Everton FC — A Strategic and Cultural Mess

You rightly refer to our new management team and stress the need for them to be given time so that they can begin to rebuild and recreate a brand of football befitting the great history and traditions of our Club. Without question to achieve this we need to stay in the Premier League, so somehow Frank and His team have to find a way of securing sufficient points from now to the end of the season.

Whatever the teams obvious frailties the Manager has to find a way of playing to our strengths. Ok we are weak defensively, so why not go on the attack ? Because as sure as eggs are eggs if we fail and are relegated our expensive new management team will be reconsidering their own futures.

Yes Colin we desperately need to reinvent the Club and redefine our Culture, and hopefully by the start of next season we will begin to see positive results and changes. But for the moment, it's backs against the wall, some grit and determination might help, and possibly a large slice of luck. And for the future you have eloquently spelled out the way forward let's hope those in charge agree.

The shit-show has been like car crash tv for non-Evertonians since 2016. My 9 year old son could have made better decisions than Moshiri has at times.

We are in a relegation dog fight with a bunch of ball shrinkers, I think luck rather than graft if anything will keep us up.

That said I do believe Mosh has made some better moves of late, Frank and a strong and cohesive coaching team is a sound investment. The new DOF seems like a good acquisition (time will tell) and the strategic review. I will stand by Frank even if we go down, someone needs time and relegation won't be on his head, it will be on Moshiri's.

The objective of the review of the Permanent Strategic Plan is to appoint and reappointed loyalists to positions in the club to further boost the existing culture and make it structurally permanent. The culture is institutonalised in Everton Football Club.

Frank Lampard will get to stay on, because he is quite harmless to the existing culture. Future appointments will consist of harmless individuals, ex-staff and ex-players.

If you try to find out what the Permanent Strategic Plan and its review is, you will be disappointed. It consists of unsubstantiated statements by the Chief Executive, hinting at unrevealed superior football knowledge and expertise.

Colin is right, for far too long we've been lurching from one mistake to another and perhaps a period of reflection and reorganisation is necessary while we understand that culture is a commodity that cannot be bought with a millionaire's credit card.

A couple of suggestions to regain success:

We need to adopt a holistic belief that we are a club rather than an amalgam of global players with different skills and styles. Buying one player does not give you a team.

This can happen if, during the close season, Frank gets everyone at Finch Farm together and all teams (First, U23s, U18s etc) agree to play the same system 3-5-2; 5-1-3-1 whatever. So, when Mina inevitably gets injured you play whoever played in Mina's position for the U23s, take his spot in the first team. That way you don't have players learning their new role while careering along at 60mph. Think of the various positions Holgate, Godfrey, Richarlison and others have played this year.

Players receive contradictory advice from everyone – hangers-on, agents, financial advisers, the board, the press, other players and, of course, family. They must realise that the only voice they should listen to is Franks. Clough achieved this and I suspect the current Managers of the two top clubs in the Premier League have achieved this too.

And finally get rid of any player, or club employee, who doesn't buy into this. Benitez did this with Digne and tried to clip the wings of others who wanted their say on how the club should be run. But we lost our collective nerve and today have a side of players but don't have a team.

When Moshiri and Usmanov embarked on buying Everton, I think their mindset was "Here is a club who generally finish 6th or 7th and have done this with very little money." So, with some serious money invested, they believed that Everton would be competing for a Champions League place.

But those high placings were mainly achieved by David Moyes's good managership, who bought well and sold exceptionally well, so not only kept Everton high in the league but, because of his clever buys, he single handedly kept this club afloat financially.

They probably looked at Martinez's first season and thought that he would carry on and maybe even improve what Moyes did, but it wasn't to be. Martinez brought in more attacking options but didn't pay enough attention to the defensive side of the team and duly paid the price.

So, 6 years down the line, after a succession of different managers and hundreds of millions spent very unwisely, we now find ourselves fighting relegation. Who could have believed that getting a billionaire who was willing to spend would end so disastrously?

So, because of the war in Ukraine, we have now lost our main sponsor and – some (like me) think – co-owner. And our shirt sponsor Cazoo are pulling out at the end of the year. Also, we have embarked on building a new expensive stadium when we are losing investment.

Whether we survive staying in the Premier League or not, I fear either way there will have to be a huge fire sale at the end of the season, either through players wanting to leave or us needing to sell to survive.

Unfortunately there are only about 4 or 5 players who will be able to be sold for significant sums, and then the question is: Will Lampard be prepared to stay under those conditions?

So, even if we survive the drop this season, I can only see this club struggling for a number of years owing to our complete mismanagement under Moshiri's reign. I know our fanbase are one of the most loyal fanbases around but I wonder if their resolve will be put to the test over the next couple of seasons till they are financially in a much better place with regards to FFP?

At the moment, the new proposals that Uefa are going to bring in will mean that no club can spend more than 70% of its income on wages, a very long overdue measure... But just to put us in perspective to that – our wages are in excess of 85% of our income. So, in essence, practically all of our income goes straight into the players' bank accounts.

But just to show you can achieve success and live within the 70% constraints, our neighbours spend only 64% of their income on wages.

The strategic review hasn't come about because of a wish to improve the way the club operates, rather it has come about due to the loss of its potential sugar daddy having his financial wings clipped and that has thrown all the 'grand plans' into disarray.

We have a striker who is one of the best in the league at getting on the end of crosses; however, most of our wingers prefer to cut inside and our only full-back capable of delivering a cross has been sold.

We have another striker who works best receiving through-balls; however, we sold our only player capable of playing a decent through-ball.

We have some midfielders who are comfortable in pressing in advanced positions, some who are comfortable in recycling the ball, and a box-to-box midfielder. Every one of these midfielders need either someone behind them to sit in front of the defence or someone with them to pick a pass. We have neither.

It's not even worth starting with the defence.

Years of different managerial philosophies coupled with a disgrace of a DoF in Brands has led to a team that has little ability to create a chance, can offer little protection to a defence and a defence that collapses after conceding a goal.

The culture needs to change, starting with a long-term plan of who we are retaining and how to best service them in the team. This needs to happen with Thelwell and Lampard working together.

Player of the Season? Allan?? Gordon???

Everton's percentage spent on wages is due to having very little income from sponsors etc, the neighbours have massive sponsorship deals and therefore they spend more on wages than we do, but it takes up less of their income.

The lower the income, the higher the percentage spent on wages will be, unless the owners decide to increase commercial income, or cut wages which will result in the club being less competitive – I know it's hardly competitive now is it?

It seems like UEFA has cemented the disparity between the established clubs and those clubs that are ambitious, but hamstrung by any rules which curtail investment.

Our wage bill is half that of Liverpool's, but it's 88% of our revenue. The new rules will supposedly limit that ratio to 70%. Liverpool, despite spending over £300M a year on wages, are only at 64%. So they will be able to increase their salaries, while we will have to slash ours.

We are going to have to buy cheaper players, and pay them less money. Post-it note slogans like "bring your best self to work each day" aren't going to help us. The ladder has been well and truly pulled up. The future for Everton is mid-table mediocrity in the Premier League, or a big fish in the pond of the lower leagues.

Edit: Apologies to Barry and Brian, I started typing this before I saw their posts!

However, as pointed out by two or three fans in this thread, the strategic review is being completed by people who are not going to sack themselves; they will just go along with the main culprit who has mainly put Everton FC in the position we are in today.

Remove him from being any part of Everton FC's future and then we can start on Colin's suggestions.

According to Paul the Esk, Everton have the third-highest Directors' remuneration in the Premier League, ahead of Man City and Liverpool.

Duncan Ferguson as Assistant Manager and David Unsworth were said to be on obscene amounts of money £500, 000 plus, so you can guess what the rest of the non-players are on. I doubt that Duncan is on peanuts now for sitting in the dugout.

The whole strategy is to protect this gravy train. I have often thought this is why injury-prone players fit in so well to life at Everton. They are amongst soulmates.

Without a vision, it is difficult to formulate a strategy to drive goals & objectives that, in turn, drive daily business as usual across all departments that achieve the objectives and generate a culture. Collectively, this delivers on the vision or informs a tweak or change. It's a cyclic loop right?

Even if we had a vision and strategy in place, Everton would still fall down because we don't have the right people in place to force needed change and cultural evolution. The people charged with our custodianship of our "strategy" want to remain plucky Everton, the People's Club; sorry, I don't the People's Club label personally. Everton of yesteryear.

Many of us have commented for a while now on the need for a cultural shake up and restructuring of the club, top to bottom. If Mr Moshiri is serious in staying and is or has conducted a strategic review, then this is what he must address first and foremost. Not meddle in footballing decisions. That's tactical, not strategic.

Manchester City and Chelsea are good examples of forward thinking clubs; unrecognisable from the clubs I grew up knowing. Look where they came from to get there. Bumps along the way, changes in personnel including managers; a stepping stone approach as I've called it before to gradually get to where they wanted to be.

But they stuck to a vision and strategy. Appointments and transfers will have been made with a plan in mind and development of a culture. People come and go, the vision and strategy remained consistent.

Thank for that read Colin.

A Premier League club (in the Premier League global era) was not a good fit for Bill. He's obsessed with decades in the past, and his tales of the '60s have no place for a forward-thinking league or football club.

I may be on my own here but Z-Cars just about sums up the obsession, and as for Grand Old Team just cringeworthy.

The inclusion of Duncan, Baines, Unsworth and Graeme Sharp as a non-executive director is Bill's world (only), unfortunately for us.

He listens to agents who are obviously only interested in getting their clients the best deal and not interested in what's best for Everton FC. He has appointed 6 full-time managers and given each 18 months to prove their worth.

We pay journeymen footballers Champions League type wages, is it any wonder that they stay to the last day of the contract? Compare our spend to the clubs around us in the relegation fight – I doubt any have spent 10% on net transfers compared to our net spend.

Barry @8,

Yes our neighbours do have massive sponsorship and the reason why is because they're successful, but they don't spend silly money on average players. There is no club who can survive financially paying in excess of 85% of your income in wages, so because of FFP, we will now have to cut our cloth to what we can afford, which we should have done all along.

Just look at the players they have bought: Salah, Mane, Jota – players we could have bought – and the crazy thing is Koeman managed Mane and Van Dijk before he became our manager but chose not to buy either, but instead thought Michael Keane was a better choice at centre-back.

Before anybody suggests maybe Southampton stopped Koeman from signing their players, well, money talks. Watford initially refused to sell Richarlison to Silva but, when the money was right, they sold him to Silva.

I hate to say it but Moyes was probably the last one we had who drilled the players as they should be and he got the best out of them.

Most of these players we have now do have it in them but they have forgotten what it is like because they have not been pushed hard in training or match drills that would prepare them for the big game.

Big problem for Frank is that most of the coaching staff that have allowed this culture to exist are still with us. I can only hope that we survive the drop and Frank, should he stay, can get rid of them all or at least the ones he thinks are not up to it.

In the meantime, the supporters need to keep up the pressure on Moshiri to finally get rid of the root cause of the club's demise – his chairman, Bill Kenwright.

There is not – and has not been for a generation – a coherent vision or a credible ethos behind this club of ours. Moshiri has little empathy for Everton and what it means; Kenwright may have empathy but is incapable of making the decisions that needed to be made when the club was under his watch.

Moshiri, as recent press reports show, is more interested in helping Usmanov to circumvent sanctions than in sorting out the many financial and business problems that face our club.

Recent managers have each either failed to recognise the depth of the problem or, more likely, have decided to ignore it. They have each looked for short-term, on-the-pitch issues, signing players on stupid terms and to fix one problem at a time. This has led to a situation where we haven't even got a left-footed defender who is of Premier League standard.

Frank Lampard has so much on his plate, it is hard to know where to start. His alleged Mensa IQ will be tested to the full if he is going to solve this problem, especially as there is no money for him, unlike that which most of the recent managers had, to apply his sticking plaster to the gaping wound.

Young players could be the answer; more than likely they will not be. For every Gordon who thrives and grows under pressure, there are 10 young players who flare brightly and then fade and lose confidence at Goodison. Davies, will he ever repeat that goal against Man City? Rodwell... even Stones at Everton was lost.

The current squad has too many older players who should be on the bench, too many whose confidence is completely shot, and too many whose basic ability is only rarely revealed. Then there are those who are always injured.

Lampard has his work cut out and, if we survive this season, financial regulations look as though we will be forced to sell our best players, probably at below the market rate; otherwise, we will infringe FFP.

The short-term outlook looks bleak, the mid-term will depend upon the ability of owners and the footballing managers to create a vision and an ethos. I'm not holding my breath.

It's not easy being an Evertonian.

The neighbours haven't always chosen wisely in the transfer market, else they wouldn't have had a 30-year wait to lift the title; they had many, many expensive flops during a long period of time.

They it seems reacted to Moshiri's takeover a lot better than Everton did, is it coincidence that they upped their game almost as soon as Moshiri came to Everton and the fortunes of both clubs couldn't be more different?

Moshiri tried and failed spectacularly to close the gap on the Top 6 and those mistakes, along with circumstances arising that nobody could have foreseen, have dealt a huge blow to the club, where avoiding relegation (unthinkable a few years ago), would seem to be the height of Everton's revised ambitions and resources.

Comparing Everton to the neighbours in any way is futile and ridiculous and doesn't help us in any way, but if I'm on £200pw and spend 50% of my wages on ale, I'll spend a £100 a week; if I'm only on £100pw and spend 80% of my wages on ale, it'll cost me £80. That's not about good or bad governance, it's a decision based on how much ale I think is needed to get me through the week.

A very well thought out piece and very thought-provoking.

I would counter, however, that good business practices do not apply to football although some of the principles outlined in your post are very appropriate.

All the successful clubs in the Premier League have enthusiastic owners who have proven pedigree in sports.

Every change, whether cultural or organisational, has to have a champion and show progress.

We regrettably have a clique at Everton that undermines any change.

As others have said, when you have 2 autocratic clowns who want to indulge themselves in their own fantasies, you end up with what Everton Football Club has become: "a laughing stock" with no synergy.

Until we get a new owner and get rid of black Bill and his acolytes, we can't even begin to instigate change for the better.

Moyes had similar problems. I recently read in David Prentice's book, Grand Old Team, that within 6 months of starting, there were reports of too hard of training and questions about Moyes's ability to motivate the team.

Moyes also had the team capitulate when progressive points were necessary to progress up the table, throughout his tenure. Tactically he often seemed to bottle it.

But as you say, Finch Farm is not a good foundation to launch a sustained challenge in any competition. It has just increased in freeloaders over the years. I doubt there is much concern regarding Everton results.

I would go so far as to say that they expect Everton's luck to turn and survive relegation. Lampard saying that there are games left is right down their street. He will definitely not get a response critising players in public. Probably happy enough to be out of the FA Cup.

I know our cousins' owners did through the Red Sox and Man Utd's through the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

I wasn't aware of previous from Mansour or Abramovich though. I thought Mansour to be a politician of some sort who owned the equity firm that bought Man City and thought the latter was a pure businessman who even dabbled in Russian politics. And not just from a relationship aspect – he actually sat in their parliament at one point?

What a well written and precise article regarding the state of Everton FC at present. I think many of us intuitively knew that something is wrong at Everton but needed someone to spell out exactly the problems and where it's gone wrong, and what needs to be done to fix it.

I've always said the something "toxic" has found it's way into the club and until we get that toxicity out of it, we'll continue on as we are. How do we do that? I haven't any idea at all but it looks as if you've put the main issues out there that need to be addressed and changed.

I do worry about our future, even if we survive and stay in the Premier League for next season. Can we really see much improvement on the horizon? I'm not sure. Between financial constraints and the lack of culture you address, how do we get out of this never ending jam?

I never came across that saying before. But it is the truth in reality. Especially at Everton, where the so-called strategic review is not performance-led and is about maintaining the existing culture.

I think we're in limbo now, with Moshiri not having Usmanov as a sponsor. The FFP is total bullshit, making sure no-one else gets near the Top 6, who tried to sell their souls because of greed, and no sanctions.

Hopefully Frank can keep us in the Premier League, it's essential, and rebuild in the summer, and until we get the new stadium, it won't change, it will put us in a different league because of the corporate element.

I still wonder, if Moshiri had told Kenwright to walk when he bought the club, how would we be now?

Good players want to play for good clubs, it's not always about money. With Everton, it has been... because the good players don't want to come unless there's a ridiculous amount of money on offer, thus creating a vacuous, soulless pit of a changing room with very little buy-in or team spirit.

That's why Liverpool pay peanuts for quality. Players want to be there.

Btw, I'd get rid of Z-Cars too.

Has he had enough, has the penny finally dropped that Kenwright and Co need shifting?

Only sweeping changes at board level will remove the cultural shift.

Our Under-23 players are going backwards due to no clear pathway to the first team. We have no clear direction of play that's followed from youth to seniors and, in the boardroom, there's no clear direction the club is palling towards.

What chance do we have???

El Ghazi, however, scored 10 Premier League goals for Villa last season and, as we've just lost our leading scorer for the rest of the season, I wonder if he might get a run out?

None of our other forwards seem capable of scoring at present.

Dysfunctional and no plan... tumbleweed approach to being a football club.

Hopefully times will, they must change soon for Everton, but only by hard work and endeavour on the pitch and in the boardroom.

Tough years ahead to get a winning culture and mentality.

Time has proved both players and backroom staff are totally below par and the so-called Board is a joke. Ask them to define 'governance' and they'd come up with Johnson and Sunak.

Nothing but sorrow awaits us!

I think you have our 21st Century revised motto right there "Nothing but sorrow awaits us! In Latin: "Nihil Sed luctus nobis"

We would've appointed a proper modern chairman with professional acumen and a decent knowledge of football who could help with the manager search process.

Who doesn't settle for bad marketing people around him.
Who appoints a world class CEO who knows their job.
Who employs training staff not because they fell on hard times and were made bankrupt or they used to play for us, so deserve jobs for life.

21st century people with no Arkwright biscuit tin mentality who embrace 20-plus years of nothing. Get him to fuck pronto,

1. “For me, I bought into a new family and that's what is special for me. I give them whatever I have.”

Even if I felt that, I wouldn't have told them. End product – he has been doing a lot of “giving” and there have been a steady stream of people (some no longer at the club), doing plenty of taking.

It's no use crying over spilt milk – £500 million later, the Premier League has put a stop to the obscene waste of money overseen by those responsible.

2. The two things that are missing – “a clear unambiguous strategy, and a club culture to deliver it.”

I actually think Moshiri had a strategy which was to transform Everton into a club that would play European Football, season-in and season-out. His problem is that there hasn't been a culture capable of delivering it.

For me Steve Brown @ 17 has summed this situation up perfectly – “Culture eats strategy for breakfast!” Bravo, Steve!

Farhad Moshiri has a big decision to make (he may have already made it) – does he bale out now or does he keep going? He is a lot wealthier now than when he bought Everton and would probably have to take a hit but, as Warren Buffet said “The most important thing to do if you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging.”

My personal view is that the best for all concerned is for him to sell the club to the highest bidder – there will be plenty of entities out there looking for a bargain.

Regardless whether it's Farhad Moshiri or “someone else”, the culture problem will still have to be addressed. If not, the current chaotic state that this club finds itself in will only get worse and lead to the extinction of this great football club. So how to go about it?

I have a favourite saying of my own – “To obtain the greatest result, seek the quintessential”. My approach would be:

• “Retire” Bill Kenwright – no doubt there would be a cost involved but just close your eyes and do it.
• Appoint a new hard-nosed chairman in the Daniel Levy mould.
• Give him four reports – the “Board”
◦ Chief Executive Officer – focus: day-to-day running of the business.
◦ Chief Financial Officer – focus: look after the money.
◦ Director of Football – focus: all things football.
◦ Director of Stadium Development – focus: stadium delivery on time on budget.

You can't change the culture of an organisation from the bottom up – it has to start from the top. Replacing the chairman would send a very clear message to the current board and everyone else employed by the club.

It would then be up to the new chairman to decide whether the current board incumbents are up to it. If they are, they will be capable of sorting the chaos out

Give them a timeline in which to do so. If not – bye bye.

Presently, it is a matter of the remainder of the season and when the future looks more clear then plan for next season having, of course, discussed the matter before then with the DoF and if it is a matter of contract renewals then be blunt with the player's agent. As they say, there are a lot of ways to skin a cat.

All of these parties were interested in control to enrich themselves and ran the club with that objective in mind. The club has not been run on the principles that Colin has said it should be over that length of time. The keyword is 'control' rather than 'ownership'.

The existing structure of Everton is built for control and any strategy is to maintain that control by patronage. Strategy at Everton is never about Everton FC's performance. In layman's terms, it's about Kenwright's daft vision of Everton DNA and those who fit in with it.

The amount of manoeuvring to suppress the #27 years protest was a real insight for me into the effort that the Club was prepared to put in to preserve the status quo.

Moshiri is not interested in running Everton. He may get involved to stop his money going South. He is more likely a front for Usmamov, as it seems he is for Usmanov's London property interests. You don't have to own something to control it.

The answer seems easy: get rid of all the above, but there still will be people within the organisation embedded in a culture that has been built up over 20 years, with contracts, who will appoint similar replacements or be barefaced enough to reappoint those that were previously sacked.

I agree with Alan #48, Lampard is not angry. As a matter of fact, he suits the existing culture with his light touch instructions and style tactics. He is not going to rattle any boats. By luck with his 'there are more games' strategy he may survive in the Premier League and will be fully embraced by Finch Farm and the hierarchy whose only objective is Premier League survival with the least work and effort possible. Ditto for next season.

So where does that leave Evertonians? On the same old merry-go-round of mid-table to lower-table mediocrity, bullshitted with Grand Old Team, People's Club and being Bill's Brothers, Denise's press releases and videos with ballons.

As for Moshiri, he will be busy helping his controller circumvent sanctions, offshore. Everton will be just one of the assets to be shuffled about and maybe be an outlet for Usmanov's dirty money to be placed to get rid of the smell.

Long suffering Everton Supporters forever.

1. The club's intent now is to win trophies this club has never won in its history, starting with the League Cup which we have sadly treated with contempt for 60 years.

2. To bring to an end the backpass culture that has sadly infested this club for way too many years now.

3. To not cheat our magnificent away support by actually competing in all away games from now on in, regardless of the opposition or competition.

That person will have my support 💯 fucking %!

Man City - Garry Cook, CEO, ex-Nike appointed on takeover and Brian Marwood - Chief administrator of football affairs - ex-player and coach.

Chelsea - Slightly different beast, I admit, but Marrina Granovskaia director - an excellent reputation in negotiating commercial contracts including sponsorship.

Bruce Buck - Chairman - one of the world's most reputed mergers and acquisitions specialists and a lawyer by profession.

Gut Laurence, CEO, another well reputed commercial man.

Both were football people but not owners. And best you don't mention Marwood's name in earshot of Peter Reid after he effectively ended Adrian Heath's career.

4. To insist strongly to the ground staff not to water the pitch during the season, so our players don't continually slip over like Bambi on fucking ice... Mother Nature will do the rest just fine!

The only decent aspect are the fans, who are so frustrated by it all, all we do is moan online and bleat on about past glories!

It's a fucking travesty.

I've come to the conclusion that the club is cursed, it sure feels like it. Football today is all about fame and fortune to the players, the very best players only want to sign for the recently successful clubs not has-beens like us, that's a big hurdle to overcome.

Add to that the club has fouled up at every level in recent years, it's been a comedy of errors.

Moshiri seem to not get anything about how to create company/club culture.

Also there is a lack of making good strategic decisions. When we are in trouble to turn things around we should have hired a manager with a good managing track record. Instead we hire a mansger with a not so good managing record. And for some unknown reason many here expect Lampard to turn things around... even though he has never done anything special as a managee at all. Rather opposte. He got fired at Chelsea.

Now for some even more weird logic, we should stand behind Lamard no matter how bad he is doing? If we are to apply this long time logic we should first have been sure that we had a good manager, which we are not. It would have been less risky sticking with Benitez or going to the boring Allardyce.

We are in this hopeless situation because there have been so many bad strategic decisions in the past and because there has been a lack of strategic decisions that should have been taken. Why has Moshiri not set up a clear strategy of what we want to be and how we want to play?

Now we are in total disarray with new managers that has no strategy to lean on in terms of club culture and strategy. That is the main reason we are so lost.

How wishing for a billionaire may lead us to the Championship. It was meant to lead us to the promised land. First, we must stay in the Premier League. Then assess if Frank can keep us in the Premier League next season. Remember, this is not a quick fix. A summer won't change this squad. I respect Frank but this club needs a stronger and experienced management team. My call if we stay up is to bring David Moyes back. Financially it will be tight and getting positive results to remain a Premier League club to build again is crucial.

The owner cannot be criticised for trying and spending. Sadly, no plan! Clubs that have success have continuity at management level. Ferguson, Wenger, and Klopp now. We must stay up first and plan ahead later. One thing is for sure: change must happen. Enough of the rollercoaster Everton! Stability is crucial!

I'd argue that Everton was a massive sale of convenience, for both the buyers and the seller, and now think/hope that the best thing that could happen, is another sale, with the new faces, hopefully bringing in a more ruthless and much more professional approach.

The club is a shambles, and has been for a very long time, and although I hated that Moyes, was allowed to stay in the job for so long, I think that it was this stability that helped paper over a lot of cracks.

Moyes at least helped keep the footballing side of the club competitive, although this also allowed Bill Kenwright, to outstay his welcome, by however many days he'd been in charge, and the drumming down of Everton had begun.

'There is a famous Peter Drucker quote that says that "culture eats strategy for breakfast". This implies that the culture of your company always determines success regardless of how effective your strategy may be.'

I've just took a moment to digest what I've just written, and I think the culture that helped Everton become a great club has been swallowed up by the strategy?

No-one is so stupid that they have a strategy to give up football games. If that is the case, it is not so strange we are doing bad, is it?

When you also add that I hear some people say that some of our players lack bollocks... Then it is really obvious that we lack any type of strategy at all.

So what strategy do we use today? Bollocks strategy. Seriously, I don't know what that means.

Kenwright and Moshiri need to go. One has been a disaster, and people would have been screaming for the other one to get out of “our club” if it wasn't for the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock. Everton FC just seem very, very unprofessional nowadays, and it hurts.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/60895903

In your post #59 you say you would like new owners and I wholeheartedly agree with those sentiments, but you go on to say you hope they are more ruthless. Well, Moshiri has sacked 5 managers, none lasted much more than 18 months; that ruthlessness has for me led to our downfall.

I would prefer someone took over who understood football or a similar sport so they would have an idea how a successful club operates. But when you say 'ruthless', you mean in restructuring from top to bottom then I totally agree.

Chelsea and Man City were fortunate in that, when their new owners came in and threw money at the problem, it worked, but now just spending money doesn't guarantee success, as we have proved. Half the Premier League has billionaire owners and, with FFP to battle with, that's another hurdle put in the way of massively spending your way to success.

We need to start with the youngsters, go and hire the best young coaches we can, and put in a scouting system that allows us to get the best youngsters we can. I realize the top clubs will always have the pick of the very best youngsters, but that's where we need to be spending our money – not on overpaid journeymen players.

But be under no illusion: this will take a decade, even if successful, to come to fruition. Problem is, most fans want success today, not tomorrow, so we will keep chasing rainbows.

Building successful young teams and having a structure that allows them to progress is the way forward. Despite the hundreds of millions spent in the last 6 years, we struggle to make the Top 10... so what have we got to lose by investing in youth, as the other route has been totally unproductive?

Top to bottom change is needed at this club.

I'm still undecided on the owner. His mistake has been to keep the previous structures and certain individuals in place rather than bring in his own team.

His fault for doing so? Yes, of course. But surely he can see what we see?

The so-called 'review' seems to be a quiet reordering of deckchairs by colour rather than numbers; some modest reshuffling but nothing of such a fundamental nature to do a reset which we surely need.

It should have been done by Moshiri before he jumped in. The due diligence reviews that other new owners, eg, Man City and Chelsea, ran and acted on from day one of their ownership shows up the cluelessness of this regime.

We've just had one of our most bizarre transfer windows. At this point there's no hint that Moshiri has learnt anything. Maybe he's waiting until the end of the season to swing the axe but maybe that's just wishful thinking.

The ethos of culture is determined not by strategy but by example. The culture of Everton FC has been rotten to the core for 20 years. They say it's a family club, but it's a closed shop to the world, most of all to its fans.

When you think of how this club has interacted with fans, shareholders, media, you have the very essence of two-faced hypocrisy, we look after our own but everyone else, including fans and shareholders don't matter.

Lip-service initiatives of fan engagement or strategic reviews are not an attempt at displaying an open inviting culture, but crumbs off a table to keep the rabble quiet.

Culture, good or bad, is dictated by the man or woman at the very top, and his or her representatives (board) it is intrinsic in everything they approach. We have a culture, an internal, inward-looking, self-preserving and – if the rumours coming out are correct – one of fear, threat and silence.

Jobs for the boys, surrounding wagons, gagging clauses in contracts for those who leave, the end of transparency in AGMs... yes, we have a culture – the strategy is to keep it that way.

I know I bang on about it, but I can walk around the Schalke academy at will on the morning of a match day watching the youth teams and mix with players.

Finch Farm is hidden behind closed gates.

The People's Club is a slogan. Fan engagement a token gesture on rare occasions without meaningful outcomes.

The only part of his column I disagree fits Everton is his line, "That said, even after this (cricket) series there are some positives."

There are no positives for Everton fans with this owner/s and boardroom. Christine Foster (#70) sums it up perfectly for me, so fair dinkum ma'am!

Unfortunately, the established culture was not one of “hard-working, high motivation players, support staff and management committed to success and ruthless application of winning culture” but rather “luvvie-driven rest home for pals of owner, players allowed on pitch if their face/attitude fits - “difficult” players marginalised, demoralised and sold” - where “difficult” would be a euphemism for committed, argumentative, leaders who may clash with the “hearts and flowers” - “community and charity” ethos headed by Kenwright but supported by the largely character- and backbone-free youth, coaching and (probably) medical teams.

Moshiri has spent half a billion pounds on garbage and the club has declined spectacularly under his ownership. Like a field marshal, he cannot fight the war on his own, but it will be his responsibility if he fails to have a root and branch clear out of the club which may begin with Kenwright, but needs to involve virtually every person, player, coach, cleaner, in the Goodison and Finch Farm roster.

I think I have seen just one enterprise recover from a collapse like this, Apple, when they got Steve Jobs back. I very much doubt that there is a sports manager alive who can do the same.

I think we are stuffed.

It's worth noting, no matter what happens that a major rebuild will have to take place this summer irrespective of what division we are in. It's also inevitable that there is unlikely to be money to fund it and it will have to come from player sales. The key assets we have in DCL, Richarlinson, Pickford together with a few more should easily command over 100m as a starter for the rebuild.

Not sure I can see much in the way of alternatives at the moment.

Everton that

1. We ought to have a strategy.
2....Err....