Succession Planning

The contrast with the neighbours losing and replacing St John, Hunt, Keegan, Rush, Souness, Dalglish, Owen, Torres, Suarez etc is marked yet bizarrely some still wonder how they rattle up silverware even in their "lean" years.

Too much head in the sand sentimentality and lack of dynamism about this club which judging by the money wasted under Mosh doesn't look like changing.

But we plod on in delusional hope because that's all there is

“This” club? Stretching it a bit, perhaps.

No idea what you're talking about and neither do you it seems as you are quoting a phrase of your own making.

I agree with Barry. I think he is right to point at previous history, and then express concern over the chances of success in a £250 million spending spree, if I'm honest.

The past is the past and we can only look forward. We could point to obvious events as to why we didn't build on the 80s team. I think it affected us more than others but ultimately others did overcome the same situation. It doesn't get away from the valid point about poor leadership. Dr David Marsh?

All speculation but I like that team Robert. And that on paper, having Davies, Gomes and Sigurdsson in reserve is not a bad look to a midfield. I still feel there's a need for a winger / wide forward player given we know we won't get a full season out of James Rodriguez.

But yes, forward-thinking and adding depth to the squad are key to the summer.

Unfortunately, Rodriguez may not play more than about 25 more games for the club before his scheduled departure at the end of 21/22 season. Then what?

As well as this succession planning I want to see from now on a shift in the type of player we buy.

The Premier League is a dynamic place, times they are a-changing, and changing fast. It's no longer good enough to have a player just with good technical ability. Unless a new player can bring physicality, mobility and intensity to the game, all is lost.

Teams like Leeds, even Fulham and West Bromwich are like coiled springs on the pitch this season. Because of our sluggishness and lower levels of intensity, we can be negated far too easily by these teams. Even though we are arguably much better technically.

If the natural progression doesn't recognise this as an equal necessity to the technical ability of a new signing then we will continue to tread water and even begin struggle again.

New signings have to compete with the new “5G” era Premier League (for want of a better term). Technically great but slow (in comparison to our competitors) and ponderous will never gain be good enough.

I know many have also advocated keeping Moise Kean. I see it this way, the guy obviously has talent and an eye for goal, but clearly did NOT want to be here for whatever reason. So there's no point in having ANY player who does NOT want to play for us, and equally we DON'T want players just coming for the money, or an early easy retirement scheme/final pay off.

Maybe I'm wrong again, but it seems to be a 'given' that we will get Max Aarons, I know he has been courted by the top Clubs and a hefty fee attached to any potential move. Although we desperately need to find a quality successor to Seamus whose games and appearances are limited now, so can't see that improving next season as he will be another year older.

Since the 'link' to Max Aarons stretching back a while I have made a point in watching Norwich games wherever possible, and he hasn't really stood out for me. Maybe I have been unlucky, not unusual, ask Camelot they have made a fortune out of me, and the likes with very little coming the other way.

The point I'm trying to make is Aarons fee has mushroomed because of all the hype and interest in him, but surely with a bit of scouting and ingenuity there must be someone out there equally good, or possibly better, for a fraction of the fee.

Again I will probably invoke controversy, but I would move on or listen to offers for Holgate, Gomes, Delph, Bernard, and the usual suspects Walcott, Bolasie et al, whose contracts are up this summer anyway. There is also a rumour circulating (initiated no doubt by journos) that Mina is being eyed by AC/Inter Milan and Fiorentina, and allegedly he is keen to go. Read into that what you will, but I always, rightly or wrongly, work on the premise the there is 'no smoke without fire'!

I'm sure a fair few departures will also take place, as well as the usual departures at the younger levels.

Luckily FFP rules are a bit more relaxed.

What's happening with Brands contract, which has gone very quiet, unless I've missed something?

We also get linked with Emerson, the Betis right back but he'd probably be more than £20m.

If we put up with Keane and Sigurdsson in the first team next year we could probably afford to buy Aarons and, say, Bailey and Sarr. I dare say that sort of pace and attacking threat would have made the games against Fulham, Burnley, Newcastle and Palace look quite different. It would also mean we don't lose 3/4 of our goals when Rodriguez, Sigurdsson and quite likely Richarlison leave at the end of next season.

Monday showed we are desperate for a striker who has more to his game than Calvert-Lewin and that player won't come cheaply.

A right full back and right sided attacker are also bigger priorities than a centre half right now.

Robert, Andrew, your points echo my sentiments too. The focus and priorities have to be more pace threat and goals up front, Sarr, Bailey, yes please. I equally if not more a driving force from midfield. A player to bring intensity and help set the tempo. There's some of us that will start sounding very repetitive about this, but so what, we need that midfielder. If somehow we can replace Gomes, Sigurdsson and Delph with Buendia it would still cost us in fees but would save in wages. It would give us extra in an attacking midfield sense whilst retaining good tenacity.

Right back is an important position to get right, but it is in third place of budgetary priority. There's options out there for Brands to assess. I'm not sure how much Dagba or Celik would cost but they need to have a good look at whether they can do a deal. Especially with Kean wanting to go to PSG, Dagba could be part of that deal if he was interested in coming here.

Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison would both have had more bench time this season if we had adequate depth in the squad.

A really interesting post, but I don't think you can compare normal businesses to football as there are more variables to consider. Although players sign 3/4 year deals that is only to secure their future, and whatever happens that guarantees that is the minimum they will earn x amount over the period of the contract. Now if he or the team are successful then the club after 18 months to 2 years will offer to increase his salary. Players now have all the power since the Bosman ruling, what was originally brought in to stop clubs holding players registrations even though never playing them, has now in my opinion swung far to much in the players favour.

Most of the money that clubs generate in gate receipts and sponsorship deals, about 75% of that money goes straight into the players bank account, now I cant think of another business were the employees pay makes up 75% of a Companies turnover. When you look at Everton in particular the share that is paid to players as against turnover is in excess of 85% completely unsustainable for a mid table team. Given the money that has been spent since Usmanov/ Moshiri took over, I can only assume that the reason for this massive investment is the payback they will be able to get once BMD is built.

Now even allowing for the relaxation in the FFP rules, they havent been totally removed so we will be governed by what we can spend come the summer. The problem is that apart from Moise Kean, many others are either coming to the end of their contracts so we will get nothing from any of the transfers. Then the players we will look to offload who arent currently out of contract this summer, are on astronomical wages that other clubs just wont pay. So whats the incentive for players to move, I suspect that Bernard will end up leaving but instead of us getting in the region of the £10 million we would have got had he moved in Jan it was decided he would wait till he could get more for himself and the club a lot less by waiting till the summer. Very similar to what hapened to barkley while having a medical at Chelsea he suddenly decides he is not ready and would delay the move, again anybody would have to be naive to believe that this wasn't an arrangement with Chelsea were he would get a significantly higher signing on fee and Everton would lose millions by this delay.

So while Everton on the whole pay top 6 salaries to players who wouldnt get into a top 6 side, then trying to plan for the future is nigh impossible, unless we stop paying average players silly money. That's why when we have sent established players on loan the clubs they get loaned to after seeing them close up decide no thanks. I see even Besiktas are now looking at other alternatives to Tosun and have little or no intention of signing him once the season finishes. So he will quite happily come back and sit at home every match day till his contract runs out.

I agree with planning ahead but the big factor in any top players mind is "Are they CL ?".

That will regrettably preclude us from a number of top signings so we only have the "Ancelotti factor" to attract quality players and they are likely to be those with potential(sometimes never realised) and those at the twilight of their career and on the way out.

I think Derek makes a very good point too about the difference in thinking amongst the decision makers.

When people say well its difficult to produce young players on a regular basis, well the team at the other end of the East Lancs doesn't seem to have a problem producing youngsters for their first team. And lets remember their youngsters are having to get into a side that regularly competes at the top end of the league. Whereas we cant even produce youngsters to get into a mid table side. Despite the money that Usmanov/Moshiri have pumped in we are unlikely to attract the very best players, so maybe we need to look at what Dortmund and leipzig have done. they realize they cant compete against the top European clubs for players, so they scout the best youngsters around. Now they are well aware that at some point their very best youngsters, like Haarland and Bellingham will move to top European sides. But they will be sold for 10 times what was paid for them and in the meantime they are building the clubs profile and adding massively to their finances.

So maybe we need to accept that in the next few years a lot of money will be needed to be invested in the new stadium. Which will inhibit our spending in the market. Now I don't know whether Carlo is prepared to wait around if he is being asked to work under severe financial restrictions, and it would be sad to lose him. But this club has to change drastically if we are ever to compete against the big boys, we certainly cant out spend them so surely we have to attack it from a different prospective of buying average players and giving them top 6 money. As we have found to our cost doing this hasnt improved the club despite the money that has been spent.

Ings
Aarons
Matty Cash
Baldock
Andersen (Fulham)
Winks
O'Neill (Burnley)