Have we got the right owner?

As to potential buyers, we will have to hope they know more about the game itself than the present bunch. Knowing Everton though, we will probably have another 20 years of the current ownership and board, with very little changing apart from a new venue from which to view our heroes – who will most likely fail to deliver, season after season.

Meanwhile, Everton voted in favor of blocking investment from related parties of the kind USM have had at Goodison. It would appear that the gig is up. No doubt the seat on the board will be given to Jose Baxter or someone of his ilk.

I thought you would be able to name his successor without hesitation. His credentials are obvious, it has to be Luke Garbutt!

Haha, he fits the bill.

It was a few weeks ago after the Newcastle takeover initially for one month but they want it longer term evidently.

He's put so much money into the team and managers but, 5 years in, it's apparent now that it's been a roaring failure.

We could have gone the opposite way in 2016 when Moshiri took over, he must have looked at Leicester winning the title and thought "that could be us".

Okay, maybe not winning the title, but we certainly should have been so much further down the line with this football team now.

It is alarming that even the likes of West Ham appear to finally be heading on the right track now, at least there's a club with a clear upward trajectory and a plan in place.

Five years on, I don't see any plan let alone possibly moving forward at Everton.

In fact the only path we seem to be on is one very similar to the days leading up to Aston Villa being relegated in 2016 and before that, Leeds in 2004.

I do, however, believe we finally have a manager who will improve us little by little. The problem is I think our scouts, coaches and director of football are very poor and the people who run the club poor too.

Many players and managers have come and gone and most have failed to perform consistently.

People are right to say we all hoped things would change when Moshiri came in but the new stadium seems to have taken precedence over the on-field product.

These last three games have been hard to stomach for many reasons – not just because they lost but for the way they lost. I know the injuries could be partly to blame but the intensity is missing.

The defensive side of things is awful regardless of the depleted offense.

I would have settled for three draws 0-0 parking the bus than what we got which was shambolic defending and I am not just blaming the ''back line''.

Rafa has to sort this soon!

You're right!

I would have gladly taken a hard fought 0-0 on Monday night, a much-needed clean sheet and a point on the road at a tricky venue.

Sadly we don't seem clever and good at game management, we are too soft and not savvy enough.

And he left the previous owner as Chairman, instead of trying to move Everton into the business league that the Premier League has become.

Put your own people in place, Mr Moshiri. Take ownership. Own doesn't mean manage or govern. Just put people in place who will succeed. You must know them. You're a Billionaire.

When you look at Man City and prior to them Abramovich at Chelsea, the one thing that they both did was appoint top quality managers with proven track records.

When Moshiri took over, he sacked Martinez and installed Koeman – someone who had been a great player but had very little experience in managing and (with all due respect) having a half-decent season with Southampton should not have been the criterion for appointing a new manager to oversee the sort of spending that Moshiri would underwrite.

Even after the debacle of appointing Koeman, he learnt nothing from that and again appointed a man who had not won a trophy in the Premier League.

To make one poor judgement in appointing managers is forgivable; to do it on numerous occasions as Moshiri has done has left us worse off than when he joined.

He did eventually learn that lesson and appointed Ancelotti who quickly realized that the squad he had inherited was poor and, although his football at times was a very hard watch, at least somehow he got this squad into a Top 6 spot.

They sadly fell away towards the end of the season but, despite this, his record is such that he has the 3rd best win rate of managers we have had in the last 60 years. I don't know what spooked him to leave maybe hearing how little he would have to spend in the coming season to improve this group of players.

I have felt for a long while that the Moshiri & Usmanov takeover was and is primarily to build a new stadium and some surrounding land and sell Everton for a healthy profit on their investment. Obviously to get their asking price, Everton need to be in the Premier League. Otherwise, you end up where Ellis Short, the owner of Sunderland, found himself, with a new stadium but with a club in the 2nd tier of English football.

I think Moshiri declared his hand after 12 months of ownership when he said he only expected the running of Everton to take up 5% of his time – hardly a man who was going to drive this club back to the top. I think both he and Usmanov worked on the theory that Kenwright along with Moyes had kept this club in and around 6th place so, with their investment, they could leave him in charge to manage their affairs.

The one redeeming factor we can hopefully rely on is their project collapses without Premier League football, so it's just as important to them as it is to us that we stay in this league until the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock is built.

To continue construction, they will have to put in their own money but I see heavy reluctance to spend more – as demonstrated in the transfer market – or they need to sell a crown jewel, such as Calvert-Lewin to continue the construction.

The squad now is probably as poor as it's ever been, the squad management has never been worse. If each season £50M+ worth of players have expiring contracts and they walk out for free, it doesn't lead to anything good.

Benitez is unfortunately not going to be the hero to rescue the situation. Soon, he will get frustrated and begin his internal political games which he enjoys so much.

The club's future never seemed so bleak and the trajectory is downwards despite the considerable investment already made. Which is why it seems they are trying hard to sell the club now; they realise that it's actually much harder to run a football club than it seems.

Although Goodison will be fondly remembered, it is now a seriously poor stadium and reflects badly on the club.

By 2026, we are highly likely to be in the 6th to 10th zone of the Premier League due to our limited budget. If we carry on trying to build the best squad we can for each coming season, without looking further ahead, we will never get out of this cycle.

Our only hope is to invest in youth – and the longer it takes to do that, success will always be 5 years away or more.

Do we have the right owner?

In terms of investment – yes.

In terms of decisions – no. The succession of poorly appointed managers and foolish Director of Football model has left us with the weakest, but yet most expensive, squad in our history.

If Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin leave next summer, then we're in a relegation battle because I don't trust Brands to replace them with anyone decent. Against Wolves, the only Brands signings who started were Godfrey, Iwobi and Gbamin. Iwobi and Gbamin were two of the worst players on the pitch and Godfrey gave the game away, that's a sad result of 3 years worth of planning.

Apart from putting a plastic roof over the lower Gwladys and building a temporary stand at the Park End, Goodison hasn't changed much since I first stepped inside it in 1976.

I'm thinking hard, but outside of Elland Road, I can't think of another current top flight stadium that has effectively stood still?

Unfortunately, it's all too easy to harbour suspicions about the funding of the new stadium. After all, 'only' the first £100M has been stumped up by our munificent owner. So that leaves a massive amount of money still to be found.

It has been stated that Everton are looking for a private placement — the sale of stocks, bonds, or securities directly to a private investor — with the help of JP Morgan and Japanese bank MUFG.

This isn't a typical mortgage type funding arrangement where a conventional lender is clearly identified, despite the reputable names above, who are acting more as facilitators. So it may be technically correct – if a little disingenuous – to say that no reputable lender is willing to finance the construction.

But it's 6 weeks now since The Athletic 'explained' (to their subscribers) the funding model for the new stadium construction at Bramley-Moore Dock, when it was claimed that a deal was thought to be 'close'.

The source for that story was Global Capital, whose clickbait line says that the deal launch is 'expected imminently'. They don't seem to have followed that up with anything as yet... Er, "Watch this Space"?

It would be horrific to imagine that the construction only goes so far and then gets stalled through lack of money. Such a thing could not possibly happen... could it???

Nou Mestella

I despair at my age I will ever see us win a trophy again in my lifetime. Like many, I believed with a new billionaire owner on board, we would at last be able to mount a challenge for trophies again. But sadly, the truth is, despite spending vast sums of money, the club is going backwards.

Our owner has failed miserably in appointing the right men to manage our great club. Who would have thought we would appoint someone like Allardyce – a complete anathema to most Evertonians; you know the owner has lost touch with the fanbase when he makes that sort of appointment.

Allardyce's claim to fame was he always kept teams up; well, that was true till last season. He has now appointed a man who large sections of the fanbase didn't want, so how does that bring us back together as a club? I think we can see the atmosphere at Goodison this season has been flat for large parts of the game, and considering we weren't allowed in last season, you would think the opposite would be the case.

I know many say "Well, Benitez was the best that we could have gotten" – and maybe, given the financial constraints that FFP have put on us, then maybe that would have scared off any top-quality managers.

But Benitez had to go to China to earn a living as most clubs in Europe weren't interested in employing him. Prior to that, he had taken Newcastle down... and yes, he brought them back up, but only to exist in the Premier League.

I accept, given the financial constraints, we probably had no chance of getting Conte, but I believe Cristophe Galtier may have been persuaded to come here. He had just walked out of Lille after winning the French title, beating the exceptionally rich and powerful PSG. He has moved to Nice who currently are 2nd behind PSG in the league, they finished 10th last season.

So he is a coach with a track record of building sides, not inheriting them. I also think he would have been a better fit to work with a DoF, seeing that's the system our owner seems to prefer.

I agree with the sentiment of your post. When you look across the park and when you look at Alex Ferguson's Manchester United of the 90s. The key thing is they focussed on what matters most. What happens on the pitch. Get that right and the rest will follow.

Focus and treat it like a business and you're missing the fundamental point. You need to perform on the pitch. That's what football is fundamentally about.

The club may have spent a significant sum so far between land, design, mobilisation and initial works – possibly close to the £100M that you've quoted – but unfortunately since the start of the project, the costs have spiraled by at least that much between significantly higher material costs, fuel and shipping costs, labor shortages etc...

In general, before starting such a project, it's prudent to have agreements or understandings in place with lenders for the financing of the project. However, it seems that the project has commenced without anything but a hope and a prayer that financing will be found.

It's the beginning of November and the project has been alive for quite a few months already. If nothing is announced before the end of the year, I would be quite concerned that players will be sold in January to continue funding the construction.

My personal belief is that Usmanov has found a very different reality than when he was an Arsenal Shareholder, with Manchester United and Chelsea the only other teams to beat. That time he strongly believed that a moderate investment in the squad can lead to more trophies, as explained in his letter to the board.

After buying Everton indirectly, the Premier League has see the continued rise and dominance of Manchester City, Liverpool's re-emergence, and now Newcastle Utd with access to more money than the rest of the 19 clubs combined.

I believe this changing landscape, combined with major incompetence in the management of the club, has caused Usmanov to decide to cut his losses. The current priority is to get the stadium built to a level where potential investors can see the value in buying the club. He tried to turn things around but failed.

Contrast that with FSG who bought a near bankrupt Liverpool for £300M, poor squad and a mid table position. With fantastic decisions on recruitment, stadium expansion and many other improvements, after years of positive results now find themselves with a club valued at over £5B. It was the model Usmanov should have followed, but unfortunately did nearly the opposite with everything.

No, he's been a disaster. More of a fraud than Kenwright.

Most of the ones I read generally held the view that they looked at Newcastle, Everton and Man City, but the free ground at City swung it for them.

Other than ToffeeWeb rumour spreading, I don't know of any other accounts saying that they actually put in an offer. I'm happy to be proved wrong though.

I do take the point though that, if the Kings Dock was delivered, they might have actually put in an offer.

It's not ToffeeWeb gossip by the way.

Delph wasn't bought by Man City because he was a bad player or picked for England because he was useless.

Similarly, Brands plied his trade in Holland where Feyenoord, Ajax, Eindhoven have fought out the success picking young players that can adapt to the way those teams play. That can make him look a good eye for a bargain; but then we know our success rate with Dutch players in the Premier League is, in a word, crap.

For me, I'd go back to letting the manager, who wants players that will fit his style of play, pick his purchases.

The club needs a massive shake-up, a ruthless Chairman who will only accept the best, a similar CEO who, in a cut-throat business, has the sharpest knife. At the moment, we have a star-struck head-in-the-clouds chairman acting out his own reality play, and a CEO who is running a charity very commendably but has not one idea as to running a successful footalll Club.

I was hoping Usmanov would come in and do things in a ruthless Russian way but I doubt it will ever be allowed after the Newcastle fiasco, as "owners" are under more scrutiny than ever before.

It's no use him hiding behind the new stadium being built at Bramley-Moore Dock because that could go tits up based on his form.

I would say he has one last chance to get this club back up and running and that's to start by sacking all of the deadwood at all levels and hire a professional team to bring a new football focus and winning mentality into the club.

We have a responsibility as supporters to let him know what we think and make him take action. Not many supporters get the chance to go and speak at the AGM (I think Bill banned them anyway) but the terraces is where it can be shown and not ignored.

This big happy family lark is taking us backwards and I'm sick of it.

Did Kenwright employ Steve Walsh, Ronald Koeman, Marco Silva, Sam Allardyce or Carlo Ancelotti? - No

Did Kenwright employ either Steve Walsh or Marcel Brands to oversee some of the worst recruitment in the clubs history? - No

Is Kenwright likely to have had any involvement in the payment of absurd wages to average players? - No

So what exactly is Kenwrights contribution to the clubs recent decline and how are they more significant than any of the above 3 contributions, which weren't Kenwrights doings?

The DoF has now had his feet under the table for several years, yet I cannot make out what the “plan” is? It appears to me that most big-money signings have failed, some very obviously, others by a diminution of performance or through persistent injuries, the two often being in tandem.

Arguably, only Pickford, Digne, Godfrey (I know!), Mina, Doucouré and Richarlison have proven to be decent signings at £20M plus: others, like Klaassen, Kean, Keane, and he-who-cannot-be-named have been disappointing overall.

So Clive, my response would be that maybe Moshiri isn't an ideal fit for Everton FC, but he has put his money where it matters. If he has made failings, then these have mostly been down to those he entrusts to actually bring success on the pitch, and the examples I offered on player acquisitions, to me, point to the role of the DoF.

I actually think we would be better off getting rid of that role and entrusting Benitez to recruit as best he can, offering only short-term contracts up to 24 months.

Did the Chairman say anything of note to show his dissent to any of the decisions made in the last 5 years? No! Although reports say that he did not want Nuno as manager and he pushed for Benitez, when his dream of a Moyes return was scuppered.

Did the Chairman fawn over the new owner and his willingness to spend money whenever a request was made? Yes!

Did the Chairman resign because he believed that the club was making incorrect and foolhardy decisions, which would damage his beloved club? No!

I don't believe that Brands will call the manager on a Monday morning and say “I just bought you a quality midfielder” and the manager says “But I wanted a left-back!”

I am only guessing but I think the relationship should be more of this:

(1) The manager and director should be clear on the style of play that will be used.

(2) If the manager and director agree that the manager needs a central midfielder, then the director checks with who he knows who are available, and who might be available, to play in the style the manager wants.

(3) After discussions with the manager, he opens negotiations with the player's club plus negotiations with the player's representatives.

(4) If negotiations fail, they move to someone else.

There seems to be a case of (and like other supporters I am only guessing) the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing – and that is a major problem.

Either fix the definition of the relationship between the Director of Football and the manager... or go to a different system.

Whilst everyone is of course entitled to an opinion, this is just absolute nonsense. Go and do some reading.

Dear me….with supporters thinking like this, it's not hard to understand how Kenwright gets off scot-free.

So, on that basis alone, he's putting us at risk of violating labor laws.

If Kenwright had of voiced his dissent would it have made a difference to the signings made or the managers employed? – No.

If Kenwright resigned as Chairman, would it have made a difference to the signings made or managers employed? – No.

If Kenwright would have actively opposed Moshiri spending money on new players, would it have made a difference? – No.

If Kenwright would have actively opposed Moshiri spending money on new players, would that have appeased any fans such as yourself? – No

Nick 33 - Can't work out whether you're being serious or not. In either case, you fail to address what Kenwright has done in the past 5 years that outweighs the mistakes of others and what would have been different if he wasn't here.

So again, what exactly is Kenwright's contribution to the club's recent decline and how are they more significant than any of the above 3 contributions (appointment of successively based managers, appointment of a failed director of football system, and negotiation of ridiculous contracts for average players) which weren't Kenwright's doings?

I know you are an ardent supporter of Kenwright but it is a fact that Mansour was interested in buying Everton before he even considered City. Keith Harris even said at the time that the conditions of sale made it unattractive to buyers.

As long as Kenwright can keep mugging fools with money, he will do as Paul Gregg found out and hopefully Moshiri is beginning to realise.

Kenwright inherited an asset-rich club and turned it into a plucky little loss-making club overnight.

It is only the appointment of David Moyes at Walter Smith's recommendation that saved us from certain relegation and an abyss.

As for your comment "Is Kenwright likely to have had any involvement in the payment of absurd wages to average players? – No." I would suggest you look at why Rooney was brought back at £150k a week, having been past his sell-by date for years, and why Finch Farm is filled with basket-case trainers.

Perhaps if we ever get back to the model of buying young players like Vlasic and Lookman, we can find a clear way for them to progress. The recruitment has been criminal.

How can Koeman be allowed to bring in Klaassen and Martina? Or Benitez be allowed Lonergan and Rondon? Even our temporary Big Sam got given £50M to burn... Hardly points to Kenwright, does it?

He's "calling home the troops" and "cutting his losses", apparently because of setbacks on the pitch.

Does that really make sense to anybody?

Not sure how wired in Kieran Maguire really is, but he certainly has a different view of the extent of Usmanov's commitment:

Everton handed £36M boost as Usmanov role explained

From that perspective, Moshiri is ultimately responsible because it is his adopted organizational methods that have us in this place. Kenwright is an accomplice to that crime, if you will, not a person of interest but a suspect co-conspirator.

Ken, I was about to add that the mastermind is also just as guilty as the lookout man and the burglar. But then I thought "mastermind"? really?

I doubt any of our management team could do much more than say 'Pass' to most questions judging by their performance at Everton FC.

Perhaps Bill Kenwright could have 'How to make millions by investing nothing' as his specialist subject!!

I'm not an ardent Kenwright supporter, I just don't get the fascination with blaming everything on him, especially over the last 5 years.

As for Rooney – yes, that one's on Kenwright, but Rooney is hardly the cause of our mediocre squad at present.

Are the “basket-case trainers” interviewed and employed by Kenwright and how much influence have they had on the last 5 years? Don't forget that every manager has brought his own backroom staff, the only constant first-team coach since Moshiri took over is Ferguson. The next longest is the goalkeeping coach who was brought in by Unsworth.

As for Keith Harris - did the specific conditions of the sale ever get expanded on, or was a new ground included in the specific conditions? I doubt we'll ever know for certain, but, in my opinion, without the new stadium, they would always have gone for Man City.

The cost of conversion (£46m) was borne pretty much equally between the club and Manchester City Council with Sport England allowing the small surplus from the Commonwealth Games to be utilised. Man City moved into their new home in August 2003.

The initial rental agreement was on a full repairing lease with Man City paying one half of their gate receipts over an attendance of 36,000 (this being the number of season tickets). The City Council also retained the right to hold non-football events at the ground and to retain the income therefrom.

In 2006, Thaksin Shinawatra acquired Manchester City for £81M. Unfortunately, a military coup in Thailand and the freezing of his assets resulted in his tenure being limited to 14 months and the promised £350M investment never materialised.

He sold to Sheik Mansour in 2008 for $212M (£157M). He was offered and accepted the title of Honorary President for Life. This was, however, withdrawn on his and his wife's conviction for abuse of power in their own country. They were subsequently sentenced to 2 and 3 years respectively.

The acquisition of Manchester City was the Sheik's third choice behind Newcastle and Everton. Mike Ashley had owned Newcastle for less than 2 years and was unwilling to consider a sale. Everton entered into negotiations but the sticking point was that the Abu Dhabi consortium could not gain full control as Bill Kenwright was unwilling to accept the honorary position subsequently accepted by Shinawatra.

The Sheik's interest in Newcastle and Everton stemmed from the fact that both clubs owned the land on which their stadiums were built, even if, in Everton's case, it was mortgaged to the hilt.

In 2012, Manchester City renegotiated the terms of their lease with the City Council. It was agreed that they would pay a fixed £3M annual rent (inflation-adjusted) and would retain the income from all events held at the stadium and would be able to sell naming rights to the then City of Manchester Stadium, which of course led to it being renamed: The Etihad. They also received planning permission to increase the capacity at the stadium to its current 55,000.

The term of the lease was extended to give the club a virtual freehold and it remained a full repairing lease. In exchange, the Abu Dhabi consortium agreed to invest £1bn over 10 years in the redevelopment of East Manchester and to invest £600M in Manchester Airport, developing it into the European hub for Etihad Airlines.

There are two players who have been brought to this club, and have then been let go the next season, that should have been kept on. One is James Rodrigues; the other is Wayne Rooney.

I don't care how much money Rooney was on a week, he scored goals and was miles better than any striker we had at the time and his name alone on shirt sales would have paid for his services. Same as for James.

Brands had got the Summer '18 window under his belt by then so it's likely that Kenwright had been similarly involved then.

People asking for sworn statements or copy documents from the club to justify the disdain we have for the boardroom bewilder me. We all see what we see, decades-long mediocrity, and yet some want to avoid at any cost pointing the finger at the one guy who's been in charge, or nearly in charge, of the entire club throughout that time, and that's weird to me, I'm sorry to say.

All I will say is they have both covered themselves in glory in top flight football since then?

Did Kenwright sanction the employment of Roberto Martinez, Ronald Koeman, Marco Silva, Sam Allardyce or Carlo Ancelotti? – Yes!

Did Kenwright sanction the employment of Steve Walsh and Marcel Brands, and watched them oversee some of the worst player recruitment in the club's history? – Yes!

Is Kenwright likely to have had any involvement in sanctioning the payment of absurd wages to average players? – Yes!

This is exactly what Kenwright's contribution has been to the club's recent decline. All the above 3 contributions have been hugely significant and are most definitely Kenwright's doings as Chairman of Everton FC Co Ltd.

Aside from that, thanks for that effort, Stephen @45.

For sure he was part of all those things but only as a part player and non-owner. I agree though that he is a significant part of the problem and that Everton will never become a successful modern club while he's part of the set-up.

The people in all positions must be the best – not just Evertonians, ex-players or friends of Bill.
The other seat of our problems is Brands, our DoF. As a DoF, he has so far failed badly in every aspect in terms of recruitment of managers and players.

Can he be overruled by Kenwright though? I really don't know so blame is difficult to apportion.

I definitely got a bit touchy there and I hope you didn't see the first one. It happens, sorry again.

Didn't Keith Harris fall off his roof while adjusting his TV aerial in a thunderstorm or something along those lines?

I will be in The Oak as always for the usual pre-match libation and I believe that our social secretary, Derek Knox, is encouraging all to head for The Crown post match.

Hope the Spurs fans are as friendly as the West Ham lads on your journey up.

I am out in Woolton Village tonight for a craft beer and pie night at the Pickled Olive, so later posts may be more than a little garbled, if indeed I can manage any at all.

We'll most likely make it a full house when Rooney leaves Derby County.

In a league of mostly failed billionaire owners incapable of one or both those attributes, only Abramovich and Mansoor have matched the brief.

Moshiri is not in their league financially and therefore looks a complete nob'ead because he can't spend through his mistakes. His pal, Usmanov, being peripheral to the entire enterprise, is of no consequence; he has nothing of the commitment of the Man City or Chelsea benefactors and needs to fuck off and stop muddying the waters. Piss or get off the pot, soft lad.

The answer to the question, therefore, is an emphatic Yes – we have the wrong owner(s).

Maybe someone with better internet capabilities than me can post a link? But, if so, at the very least, Kenwright has been in the forefront of every footballing decision before and after the purchase of the club.

If so, Moshiri made a huge and costly error of judgment, after so many years of abysmal management of the club under his ownership, to give him the keys to his money box was due to his own incompetence at best or due to his misplaced trust in someone who he believed in.

The comparison for me is the analogy in the US when a company files for Chapter 11 to protect it from creditors, often after poor management decisions – the very same management who got the company into the mess in the first place, then given the freedom and protection to improve the situation. What outcome do people seriously expect?

No-one knows the terms of sale of Kenwright's shares or the limitation of his day-to-day involvement... but it's clear that a "culture" has been created by Kenwright and all his appointments, in which the family club is to the fore. This is the principal reason this club has failed.

Success is due to the ability to change, to put the best strategy and objectives in place and hire the best people for the job in every position. I have no problem with hiring ex-players, as long as they are proven to be best for the role.

I think, in the last couple of years, Moshiri is realizing his mistakes – he may even want out if the blogs coming out of Saudi are to be believed – but in the appointment of Benitez, especially with minimal funding, a new, frugal point has been made. The gravy train is over until you show me improvement.

Kenwright has to go. It's rather simple. The club needs regeneration and a clear-out from top to bottom.

Right now, we have a group of players brought in to do different roles under different managers who now have to be fashioned into a team by Benitez. They aren't his choice to have but it's all he has, warts and all. What we need to see is some sort of consistency to enable him to bring in players. Make no mistake, that's going to take 2 or 3 seasons before he has his team.

Is Moshiri the right man? He has some painful lessons in trust, but I think he has learnt his lesson.

After sacking Kenwright's "Best manager in the business" who had "promised Champions League football". Moshiri very publicly and very embarrassingly went in pursuit of the Watford manager. How do we know he was a Moshiri appointment? I think the fact that his tongue was hanging out throughout the chase gave us a clue.

Having realised his fuck-up, Moshiri again embarrased the club by publicly courting the Southampton manager. He then brought Steve Walsh in.

Big Sam followed after lengthy public interviews with his pals at TalkSport... another abject failure.

Moshiri then delighted in boasting to the world that he had landed Carlo Fantastico. Yeah, right, Farhad lad. His failure was predicted by anybody prepared to give it a little thought.

Marcel Brands was also brought in by Moshiri – it seems Moshiri wanted someone who would say one thing and do the other. What a roaring success Marcel has been. The guys selling Gucci suits and Rolex watches just love him.

Of course, it's not just the front men Farhad appointed, Oh no... He was also bringing in "their people". We were treated to a plethora of cutting-edge pioneering coaches, all destined to become Everton Legends... Names like Erwin Koeman, Jao Predro Sousa, Pedro Conceicao, Davide Ancelotti. The entire Napolean mafia. Sammy fucking Lee. Ryland Morgan and the guy who knocked Colin Harvey off his perch as the greatest Evertonian. Craig Shakespeare.

The compensation alone paid to these abject failures would be enough to keep Finch Farm open for another century. The money they squandered would have paid for the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock...

And what about the board? Farhad must have been modelling his board members on Sir John himself as he assembled it.

I blame Phil Jevons and the rest of the basket cases. What? He's already gone?... When? Get the bastard back so we can sack him...

I think it's clever having a first team coach also overseeing the 16-21 age bracket at a football club, so good luck to the mackems, who look like they are trying something different by employing Phil Jevons, and going with something that appears to be different?

https://youtu.be/C3Zn3M-WMzM

Always preferred the Mackems to the Geordies. Better alhouses, better crack, better fans. It would be great to see the Barcodes go down while the Mackems come up.

How the nouveau riche would hate mixing with the riff-raff...

Moshiri comes to the club and immediately starts talking about Hollywood managers, but it's Kenwrights fault for sanctioning what Moshiri wants? Do you not think it would have happened regardless?

Moshiri wants a director of football model, something Kenwright didn't have in all his years at the club, but it's Kenwrights fault for sanctioning it? Again, do you not think this would have happened regardless?

Walsh and Brands, in conjunction with the managers that Moshiri wanted, identify a number of big name freeloaders who are the total opposite to the transfers that Kenwright oversaw for years, but it's Kenwrights fault for sanctioning these deals. Again, is there not the tiniest possibility they would have happened anyway?

Kenwright has his faults, but believing that he is responsible for our decline in the last 5 years ahead of manager and DOF appointments and stupid contracts, is folly.

If Kenwright had the power to stop all this, and saved Martinez from the sack, blocked some big name signings, refused to pay big contracts to big name players and blocked Walsh and Brands coming in, at the time of it happening would you have said “well done Bill, you have the best interests of the club at heart” or would you have slated him for not showing ambition?

Bill Kenwright had presided over several decades of failure prior to all you mention, trampling over the club motto with his "plucky little Everton" soundbite, ably supported by Moyes who was under no pressure at any time of his stint and should have been shown the door much earlier than his final leaving date in many eyes.

All this whilst selling assets hand over fist and treating fans to whatever version of his narrative suited the mood of the day... and all the whilst waiting for a mug like Moshiri to turn up and leave him in place whilst lining his pockets.

In my eyes, no way has Kenwright ever acted in the best interests of the club – unless that interest aligned with self-interest.

These two nincompoops together were a recipe for disaster, a perfect storm, a comedy duo. The first time I saw the two of them together at Goodison, I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. If smirks could tell a story, it would be (Moshiri) “Where am I? What am I doing here?” And (Kenwright): “I've found the mug of all my wet dreams”.

Everton are cursed. I've been saying this for years. We need some kick-ass, super-voodoo witchdoctor to rid us of this pestilential stench. I hope the pair of them piss off pronto. Problem is, we'd probably get bought by a consortium led by Iwobi, Paul Merson and George Osborne.

'several decades of failure' Lol.

You're last sentence offers some sense of joy lol

Sounds like a plan, the Crown after the Spurs game, we are having a whip round to get Danny a jumbo sausage roll after his mishap in the Annie Road end. :-)

...But that fear of the unknown they faced at the prospect of a complete takeover should niggle them no longer.

Even if Moshiri has ambitions to one day increase his shareholding, he'll probably have to wait until he's convinced Kenwright that he has genuine intentions for the club to go with his weighty wallet.

The changing of the guard will be gradual. There's no oligarch at Goodison able to rule with an iron fist.

For now maybe that's a good thing.

Safest bet for Bill Kenwright and Everton

Nearly six years later and we still await the changing of the guard!

In terms of decades of failure - it's subjective. We didn't win anything, but we got close a couple of times. In terms of trophies he failed.

Food for thought though….
7, 17, 4, 11, 7, 5, 5, 8, 7, 6, 5, 11. That's the finishing positions of Everton's last 12 years under Kenwrights stewardship.

7, 8, 8, 10, 10. That's Moshiri's full seasons.

Like him or loathe him, under Kenwright and Moyes we had the second most consecutive top 8 finishes in the clubs history. Under Moshiri we have been going backwards.

This for me is the sub consciously, worst point in my time since starting watching Everton in 1971. The conscious in me, says we are going no where soon, bar a miracle. The squad is barely a reliable squad and isn't a strong squad.

All the history, and rhetoric, and the events of the mid 80s count for nothing, now.

The club needs to smell reality.

This season is gonna be a slog, bar some miracles, but the manner of the decline, over the last 5.5 years, having spent more money on players, than in previous eras in the clubs history,, and be miles worst off than, prior to the Moshiri era raises, questions.

For me the naivety and lack of professionalism at every level, every assessment of potential buys, player development plans, etc at the youth levels, magnifies the scale of bad management, planning, stratedgy, and investment buying duff players and hiring managers with no proven capability, or once great players with no management prowess, to make them even good football managers.

The board and God only knows, what goes on side the board room at GP, are doing to address the decline of EFC, remains to be seen.

The respective theories on whose out, going or gone is interesting, and so the how's, and whys will follow.

I feel the club is not considering the fans if I'm honest, in that there's no consistent press and feedback on BMD, and progress of the football side of the club.

The salvation of the club, embracing the future technology and all but at at significant cost burdens, inflated by global materials, the Evertonians, are being drip fed with progress reports.

I'm being cynical but the club needs to be consistent in managing expectations of supporters.

Then you can unwrap the malaise, or is it just can't be arsed, we will be ok? ( the EFC board)

I, we, all could write all day, and not scratch the surface on matters Everton.

Sunday could get tough, but speaking to a Spurs supporter, today, I've known for years, they will be up for it, as they are at GP, but it will be interesting to see who is Captain, for Everton for this game. Surely it won't be a reply of almost 3 years ago, 2-6?

The team is playing like a Sunday youth team, and are as unprofessional in recent games, as going back to the Mitch Ward, days.

The cracks are there and the club, in my view needs some steel and leadership.

I'm not blaming Rafa, for this toxic inferno, of matters EFC, other than, he must decide and train and coach his players, in the basic football virtues, and to what defensive, transition, to and from attack, he wants them to play.

Start like Wolves on Sunday, the potential for vaporisation in the air, is real.

It feels like a life time..

The train to Diss, that conked out, we went the pub, waited,got the next train, got in late, walked around the pitch, their fans spitting and throwing, coins, and just by the goal, when Pat scored.

By God, as Evertonian, the days of youth were the days of Glory.

I live in hope eternal, but hand on heart as it stands, this is gonna take some doing for EFC, to win a trophy at first team level, any time soon.

The malaise is becoming permanent.

“Death, or Glory”, the Everton board, must need to decide, if the club wants to be serious.

Rant over.

"I would have settled for three 0-0 draws."

No, you wouldn't... only maybe if you compared them to the loses. But I take the point.

Lord Grantchester denies backing £15m Everton plan

How can a proud club like ours appoint Big Sam as manager, to be followed later by appointing Rafa Benitez? How can we pay fortunes for players like Sigurdsson, Schneiderlin, Iwobi, Bolasie, Keane and the likes?

How can Duncan Ferguson be sat next to every new manager? What does he do? Is he Kenwright's bodyguard?

He should have been installed as manager before Big Sam got here and, at least if he failed, then Kenwright's dominoes would start to fall.

Football might not be his thing but I'd love to see Gordon “fucking” Ramsey walk in there to sort it out!

His very remaining in place pervades the whole club meaning mediocrity, further erosion of status, and cronyism abound

The board have a clear strategy. It involves the tannoy guy at Goodison saying “Does anyone know how to run a club?” And hoping Ted Striker from Airplane! is among the crowd to steer us to safety alongside a blow-up doll.

I have very good friends who are both Newcastle and Sunderland fans. Both are good clubs and I wouldn't like to choose between the two. If I had to, I'd go for Sunderland. Newcastle have had that self-proclaimed air of superiority about them since the Kevin Keegan era. The self-proclaimed "as big as Manchester United" club that they never have been. They do it as a city even though, population-wise, they are no more significant than Nottingham or Derby. Or Sunderland for that matter.

Bill Kenwright remains Everton's chairman and consults with Marcel Brands on a daily basis, but Brands is now the club official who takes the lead on the club's transfer strategy.

Denise Barrett-Baxendale paid tribute: "We benefit greatly from our Chairman's vast experience of the football industry and his long-standing dedication to our club," she said.

"I have day-to-day responsibility for running our club and to have such a committed and experienced Chairman working alongside myself, Marco and Marcel has been truly invaluable."

Kenwright himself explained how his role has changed since Marcel Brands came on board.

“I want to be the guy who looks after what Everton means to the fans and that's what I will continue to do, which is look after our Everton and their Everton," he said. "We have a great Director of Football who taken over and changed a lot.
"I have a really close relationship with Marcel and we consult on most things. He is very straight."

"I had a health problem three-and-a-half years ago and I couldn't go for five months," he said "and I've got to tell you that is the worst thing in the world. Your team is playing and you can't go and watch them. It's the most important 90 minutes of my week." – Liverpool Echo dated 9 January 2019.

I can get on board with people saying that one person isn't responsible for all the ills of the club in the last 5 years, but I can't possibly agree that all the fault lies solely with the owner; he is ultimately responsible for his appointees and other stuff, but the club is run by Kenwright, Brands, Barrett-Baxendale et al and they are all culpable for the demise of the club and the financial situation they find themselves in.

It is not a Moshiri or Kenwright blame game – it is both of them.

The one who is supposed to know the most about Everton FC, and football in general, has let the club and his friend [Moshiri] down the most.

“I couldn't go for five months.” That's a long time to hold it. So he admits he was full of shit?

I've never liked Newcastle Utd. When I was at Uni in Manchester, there was a crowd of Geordies who thought the University of Manchester campus was some sort of West Side Story tribal battlefield where everyone was divided by regions.

They'd always kick off, throwing bottles of Newcie Brown in night clubs and invariably had the shit beaten out of them. But they never learned; they'd be back the next night, kicking off again against Mancs, Taffs. “Southern Softies”, “Scallies” whoever.

It was weird cause of the above mingled and socialized. So over time I had run-ins with them as an auxiliary Welshman, Manc, Yorkshireman etc. I still remember their leader this Moyes-looking fellow with an oversized Mekon type head. In contrast, I've never met anyone from Sunderland I didn't like.

God only knows.

🙏🏼🍀🥃🍺 All Together now, for Everton, a massive game, all in all, this one is.

So how have we sunk this low, we all know we are rotten from the top, all the way down, we have gutless players who every single time we have a chance of getting in the top four, surrender and go back into their shells, which then got me to thinking, these players are on decent contracts, they are on a cushy number, doing the bare minimum without having to play midweek games in Europe.

These players know they are not good enough to stay, should we get into Europe, they would be replaced by better players, so are these players ensuring we do not get into Europe and downing tools, when it looks like we could actually achieve something.

Every single time we have a chance of top four, we fail, could be down to bottlers, but makes you wonder if some of these players are happier playing mid table every season are not putting everything into getting a good result, to get us in at worst the top 6.

We have been in stagment for well over 27 years, most of that time one person has been on that watch, one person has brought back time after time ex players to finch farm, to also media work inside Goodison, one person has succeeded in having a weak board alongside him.

One person even now is stinking Goodison Park out,is still the puppet master, pulling all the strings, if no one else can see this, I really feel for the future of our football club, but will finish by hoping at some point, Moshiri will grow a pair, and run certain board members and former players at the rest home at Finch farm, out of our football club.

Anyway rant over, hope to catch some of you in the Crown after the Spurs match.

I have to agree with your assessment, with a very heavy heart, but it is what it is. No institution will succeed unless it is built for success. Those who have run Everton for the last quarter-of-a-century, have neither the ambition nor the wherewithal to make Everton a true footballing force. We have joined the also-rans and I believe that has happened because it is the cheapest and the easiest option. Consistent success costs time, money, and energy, and our leaders seem to be short of at least one of those elements.

Perhaps the players know the true ambitions of the club and are mystified as to why the fans expect so much more than they can provide, after all, most of them would not walk into a top-four team now or in the near future.

As if to cap it all, I've just seen a map of the areas that are likely to be flooded within 10 years if global warming continues, and I'm pretty sure that Bramley Moore Dock is one of those areas to be affected. Everton that!

It may have escaped your notice, Danny, but it was the previous managers (plural) who squandered the £700M on players' transfer fees and wages. Your boy barely gets a mention. Although I do understand why you don't want him mentioned.

These were all Moshiri appointments and so were their entourages (I only named a few of them). I bet that lot cost at least another £100M in wages and compensation.

You want to talk about the Everton Board, but I wonder if you actually know who sits on it?

Marcel Brands was brought in by Moshiri. He told us so.
Alexander Ryazantsev was a close friend of Moshiri long before he was appointed – How did that go?
Moshiri also brought in Sarvar Ismailov "to be his eyes and ears" according to the OS.

One of the first things Moshiri did when he came to the club was promote Denise Barrett-Baxendale. She was always Little Miss Dynamite, but Kenwright had kept her in her place. She in turn appointed Grant Ingles. "I have worked closely with him for 20 years. I had seen him work. That's why I appointed him Financial Director when I became Chief Executive in 2018."

You see, they are all Moshiri's appointments.

The trouble is, Gordon Clegg is still there and he remains too slippery for the fucking lot of them.

There was a terrific piece on these very pages called "EFC Board of Directors". Dont know if its still up there, but if you can find it, take a look. It goes a long way to explaining why we are where we are.

I agree, it's a series of failures and ultimately starts at the top, that's why I'm looking at the board. Does he call the shots? Of course. But like any owner, does he empower those he employs at C-Level to make those decisions on his behalf?

That may be his failing. Trusting those he handed over the custodian keys to too much. In truth I don't know, but that's my suspicion and why I think (if the case), he needs to take more direct ownership.

To Paul the Esk's latest and previous article, the governance and structure is just not right. Something is wrong at board level and Finch Farm needs re-structuring to get more output from it.

Who's my boy by the way? You've got me half-curious, half-paranoid now!! If we're talking Brands, my defence of him is that he hasn't been able to do his job. Not in the sense I understand DoF, but then I'm just a mere punter with an opinion.