How the Farhad Moshiri era left Everton languishing on the brink of ruin

"Just watched the latest official drone footage of BMD. I am so fucking proud of this club. And I am going to stick my neck out and hail Farhad Moshiri as one we will look back on as our hero.

I for one don't want him to sell, I want we and him to regenerate our club and our city. Fuck the Premier League and all those who feed on its carcass. Let Everton FC reconvene. Born 1878. Reborn 2024. UTFT!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hKoB6GRKTKc&feature=youtu.be

He's nearly bloody bankrupted us.

None so blind…

Or were none of these things down to abysmal chairmanship?

Here was me thinking we were talking about the unparalleled disaster of the last 7 years.

Do you believe Kenwright had no input during Moshiri's ownership?

I must point we have never had such a monumental 7-year descent in our history and certainly not under the auspices of Kenwright – so what has changed? The arrival of Moshiri and Usmanov!!

Answering your specific question, I believe the Usmanov slap down of Kenwright over Benitez demonstrates Kenwright's input was inconsequential to zero. Furthermore, the Moshiri utterances in isolation reveal the witterings of an ignoramus completely out of his depth in the football industry.

Perhaps if Kenwright (who did know the football industry) did have a genuine influence, we may not be where we are.

Not that it dismisses mistakes over the whole Kenwright tenure, it doesn't, but, like many things, once simplistic myth takes hold, it's nigh on impossible to shift.

Our present catastrophic situation is down to two men only – Moshiri and Usmanov.

My view is that both Barrett-Baxendale and Ingles should be banned from serving as directors. They are unfit to fulfil that position. This should haunt their careers.

As for the article, it doesn't really provide any insight, just catalogues the abysmal-ness of it all. And perhaps reminds us of how astonishingly useless the accounting accomplice of an oligarch actually can be.

If it really is the fat Uzbeki's money getting washed down the drain, I'd stay firmly in the UK if I was Moshiri. And spend more on personal security...

He is supposed to be an accountant - 🤦‍♂️

When announced did you parade outside Goodison with a placard saying "No to Moshiri"?

Or was your crystal ball a bit cloudy back then?

Hindsight etc.

Even you cannot deny that during the first 7 years of Moshiri's ownership he had no position on the board and therefor no responsibility for the running of the Limited Company that is Everton Football Club and while it would be ridiculous to suggest that he had no input, at the end of the day, he had no responsibility.

Kenwright, as Chairman, retained the services of the catastrophically incompetent Inglis and Barrett-Baxendale who have just walked away from the club with the best part £5M between them. We sold Ellis Simms to pay them off.

So forget the pro-Kenwright idiocy and realise that he, over a long period of time, royally screwed us, whether by sycophantic appointments, greed or plain incompetence.

There was a huge thread on which loads of us offered pledged to give a few quid each month to save the club. With hindsight, the whole thing was barking mad.

However, that's how bad it was. Then along comes Moshiri. Fuck me, it was like winning a thousand lotteries. I loved it. He was greeted like a messiah on here and if there were any dissenting voices I don't recall them.

When we wanted Koeman, I went on to a Southampton fan site just to enjoy their outrage at our new-found power. I very vividly remember one contributor wishing the "scouse cunts", all the bad luck in the world. Well, he got his wish.

The catastrophe that has befallen our club is like something from the Book of Revelations. Every possible single thing that could go wrong, went wrong.

It has been malfeasance on a mind-boggling scale. Astonishing and unthinkable ineptitude has unfolded before us. We have been witness to something that will be talked about as long as football is played. Hubris… then nemesis.

"Hubris… then nemesis."

Will we ever achieve catharsis, Andy?

"while it would be ridiculous to suggest that he had no input"

It would be even more ridiculous to suggest Moshiri and his master's influence was not the major cause of this 7-year debacle – no matter the guesswork at their input.

See Phil #11 for just a sample.

Some for their incompetent actions and others for allowing those actions to occur while taking a salary or selling their shares at a healthy profit.

Other clubs' Chairmen just sat back in awe at Everton getting it right again.

And yet it was Moshiri who put his hand in his pocket time and time again and Kenwright who got rich, Kenwright who ran the Board of his choosing, Kenwright who could hire and fire as Chair but didn't, and Kenwright who could have stopped the nonsense at any stage but allowed it to continue.

Kenwright was nothing but a fraud, and it didn't matter who might have wanted to purchase Everton, because they weren't for sale unless it was on his terms.

He got us a frontman for a multi-billionaire, and kept his job until the bitter end, but it didn't take a clever man to predict it was always going to end in tears, because self-centered liars always get found out in the end.

Let the man rest in peace and let his chosen people sell up and move on, and let Everton lift their curse and hopefully go back to being a club that exists to win.

Hopefully the outcry from the legacy that these people have left us ends up being the thing that finally unites a fan base that has been splintered for years before Moshiri and Usmanov got involved with Mr Kenwright.

It was Moshiri who cleared up the financial mess that Kenwrigh was responsible for when he bought the club, who thought that Kenwright had the football knowledge to run a multi-million-pound football business when it was patently obvious, through previous mistakes, that he wasn't very good at it.

We ended up in a bigger mess than before. Moshiri made mistakes… being ignorant of Kenwright's lack of knowledge of running a successful football club and trusting him were two of the biggest.

The disastrous and hugely unpopular appointment of Benitez perhaps more than anything illustrated that it was Moshiri who was making all the big calls during his tenure.

Citing Kenwright, Barrett-Baxendale and Inglis is a bit like blaming the support acts when the headliners proved to be a complete flop.

I just don't get the logic of admitting Moshiri was shovelling money in whilst orchestrating the key positions of managers and DOFs yet isn't totally responsible.

It's like a parallel universe.

I heard it was Usmanov who made the big calls, Brendan, and it wouldn't surprise me if the Premier League have just made a similarly stupid big call, with the big Uzbek in their minds.

Let's defend Blue Bill and his basket case of a board. They have been proven to be very greedy, completely dysfuctional, and didn't care what lies they told.

The saying goes about sooner having a thief than a liar but I think these incompetent individuals have proven to be adept at both.

Yeh, but we're not talking about the Red Shite are we?

Anyone who can simply accept it and put all the blame on the last 7 years, is talking absolute pure, unadulterated shite, imo mate.

This thread is about who is the biggest bastard... so I don't really think "defending" anyone comes into it.

Interesting point about Usmanov... so if he was making the big calls, then presumably the less big calls were made by Moshiri as 90% plus major shareholder.

So what did that leave Blue Bill & Board to decide...? New strip designs, who to appoint to the FAB, grounds maintenance machinery replacement priorities etc?

Hopefully some senior politicians do get involved, these tinpot stupid arse lawyers at the commission may very well tip a billion-pound business into administration, with the knock-on effect for the region and the precedent it sets for Man City and Chelsea.

In their desire to show an iron fist over whether you can declare interest that never was as a deduction, it could end up costing them hundreds of millions.

The Premier League is such a snake pit though, they are all sucking in their teeth and saying 'Well, the rules were broken.'

And in that regard, if the worst does happen, in some ways they are welcome to the whole sorry mess. At least we wouldn't be tainted by association any more.

It's like the Babel tale, and history will testify what happened to our beloved Everton.

Things can only get better.
UTFTs!

Rather think the blame lies with the absentee Saudi and/or Russian landlords for the state of the house.

I gave him some respect even though he and his master had been unable to get their way against Kronke at Arsenal despite Usmanov's investment (pocket change to him as it was) and their joint time in the Kronke boardroom.

And yet he maintained Kenwright as Chairman, telling the world that Kenwright, newly minted as he now personally was, and on a new fat salary to boot, was to be 95% in charge of the football club.

Kenwright was fulsomely enthusiastic in accepting this and promoting it to the fans he'd spent decades lying to and/or ignoring whilst the club as trophy winners continued to be the only club who'd founded the Premier League to dwindle on the pitch, with a visibly decrepit stadium as others all created 21st Century stadiums worthy of professional clubs.

For those opting to look away from the reality of Kenwright's actual designs on our club, rather than the shite he always publicly spouted, a gent called Colin Fitzpatrick had a lengthy analysis of activities by Kenwright published on TW. That was on 24 October 2010. It was and remains a searing indictment of his legacy for many many years previously and was six years before hooked us up with Moshiri.

And yet some now seek to blame the stooge and the oligarch he so delightedly thrust upon us as being almost entirely responsible for our plight – whilst he always fronted up all their activities to us mere fans.

Sod him.

They realized if they just kept quiet and continued to take the money, some people would exonerate them from saying nothing whilst the club was destroying itself from within.

They did a great job at keeping quiet, and being quiet seemed to suit them because when they opened their mouths, it was usually to spin a few lies, and it was one of these unforgivable lies, which finally resulted in them losing the respect of most sensible Evertonians.

I was thinking about Bill Kenwright yesterday, because it was one month since he had passed away, so it seems like his family must have had a private funeral.

David Moyes stayed too long at our club, both for his and the clubs own good, and the late Bill Kenwright did the same.

Most fans have heard Colin Fitzpatrick's story of how Kenwright made a mockery of being Everton's custodian of the club but turn a blind eye or pretend they haven't heard the story or even say it is a myth and these things never happened, but they certainly did.

Kenwright will be major part of Everton's history, a stain to many… but ‘One of Us’ to many.

Plenty of fans are not interested in what happens or happened off the field — only what happens on the pitch — which is fair enough. Many fans have been surprised when I've related what occurred from when Kenwright first bought the club to when he sold it to Mr Moshiri, although it has been well documented from start to finish.

Kenwright has gone now so forgive and forget comes to mind… well, maybe forgive but definitely never, ever forget that Everton suffered under his guardianship but he most certainly prospered along with the people he appointed to the board: Sharp, Barrett-Baxendale and Inglis.

“How the Farhad Moshiri era left Everton languishing on the brink of ruin”

The hint is in the title — no mention is made of the Red Shite or trophyless decades.

The “blame Kenwright for everything” agenda is one of the weirdest things I read on this forum (this does not mean Kenwright didn't make mistakes). Fortunately, the respect shown in his passing restored faith that not all Evertonians are frothing lunatics who think mentioning Kings Dock, the Red Shite and lack of silverware has anything to do with the topic at hand.

Start another thread called “the devil Kenwright” if the hate in you is that uncontrollable.

But those offers were rejected by Moshiri, who insisted on taking the lead and Everton have already publicly stated their intention to appeal the punishment – and that appeal will be heard by a new panel of financial experts and lawyers.

I do hope that Farhad doesn't make the same mistake at the appeal, else we'll end up with a twenty point deduction. Rich people, are sometimes arrogant beyond belief.

That is the first time I have read anyone saying that Moshiri was in attendance at the commission hearing.

And if it's true that he insisted on representing the club, it's hardly surprising that we ended up with the biggest punishment handed out by the Premier League.

Do you have a source for that quote in terms date – Football Insider noted.

But interestingly their points deduction was only ever applied to the following season. In the words of the judgement, to allow the club time “to redeem its position on the playing field” and to avoid the relegation that 7 points or more would result in.

Generous of them. Their appeal worked as the 12 points was seen as “excessively severe” and the club was seen as attempting to satisfy P&S (by selling off its crown jewel Hillsborough). It dismissed any arguments of sporting advantage not having been gained.

No such chance of redeeming themselves on the field of play for Charlton Athletic, who remained relegated, but then that's just an outcome of the application random rules.

So even if we get a points reduction down to say 6 on appeal, if we are still in the relegation zone, will the Premier League use the undocumented “chance of redemption”, for which a precedent has been set, and move the reduction to the following season?? In fact, move it even if we're only relegated at the very end of the season, eg, the last game???

I doubt it as they make this stuff up as they go along.

That's damning. Is this further evidence of Moshiri believing his abilities are greater than they actually are? His involvement in operational matters at the club, over the heads of those employed to do the job, has been crticised in the past. Has he now assumed a more significant role in the hearing over the heads of the legal team employed to do the job?

I have to say, I found his previous, condescending interviews with club supporters gave the impression of somebody giving the impression of knowing everything.

"Thinking they know everything."

On point post, though, agreed.

It's for that reason that I would never start a thread about a person who is no longer with us, but sometimes I can't help but get involved when I see people giving him credit for overseeing the worst 25-year period in Everton Football Club's very, very long history, by wanting to blame his ‘chosen billionaire' for the last 7 years instead.

I find this weird, Barry, but not as weird as the people who give Kenwright credit because Everton never got relegated, especially when you consider we are a club that has played more top-flight football in this country than any other team.

No one has a good word for Hitler. Or Myra Hindley. If anyone has a grievance with a person alive or dead, it shouldn't prevent them from stating facts.

Kenwright was a self-serving egotist who did very well out of Everton. His only saving graces were the fact that he was a blue and played some good music on his radio show.

But the comments from Mark (@10) about the responsibilities of directors should not be dismissed lightly, no matter how many anecdotes suggest their power was limited. They had duties that are enshrined in law and they clearly failed to execute them.

But the story about Moshiri playing a central role in presenting Everton's case to the commission is very worrying, and would help to explain the utter disdain that runs between the lines of the report on the commission's findings.

No mate, I wasn't referring to you, it was just a generalisation, I've heard it all my life and I've always thought it was a load of bollocks.

I mean, Hitler was kind to dogs and loved his mum but he had some personality traits that were questionable, to say the least. He still gets some stick though.

I guess it's expensive being a plonker.

I'm not sure if it's true he had such a big role – he is described in the findings as a witness – but if so, I take some comfort from it in relation to the claims about there being cast iron clauses on him covering compensation and relegation.

Given how much he seems to have otherwise distanced himself from the club, if he is inextricably on the hook for the losses arising from this episode, then it is only natural that he would want to personally defend his (Usmanov's?) money.

In fact, it answers one question I had: What would his role be in this regard, given 777 Partners, assuming the above, are now effectively running the show and would probably not be much bothered about the outcome and so might defend less vigorously.

I'm a little bit more reassured that the compensation issue in particular can't really hurt us...

I was told that, although 777 Partners were in the driving seat, this other group are now very confident that they will eventually purchase the Blues.

It might be a load of shite (definitely to some people who are reading this!) but it did give me a little bit of confidence with regards my concerns about Everton going into administration.

We will see…

I was concerned about administration a couple of months ago, but the little bits I hear about the sale agreement, and drawing my own conclusions from what I hear and see recently, has eased that worry.

It is quite possible there is someone waiting in the wings. If so, I think 777 Partners would quite like that if they can flip their sale agreement for a profit, or alternatively know there is a reasonably solid short-term exit opportunity. Private Equity guys are always thinking, "What's the exit strategy...?"

"I can't help but get involved when I see people giving him credit for overseeing the worst 25-year period in Everton Football Club's very, very long history, by wanting to blame his ‘chosen billionaire' for the last 7 years instead."

But that hasn't happened.

People tacitly accept the Kenwright years were poor in historic terms but never cataclysmic as per the Moshiri era. Deflection from the true cause, ie, decisions made by Moshiri and Usmanov, defies any sort of logic and imo isn't particularly useful.

Out of interest, what manager appointment would you say Kenwright strongly opposed, other than Benitez?

Which DoF?

Which players did he not want to buy that were bought and which that he wanted to sell were not?

I don't blame Kenwright and the others entirely for this debacle. I don't think many do. But they were the board, they were Moshiri's advisers (and the man Kenwright brought in, in preference to others), I don't think there was all that much the owner did without their approval — and as Directors, if they found themselves doing what they knew was wrong, why did they not resign?

Remember, Directors are accountable. Owners who are not Directors are in the end only accountable for their investment losses.

"I don't think there was all that much the owner did without their approval"

I honestly don't think Moshiri would have sought their approval, before acting, that often. More likely it was Usmanov he consulted with.

"if they found themselves doing what they knew was wrong, why did they not resign?"

I'm not sure the Board members with the exception of Grant Inglis knew what they were doing was wrong. They may have disagreed with some of Moshiri's decisions but didn't necessarily feel it was a resigning issue.

Guys? You are both right, but IMO, you are managing to turn two rights into a wrong.

Tony is entitled, even obliged, to point out the shortcomings of Kenwright the chairman. He deceived the fans once too often and many grew to hate him being our chairman. Barry's views on Moshiri and the shadowy Oligarch are pretty much incontestable.

Admirable as Colin Fitzpatrick's piece was at the time, it's not relevant now. it was penned 13 years ago. THIRTEEN !!!. I doubt that Colin, even in his worst nightmares. could have envisaged us squandering £500M to sink even lower.

We are where we are. There is no silver bullet. There are many people responsible for our predicament. All well-meaning. All out of their dept.

Our problems ( the real ones) began when we started appointing DoFs. When you go down that route you have to back them. That carries a bit risk. If they fail. You as a club fail.

Don't look back in anger guys. There is no mileage in it. It's not about what's happened. That can't be altered, it's about what's still to unfold. The future may be unclear, but who said it wouldn't be bright ?

Just like a tree standing by the water side.

Bloody PT

Any updates from/on Paul Tran?

"Tony is entitled, even obliged, to point out the shortcomings of Kenwright the chairman. "

No one is saying he isn't but this thread is about the debacle that is the Moshiri era — not Kings Dock, Kirkby, lack of silverware, the shite etc. Unless someone can point to definitive fact nailing Kenwright as the overriding driver of this catastrophe, we can only judge on what we know

Koeman, Silva, Benitez and the DoF invention and their payouts acknowledged as Moshiri and Usmanov follies and I have no doubt the rest were their picks. Also the responsibility of the huge elephant in the room "death by new ground" sits at their door.

They haven't needed anyone from the board to fuck this club over, it's a legacy they can claim as their own.

I've been sitting here with my eyes closed chanting "MSP, MSP, MSP" like a mantra.

Hope it's them.

I think the stadium is the only really good thing to happen to Everton since Rideout scored against Manchester United at Wembley.

Now that the elephant in the room has finally departed, hopefully his chosen billionaires will be next and we can try and become the club we used to be long before these liars, jokers, and self-serving charlatans became involved in our once-great club.

Some things make me laugh, some things make me shake my head… Brendan's last line in post #57 gets funnier and more ridiculous every time I read it. 😂

A resigning issue🤦‍♂️and lose all that money? Incredibly naive or hilariously funny. The same shameless people never even had the good grace to resign after allowing the fans to get thrown under the bus. What an era!

You mean you can't see how an inability to pay for the newie and provide decent transfer funds won't make us vulnerable to liquidation and/or relegation?

Do you not see a lack of decent transfer funds has already got us by the throat?

"Brendan's last line in post #57, gets funnier and more ridiculous every time I read it"

Don't think I've ever read anyone's posts more than once...so that's a mighty compliment in my book.

Let's face it... if Directors of football clubs resigned simply because the club was losing money... there wouldn't be too many left.

Perhaps that might be a good thing but I'm just pointing out... it isn't the norm.

The title itself doesn't apportion blame on any one person. It states 'era'. Moshiri has clearly made many awful decisions but those on the board making money and earning a salary never once spoke out about his decisions (presuming he made all of the poor ones).

This era is the result of a number of people's incompetence. As for which incompetent allowed Moshiri to get into the position to make such decisions...

Still waiting for those in denial to accept that Kenwright is the only one responsible for bringing in the accountant who can't count.

I might be a bit old school on this but if you, as a Director, find yourself nominally accountable for decisions made by an owner you frequently disagree with, who is not holding an accountable position as an officer of the company, then you sure as hell resign. This happens frequently, albeit mostly because of disagreement with multiple shareholders, not a single shareholder.

One of these people was Chairman, another was CEO. Unless they were pretend positions – and maybe they were but then they should never have been £1M-a-year positions –then what you describe makes their situation untenable, certainly for any CEO I've ever worked with. Unless collecting the money supersedes everything.

I note you think Usmanov was involved with decision-making. I have also long thought it was really his money all along, so I imagine Moshiri is looking a bit compromised right now, but this is really only speculation without real evidence whereas what I say about a Director and especially a CEO or Chairman is not – it's an issue of accountability in law.

I think it's human nature to try and see the good in the majority and apportion the blame to the few. Kind of like the Nuremberg trials.

It's more palatable to think only one or two people are to blame instead of facing the reality of a broad-based list of culprits.

Dazza, aka Cashen, Barry, Tony, Brendan — Newsflash:

Kenwright, dead or alive, was an egotistical pathological liar and incompetent chairman. Moshiri is an alleged accountant but more importantly a mob handler and complete imbecile of an owner.

There are no good guys here or people above reproach. Every one of them – Barrett-Baxendale, Inglis. Walsh, Brands etc – was a complete disaster… and every one of them added to our problems.

The only figures in the last 25 years to deserve any credit are: Moyes – despite his 'glass ceiling' mentality; Carlo – despite failing to realize we were paupers; Sean – for turd-polishing; and Thelwell – for offloading duds.

Every other board member, coach, manager, advisor was a complete moronic failure. Just accept reality and stop trying to minimize blame to the few.

It has been a case of "Send in the clowns" for 30 years with a few honourable exceptions.

The club developed a poor performance culture, where the worse you performed the richer you became. All you had to do was show loyalty to Uncle Bill and he would give you a job for life.

Colin Chong has done a good job building the stadium to timescales. The stadium will transform the club's long-term commercial performance.

Despite what Barry may say!

"There are many people responsible for our predicament. All well-meaning. All out of their depth."

Funny how somebody can come on raging against an argument, only to jump on the bandwagon they are raging against.

Bizarre thread indeed

I don't really care, but I agree with the sentiment.

Not wanting to go over old ground as we all know many have been responsible for the situation we are in.

But I like the phrase "Don't Look Back In Anger" – a song that reminds me of my time in Bosnia.

I digress. Look forward. That's all we can do as the suits do their thing. I'm only looking to what happens at Goodison Park tomorrow right now.

You can only fight what is in front of you.

Fight, Everton.

As I said earlier. There is no mileage in bitter recriminations now that the points have been deducted.

We've not just got Premier League survival to think about. We have a cup to win. We can only do that by looking forward and rising to the challenge.

Barry, I believe that Everton Football Club have needed a new ground for a very long time, mate, and have been dying a slow painful death since that ring-fenced money suddenly disappeared – or was never even there to begin with in the first place, mate.

I think it's obvious that Dyche's first job has been to try and begin to clean up the shite, because of the pathetic way the club has been run by the current custodians but, when they have gone (hopefully very soon), then I am also of the opinion that our fantastic new football stadium will help us grow as a football club once more after years upon years of stagnation.

Seriously, has there ever been a more shameful title for our once great club, than "plucky little Everton"? And has there ever been a more shameful act than a supposedly great Evertonian wanting to move our once great club to a field going into Kirkby?

Kenwright's Kirkby would have continued to slowly finish Everton Football Club, imo, but Moshiri's magnificent stadium, on our iconic waterfront, which is definitely befitting of our once famous Latin motto (rendered redundant since plucky little Everton began punching above their weight) will hopefully help Everton finally begin to grow once again.

Fingers crossed! 🤞

Moshiri has proven to be very incompetent and so has his board. Kenwright was part of this board, and if he was only a figurehead, then this is even more shameful for him accepting the totally inept way his beloved Everton were being run.

The fans were aware of it and got thrown under the bus for protesting, which created even more disharmony, but luckily for Everton, a pragmatic no no-nonsense common-sense manager was installed, and we avoided the drop against all odds.

I'm not hearing MSP, Mike, I'm hearing it's people from the opposite side of your country, to that half-asleep sunshine state that people go to when they want to retire (sorry Jamie C!) where 777 Partners originate from!

There's a twist if it happens, but hopefully it does because something about this Florida bunch, just doesn't seem right. Maybe it's the bit about them not paying their bills on time that makes me very worried about them purchasing Everton.

Nothing wrong with being old school. I certainly accept a lot of what you are saying but Directors often disagree with decisions but carry on regardless as they should by the way.

It generally takes something seismic to provide a resigning issue. And I'm not sure what that would have been for any of the Board members.

Kieran #68

Agree with a lot of that. There are indeed many people who carry a measure of responsibility but I can't help but ask "Where did the buck stop?"

Tony #74

Pleased I helped start your day off with a smile...let's hope Everton turn that into a grin this weekend🤞🤞🤞

Kenwright's not the only one to blame, John. 😉

But he did allow Moshiri to take over and he did allow him to make more terrible decisions in exchange for a lot of money.

I work on facts so can someone detail the facts of this conclusion please.

If the notion is based on "they should have resigned" then I have to ask why? Would their resignations have interrupted the demise? Brands resigned and was simply replaced; I don't see how resignations do anything meaningful

Genuinely interested to hear the facts of this accusation because the alternative rationale of board members quietly trying to defuse the Moshiri and Usmanov timebomb doesn't seem to be getting any airtime.

" The alternative rationale of board members quietly trying to defuse the Moshiri and Usmanov timebomb doesn't seem to be getting any airtime."

You're probably in a minority of one when it comes to that view but it does have some merit. I've always thought the much-maligned "Strategic Review" was largely about trying to reel Moshiri in.

Not long after the "Strategic Review" had been completed. Frank Lampard was coming under increasing pressure and Moshiri was asked about Lampard's future as Everton manager.

"Not my decision to make" was basically Moshiri's reply, as I recall.

Let's reel Farhad in now, before we throw these very ungrateful fans under the bus.

What a fucking era!

Link

Sadly, the billionaire who finally arrived, much to our delight, hasn't fulfilled our wishes. A scattergun approach to hiring & firing managers & becoming too involved with player transfers has put us back to the bad old days of Destination Kirkby & the FSF etc.

You were on a roll late last night. It it truly astounding the damage that has been done to our club over the past 25 plus years.

We are on the way back, we are getting up off our knees and with the new stadium to look forward to and a manager who is nobody's fool we are going to get there in the end.

The strategic review was anything but: no focus, no responsibility, and over 100 bullet point objectives… 100. The most focused companies arrive with 6 or so objectives they drive and plan their strategy around.

If I was Moshiri and received that in my email, I would bin it immediately, send an email back to the CEO to tell them they were fired, and employ somebody who knew what they were doing.

It was a bad joke. At every perspective.
Irrespective if the cart was in front of the horse, or that in truth the cart was actually not attached to the horse, it was wild… the cart (club) didn't know where the horse (Moshiri) was. The coach driver (Chairman) kept pointing the wrong way in the fog!

The passengers (board) jumped off with the gold, the driver (chairman) went over the cliff, and the horse (Moshiri) tetters on the edge of a cliff… where are the white knights when you need them?

I get exasperated sometimes, if you go on another thread you will read opinions by people who appear to be sensible, saying things like the strategic review, was used to try and reign Moshiri in, and this frustrates the life out of me if I’m being honest.

I know little about business, I know less about big businesses, but I think I know a little bit about football, and it’s probably the reason that I never really had any real inclination or genuine intentions of trying to stay in the game, when I knew I was no longer going to be a professional footballer.

There are talented and genuine people in football, but there are also a lot of frauds. Yes men, people who know what way their bread is buttered, and a lot of these phoney nepotistic people, definitely don’t survive on talent, imo.

Genuine talent will scare a lot of them because it’s something they don’t really possess, and this is how I’ve felt about my club, for donkeys years. I sometimes speak a bit of Double-Dutch, Michael K, finds it hard understanding my written word, so he would definitely get exasperated trying to have a verbal conversation with me, and this was how Sean Dyche was looking at me when I was talking about Finch Farm. He did nod and smile though when I eventually got through. I think!

Course the strategic review wasn't worth the paper

Yes of course the strategic review wasn't worth the paper it was written on. It was conceived by the gold diggers who were sacked and the man who appointed them has left this world.

A black and white B movie that went straight to video.

Allardyce...former England manager, sacked sensationally after only days (?) in the job...

Certainly box office material...

I admit I've never quite got over seeing said individual sitting in the dugout directing operations. And the juxtapositioning of the word "Hollywood" and that man did not put me immediately in mind of Tom Cruise, Meg Ryan and the rest of them.

I readily admit I certainly stretched dramatic licence to breaking point.

I personally think that anyone who thinks that the strategic review, might have been about the board (who never had a fucking clue) reigning in the lunatic owner, would do a very good job in Hollywood, and is definitely being wasted just writing on these pages!!

Wasted on these pages...I'll take that.

As for sequels...Son of Sam perhaps?

While we're on the subject, any guesses at the star of the "Knife fight at the OK Corral"?

Feel a TW festive quiz coming on...

Who starred in "The Italian Knob"?

After a few years of seeing his (or rather Usmanov’s) money sinking like a dud torpedo, he decided or was cajoled into interfering and making things worse as Kenwright, surrounded by his acolytes, proved incapable of running the club.

We then had the Everton equivalent of Dumb and Dumber except Dumber continued to pump money in while Dumb — who had made a sizeable £30M plus and professed to be the best Evertonian ever — did not put a single penny into the club.

As the pressure rose, the "Greatest Evertonian" insisted on making up lies about the supporters, creating even more diversity throughout the club.

I don't care that one or two continue to support Kenwright and they probably still believe he remortgaged his house to save Everton. I personally hold him responsible for the demise of our once great club — before he came onto the board, we had won more league titles than Man Utd and were considered one of the top 5 clubs in England.

I didn’t know he was a blue, but once I found out it definitely made sense, and for such a small nation, the Irish have definitely produced some fantastic individuals down the years.

Good on yers Brendan, and although we rarely see eye to eye on many things blue, don’t forget that offer still stands, and Goodison hasn’t got long left.

I was a big Pogues fan but never knew that about Shane.

Again many thanks for you very generous offer. I'm at an age now where I try and avoid travelling at certain times of the year but when the new year comes and the evenings begin to stretch...I'll hopefully be in a position to take you up on your offer.

Seriously I understand it’s not always easy travelling, (try telling that to the fastest moving light infantry in the country, when they turn up at Palace, on a Thursday night in January!) and Goodison under floodlights can be such a wonderful place Brendan, (last Thursday is still fresh in my mind) but hopefully you get to see the green, green grass of Goodison, before she closes forever🙏

Stay in touch with Andy C, Brendan, because I’m sure he’s itching to get back over, and I know you would definitely enjoy his company, if you get the chance.