2024/25 Kevin Thelwell

[GrandOldTeam]

Sound, what's his excuse for Beto, Broja and chermiti?

We needed a striker and the shortlist was from those that cost literally, £0 upfront.

 

[Bedfordblue]

Man if only Thelwell was as good at actually signing players as he was at almost or nearly signing players

Second only to Steve Walsh in the nearly signed league.

 

[Connor]

Such a nearly man. Almost as bad as Steve Walsh constantly going on about Haaland.

 

[Blue peter]

….preferred it when this thread was on page 6 rather than read about all the great players he nearly signed and all the bad ones that were down to somebody else.

The bloke is being shown the door for a reason, be interesting where he’s working next season.

Once again you assume stuff about Thelwell because you’ve never rated his performance. Like the rest of us, you don’t know the terms of his departure. They may well have shown him the door. Equally he may have decided not to renew his contract to take a break or and seek a fresh challenge elsewhere.

We will never get to the truth of how good or poor he was as we don’t know the true extent of the madness of the environment he operated in but we do have some idea of the restrictions placed in him financially through the withdrawal of financing from the owner, the demands on PSR compliance (a lot of which was contributed to by Brands who you seemed to favour), the costs of the stadium build and a fractious board/executives who all worked incompetently and with their own agenda.

 

[mahermi1]

The point is its a hell of a lot easier to leak out who you 'like' after the fact rather than actually signing players. Not unique to Thelwell either. Brands was worse for it. If we spent time on who the dof theoretically wanted to sign we'd be here all year. Not to mention how every good signing is down to their genius and every dud so happens to be someone else's fault

Okay mate you don't like Thelwell we get you're point. He gets no leeway from you and that's fine, but you have to understand not everyone will agree with you, me for starters.I actually think it was a mistake letting him go, one I sincerely hope doesn't cost us.

 

[Eggs]

Okay mate you don't like Thelwell we get you're point. He gets no leeway from you and that's fine, but you have to understand not everyone will agree with you, me for starters.I actually think it was a mistake letting him go, one I sincerely hope doesn't cost us.

….his next job really will be interesting given how highly rated he is by some on here. You’d think there’ll be some very decent clubs after him.

 

[Makis]

Haaland was a stupid comment from Walsh. Nothing was agreed and was probably even near. Half the continent wanted him so even if the hierarchy had agreed it's unlikely he'd have ended up at Everton.

Being in negotiations with players and then that deal not happening is normal. Good players tend to have more than one choice. And sometimes something happens that is just beyond club's powers, like the Kudus deal falling through because ManU offered 100 million for Antony.

Fact remains, Thelwell had to make a profit every year on player trading. No other Premier League club had the same restrictions. Yet somehow Thelwell is the one making bad deals. Except of course now that we have a manager interested in using the squad properly not many of his signings in the squad look bad. Thelwell signed exactly one 30+ million player and sold him on for a profit. Every other PL club has signed several during that time. Thelwell was forced to work in the bargain basement & loan market.

Tarkowski for free. Great business.
McNeil for 15 million. Good business.
Young for free. Decent business.
Gueye for 2 million. Great, great business.
Garner for 10 million. Good business.
Onana for 30 million. Nice profit, so good business.
Ndiaye for 15 million. Great business.
O'Brien for 15 million. Good business, potentially great.
Chermiti - jury's still out. Too many injuries.
Beto for 25 million. Not good, signed basically because club couldn't pay any fees that season and his fee could be deferred to next season. But we clearly paid too much for his skillset (or lack of).
Iroegbunam for 10 million. Seems decent business. A backup at worst, or we could sell him on and not make a loss.

Those ten cost around 125 million or thereabouts and 50 of that was recouped with the Onana sale. Add 10 for Maupay and total outlay is about what the big clubs might pay for one player. Even a club like Brighton whose model we apparently should emulate paid 40 million for Rutter, 30 milion for Minteh, close to 30 for Wieffer, Gruda, Kadioglu and O'Riley last summer and 30 million for Pedro season before that. But Thelwell was bad at his job because he couldn't make similar signings with no money.

Loans have been more hit and miss but that's their nature. Clubs rarely want to loan players who are doing well. Mangala looked decent and I feel he would have been good under Moyes. Dyche's kick and rush didn't really suit him. Alcaraz has looked good on his cameos but Moyes might have other targets in his mind for summer. Harrison was ok-ish during his first season but poor since. Rest of the loans amount to little, although I would have expected more from Danjuma.

 

[Billy Dean]

Once again you assume stuff about Thelwell because you’ve never rated his performance. Like the rest of us, you don’t know the terms of his departure. They may well have shown him the door. Equally he may have decided not to renew his contract to take a break or and seek a fresh challenge elsewhere.

We will never get to the truth of how good or poor he was as we don’t know the true extent of the madness of the environment he operated in but we do have some idea of the restrictions placed in him financially through the withdrawal of financing from the owner, the demands on PSR compliance (a lot of which was contributed to by Brands who you seemed to favour), the costs of the stadium build and a fractious board/executives who all worked incompetently and with their own agenda.

Also we were the only club during his tenure to be operating on a positive net spend.

We’re on course for our 2nd consecutive 12th place finish, well clear of relegation, on a positive net spend.

 

[hallamblue]

….his next job really will be interesting given how highly rated he is by some on here. You’d think there’ll be some very decent clubs after him.

He's done an ok job with no money, that doesn't make him attractive to big clubs, only to those with no money.

 

[Makis]

….his next job really will be interesting given how highly rated he is by some on here. You’d think there’ll be some very decent clubs after him.

Some have suggested he and his family wants to move back to US.

 

[EFC_FRANCIS]

Okay mate you don't like Thelwell we get you're point. He gets no leeway from you and that's fine, but you have to understand not everyone will agree with you, me for starters.I actually think it was a mistake letting him go, one I sincerely hope doesn't cost us.

I also hope it doesn't cost us. Let's hope we don't miss out on nearly signing some more of his great targets. Even though the actual head of recruitment is still in post so nothing actually has changed as yet.

It's just interesting when the DoFs float these 'I wanted X and evil Y stopped me and forced me to make a mistake' stories that fans actually take them at face value. They're telling you exactly what they want you to believe to sound better.

 

[windymiller]

I also hope it doesn't cost us. Let's hope we don't miss out on nearly signing some more of his great targets. Even though the actual head of recruitment is still in post so nothing actually has changed as yet.

It's just interesting when the DoFs float these 'I wanted X and evil Y stopped me and forced me to make a mistake' stories that fans actually take them at face value. They're telling you exactly what they want you to believe to sound better.

Managers do exactly the same thing.

 

[GrandOldTeam]

Also we were the only club during his tenure to be operating on a positive net spend.

We’re on course for our 2nd consecutive 12th place finish, well clear of relegation, on a positive net spend.

Consider that against what was before him.

We'll never know if he could have progressed us if given ability to spend, as in, net spend.

Every conversation around him at Everton though needs to remember every window he absolutely had to make a baseline of profit, and often, sign players with upfront payment deferred.

The model which replaces him will be interesting. Like, we're bringing in the new CEO from Leeds, transfer consultant, also from Leeds...

 

[hallamblue]

Consider that against what was before him.

We'll never know if he could have progressed us if given ability to spend, as in, net spend.

Every conversation around him at Everton though needs to remember every window he absolutely had to make a baseline of profit, and often, sign players with upfront payment deferred.

The model which replaces him will be interesting. Like, we're bringing in the new CEO from Leeds, transfer consultant, also from Leeds...

I look forward to us signing a load of players who are apparently amazing, linked with £40 million moves elsewhere and yet manage to get relegated.

 

[toffee-L]

….his next job really will be interesting given how highly rated he is by some on here. You’d think there’ll be some very decent clubs after him.

Marcel Brands, who you gave constant latitude to despite being objectively worse than Thelwell and earning double his salary, crawled back to PSV with his tail between his legs and in a non-technical capacity as well.

I’m sure Thelwell will wind up as a DoF somewhere. As proved recently by Edu ditching Arsenal to go to Forest, the status of the club isn’t always as important as the project or salary packet on offer.

I’m sure he’ll be fine though. Only those without an axe to grind can see that he acquitted himself admirably during some absolutely desperate circumstances at times.