The End of an Error

Yes, we needed new full backs but are these the ones the new guy would have chosen himself? Not to mention allowing Digne to leave because of a fall out with a now no longer employed Benitez.

I've loved this club for sixty odd years but I despair of the way it's run.

Personally I'd offer Lampard the job. He's young and modern thinking and gives youth a chance. But I suspect Mosh is more likely to offer the job to Stevie Gee. Or Sam. Come on Mosh …. Pleasantly surprise us

Giving a manager the boot in mid-January in any other year may have left his successor with too much to do and too few games in which to do it.

What a shambles though, Brands and the Head of the Medical team, Dan Donachie, were hung out to dry, on the instruction of a crazy, power mad zealot, whose tactics were so outdated it was embarrassing.

And yet to examine Benitez's track record over the last 20 years, exactly the same pattern of behaviour has emerged.

Fallout with player's, coaching staff, and anybody who happens to have a different opinion than the manager.

Fast forward to 2022, and guess what, major casualties at every club he has been employed at, except his own tenure of course, Rafa very rarely walks away from a job, why should he when he stands to gain millions of pounds from his gullible employers having to pay up the rest of his contract.

Whilst Brands time at Everton will be looked upon with mixed success, Donachie was highly regarded throughout football as being amongst the 'best in the business'.

What does that say then, about our current Board who were not only prepared to back Benitez when he demanded they be 'moved on' or forced to resign, but then provided him with the funds to go out and buy players, but to sack him three weeks later?

Rafa, was in fact an old dinosaur, not prepared to move with the times, and made some diabolical tactical decisions, coupled with a stubborn obsession to play his 'favourite disciple', Rondon.

Every man and his dog could see he was way past his best, but the arrogance of the man, in refusing to drop him, was plain to see.

The best we can hope for is to avoid relegation and then the retirement of Kenwright and co, the one constant over the last 25 years. We need a young modern manager with a clearly defined plan, and then be given time to execute it. Will it happen, over to you Mr Moshiri.

Until that point no one was on Benitez back. Everyone could see what a poor side we were and what little he had to work with. No one blamed Benitez for bringing Salomon Rondon to the club. With no money he had to bring in a centre forward for precisely the eventuality we'd faced - no DCL and no Richy. But for an hour against Watford Rondon had delivered the most complete non-performance ever witnessed at Goodison Park.

At that moment Benitez lost the crowd. Within a couple of minutes we took a 2-1 lead, but that didn't repair the damage. As the boos rang out and the Watford goals rained in I witnessed our captain in heated argument with the people at the front of the Lower Bullens. Seamus was angrily asking for support; the crowd clearly replied as they gestured towards Rondon on the half way line that this wasn't a question of support, but one of outrage that Rondon had been left on the field by Benitez.

And I saw the captain shrug.

At that point I knew we were in the most profound trouble and had to change the Benitez leadership before it dragged us into the bottom three. I don't envy our new manager.

After all that, if he turns up this week with BPB's teary arm round his shoulder - is that the sort of cut and run merchant we want...forget need for now.

Even if he publicly rules himself out until the end of the season where does that leave his previous "We're all in this together" stance at Derby...Moshiri, not content with ruining this Club, has not done Derby any good either.

Rooney's next few utterances will be very interesting.

Still, there's one 'positive' (?) Kenwright now has a 'bar' on his 'still having his cake and eating it' medal

After Ancelotti and Benitez where is the Manager with similar aspirations going to come from to keep players and attract them. Also will the funds be available for transfers during the Summer.

The Everton Board and Moshiri have of course taken account of all this when they took the decision to sack Benitez today in mid January.

The tone deaf hiring of Benitez is simply the latest and most egregious example yet. Moshiri was warned it wouldn't work. That a significant minority of fans wouldn't accept him. That Benitez was yesterdays man. Was warned it would last six months.
Hired him regardless. Lasted six months.

Anyone can buy a very expensive new supercar with enough money. But if after five years one guy has looked after his well enough that it looks as good as the day he bought it - and another guy wrapped his around a pole, and the final guy still has his but it's covered in dents and scratches and the seat linings are covered in cigarette burns and stains then I make a value judgment on whom I believe the better owner of a supercar is.
In those broad terms Moshiri is the fellow wrapping this club around the pole, getting the dents beaten out and running it even more quickly into the next one.
How long can this go on? I mean, it's a fair question. How long can this go on?

As for the error that is the body of the piece, even an honest reading of the departure message Benitez released to the fans is revealing. There's very little evidence of navel gazing on our former managers part. An entire treatise on external circumstances and some nicely sly digs at Benitez perception of the clubs overall level of governance.
Here's a question for you - if he'd been able to keep Ancelotti's set piece defensive scheme together do you think he'd still have a job? Benitez doesn't see it that way; there's the problem.

He wasn't the right guy for us. I said so from the start, it was as obvious as the nose upon your face. Who is the right guy for us though? In the vacuum of leadership within our club such an individual would be a rare find indeed. Is such a person available to us?
Presumably it's Bill Kenwright directing the search for the successor?

It's mildly amusing that a proportion of the successor debate is reduced to managers from the Moshiri era making a sequel, with Roberto Martinez in the frame. So large is the field of former managers of course that it does indeed make a worthy debating point of it's own. (Therein lies another problem)
But there's nothing amusing about the position we're in now. We must accumulate points quickly to attain safety. And then the strategic review - but a genuine strategic review - must occur.

Otherwise there's little doubt this merry go round just keeps going round.

Meanwhile Ancelotti has seen his Real Madrid team win the Spanish Supercopa. He must be very grateful he scarpered last summer having seen the writing on the wall.

I don't consider Martinez to be anything to do with Moshiri as he bought in just before we reached the semis of the FA Cup and soon after Martinez was gone.

What I would say is that since Moshiri came in and Kenwright has continued to be influential, we've not been as successful during the Martinez or Moyes eras despite spending a lot more cash.

Before Moshiri we had 14 years under 2 coaches with little money but mostly top half finishes, European football and cup runs.

In the last 6 years we've finished 7th once, 8th twice and crashed out of Europe subsequent to the former finish.

It's an epidemic - late autumn of 2017 we get rid of Koeman and in comes Allardyce. Early winter of 2019 and out goes Silva for Ancelotti. Earky winter 2022 and we've fired Benitez.

There's something wrong when we are sacking a coach every 18 months on average (if you include Allardyce and take out Ancelotti)

The insistence on playing a 2-man midfield was a major blunder too which has cost us. I do feel a bit sorry for him though because he is another manager this squad of players has thrown under the bus – again! Whoever comes in needs to find a way to get through to our players and terrify or inspire consistent performances out of them.

That's why it should Big Dunc for me (or Rooney if not). We need someone who will lift everyone around the club instantly and has a real connection to us. Another coach without this type of connection will just not give us that inspiration we need right now. We also someone who has that edge about them to get stuck into players when needs be.

I also think there is one major element around our current woes which is not discussed much but could be significant. Has the ongoing police investigation into a nameless first-team player caused behind-the-scenes issues and led to the problems we are now seeing on pitch?

Something is not right in the dressing room – anyone can see that. Have we got two warring factions in effect – those who believe the player is innocent, fighting those who think him guilty? This type of thing can have a huge effect.

I remember a club close to where I live having something similar when a few players were accused of assault on a pre-season tour a few years back. It derailed the whole season.

And the fact that he was allowed to get away with it says everything about the quality of leadership at the very top of Everton. Absolutely appalling.

Same goes for most of the other names, Martinez got progressively worse, failed, was hounded out and sued us. Can't understand why Bill Kenwright is advocating him.

Potter would have been a team and identity building manager in the summer dovetailing with Brands. But now it's looking unlikely, the stars have unfavourably realigned. But I thought his comments yesterday left the door open just a little. So you never know.

Whoever comes in will need unwavering unity of support to haul us 40 points. Any more division, for any reason, will see us relegated.

So my feeling is to ignore the name and back the club. Then hope that June can bring a new start with the successful incumbent or a better successor.

The most telling comment in this article.

There's no sign of that much needed course correction on the horizon. The rush is on to find another short-term manager.

Moshiri appears to be happy enough to continue like this. He could have put in a proper professional Board, with experience of running a successful football club, but has chosen to allow amateurs to let it lurch from crisis to crisis. Fair enough, it's his money and he's thrown plenty of it into the bottomless pit he's allowed develop.

While the football is nothing to write home about, the behind the scenes drama is at least entertaining and keeps us on the edge of our seats on a regular basis.

The players and manager would just have to 'block' this out. It can't be helpful.

The disintegration against Watford speaks volumes. 'Something' isn't right.

What if the reason the police inquiry is taking so long, is that they are looking into the phones, emails etc. of other players?

Could it be, that some of our squad are going to sleep at night, dreading the early morning knock?

I sincerely hope not, but it would provide some sort of explanation as to sub-par performances.

Right... let's go.

I must admit that I am now nervous as I cannot see us winning a game. It comes to something when I would have been pleased with a draw against the likes of Brentford and Norwich. To my utter dismay, I would not take a bet that we would beat Norwich!!

To be fair to Benitez, we were in a mess before he came and I was pleased with the way we started the season. Were we all wrong about him? Gray and Townsend for instance, were proving me wrong big time. Unfortunately not; the Watford game was the last straw for me and Rafa should have gone then.

Let's give big Dunc a chance possibly to the end of the season. We will at least play with some passion and pride.