2024/25 Kevin Thelwell


blueloon said:
While much is made of Thelwell’s signings , and for some it’s the sole criteria for judgement , for me his work and impact has been significant in other areas too. Our Academy is at last moving in the right direction in terms of having a structure, plans and good personnel in place to deliver those plans. Though I do think we need to change a couple of coaches. The scouting structure is massively improved and we are now bringing in more good Academy youngsters from outside to improve our teams and this “ scouting structure “ improvement appears to mirrored at senior level when you think about the players we’ve brought in from Brazil, France (3) , Italy (2) , Portugal etc. If we are foolish enough to let him go I suspect he’ll have no problem getting another job. You could imagine the opening interview question” Tell us Kevin , Everton were a basket case when you first joined, what was it you did to contribute to their survival and progress?”
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Just curious. Which academy coaches do you think I should be changed?
 
Little Ralphy said:
On the flip side of that though, most people looking at a recruitment specialist will want someone who did what Walsh did. Bought Mahrez and Kante for buttons and sold them for massive profits. Or whoever was signing the Brighton players that the rs and Chelsea paid millions for.

Thelwell's signings have been fair to decent at best. I can't think of anyone he has signed who people would be looking to give us a massive profit on.

I know people will argue about restrictions etc. but if someone asks him the question you posed, I don't really think he has great evidence for an answer. He might get a similar job but I'd be very surprised that he'd get a better one.
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Tbf Steve Walsh was actually a head of recruitment rather than a DoF, we just put him in the DoF role despite him never actually doing that role previously. The DoF role is really just a large scale project management role, they are rarely the ones sat there watching videos of players etc, they employ a recruitment team to do all that. Dan Purdy is our head of recruitment (there have been rumours of him moving on) plus the various scouts and data people, its them who go looking for the actual players rather than Thelwell.
 

Makis said:
Ndiaye would go for at least twice what club paid for him. And Garner, Iroegbunam, O'Brien and McNeil all have higher value than what they were bought for.
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Who is paying Everton more than £20m for McNeil? We should defo sell him if someone is. As for the other players, which clubs are going to spend big money on those players?
Ndiaye possibly but 35m? Maybe if he has a good season next year.
 
Billy Dean said:
Just curious. Which academy coaches do you think I should be changed?
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A bit controversial this but Paul Tait the u21s coach and Keith Southern , Tait’s prodigy moved from u21s to u18s coach. I just don’t see any progress in style at our u21s and I believe the u18s have regressed since Baines moved out and Southern in. One for discussions in another thread though mate, I’m sure some will disagree!
 
Little Ralphy said:
Who is paying Everton more than £20m for McNeil? We should defo sell him if someone is. As for the other players, which clubs are going to spend big money on those players?
Ndiaye possibly but 35m? Maybe if he has a good season next year.
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A 25-year old English playmaker who scores and creates and has good set pieces and already plays in PL. Have you actually looked at what clubs pay for players these days? Where do you get a player like that for under 20m?

As for the rest you really don't think we could get more than 10m for Garner? Iroegbunam and O'Brien are too early to sell, but a year from now and barring any bad injuries I'm sure they will cost more than what club paid for them.
 
Makis said:
A 25-year old English playmaker who scores and creates and has good set pieces and already plays in PL. Have you actually looked at what clubs pay for players these days? Where do you get a player like that for under 20m?

As for the rest you really don't think we could get more than 10m for Garner? Iroegbunam and O'Brien are too early to sell, but a year from now and barring any bad injuries I'm sure they will cost more than what club paid for them.
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Yeah, a lot of people are still living in 2003 in terms of player fees. £20m is like the minimum for most bang average top leaguee British players these days
 

toffeeblue9 said:
I'm a fairly vocal advocate of the job Thelwell has done here.

For all the talk about Dyche deserving some credit for the job he did for 18 months, I don't think Thelwell gets anything like the credit he deserves for the job he's done since he got here.

He's had to deal with the fallout of a catastrophic regime which preceded him, which has resulted in cash flow being almost nothing, PSR issues, needing to sell players to keep the lights on and add to that and owner and chairman who were routinely interfering to suit their own agendas, not having the say about who the managers are he's working with, a youth system which is underfunded, a scouting system which has been cut to the bone and a fanbase who largely don't understand his job and just think he should be signing strikers because everyone else is.

I think, in the context of everything we know, he's done a borderline remarkable job. His signings have almost all been good (find me a DoF or manager with a 100% hit rate) and he's done it on a budget of fresh air.

But, all that being said, I'm a big advocate of the idea that if there's someone clearly superior available/attainable for a role then you shouldn't let sentiment come into it.

Frankly I think we should be naming a stand after the fella, but if an objectively better DoF is available and willing to come here, shake hands and part ways amicably.

Edit - I would, in no way whatsoever, be displeased to see Thelwell continue here. I think he's more than earned a chance at working in an environment where he could build rather than firefight, but equally if Guardiola suddenly left City in the summer and indicated a willingness to come here, I'd most likely be doing a full @davek and advocating for Moyes to be moving on after 6 months - sentiment shouldn't come into it if there's a very clear upgrade available and attainable
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On Thelwell, I would ask why on earth risk bringing in a new DOF. What is the benefit of that? West Ham brought one in who Moyes didn't work well with and it all went pear shaped. There are signs of real potential in the Moyes, Thelwell relationship, just let them crack on and do the job. I personally would be massively disappointed if either Thelwell or Moyes were let go based on what they've done so far.
 
johnjoeefc said:
On Thelwell, I would ask why on earth risk bringing in a new DOF. What is the benefit of that? West Ham brought one in who Moyes didn't work well with and it all went pear shaped. There are signs of real potential in the Moyes, Thelwell relationship, just let them crack on and do the job. I personally would be massively disappointed if either Thelwell or Moyes were let go based on what they've done so far.
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Completely agree….its about the dynamic of the relationship - we’ve seen countless stories of managers and DoFs not getting on so if we have a pair that’s aligned in vision and strategy not sure I’d want to disrupt that…worth its weight in gold. This has been illustrated by Dyche not using players that Moyes is now using and suddenly the recruitment doesn’t look anywhere as bad
 

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