Hello Evertonians, it's Kevin Thelwell here, our Director of Football. I wanted to provide you with an update following the closing of the transfer window, as I'm sure there will be plenty of questions after a busy month for the Club.
The Club is delighted with the return of David Moyes as Manager and is thrilled to have seen such a quick return to winning ways, with some brilliant results in recent weeks. David is a trusted and vastly experience Manager who understands the ethos of Everton, and we are certain he is the right person to bring us into our fantastic new home at Bramley-Moore Dock as a Premier League team, which is our objective for the season.
I know some fans have expressed concern at a lack of transfer activity this window, so I'd like to address this topic directly and openly. There are a few reasons why the Club hasn't been able to bring in any additional faces to the playing squad, but we are certain this will benefit us in the long term.
Firstly, I would like to assure you that we were doing all we could to strengthen the squad in the first half of January. Several players were identified and we had many discussions with the previous Manager regarding his plans to improve the squad, specifically in terms of helping our attacking players.
Due to the Club deciding to part ways with the previous Manager and David Moyes rejoining us, this obviously meant needing to put discussions on hold while he addressed the state of the squad.
Alongside this, despite our new owners, The Friedkin Group, we are still somewhat hampered with PSR and what we are allowed to spend. Again, I'd like to reassure you that we are now finally on a stable financial footing and ought to be in a position to invest in the squad in the summer. It became apparent this month that any spending m now would have directly impacted our summer plans, so we had important decisions to make.
Alongside this, thanks to the immediate impact by David Moyes and his team in achievimg several massively important victories in the calendar month, we mutually decided to realign our goals regarding transfers for this window. While we could have made a few signings, we felt it unnecessary to bring in players that we didn't feel could dramatically improve our squad.
I understand this is something that some fans may not agree with, but we hope you trust that we have, and always will, put the Club's future first, having learned painful lessons in years gone by. We want to enter our new home as a Premier League side free of financial problems that have made operating in the transfer market difficult in previous seasons.
Let's hope for another positive result in the FA Cup on Saturday before we move on to the final ever Merseyside Derby at our beloved Goodison Park a week on Thursday.
Kevin Thelwell,
Director of Football.
