Moshiri needs new man to harness club’s biggest asset in survival scrap – the fans
Farhad Moshiri has made many expensive mistakes during his six-year Everton reign, but he knows he cannot afford another one that could plunge the club deeper into a relegation fight.
No manager – no matter how good – can revolutionise Everton’s team in the next six months. When conducting the interviews, the immediate priority had to be a coach who would get the most out of a limited squad, albeit one that will be improved once their best player, Dominic Calvertlewin, returns to full fitness, and who has the backing of the club’s supporters.
In that context, you can understand why Frank Lampard has been offered the job. His managerial career got off to a promising start at Derby County, and he did a lot of good work at Chelsea after he was thrown in at the deep end while the club dealt with their transfer embargo. I have known Frank for many years. He is desperate to prove he will be a top manager and, if he accepts, Everton should feel they have a dedicated, intelligent, forward-thinking coach who will grow into the role.
He has the right character to connect with the supporters who sit on the Gwladys Street.
Moshiri needs to realise before it is too late that Goodison Park is the biggest asset he has in a survival battle.
Packed and behind the team, a unified fan base will make a difference. That can be enough to deal with this emergency. That is why it is hard to believe the candidacy of Vitor Pereira was still under serious consideration. Appointing him would have de-weaponised Goodison Park and assisted the opposition by creating the toxic environment experienced by the players too often this season. The fan reaction is also why Duncan Ferguson deserved to be considered for the job.
Never underestimate the value of a manager with a passionate crowd on his side. It means the players cannot shirk their responsibility, as this group have for a long time now, while the coach has absorbed most of the pressure. I do not advocate any owner being influenced by dissent from sections of the crowd. Strong leadership is about making informed, not emotional choices.
But Moshiri is paying the price for so many misjudgments. Trust has been eroded, although not everything the supporters are claiming makes sense.
The attacks on chairman Bill Kenwright, for example, do not sit comfortably with me. Kenwright’s response to fans who surrounded him outside Goodison Park last weekend – insisting that there had been “good times” in the past 27 years – has been met with ridicule.
For an older generation, the definition of “good times” is winning league titles and European trophies. Wake up. Given the competition, the season in which Everton finished in the top four under David Moyes was more than good. Being a regular in the top six is good. Kenwright sacked only one manager – Walter Smith – after giving him as long as possible to revive the team, and moved for Moyes at the right time.
Moyes was the best Everton manager since Howard Kendall. There is a lot of rewriting of history with regards Kenwright’s only other appointment, Roberto Martinez. He won the most Premier League points in a season of any Everton manager and reached two semi-finals. It went wrong at the end, but it has been no better since.
You cannot attack Kenwright for not having the financial muscle of rivals prior to the club’s sale in 2016. I am inclined to agree, Kenwright should walk away at the end of this season because he has no real influence and is still getting blamed. In Moshiri’s absence on matchdays, Kenwright is left to front up boardroom criticism.
Another argument is that if Kenwright left, the lunatics really would be left to run the asylum. The warning signs of it getting worse are there after six years in which Moshiri has hired and fired two directors of football and is searching for a seventh manager.
Before Moshiri’s takeover, the persistent attack on Kenwright was that he had not sold the club. Now we are seeing the consequences of a rich owner who thinks throwing money at it is enough to secure a seat at the top table.
Moshiri seems to love being around the big-name managers and agents, many of whom have ripped him off. He said he wanted to bring a touch of Hollywood to Everton, believing he could swiftly turn them into a super club. He has got it so wrong. In his defence, he has spent a lot of money. Nobody can accuse him of not being interested in bringing success.
Everton should be all about recruiting young, energetic, hard-working and hungry footballers. Preferably led by a young, energetic, hard-working and hungry coach. They had that under Moyes. I admit I thought my former manager Rafael Benitez could replicate some of what Moyes did, which is why I backed him to get the job. His understanding of the importance of character in the team – making them hard to beat – should have been the backbone of the side. It was surprising that it was so lacking. It was not the fans or his Liverpool links that got him the sack. It was bad results. For Lampard, assuming he is appointed, it is a massive ask to turn it around given so many poor signings in the past six years.
Fans would be demanding Moshiri sell up if it were not for his deep wallet. The elephant in the room is the £500million stadium project. Without Moshiri’s financial security, that falls apart.
Now, the critical gaze is falling upon him. So many managers have been and gone, it looks like the structure makes the club unmanageable. If that continues, the most valid criticism of Kenwright will be that he picked the wrong billionaire.
Moshiri said he wanted to bring a touch of Hollywood to Everton but has got it so wrong