Brands laments ‘difficult’ role and battles to keep managers at Everton

However, I'm sure he will be lauded as a whistle-blower now he's gone.

Probably one of the reasons Carlo left – basket-case backward club.

I'm not a fan of the DoF thing, just one reason being, it can't work if the owners/operators won't let it. It requires the right people at the top which recent history shows we don't have.

Having a DOF is political and brings in so many issues that means the owners, de facto chairman, DOF and coaches get caught up in a mess that EFC have had to endure since Moshiri brought in Walsh 8 years ago.

We are the epitome of why you do not need a DOF, £500million spent by DoFs, Managers and Directors on utter shite, and yet, we now have another one.

Frank Lampard has been on his jollies because we have a DOF, that's worrying. I have no confidence for this coming season.

But as you say and as Brands refers, if you are going to implement it, let it do it's job and don't interfere. And be patient. Mostly a football "project" (I dislike that term by the way) takes 3 or 4 years. The average life expectancy of an Everton manager since 2013 has been one and a half years.

I actually feel embarrassed that Brands was exposed to the incompetence that is the non-leadership of Everton.

What does Bill Kenwright know about football that someone like me doesn't? What does Moshiri?

So leave the football thing to football people.

Nonsensical transfers like Rooney and allowing players to run their contracts down sums up the comical way we have wasted £500M and set the club back years.

Now we find the takeover has fallen through which is very worrying as it suggests our finances may be worse than anticipated… or the Moshiri and Billy show felt threatened.

Why does it suggest, "our finances may be worse than anticipated".

It appears to be Moshiri who has ended the negotiations, with the Americans still keen to continue.

Either way, I think we may have dodged a bullet.

“I was fighting to make a player contract of £50,000 a week, £45,000 a week because that fitted better in the wage structure and matched the qualities of the player,” he added.

“And then the owner called, saying that he had been sitting with another player and that he could come for £175,000 a week. Then you say: ‘What's that going to do in the dressing room? He earns three times as much as the others.'

“That kind of thing makes it difficult. You also see the difference with clubs where the structure is good. Liverpool has really grown. They have become really stable under Jürgen Klopp. You don't see any crazy transfers anymore.”

I tried until my last breath to keep coach Marco Silva in the saddle because I was convinced he is a top trainer. Then one looks very simple. And then after three defeats, measures are taken,” he said.

“I had to talk like a mad man to keep Ancelotti in the saddle, but in the end, he left for Real Madrid because he felt the support of the owners was not there. What are you talking about then?”

“Ronald Koeman has noticed it too. You cannot say that Koeman, Silva and Ancelotti are the wrong trainers. It is just very difficult to get a grip on the club if success does not come immediately.

“And it sometimes goes the other way too. We played a great game under Carlo Ancelotti at Tottenham Hotspur, and then he just got a new Rolls-Royce.

“The Premier League is so fantastically well organised and is such a powerful brand, but there is still so much room for improvement in the way the money is handled.

“To give an example: every time a trainer is fired, the whole team has to leave. That way, you don't build anything up. That is a waste of money.”

Source: Sports Witness

Hypothetically, under this regime, Howard Kendall would have been gone in 1983.

I keep saying, we need to stop blaming managers. Within reason obviously, but that is playing into the hands of a failing system.

Brands was and still is part of the problem. We are still paying the price for the deals he struck with Barcelona and Arsenal. At least I think they were his deals.

This place is like the House of Commons. Everyone blaming everyone else for their own failure. How can we know what, or who to believe?

I'd trade all of them and their wealth for one man of integrity who actually understood the value of a player.

In hindsight, his run of bad form pales in comparison to what Rafa did to the club.

The fans wanted Koeman and Silva out at the time, I seem to remember. Are we the bad influence???

He has left a lot out. The owner was arms-length and only got involved some of the time. What about his fellow Board members and staff? Did he get any support then?

I always thought Brands was extremely weak in that Zaha Summer and cost Silva his job.

That said, he is often blamed for decisions made a year before his arrival, eg, the mad splurge of 2017 on Sigurdsson, Klaassen and Rooney.

Someone quoted a Brands quote on another thread “money makes you lazy”. Brands went from unearthing gems for little money for PSV, to buying cast-offs from big clubs for hugely inflated prices and wages. His biggest success in Richarlison was attributed to Silva.

Outside interference or not, Brands did nothing but make this club significantly worse and we're feeling it now.

As much as you have to manage down, you have to manage up, often through diplomacy and influence having established yourself as the trusted go-to person for senior leadership to empower you to make the decisions.

Sadly, I think our leadership were not going to let go of the train set regardless. Panic and irrational decisions became the culture in the boardroom to save skin and shift blame.

That summer you mention. What a perfect storm example of our uncoordinated scattergun non-strategy towards transfers if there ever was one!

See you soon, John.

Some fans need to accept blame as well, it became ridiculous shouting for the managers to be sacked after a few poor results.

I also think his poor recruitment got Silva the sack, and partly because he was naive towards the physicality of the English league. Although he knew which way his bread was being buttered, otherwise, why would he have signed another contract after reading this? £££££££££.

Moshiri and Kenwright are and have been an abomination, but Brands was mostly shite.

What happened to "Sack the board" and a "strategic review"???

Would some of those fans you mention happen to be among the many fans who lined the surrounding streets of Goodison Park and shouted their heads off in the run-in and played such a huge part in Everton remaining in the top division?

You have to pick your fights but ultimately, if the owner is happy to sanction the large wages, the Director of Football needs to ensure it is on a higher quality player.

I wonder if this was James Rodriguez? For me, money well spent on a top class player. It's the other duffers that were not worth it as they couldn't support and cover for James's lack of athleticism.

As for the managers debate, I disagree. None of them proved to be good enough at coaching the team to get the best out of them.

Again, Carlo was maybe the exception and I don't blame him for returning to Madrid.

Brands failed. He should never have been on the Board and it's difficult to see any positive legacy he's left. Hard in only 4 years, but just another overpaid employee for me.

A large pinch of salt indeed but it does actually tend to confirm what some posters were speculating even when Brands was still with us...? Moshiri was listening to too many voices, interfering where he shouldn't and this was causing significant problems.

Let's be honest... if Brands had come out and suggested Blue Bill was the root cause of his problems, there would be 500 posts already on this thread and Marcel would be on the first stage of canonization!

As to Brands not leaving at the first sign of Moshiri monkey business, he probably thought the Iranian would learn and eventually butt out. Didn't happen and here we are up Shit Creek with the owner desperately looking for a way out.

"Whatever… it's only football!!! I'm Dutch, I don't really give a fuck. Let's all relax and smoke a big one."

This guy did well in Holland, for fuck's sake... As ever, EFC and the Premier League came along and it was "fill your boots" time. Another gravy-trainer.

I sympathize with Brands's predicament at Everton, but top executives are supposed to be able to deal with those challenges, and he couldn't. So now he's back in his cozy comfort zone, his old job with the second-best team in the seventh-best league. That seems to be his level.

Owner; Chairman, Directors.
DoF; Manager, Coach, Trainers, Physios etc.

You may be right but Silva has secured promotion for Fulham in considerable style.

Okay... may amount to a hill of beans when it comes to the Premier League but I would hesitate to write the young man off just yet.

Think I'm going with the opinion of Brands – the guy who actually worked for the club... no disrespect, like.

Add to that the absolute bunch of overpriced muppets we have bought, all of which he would have had to agree to sign. Now he points the finger at the owners?

If he had a different view, he should have grown a set and stood his ground. I wish him well for the future, but glad he's gone.

I think a major turning point of the Moshiri era came when Silva faltered and we elected to chuck the philosophical groundwork Brands had laid in order to swing for the fences with Ancelotti. Maybe it was a gamble we had to take in the moment, even though it ultimately backfired.

I don't think it's a coincidence that he returns to PSV Eindhoven and immediately starts earning raves for the calibre of business he's doing.

Indeed but even that can be viewed as a compliment or a criticism (not the cut and thrust of the Premier League) depending on your viewpoint.

Gutted we lost him, a man of great integrity. I suspect he's a great DoF, who ended up just being a trophy DoF who was never allowed to direct.

His record might not have been spotless, but can someone, who was so successful in establishing financially self-viable models with 2 clubs (AZ & PSV), lose his mojo all of a sudden? Even if it wasn't a full intervention, Brands's work was compromised by a certain & significant degree of sabotage by Moshiri and Kenwright.

I am one of the founding members of the #BrandsBrigade and I remain a keen supporter of his to wish his second stint at PSV now turns out even better than his first one, and serves as a quiet but big Fuck You to Moshiri & Kenwright.

So here we have someone who is acknowledged to be a well mannered guy who generally conducted himself with dignity when at the club, telling it in defence of his time here.

Now, let's get it right, it's his version, but on the back of Moshiri's apology, the obvious mismanagement of funds, the ad hoc recruitment of players and managers, one can be forgiven to think that his comments are pretty close to the mark.

And before everyone shouts "we don't have the full story", we have enough and have seen enough to add one and one to get two.

Was he strong enough? No, obviously not. If he couldn't make a difference, he should have resigned. I wonder how many managers or players it took before the "mutual consent" chop came... he had multiple opportunities to say enough, but he didn't.

If there was so much interference from Kenwright and Moshiri, then he must've always known he was going to end up the patsy.

But, always a but... it also confirms what nearly every soul in Goodison came to believe, that Moshiri couldn't keep his hands off running the club and that question has to be asked of the Chairman and board.

Now, if what Brands is saying about influencing the owner(s), is it agents (most likely), Chairman? (most likely). Either way, I have absolutely no sympathy for the money the owner has lost.

It's not been bad luck, it's been abject failure of two men, one with more money than sense, and the other with a desire to keep hold of something he sold.

Ancelotti left because he felt he didn't have the support of the owners? Wow... he obviously became disillusioned with things. I think, when he came, he obviously did have the backing but, as time progressed, the holes appeared and the money for players or backing disappeared? Couple that with the break-in, and I now wonder who initiated the first chat with Real Madrid?

It's clear that Brands's comments just add fuel to the existing fire regarding the competence of the owner(s) and board. No sympathy for Brands, but it's clear that how this club is run has been disgraceful.

So, Mr Moshiri it was your money:

1. How many players did you personally bring in? Who were they and how much?
2. Who else recruited players in the club during Brands's time?
3. Who is making the recruitment decisions for managers?
4. Who was negotiating player sales and player recruitment? I assume Mr Thewell is solely responsible, or not?

All good questions, no good answers and all we are left with is conjecture. Oh, but they carried out a strategic review... of what exactly? Will we ever know the remit and the results?

We are lucky it wasn't an autopsy: Misadventure, died of incompetence.

I don't dimiss the possibility that Silva learned from his mistakes at Everton. If so, it was a rich learning experience because he made so many.

He certainly did step in with elan at Fulham.

Spot on, Christine. I'm sure Mr Brands had to wait his time to air his frustration due to some sort of disclosure or confidentiality agreement.

I think I recall you saying you'd worked or spent time in the Netherlands.

I'm going to stereotype here, but In my experience, one thing I have always noted about the Dutch is that they a pretty direct and straight talking, which to your average polite Brit can border on coming across as rude. But they say it how it is.

Diplomacy is not second nature and I am surprised he put up with the interference, he must have loved the club, but not so much the owner(s)!

When I was stationed in Germany, our closest big town was actually Roermond over the border in the Netherlands. I served with the Dutch, both in normal environments and in hostile ones. Straight-talking people.

I respect Brands for speaking out. It must have been a frustrating time for him. I'm sure he wanted to succeed, both personally and, as you say, as he got to understand the club, for Everton.

But he was never set up for success with the interference and with the appointments of the likes of Ancelotti (I was a fan) and Benitez (I was disappointed). Those 2 would never work with a DoF. Alpha managers. My way or no way.

Another fall guy to protect the increasingly seemingly sacred cow, in my opinion.

Perhaps Brands might have done better in managing his bosses but it seems pretty clear where the issues are coming from: people who have no background or deep knowledge of football making multi-million-pound decisions at a football club!!

Or maybe he was just really setting himself up for life financially, which is something a lot of people have done since Moshiri came to Everton.

Let's take individuals out of the equation.

It's the structure and governance of the club.

Yes, that buck stops with the owner. But taking the bashing thing out of it, there has been a common denominator in the room for decades now.

I've not been a Bill basher and actually welcomed him at the time for ridding us of Peter Johnson. So, for the sake of balance and honesty, I'll put that out there.

But his time was done years ago. It has failed. He has failed. Moshiri has failed. But the failure of this club goes way back beyond Moshiri taking ownership.

At least one thing he has given us is the prospect of an iconic stadium that we have needed since the 1980s.

The problem Brands had was he become part of Kenwright & Co and they used him as a pawn. He was never his own man from the start. Starting a week earlier to give his approval of Silva on one meeting.

When he got on the board, the first thing he did was not to back Silva after Moshiri's comments and during the Saha Summer having announced a tight budget, when Moshiri announced the release of money, he was run over by Kenwright and later Moshiri in spending it. He singularly failed to achieve any of Silva's transfer objectives and then abandoned him early in the next season.

As for the Academy, he took boys for jobs to new heights.

Oh dear, I've dared to say something negative against us supporters.

The number of sackings of managers never allowed any sort of stability to develop on the style of play required, or which players were in or out.

How on earth do you not sack Benitez after losing that many games? Brentford, Watford, Palace, Norwich comfortably beat Everton, and the players looked visibly like they had downed tools.

No manager will survive that. You can't blame the fans for a poor appointment, unfit players, or a poor assembly of a squad. Away fans putting their heart and soul into this club, aren't going to say nothing whilst it's slowly sinking in front of their eyes.

The most telling part of Brands's disclosure was that Ancelotti, the most successful European manager ever, had doubts over the backing he was getting from the owner.

I know some didn't like his style but he knew what style this group of players had to play to get results. Both Doucouré and Godfrey admitted that Ancelotti told them he hadn't signed them, so you wonder who did sign them.

Inept Everton's stark reality as colossal £372million loss hits hard for Frank Lampard

But fear not, Blues; as predicted following the departure of Richarlison, there is ‘an incredible new image' of the new stadium in the Echo to cheer us up.

Steve #51 actually the text quoted, twice above, refers to "owners" plural... failure, no matter how you determine it, is ultimately the responsibility of the men at the top. They pay the price in any other business.

In football, Moshiri has lost half a billion, Bill has lost his... hang on... His position? His money? His influence?

You say people bash him, generally criticism in consideration of his time before Moshiri and the time since when he was given the responsibility by the owner of running the club. So far, he has been the only one to have made money and shed all responsibility. Good eh?

I think the manager comes up with what is required. T he DOF may have some players profiled to suit, then you have Kenwright and Moshiri contacts coming up with players.

At Everton, there seemed to be something lost in translation between these parties as the transfer process progresses. The manager can be even cut out of proceedings. This has been more the case as Profit and Sustainability Rules are being adhered to.

I think he viewed Everton the way a mobster views a restaurant they take a share in. “Let's rinse this, squeeze it out, run our funny money through it, and then chuck it when we're done.”

I think through his ghastly network of agents he's been buying players we didn't need but who underworld agents needed to move on, and that it was mainly about cleaning money. If they lost 50% on the money they spent, no big deal. “What do we care... we're billionaires!”

I've lost count of the amount of players and staff who leave and say things like "this club should be challenging for the Champions League every year" yet no one ever offers a reason or explanation as to why we don't. The fans are always left in the dark and the toxic conditions remain while the culprits for the chaos get off scot-free.

It's happening again, we continue to pursue the suicidal policy of selling our best players while the people responsible are still there. Disaster will come next year because of this, that squad can't compete at this level and the people responsible are still doing the same (hatchet) jobs, it's madness.