What’s gone wrong at Everton, well in recent years an easier question to answer might be what has gone right at Everton? The answer to that would be not very much. Under the stewardship of David Moyes in the 2000’s Everton established themselves as a club that regularly punched above their weight. The ‘Everton Cup’ was affectionately awarded to them by fans for regularly finishing in 7th place aka the best of the rest, being just outside the financial big hitters of the top 6. They even broke into the top 6 on several occasions, including a 5th place finish as recently as the 13/14 season. However this seems like a very distant memory now, the current side are a million miles away from achieving this.
So what has happened in the preceding years to cause this downturn in fortune. If you ask an Everton fan, they will point the finger firmly at the purchasing of the club by Farhad Moshiri in February 2016. Initial signs were good when the Iranian billionaire bought the club, Finally Everton fans thought they would be able to compete financially with their illustrious neighbours Liverpool, and the other big hitters. Moshiri promised to invest heavily in the club both on and off the field, including a move from the dated Goodison Park to a brand new 50 000 stadium on the docks of Liverpool. 7 years later the club are yet again embroiled in a relegation battle and construction has only just begun on the new stadium. So has Moshiri reneged on his promises, well no, since he took over the club they have spent over £700 million on player transfers. In the first 5 years alone of Moshiri’s reign they spent £580 million, in fact for that period as the table below shows they were the 11th highest spenders in Europe and the 4th Highest in England,
With that large of an investment you would expect to see results on the pitch and with an ‘Everton Cup’ 7th place finish followed by a couple of 8th places, it seemed like Everton were in a good place to push on. Since then though they have been stuck in mid table mediocrity and in the current and last season in real danger of relegation. For the amount of money spent, this is an appalling return on that investment. So where has the money been wasted? Player transfers and managerial changes.
Sean Dyche is the 7th Everton Manger in the Moshiri’s 7 years. If we look at those manager’s it’s an eclectic mix of playing styles and experience. The recruitment of managers shows a real scatter gun approach. It feels like they’ve tried every variant of manager without being able to settle on a style of approach, attacking managers, defensive managers, vastly experienced managers, and young unproven managers. With this constant change of style, it means the playing squad has become a mish mash of talent that suit very different styles of play.
The initial manager under Moshiri, Roberto Martinez was replaced after only a few months with Ronald Koeman. Koeman who favours a patient possession styled game and fluid attacking lasted just over a season before himself being replaced with the complete opposite in Sam Allardyce. A man known for direct, aggressive play and his team not needing large amounts of possession. Effectively polar opposites. The squad assembled for Koeman was never going to suit Allardyce and thus a higher net spend occured as Allardyce wanted more players in that would suit his style. After 1 season, Allardyce was out and Marco Silva was in, Silva a talented up and coming Portuguese manager, had a completely different style to Allardyce, Silva wanted possession of the ball and a high press without the ball. Cue more squad changes yet again. After a poor run of results, Silva was sacked and in came the legendary Carlo Ancelotti, Ancelotti seemed a strange fit for Everton, known to be an elite manager with one of the most decorated CV’s in the game, could his magical touch inspire a middling Everton side. Ancelotti brought in some big name players on high wages, but after initial green shoots, could not get Everton any higher than a 10th place finish. At this point alarm bells were more than beginning to ring. Ancelotti a forward thinking coach who again liked possession was bizarrely replaced with Rafa Benitez. Benitez, a Liverpool football club legend, was always going to be a very unpopular choice for the fans, add to this he wanted to play a completely different style of football to Ancelotti, Benitez preferring a defensive approach, soaking up pressure before counter attacking. A pattern is beginning to form here of lurching from one style of play to another, and it continues. Next up after the inevitable Benitez sacking was Frank Lampard, a young inexperienced manager, still yet to really prove himself, and a manager on paper that was forward thinking and liked possession of the ball.
Lampard saved the club from relegation last season, but ultimately failed as the lack of progress on the pitch had them embroiled in another relegation battle this season. Cue his exit and the arrival of current incumbent Sean Dyche, yet again a vastly different manager to his predecessor. Dyche being both vastly experienced and known for defensive and direct football. It can only be described as the approach of a club that does not know what it is doing, and is making decisions and then panicking and reverting all too often. If you look at successful clubs outside of the top 6 recently such as Brighton and Brentford to name a couple, they have a defined style of play and recruitment, they stick to this style and trust the process. This leads to a stability within the club and in turn success on the pitch.
If the manager recruitment seems misjudged, player recruitment in the Moshiri years has been equally strange. The club have unarguably spent a lot of money, but in 2023 it could be argued they have one of the worst squads in the premier league, so let’s look at where the money has been spent and why it hasn’t worked. A list of their most high profile signings under Moshiri listed below:
Yannick Bolasie £29m
Morgan Schneiderlin £23m
Gylfi Sigurdsson £49m
Jordan Pickford £28m
Michael Keane £28m
Davy Klaassen £27m
Cenk Tosun £22m
Theo Walcott £22m
Richarlison £40m
Yerry Mina £30m
Alex Iwobi £30m
Moise Kean £27m
Andre Gomes £25m
Jean-Philippe Gbamin £25m
Ben Godfrey £27m
Allan £24m
Abdoulaye Doucoure £22m
James Rodriguez – Free
Dele Alli – Free
Out of that list, you could argue that 3 or at most 4 have been truly successful signings. Pickford, England’s number 1, is a top-level keeper. Richarlison is without doubt a good player, hence his transfer to Tottenham for circa £50m this season and Ben Godfrey is a solid centre back. Alex Iwobi is another solid option in midfield, if not spectacular. The rest of these players have had little to no impact, some have had glimpses of quality such as James Rodriguez and Allan upon arrival, but haven’t been able to consistently perform for any length of time. If we overlook the impact the signings have had, Everton have massively overpaid for a whole host of these players, notably Sigurdsson at £49m and Michael Keane at £28m.
Overpaying of players isn’t unique to Everton though, many clubs over the years who have come into fresh money, and therefore will be charged extra by clubs knowing they have that money available. The real issue for Everton is that because so many of these transfers have not worked out, and they haven’t been able to recoup their money, financial fair play is now restricting them from doing further business. In the last 2 seasons Everton have barely dipped a toe into the transfer market and are under a ‘sell first’ policy as they need to balance the books first.
What can Everton do to resolve their current issues? Well the new stadium due to be completed for the start of the 24/25 season will definitely help. Increased revenue will ease the FFP constraints they currently have, and a state of the art stadium is bound to attract a higher quality of player. However the real issue they need to solve is the lack of direction from the top. Everton need to pick an identity and stick with it, patience is key, organically growing, rather than flip-flopping their strategy in a rush for instant success. Repeating this will only cause the demise of this once great club.
Sportsheet 
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