Once again in hindsight, Moshiri's earlier brief comments in the window regarding being "anxious" to secure further signings should have been heeded as a warning sign. Initially I was buoyed by his comments but if you took them at face value in the context of "old" Everton, then it all pointed to what would turn out to be a rushed/scattergun effort with depressingly predictable end-results.
I actually can't come to a proper conclusion about how the club should handle the PR fall-out from last week. Generally I'm uneasy with club "intent" statements as they only ever tend to raise expectations to levels that are either difficult or impossible to fulfill. They can't legitimately promise to sign player x or spend amount x in the next window.
I agree though, that too much of a vacuum now exists, one which has inevitably been filled with speculation and counter-claim. For me, the best statements are in the form of concrete action - for me I would just rest easier if Kenwright and Elstone were no longer in post, as unfair or otherwise as that may be in relation to their part in transfer business.
There also seems to be an assumption sometimes that billionaires are immune to pressure or making poor decisions/bad judgement calls. It would be interesting to know the management culture that exists in the other organisations in which Moshiri wields significant or other interest. It seems to me that we need a rather forceful CEO in place, and we have an opportunity to appoint one with a hard business/commercial rather than football/sporting background, now that Walsh should be to the forefront with football matters.
As always good post mate. It looks to me like Moshiri is a devolver as opposed to someone who is hands on. I have no problem with this (and actually think it's good practice). However there is a major problem when you have people in your organisation who are not up to the job. More importantly not only not up to the job, delusional about their abilities and working in a completely different manner to the sort of organisation you are looking to create.
At first I was happy Kenwright would be kept on. I'd hope he'd be able to put the good of the club before his own ego, take a backwards step and give Moshiri the support he may need in the first year with the club. Everything I have seen, heard or surmise over the last 6 months convinces me this was a miscalculation. It seems to me like Moshiri will be learning bad habits from Kenwright and in all honesty he is delaying the inevitable to humiliating affect (as we saw most aptly with the sacking of Martinez).
The club is at a cross roads. I think for many people they don't want to leave the old Everton behind. There are many bits of that I like as well. Goodison, local community work, a great academy, jobs for old players, a local Evertonian owning us etc. It's a compelling story if parochial. In the absence of success it's all we've had to fall back on.
Bill is the embodiment of that image, of plucky little Everton. Unless he goes he will hold us back.
Statements are always difficult. I am not convinced we should be getting them all the time. However Elstone hardly ever communicates and when he does it is often with mis-information. I remember his own manager having (
Moyes) having to correct him when he lied about the cost of players we'd signed. Most of the time it was reactive, defensive communication aimed at covering a mess. Very little of it was ever addressed at trying to eradicate the mess.
This transfer window ended up going so wrong I think a statement to the footballing world is needed. You have Jim White and papers running stories about our owner texting people and keeping players because of it being a family club. All I want to see in a statement is we don't communicate with Jim White via text and more importantly what the plan is going forward. We may not have got our targets and that's fine but give us something to convince us the same mistakes won't happen again (as they have done for over a decade now).
