PARK STRIFE
No quick fix at Goodison – but my old club Everton will be doomed to drop unless structural change starts NOW
ANDY HINCHCLIFFE has warned it could take five years to transform Everton’s fortunes following their latest flirtation with disaster.
The Toffees scraped to safety after beating Bournemouth 1-0 at home last Sunday to win their second successive relegation fight.
But Hinchcliffe, a key figure in Everton’s 1995 FA Cup win under Joe Royle, believes a seismic overhaul is needed, with angry fans calling for owner Farhad Moshiri to sell up.
Hinchcliffe said: “At the end of last season when Everton narrowly avoided relegation under Frank Lampard, I said the biggest problem was going to be the following season.
“That’s because nothing really changed, and they lost Richarlison last summer – before selling Anthony Gordon in January.
“We know how the fans feel about Moshiri and the board, who can’t even attend games now for fear of their own safety.
“I had seen another relegation fight coming, though a lot of
Evertonians said, ‘We’ll be safe again’ – and yes, they finished fourth bottom after beating Bournemouth.
“But if things don’t change with the structure of the club, then eventually it will catch up with you.
“You can’t just keep relying on there being three worse teams than you. In the end, you will get relegated.”
Everton manager Sean Dyche called for major changes after beating Bournemouth and insisted survival was only the first step in the rebuilding work needed for the club to act big again. Sky Sports pundit Hinchcliffe, 54, added: “It seems like there is possibly new ownership in the pipeline, but the team simply hasn’t been good enough.
“The fans are not happy with how the club has been run and the recruitment, despite Moshiri spending money.
“There comes a point where you say, ‘If we persist with this, we know what’s going to happen’.
“I think they’ve been pretty fortunate to stay up for the past two seasons with the team that they’ve had. “It’s a team that’s been produced by the way the club has been run and by the decisionmakers who have been in position for the past few years.
“That needs to change, but overhauling the squad is not something you can do in one summer.
“You’re looking at five years to really turn the club round in terms of the ownership, recruitment and bringing better players in. But Everton must be proactive.
“More needs to be done right now – because if it carries on like this it’s only going to end one way.”
Dyche has said players may have to be sold to raise funds for a rebuild and does not expect a “war chest” to spend this summer.
Hinchcliffe said: “Players are going to be very reticent about signing for Everton now because they’ll be thinking, ‘Am I joining another relegation battle?’.”
The popular former defender backed Dyche to remain in position, and added: “Clearly, Sean was brought in to keep Everton up and he achieved that.
“Organisation and hard work – everything you need to survive and what Burnley had for so long under Sean – got Everton over the line.”
‘Everton can’t just keep relying on there being three worse teams. In the end you get relegated’