Was Marcel Brands a good choice for DOF? POLL

Has Marcel Brands been a good choice as DOF?

  • Yes he's been a success. Glad he's with us.

    Votes: 104 36.7%
  • No he's been a failure. I wish we'd gone for someone else.

    Votes: 23 8.1%
  • Jury's still out.

    Votes: 156 55.1%

  • Total voters
    283
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Bullet

Player Valuation: £10m
Events of the last week make it timely to reflect upon Marcel's work with us thus far. First there was Kirkbride confirming that Richarlison and Digne were Silva's picks - https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/spo...lvas-shortlist-expensive-alternative-18300462
There followed the latest long term injury for the unfortunate Gbamin. So are you glad we got Marcel or do you wish we'd gone for someone else?

Marcel's permanent first team signings - Source transfermarkt.
Summer 2018.
Richarlison £35m: Excellent. Scores goals, works hard. If he finds consistency his career will really take off... unfortunately at another club :-(
Digne: £18m: Great first season followed by disappointing second. A third should show his real level.
Mina £27m: Looked an utter liability first term but clearly improved in his second. Barca def won't be exercising their buy back clause though.
Bernard Free but big wages: Skilful and hard working but doesn't deliver near enough goals / assists.

Summer 2019.
Iwobi £27m: Oh dear God!
Kean £25m: Initially seemed an exciting gamble but now an unprofessional flop. Still young but likely to end up back in Italy.
Gbamin: £22m: The unfortunate 24yo already looks a crock. Very unlucky for Marcel but millions up in smoke.
Gomes: £22m: Good deal, unfortunate serious injury.
Delph £8m: Unpopular injury prone midfielder but does offer something when fit.
Lossl Free: Who?

For me Marcel initially brought authority, vision and negotiating skill to the role of DOF after the disastrous Walsh and with the successful loan signings of Gomes and Zouma he made a promising start in 2018 however that was followed by a summer to forget in 2019. It's hard to say how much Silva influenced this series of misfires but I give the hapless Marco most of the credit for Marcel's one and only standout signing Richardson.

Jury's still out for me, as some like Kean may improve, but with only one clear success thus far in an over £200m expenditure Marcel hasn't convinced. Carlo may be too good a manager to see us fight relegation battles but recruitment must improve significantly or I fear we're doomed to languish in mid table mediocrity for years to come.
 
The initial wave of enthusiasm brought about when he arrived has been very much tempered by the unfolding reality of the signings made, I'm sorry to say.

When you take out Richarlison, it looks worse. I don't think we can attribute Digne to Silva going by Kirkbride alone, but either way, it doesn't look great for Marcel.

Last summers signings, taken collectively, look more disastrous by the week.

In two years and four windows, I don't see anybody other than Richarlison that we would make serious money on, or that has the potential to become star material.

Him aside, there really hasn't been anyone that has gotten us, or the wider footballing world, excited, to any degree. Gomes is over-rated in my opinion.

Perhaps the work being done behind the scenes will come to fruition, but it's been a very sobering disappointment to date.

Ancelotti said he will not bring superstars here, but we will bring players who can become superstars. That's going to be a tall order for Brands based on his work so far.
 
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If he could recoup the losses of a disastrous 2019, he would possibly be worth another chance based on 2018.

Not that he's going anywhere, like.
 
I think given his credentials and our stature he was the best we could realistically get at the time. I don’t think he’s done particularly well or poorly and for a club that doesn’t challenge for anything, isn’t particularly rich and has had a penchant for terrible managers and players that is pretty much to be expected
 

When you have prominent Evertonians at the AGM calling for him to step down off the board I think you know the answer.

I think he's been a failure overall and think his signings are largely average outside of Richarlison and Digne compared to those who the likes of Wolves and Leicester have brought in around us.

Obviously he'll get this summer alteast but I hope if he signs more rubbish then the owner looks at his position and doesnt give him some sort of job for life.

Im a believer myself that the DOF should be held responsible for the signings as much as the manager over the performances/results therefore for me he shouldnt be sat on the board - he should have to answer to the board as the manager does.

In 2 seasons he's spent around £200 million - when you look at how many of his signings were in the team against the likes of Utd and Chelsea it tells you Ancelotti does not rate his dealings.
 
Tale of two summers really. Iwobi was the worst possible fallback option (and yes, Zaha definitely offers more- nobody is debating whether he was drastically overpriced).

Gbamin is either the result of horribly bad luck or an incompetent medical squad (or both). He looked promising injury problems aside.

I don’t think there will be as many missed with Carlo aiding in the evaluation of talent now. We shall see. The prior summer was very good
 

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