Everton teeter on the brink after 30 years of mismanagement

This article in The Guardian is a bit strange in its timing, but it does show that we are nowhere near the club we once were.

This one adds nothing, tells us nothing, and has no point whatsoever.

Not a mention of Blue Bill but they do mention Dyche's record over 19 games. If you are going to report on Everton, report on the guardian of our once-great club, who has failed over 25 years plus.

Dyche saved Everton's bacon last season, whilst Blue Bill declared war on the club's supporters, end of.

Maybe the fans of other Premier League clubs who have managed to miss the press's diatribe or Guardian subscribers unwise to our plight may find a grain of interest.

The disparity of commercial and team management was never more stark. Behind the team was a commercial disaster, loan sharks, chancers, incompetence and debt. That's why we are in the crap now. Not because of Moshiri but in spite of his money.

The lack of revenue meant debt to compete. A credit card mentality, we have an owner who cannot, nay will not spend any more money? — Why is that?

So suddenly we are the media whipping boys, all we hear now is the sound of journalists' boots jumping on the bandwagon, while the charlatan remains, the owner in his bunker, the threat of an independent commission hangs still.

Absurd… where is the reality of trying to condemn a football club for what is probably a relatively minor misinterpretation of rules versus the obscene spends of Chelsea, the major transgressions of Man City etc???

Yet the FA again wants to find a patsy… Make no mistake: Everton have been massively mismanaged by two men but the seeds of failure, the reason why we are in such a bucket of crap, is the inability to grasp the commercial opportunities and management expertise for 20 years under the stewardship of Kenwright.

Unbelievably, while many managers and players have enjoyed the gravy train of Everton, Kenwright has been right up there. This lazy article from the Guardian omits the reasons for the failure — it's cheap and worthless.

To paint Dyche as another failure is disgraceful. We may have a long way to go, but that's because people have only just realized that the past two seasons have been coming for years. Dyche has a plan; it's not going to produce silverware but it will secure our immediate future until both Kenwright and Moshiri move on.

Everton, as Christine said, were the media darlings for so long. The honest club with the loyal generational fan base working on a perennial shoestring. We even swallowed the sop of 'The People's Club".

Actually the mismanagement label is a misnomer at Everton. The management of Everton have done well. Whilst the football manager has been expendable, the club management have done very nicely thank you. Any that left were well looked after, none were sacked on performance grounds. Those that remain have made millions and been paid top wages. God knows what went on in their dealings, but be assured they did okay.

The objectives at Everton were maintenance of this status quo and replenishment with like-minded individuals. A Schedule B Psychopathic model. This continues.

So Everton will survive since we are run by the biggest gangsters in the Premier League. Actually, I think the independent commission will be a fudge. The delay until October; Everton have paid off three Directors; and the two main Directors left, who are fully in control, are the biggest bullshitters in English Football history. That will be sufficient.

Yes Everton will continue as a Premier League club and will survive financially and the long-suffering lot of Evertonians will continue. There will be more column inches on the demise fuelled by the biggest continuing unbelievable saga in English football history. The death of Kenwright will be a national event managed by him and Moshiri will survive the Ukraine War.

"A creaking gate is the last to fall."

From being successful enough to be one of the founders of the Premier League, Everton failed to cash in on broadcast payments and merchandise opportunities at a time when transfer fees and wages were fairly reasonable.

They struggled to keep up with those who qualified for other cashcows of European football which, it could be argued, raised money on the back of the Premier League's popularity in attracting TV payments.

Then, when a rich benefactor was found, and a lot are not sure who exactly it might be, the lack of proper organization was shown up. The benefits of a big cash injection became a millstone which, if we fail on the pitch, will jettison the club into a downward financial whirlpool, of which we may now be seeing the first most dire effects.

We were shambolic pretty much till Moyes came along (*cough*) under Kenwright) coined "The People's Club", and restored some pride and a succession of Top 8 finishes, some European adventures, and even a Champions League (qualifying) appearance.

But even he finished 17th in his second or third season…

The biggest problem for me in recent years is not just money spent poorly but failure to stick with a ‘project' and constantly knee-jerk chopping and changing managers, senior staff, etc.

Obviously if something isn't working you need to change; Lampard is a nice bloke, but isn't up to managing at Premier League level. Benitez shouldn't have been at the club, and Carlo Ancelottip robably not either in hindsight, inevitable he would better deal us… but Silva needed more time and Koeman also maybe.

Hopefully they'll learn some lessons and stick with Dyche (and Thelwell) for a good few seasons. He's not everyone's cup of tea, but the team look organised, much more mentally strong, tight at the back, and actually pretty creative on the break (finishing touches aside).

We do have some genuine quality and made decent signings in the last few windows – get someone half-decent alongside Calvert-Lewin (even Adams?) and we're a top-half side at least.

Over 30 years. Some would go back further. The more I look at it, the 70s was the onset. As mentioned on another thread, we failed to build then and went and repeated the same thing after the mid-80s spike, not helped by the obvious.

Christine nails it perfectly.

I agree with the sentiment that I fear us being made an example of. But if you look at net spend against income, we are now very low down the table. There are many right up there. Will the Premier League have the balls to take them on?

Chelsea is going to make for interesting reading having spent just shy of £1 billion. Didn't qualify for Europe and lost their Russian benefactor. Apparently these things are judged over 3 years, but surely they are going to be subject to a FFP and / or P&S investigation? I would keep an eye on Nottingham Forest as well.

Villa today. That's my immediate focus.

What I find ridiculous is having a go at Sean Dyche; him, Stone and Woan have come in with nothing to spend so far and they have organised the players, got them fitter, and we have looked like a proper football team again who are enjoying their work.

A different angle would have been a positive one, saying that we are a striker away from being a decent team again.

The fact that the all-important striker signing has still not been made with 11 days left in this transfer window is maybe what the focus of a fresh article should be about. Great swathes of the last two seasons have been played with no suitable striker.

How about an article addressing that act of utter madness and incompetence? I mean, how is a club meant to survive with no goalscorer, whether it's the Premier League or the National League? They will continually suffer draws when they should have won and defeats when they should have drawn.

It is an incomprehensible act for a club that should be comfortably mid-table at least. It's one thing, shambolic accounting and management in the boardroom, but for them to compound it by not doing the basics of signing a goalscorer is gross negligence and a dereliction of duty.

It is the No 1 basic responsibility of assembling a football team. Score goals! It's no big secret!!!

Without a quality striker, we are a Calvert-Lewin injury away from another totally unnecessary relegation dogfight.

I'm begging the club to do the basics and give us some breathing space whilst the other long-term financial mess is addressed.

You would think in those 30 years he would have picked up the phone and asked what would Everton do just like all the other chairmen?

Where is the MSP money by the way?

"They're not [Moyes's] gritty overachievers any more, or Joe Royle's dogs of war, still less the fluent champions of Howard Kendall and certainly not the School of Science. To most potential transfer targets, they're just strugglers a section of whose fans will confront you in the street or abuse you online if results are poor."

Ouch!

The journalist shared that, despite the good work done by Sean Dyche in his task to stabilise the club after what he has described as a car crash, the Premier League's investigation into Everton's finances could mean it has all been for nothing.

The investigation is looking into alleged tax irregularities following loans made by the club to finance the construction of their new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium. Moxley described the situation as “bizarre” that the club could run up losses of over £430million without any charge.

Writing via his column in the Sunday People [20 August, pg 42], Moxley shared: “Then there are the constraints of Financial Fair Play, which can like the sword of Damocles over the club.

“Every hard-won point could disappear at the stroke of an accountant's red pen if the Premier League's investigation proves its case over alleged tax irregularities, following loans made to finance the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.

“Away from that, it seems bizarre that the club can run up losses of more than £430million over a five-year period – blame Covid – and then get off any charge.”

His statement came following praise for Dyche, in his words: “So, magician he ain't. But he's going to need to pull a rabbit out of a hat from somewhere. Because that club's not a car crash waiting to happen – it's already taken place. And the gravel-voiced one is picking up the pieces.” Source: Goodison News

Sorry I was unable to find or link directly to the article in the People, but I'm growing more concerned by the day as to what the future holds for Everton.

The football industry is a very small world and these reporters will have many contacts, who will be only too happy to speak off the record and give little nuggets of information to their favourites.

I'm hoping that the frequency of such articles are mostly wishful thinking on behalf of the journalists, or they are getting their digs in whilst they still can, i.e. prior to the outcome of the hearing in October.

Worst case and most frightening scenario, they are priming themselves up for the execution of Everton and won't be accused of taking no interest during the interim.

We've spent this money right under their noses and they didn't raise any question. Now suddenly they want to say, "Oh, that money you spent three years ago, that was clearly against the rules."

No chance. We may well be in breach, but they waved it through.

It'll be no more than 5 points I reckon, if any at all. And we will have enough to survive.

The bigger question is Moshiri and Kenwright. There are dark tales on Grand Old Team of Moshiri thrashing around trying to sell the club to anybody as apparently there is a big payment coming up for the ground, and he doesn't want to pay it.

The whole mess, as Christine says, is on Kenwright. He sold us to Russian gangsters.

Interesting how the exact nature of the breach continues to morph in successive stories. Now it's alleged tax irregularities?

If there were such things related to construction loans (which I highly doubt), surely they would be a matter for HMRC and not a Premier League independent commission looking into a specific breach of Profitability and Sustainability Rules?

And it makes no sense because stadium construction gets a pass under the P&S rules.

The Premier League aren't investigating Everton for something that happened 3 years ago, nor is it something that the Premier League previously waved through. The issue relates to the most recent set of accounts submitted by Everton to the Premier League.

Yes, we had a couple of good teams further on in the seventies followed by Howard Kendall's fantastic but very short time of success in the mid-eighties.

Since then, we have never looked remotely like challenging for anything.

I feel we will be treading water for years to come unless the present board accept men of real vision.

Our quality on the pitch will not change till the structure of the club is massively overhauled by men of real vision.

What's the point of having a beautiful stadium in the Championship (or lower!) if we continue to have a board stuck in the past?

If they are just looking at our behaviour in the year just gone, there is not much they can throw the book at us for. The real crimes were the previous half-decade.

Yes, Kenwright sold us to Russian gangsters, so not only did he pick the wrong gangsters (Liverpool and Man Utd owned by American gangsters, Msn City and Barcodes owned by Arab gangsters), he couldn't even get the timing right, like Chelsea, and only got them in once Putin had started invading most of his neighbours.