Sleepwalking to Disaster, Part II — The Enigma of Brands

I believe he will sacrifice Brands and make him the scapegoat for all the club's ills.

Sacking Benitez is both expensive and humiliating for him. Searching for an alternative is both tiring and time consuming. Getting rid of Brands is much simpler.

Not sure he would come now but I would go all out for him. We have 2 points from 24 so, unless we get a win soon, things have to change.

Indeed in some ways, King and Rondon is the very crux of the matter. Did Brands bring King in, and then Benitez insisted on his own version of the same player as the rumour mill maintains?

Even discounting his absurd hat trick against us, King has two goals and two assists in the league for Watford. Quite simply, if we're going to operate on the margins as it were we can't afford to make personnel mistakes like this.

The looming emergency board meeting will be very interesting. It's my hunch this meeting is to decide exclusively if we're moving forward with Brands or moving forward with Benitez - I don't think peaceful co-existence is an option.
Interesting times indeed.

If you are going to have a DoF, then you have to let them do their job. Otherwise don't have it.

It will be an interesting week or so to see if he remains.

Behind the scenes is he laying the longer term foundations? Sorting the academy out? Ridding us of deadwood (40 down to 27 squad players)? Getting turbulent before it gets better in the long run?

Or do we just sack him and carry on as normal? And as normal as Everton have been for the past 6 or 7 seasons?

More questions than answers there.

Delete Brands insert someone else (e.g. Rangnick). If you employ a DoF model, let them do their job. Or don't employ one.

But, on the flip side, being an average player doesn't automatically make you a great coach either!!

Now, I'm an Evertonian of the 90s. I was a season ticket holder during the Dogs of War days when I was 13/14 years old. Meaning, I have a lot of affection for the players of that era but what have they ever actually achieved in the game as players and now coaches? One FA Cup win between them!!

I understand we have bigger problems at the min, but this has been bothering me for a while now. We bring in staff who couldn't do it themselves then ask them to teach youngsters how to be successful along with employing people like Jeffers as "finishing coach"...a man who never hit double figures in a single season!!!

It's just baffling. Anyway, with regard to Brands, if Benitez is in charge of transfers then Marcel should be charged with bringing in the best youth coaches he can find from around the world. At least that would be something.

As long as they never played for Everton.

Making the Academy and Development teams use the same formations and tactics as the first team should be a given. Don Revie was doing that with Leeds in the sixties.

Our problem is that such a rapid turnover of first-team managers, each bringing their own ideas and coaching staff, has made it virtually impossible to embed a playing philosophy and system throughout the club. Stopping the revolving door will help in that respect.

Yes, the last few windows have been more sensible but spending £50M on Iwobi and Gomes was borderline criminal, as was the lack of a new right-back over the last few years. Especially with the likes of Coufal, Livramento and Lamptey going cheap.

Brands should be implementing a recognisable style and ethos at this club but instead, we have lurched from young attacking, pressing coaches to defense-minded pragmatists to counter-attacking managers, with each manager allowed to buy a hodge-podge of former allies to suit his style.

This is why the squad is so unbalanced and incohesive. There is no consistency, no identity, no apparent plan. That falls on Brands.

On Everton staff information, Brands as Director of Football worked with the Manager, Chairman and Chief Executive on acquiring players. The Head of Football operations was added to this list with involvement in negotiations and contracts, later becoming Director of Football Operations.

On player recruitment, he worked with Chief UK Scout, Marytn, and Chief European Scout, Stiensson. The latter he had worked with when Stiensson was a footballer at AV in Holland with Brands. When Marytn left, Stiensson became Head of Recruitment and Development.

Brands promoted Waldron from Academy Coordinator to Head of the Academy, after Waldron's dad got the sack. Waldron made way for Unsworth to double-job (another supposedly Brands decision) by becoming Chief Operating Officer for the Academy, but in October, he became Head of Academy Recruitment, reporting to Steinsson, Head of Recruitment and Development.

In summary, it looks like musical chairs for promotion and makes Brands look largely ineffective in achieving anything. No wonder Brands is an enigma, because he is probably not clear what his role is and, as Lyndon has indicated, it is near impossible to work out. Paul the Esk threw the kitchen sink at it trying to define a role which would have been impossible to do.

I will be kind to Brands by defining his role as a Board Director, who other Directors think is wonderful, who delegates most of his Director of Football responsibilities to people who then do what they like. He also has the remit from Moshiri to reduce wages but has to work within FFP rules in setting transfer budgets, which are targeted according to Moshiri.

He also found a role for Baines on his retirement, as Professional Development coach, according to the Chief Executive. Baines has recently been promoted on a temporary basis in October, as Under-18 Assistant Manager, probably with more wages.

Benitez, of course, didn't arrive until later, so there is no connection with Rondon, really. By the time he signed, King was already with Watford.

For some, that probably puts him in an even more negative light, as it would seem to suggest he's content to draw a fat wage while being sidelined and undercut at his job. Either way, it's clearly a frustrating and less-than-optimal situation.

"We should have gone in for Graham Potter instead of Benitez...."

Who's to say we didn't? Who's to say we didn't make the approach? Who's to say we could have afforded to buy him out of Brighton? Especially because buying other clubs' managers has worked out so well in the past?

Brighton is now ahead of us in the table. Do you have any idea how much money (which we don't have) it would take to buy him now, even if he were interested (which he wouldn't be)?

Sorry, mate. If you want to sack Rafa, you have your choice of the unemployed as replacements -- Lampard, Favre, Valverde, Villas-Boas, Pirlo, Fonseca, Pulis, Rudi Garcia, even Zidane. But we're not buying currently employed gaffers. We don't have the cash.

Point taken! Our formation and tactics have mirrored our manager and player recruitment, very much of the scattergun variety.

As an example, Koeman talked about deploying a pressing style but signed players totally unsuited to do that.

I am struggling to think of anything that could be classed as good news about our beloved club.

There is of course the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, which we don't want to be baptised as a Championship ground.

Everton – a Marx Brothers script with the undertones of a Shakespearian tragedy.

Has given me food for thought on my previous "insight" into the workings of our failing football club.

Thanks everyone.

David Unsworth moved from being merely the U23s Manager to Director of Academy (or whatever the title is). 1 year later, we see a transformation in terms of the age of players playing for the U23s.

We all assume it's Brands doing this but, when Unsworth stops being given the players to work with and starts to oversee the whole process, significant changes can be seen.

Brands or Unsworth?

I assume you mean having a laugh that Potter would come anywhere near us at the moment? He'd be brilliant, I wanted him when we got Ancelotti and I wanted him again in the summer.

His teams play good, progressive football, he improves players he has, and he plays young players. I honestly don't know why anyone wouldn't want him – aside from some sort of weird arrogance that we shouldn't be coveting someone managing Brighton.

Problem is, I really don't see why he'd come to us at the moment.

Anyway, Brands. I agree with everyone saying if you have a DoF, you have to let him do the job – otherwise, what's the point?

I guess we'll never know but my feeling is the big money signings haven't really been his and most of the stuff he's done has actually been alright... plus he's clearly trying to restructure the Academy but probably getting pushback. I'd back him and get rid of anyone in his way – but we know that won't happen.

Despite the dire situation we are currently in, I still believe significant improvements can be attained with the addition of one or two astute signings in January, even if they are on a loan basis.

Let's face it, our image right now is pretty toxic, and the DoF has his work cut out to persuade top European players to come to the club, even those we are strongly linked with (Diaz, Gabriel, Stefanovic) always seem to opt to either go to the likes of Spurs or Arsenal, or stay put in their comfort zone.

In other words, we are not, at this time, a “go-to” club, and I think the best we can hope for is to look at short-term fixes with loans until our own burden of deadwood see out their contracts, and we can move on.

This is the problem with the DoF model – the manager wants his own players because it's his neck on the line if things go wrong. The DoF is looking long-term… and philosophies clash as a result.

We can of course only guess and surmise based on what we see and what little we hear (surely there is someone on ToffeeWeb in the know on this??) but I suspect Brands has been overruled by Moshiri (eg, Iwobi and maybe Walcott) and Ancelotti (eg, James and Allan).

The guy tasked with keeping us out of trouble as far as FFP etc is concerned is the first who should be sacked, if he hasn't already gone, because he appears to have been guilty of dereliction of duty – unless of course he has been overruled as well!!

Unsworth is Director of the Academy and Manager of the Under-23s.

Double-jobbing.

He comes across as a very intelligent, grounded man with clear and (to me) sensible and realistic views on coaching and managing in the Premier League.

He is seems to be attempting to build a team and club at Brighton with a clear footballing identity and create an environment in which his players can improve and flourish.

I could see him at Everton working with Brands (as a proper DoF) on a longer-term team-building "project". However, I see little prospect of him being tempted to the shitshow that is currently Everton, with or without Brands. Unfortunately.

Nobody knows the full story but, to me, Brands cuts a frustrated figure; I think he has been in a straight-jacket virtually the whole time he has been at Everton.

Part of the dysfunctional mess with the club is down to the fact that Moshiri has little or no understanding of football and is ultimately calling the biggest shots. Brands should have always been left to the final decision, not an accountant.

The managerial appointments have just not been entirely compatible with the DoF model or even possibly initiated by Brands. Moshiri's intentions have been honest and admirable but there's a certain naivety in his misplaced decisiveness with regards how things will work in practice.

Along with the manager, I've got serious misgivings about Brands; at the same time, there is plenty of mitigation for both their situations.

With regards to Brands, though, it could be construed that he is weak for not putting his job on the line when he didn't like what the owner was forcing through, ie, Iwobi? Ancelotti?? Benitez??? Why not be strong and make a stand against it, rather than be a weak bystander waiting for the next paycheck to land in the HSBC account.

However, it's got to the stage now where one or the other has to go if there is no meaningful reconciliation.

It's possible the weaker Brands will fall into line, behind Benitez, with a different, hopefully clearer, remit. Either that or he will get a ‘Thank You and Goodbye' text from Moshiri, or will be glad to be out of it.

By the way, why is Bill Kenwright still at the club as Chairman? The immovable constant in decades of nothingness.

The club has to move on from his barren era.

For years, we have just employed managers ad hoc, no continuity or consistency. Coleman has played football under 7 different managers.

Your penultimate paragraph sums it up – why indeed? The club has been razed by Kenwright and his continuing presence and method of running the club are continuing the spiral down.

Brands has been a significant disappointment to me – he just does not seem to be his own man. He has failed in his duties as a DoF as a result.

He should have grown a backbone and stood up for himself, and if not, like all men, decide if he wants to be part of this dysfunctional management or not. He seems to want it all ways at the moment.

Given he has a voice at the management table as well, it makes his conduct all the more reprehensible to me and, all in all, he has a significant credibility gap.

This "they get Everton" shite is why we aren't professional since the 80s... Our DNA is that of losers apart from a single FA Cup win in 1995.

Bring in coaches with a winning mentality. Only then can we move forward. Also tell Rafa it's Top 10 or you're gone at the end of the season. 2022-23 season, his target is Europe, then in the new stadium season: Top 4. Clearly defined expectations.

I think that is ultimately the fate of Everton now. Fighting against relegation is the only game Everton will be engaged in for the foreseeable future. We don't have money to buy better players or a better manager without selling the good players, i.e. Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin, Pickford and maybe Mina.

As the article itself acknowledges, much is speculation and guesswork, but what is clear is that there have been far too many different fingers stuck in the pie when it comes to recruitment and contractual negotiations.

I am convinced of one thing though, and it is that getting rid of Kenwright, not Brands, would be the first step towards moving the club forward. Additionally, Moshiri should stick to what he's good at and leave all football-related matters to someone who knows what they are doing.

However, I am not convinced that sacking Brands and giving Benitez absolute power over all recruitment is an answer, unless you believe that having more like Rondon is a solution.

The model of recruiting young ambitious players with a sell-on value* should have been adhered to and wasn't, which is what has got us into this awful mess.

[* Iwobi excepted.]

A record I would guess, that stat.

He'd be a good one to take the reins if we had a manager (like Koeman – hardy har) who laid the groundwork for success, then departed for greener pastures.

However, that's the first snag: Brands keeps seeing managers come and go, so that, when asked by the first manager for, say a defensive central midfielder and he recruits him, usually on quite a long contract. Six months later and that player may be redundant to the formation and tactics of the next manager. And so it goes on.

Brands seems to have recruited quite a few turkeys, but I'm not sure what each manager asked him to find... and there's the rub. If, however, Brands recruits in collaboration with the board or certain members of the board, then it is a recipe for disaster. Do we actually know how things work behind the scenes at Goodison Park?

There seem to be certain players whom Brands has not recruited (Iwobi and Rondon are two obvious examples). And if this is so, then there is a huge schism in the way that Everton is run.

I've no idea really how good Brands is, but we seem to have paid over the odds for very average players: Tosun, Gbamin instantly spring to mind. Is it Brands or the manager who is signing these players?

How successful are the youth policies of many teams? Till Alexander-Arnold broke through across the park, who had emerged from the Anfield academy since Carragher and Gerrard 20 years ago?

I'm not giving any answers, but reiterating the points about the chaotic nature of the way this once-great club has been run since the 1980s.

I tend to feel that the best managers ought to be in control and the Brands role ought to be as an assistant, but the roles and needs have to be clearly stated and defined and at Goodison they are clearly not.

If this is true the club is in deeper shit than I thought. The Echo, for what it's worth, says it was Silva who pushed for Iwobi.

"Marco Silva was the man who pushed for his signing, less than two days before the close of the window when Iwobi was on a boat off the coast of Dubai, and there was no time to conduct a full medical.

Super-agent Kia Joorabchian had to get involved to help see the deal through in time. Everton would invest £28m, with the potential for that to rise to £35m, in Iwobi's signing.

Just days later, a pleased Silva would remark how much better Iwobi looked in training than he had anticipated he would do."

Echo story

Like Ell's excellent column said, it's not really clear who is doing what at Everton. Who was involved in signing Michael Keane until June 2025?

It's only recently that our youth teams have started playing with the same shape – another minor indictment on Brands's tenure. It's taken 3 years to do something that ought to have taken 3 days.

Allied to that is the wildly changing direction of our managerial appointments. The style of football is supposed to remain constant if the DoF model is working properly. Yet we've had six managers in as many years, varying from a possession style approach under Martinez to a defend deep and counter-attacking style under the present incumbent.

Brands obviously does not appoint the manager, as there would be no way he would have accommodated such wildly varying styles from one appointment to the next. But Brands not appointing the manager is yet another solid argument to ditch the DoF model altogether – it's simply not being adhered to.

If the DoF model isn't being followed, there's no point having it. And at no stage have we successfully implemented the sort of model you'd imagine Brands would ideally want, nor have we shown any real inclination that we will in the future either.

Save at least one pay packet, get rid of one potential scapegoat and layer of confusion, and cut Brands loose. Even if we are ultimately going to correctly implement a DoF type model, it's obvious to me the part-time Richard Gere impersonator is not the sort of personality to establish it.

You need a more forceful type to establish things, I feel, before turning it over to the sort of operator Brands has proven to be. Some are builders, and some are managers, and I reckon I know which boat our Marcel falls into.

The DoF model should see a system introduced throughout the club at all levels. It makes the transition for the younger players smoother and easier.

I've seen it work very well in the past at Schalke. And, as much as it pains, it's what Klopp has done across the Park. That's part of the reason why their kids can step up easier.

I would guess it's what has been going on at Man City. Did you notice how the young debutant (can't remember his name) stepped up seamlessly against us? Because they know what is expected.

But it takes time and consistency to see the plan through. Not constant change.

We have the left hand (multiple managers in multiple seasons) doing one thing... and the right hand (Unsworth et al) doing...? Well, something else.

And then, plonked on top of that, a confused owner being very poorly served by an incompetent board.

It's not aligned. There is no progressive plan or structure.

Who do you think would be the right person to sort the mess out? The present manager has been here 6 months, given no money, has some of his more influential players injured for a long period, but still gets his name on the chopping block with some questionable decisions.

I believe that Moshiri, after failing with other managers, decided to go with the DoF model. A model that will take more than one season to work, especially if he has to work with a number of different managers.

My understanding is the DoF works closely with the manager and finds the type of player the manager wants, and works with players from the squads lower than the first team to bring in young players that can adapt into the style the manager wants.

I believe that there are other supporters on here who have a better understanding of a DoF position but, at this time, I don't believe Brands has had any time to do what a DoF is supposed to do, never mind achieve any sort of success.

As you say, it takes time. I think Brands was hired as DoF in the beginning of the 2019 season and has had to work with Allardyce, Ancelloti and now Benitez. As you say, the model has to be used at all levels.

So the big question is: What use is a DoF if you are changing managers nearly every season?

Moshiri is the only person who can sort out this mess. He has to decide on a management structure and get rid of the ones who do not fit into it.

If you want to see what I would call one, watch Rangnick rebuild United and bring in a young first team coach and restructure the Academy (an already decent one).

The builder as he is known. Or also the football professor.

My choice in the summer.

We keep going for quick fixes and then not even sticking with that.

Have a plan. Have a strategy. And stick with it.

I very much doubt he would be interested in disrupting a hassle free life to take over from Bill, whom he regarded as a good friend.

Brands goes!

It should have been Kenwright given his cards, with DBB being moved out of the CEO post.

Then Brands would report directly to Moshiri, with Benitez speaking to Brands and hopefully all would have been well...

Now, there is on-one on the board with any genuine football experience, and Blustering Blue Bill will continue to interfere, and continue to wreck the club from within.

They've cut out healthy tissue, but missed the cancer.