry me if Carlo and Marcel we not on same page.

Still, some spots never change, if rumours are to be believed, as it is reported he's told Suarez he needs to find another club and apparently Messi wants out as well. And he's barely been manager there a week. I wonder if they count the lockers at Barca?

Aarons
Sarr
Brooks
Watkins
Benrahma
Eze

To name a few.

I remember that rumour. He probably thought that the money Everton got would enable him to change things further. At Barcelona, he is already pursuing the same policy. I have sympathy with Barca fans. Koeman could do a lot of damage to their Club. Obviously there are problems deeper within the Club, when it is thought Koeman is a solution.

Paul #84,

They are not actually.

I don't want Rodriguez personally but I do think the manager should pick his own players whilst the DoF should be trying to shift the deadwood and then go about restructuring the whole club; otherwise, I see absolutely no point in even having a manager.

Silva never got his centre-half and sulked like a child, and we paid way over the odds for Sigurdsson because Koeman wanted him, which shows how difficult a job it is for the man who is supposedly in charge of signing the players.

The advice should have been to get, Koeman, Walsh, Moshiri and himself (Kenwright) together to sort the transfer system out, instead of all working separately on bringing their own players in, which seemed to be the case. To urge him to use caution with his money instead of just giving it to whoever asked.

In other words to run the business like he ran his theatrical business, which made him a millionaire by being very frugal with the money he spent on it, he was a very careful Christian with his own cash, the very opposite of what he did with “his friend's”.

Yeh, right, Kenwright took the club that was £20M in the black, owned their own ground, training ground when he took over, to being £M's in debt, two training grounds sold, presently leasing one and Goodison mortgaged to an inch of its life.

Mr Moshiri wiped out all the debts created by Kenwright, put millions into his bank account and, got to admit, very foolishly left him in charge of the club, which he was when Moshiri took over. I don't know what the situation is now. Hopefully Kenwright's days are over at Everton, doubt it though.

Now I am not suggesting that Moshiri has reached that point, but everybody has a limit to how much they are prepared to waste before calling it a day.

I think appointing Ancelotti and overseeing the building of a new stadium are still making Moshiri think this club is still worth investing in. Certainly with a new stadium the prospect of selling the club becomes much more appealing to buyers.

But I think should either Ancelotti decide its time to go or there becomes a big delay to building the new stadium, I could definitely see a scenario were Moshiri decides enough is enough.

I think we have to be realistic we arent a global brand like Man Utd or our neighbours or have a high profile like Man City, Chelsea or Arsenal. We are a mid-table team who haven't won a trophy for decades, so I don't think there would be a long queue of buyers.

I really think we can win something this year if these players come in and Carlo works some magic.

I know, but you have got to have dreams when you support our club – it's what keeps us going.

COYB

My understanding is that Kenwright has been stripped of all responsibilities. He was in charge of transfer negotiations but after an opening bid of £27M for Siggy he managed to negotiate the fee up to £45M. Didn't go down well apparently.

At an AGM around that time, he described Moshiri as the man who keeps giving. He was quite happy spending Moshiri's money, but he has seen through him now. He is still on the board though.

I hope you are right, that Kenwright has little power now, he certainly has had little to say the last couple of years. Mind you, he never spoke when things were grim, but couldn't keep his mouth shut and was never out of sight, when we had some good moments.

I think you are almost describing Man City there. I think of the money they spent, the managers and finally owners before they got it right. The difference is they slowly but surely got decent players in for their managers to work with whereas we've got managers in to work with the crap we brought in.

I fully understand Brands reluctance to buy overage overpriced players with little if any resale value but now and again, like Man City and others, sometimes you have to bite the bullet and get someone in who will take you up a bit.

Wouldn't want Carlo and Marcel dancing out of step. Let's hope we get some hungry passionate midfield dynamos who can drive the team forward at pace instead of our current lethargic lot.

Half way through the Sigurdsson negotiations, when the price was up to £35M and with Koeman pushing for him, Kenwright announced “We will be buying Sigurdsson but we just have to be patient.” Couldn't believe it. A completely different approach to before Moshiri.

Him, Allan and Doucouré, happy days!

Alan 87. I was talking about replacing the goals that Lukaku provided and arguably the assists through keeping a defence fixated upon keeping him quiet and the opportunities this would create for others. I was not talking about overcoming any psychological problems caused by him leaving. I doubt Koeman gave a toss about this.

Dave 92 and 93. Who is responsible for how a club operates if not the owner?

We're still in debt. We now owe the money to Moshiri instead. That's all. We also have a massive wage bill, way in excess of what we can reasonably afford. We're stuck with players from previous manager's projects that we cant get rid of as nobody will match their current earnings. We've wasted 100's of millions of pounds in transfer fees and sold our best players, replacing them poorly in the process. Some improvement.

The actual Wages % according to Everton's Statement for Accounts for 2019 and 2018 is 73% and 71% respectfully. There are two adjustments made, prorata cost like for like in a 12-month period and for outsourcing of retail and catering services. In the Statement of accounts for 2012 and 2011 the wages % was 68% and 61% respectfully. Retail and Catering Services where in house and therefore no adjustment was necessary. In the 2019 Statement, there is a commitment to reduce the Wages %.

In 2019 accounts, Everton made an operating loss £29 million and in 2018 £22million. These can be adjusted for Stadium costs of £7 million in 2019 and £12 million in 2018. In addition in the 2018 there is an additional cost of £14 million to pay off Koeman, Big Sam and Walsh. This compares with a £6 million loss in 2012 and in 2011 £19million loss. No adjustments necessary.

Borrowing in 2019 consisted of a loan taken out on 31/8/18 for £36, 644, 000 secured on Guaranteed recoverable at 3. 5% and a loan taken out on the 31/5/2018 for £43 million guaranteed Premier League Broadcast revenues at 3. 5%.

Borrowings in 2012 where £23, 993, 000 at 7. 79% over 25 years. The original loan was taken out in 2002 secured on future ticket sales and a further £14 million at 8. 9% which appears to be interest only since it is £14 million in 2011 with no reduction of capital in the intervening years.

There are two adjustments to be made for comparison: inflation and the cost of interest on the loans which is approximately half of what it was between the comparative accounting periods. Also, the additional sponsorship of Finch Farm and Stadium rights purchase further boosts the Club Finances going forward from 2019.

I have not compared leasing arrangements, because of lack of information available and the fact I am not familiar or experienced in accounting for such finance.

I would also refer you to Paul the Esk's Finance and Accounting for Transfers article from 4/8/20 which explains how transfer fees are paid over an incoming player's contract, not up front as I, like you, also thought was the case. As the article explains, amortization is significant in player valuation.

Rather than going into Accounting details in layman's terms, the comparisons show that, in the Kenwright ownership era, Wages % was continually high, with no commitment to reduce. Brands is working to reduce wages %, backed by a continuing Board commitment to do so, for reasons we are well aware of.

In Finances, the borrowings are now committed to progressing the Club forward and are negotiated in terms of a Club going forward with the benefits of a Stadium Development which I am sure will be well and appropriately financed, as opposed to the Kenwright ownership era of standing still and reliance on selling players to support the high and costly borrowing. Moshiri has a future, Kenwright was running out of road and had to sell. It did occur to me during this analysis that Moyes had seen the writing on the wall. Prior to 2011, there are year-on-year losses in the accounts.

I did the comparison 5 years apart, since I felt the Accounts closer to the takeover, would be dressed to shop window a For Sale Everton.

I must admit this is the first time I actually looked at the Accounts myself, relying on Paul the Esk's excellent analyse. But it does confirm the feeling I had regarding Everton's current Finances from my own experiences. Kenwright, the luvie that he is, was giving the correct vibes regarding the state of Everton's Finance, during his ownership.

One further point is Commercial operating are performing poorly in both account comparative years, with USM shoring up the difference in where they should be.

Must. Try. To. Stay. Patient...

Mr Moshiri has about another 15 years to get the club out of the mess your boy created. The debt is now free of the rates of interest your boy created, no lies are coming out of where we stand, unlike the loads told by your boy.

If you like Kenwright and think he did a good job, you're welcome to him. I'll stay with Moshiri providing he changes the boardroom and gets people in who will help him rather than hinder and take advantage of him.

Where are the signings?
Where are the sales/cancellations of contracts?

It seems to me we have a manager who wants to bring in Champions League level players, but we're not in that competition.

The exciting players brought in by Chelsea are primarily to do with Champions League football being on the table – of course, the spousal attraction to London living and the massive wages are a bonus. You also can't dismiss Lampard's attacking style being attractive to ambitious, stylish footballers.

Our manager has only been successful managing superstar players, but these type of players aren't interested in coming to a club who has not won the League in 33 years and has never taken part in the Champions League.

The idea of getting someone like Brands was to build a team of youngish players around a Coach who could improve them. The only factor we need to consider when assessing will Ancelotti be successful is, can he bring in already-made superstar level Champions League footballers? The answer is. no he can't.

The fact that he wants to sign Rodriguez again, seems to me to be a wild lack of imagination, and makes me trust him less. He's played 89 games in 5 years, and not really kicked on to become the superstar people thought he could be, but I'm sure we'll rejuvenate his career and he'll be back to his World Cup best.

Look at it this way, if this does happen, do we want the chance of getting in the Champions League even just once while Carlo is here for the next few years, or go maybe another decade without hearing the most famous music in football and our team going out to it? Watching other teams who we can be above having a go in the Champions League?

Of course, it's a no-brainer, and I think that's why we are going for these rather than some 20-year-old unproven world-beater – physically, mentally, game-management wise, football intelligence-wise and so on.

We don't have to worry about their ages as they are world-class players for another 3 years, and then good Premier League players thereafter when they physically drop off.

A nice complement to a youngish Everton squad.

We've nearly had the Red side when we came out of lockdown barring a post preventing a winning goal, we did Leicester at home, and got some away wins last season when Carlo came in. The first eleven has shown it can do some good things in matches, at times.

The chance to see Everton and hear the Champions League music together within the next 3 years is doable, now is our chance to try for it. Think how exciting that situation is!

If bringing in older world class players doesn't work out, don't worry as we keep on bringing young players into the u23s or first team anyway, and always have plenty of new players to develop and sell on if need to, to raise more cash. This won't ever stop I believe as financially it's proven to work for us for such a long time.

We've tried potential for decades, and haven't won anything during this drought. So now it's time to mix it up a bit.

Why not, hey?

I can borrow at 4. 5% today, so Everton's current interest rates are more in line with what I would expect at 3. 5%. No wonder there was no money available for development of facilities or team development. Kenwright really did saddle Everton with unfavourable borrowing terms and conditions.

The Bank or Finance House must in their analysis must have thrown up risks and Credit Agency data was not favourable, including Kenwright's other operations. On top of that, the terms of payment back are quite stringent, where details are given on the first loan.

Christy @#68, behind the scenes insight is a good explanation of what was going on and very probable when you look closely at the borrowings of that time.

If I was Moshiri, I would think it okay to keep Kenwright on to bullshit governing bodies, but I wouldn't let him near Finances and negotiations. He isn't doing anything on the commercial side.