SHOULD FARHAD MOSHIRI EXPECT A LOT MORE FROM HIS OUTLAY?

When you invest around £325 million in a football club, you probably expect a bit of a return on your outlay. Instead, Farhad Moshiri has seen Everton’s league position deteriorate, European football become a rarity and opportunities to bring home longed-for silverware remain relatively scarce.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this, though. When the British-iranian investor first arrived at Goodison Park in 2016, Everton were seen as the ‘best of the rest’, a club on the cusp of the elite. The big idea was that all it would take for Everton to bridge the gap to the elite was a significant dollop of financial investment.

That it hasn’t gone quite to plan thus far can be attributed to a number of factors, many of which can be laid at Moshiri’s door. The wrong appointments, the wrong recruitment, too much upheaval in too short a time: all of this has coalesced to undermine the club’s lofty aims.

The nadir for Moshiri was unquestionably 2017-18. Three managers came and went, a chaotic transfer policy bloated the squad with expensive failures, and the football served up by Sam Allardyce in the spring was the worst seen at Goodison since the dark days of Walter Smith.

After that low point, things have got better. Last season, recruitment improved significantly under the newly appointed director of football Marcel Brands. Lucas Digne, Bernard and Richarlison, all signed in the more economically sensible half of their twenties, are thriving on Merseyside.

At the same time, Everton’s owner for once resisted the temptation to sack a manager when the going got tough. There was a period around February when it looked like Marco Silva might be headed the same way as Roberto Martinez, Ronald Koeman and Sam Allardyce. That the Portuguese wasn’t pushed out appears to have paid off, if the club’s impressive end of season performances – which saw them stylishly dispatch the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United – are anything to go by.

After three years and a third of a billion pounds, there’s a feeling among the supporters that Everton might finally be going in the right direction, benefiting from the arrival of better footballers and a degree of stability. Moshiri has learned the hard way that money alone doesn’t always equal success in football. But only time will tell whether his education in this matter has been comprehensive enough.