What's your verdict on Marcel Brands?

[degsy]

He's not been allowed by 'Farhad - I'll keep a dog and bark myself - Moshiri' to do his job...whatever his actual remit was.
But the bit he has been allowed to do, let's call it 30%, he hasn't made a very good fist of either.
He was, IMO, lucky to get a 2nd contract, obviously this substantial wedge, allows him to put his pride on hold and play Smithers to Moshiri's Monty Burns.

 

[TheBigIguana]

Brands is on the board. If he can't fight his corner he needs to go. If moshiri thinks being the owner means he gets to decide everything, we are in real trouble.

It's not that he decides everything. It's that he feels he can take over when we wants and that getting in the way is just enough to throw it all off.

 

[Daytripper]

Pretty telling that poll

 

[paultheblue]

Yeah seem to be undermined all the time as well, wether it’s transfers or picking the manager and doesn’t even run the academy

If he was a DOF of any substance he would not accept continually being undermined , he stays because nobody else wants him and he is happy to sit in the background pick up a good wage.

 

[toffee-L]

It's not that he decides everything. It's that he feels he can take over when we wants and that getting in the way is just enough to throw it all off.

The phrase 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me' seems very apt for Brands' circumstances here. If he doesn't like his working conditions or relationship with the Everton board, he had a very simple out at the end of last season and could have washed his hands of us and sailed off into the sun with no problem at all.

He signed a new contract though, for 3 whole years. I think there is a very large possibility that he's perfectly happy with the stripped down role that he has.

 

[TheBigIguana]

The phrase 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me' seems very apt for Brands' circumstances here. If he doesn't like his working conditions or relationship with the Everton board, he had a very simple out at the end of last season and could have washed his hands of us and sailed off into the sun with no problem at all.

He signed a new contract though, for 3 whole years. I think there is a very large possibility that he's perfectly happy with the stripped down role that he has.

Brands being happy in his role and everything being his fault are two different things.

I don't want to sit here and defend Brands because there are problems and he is responsible on some level. But there is nuance. There are definitely things going on behind the scenes that we aren't aware of on the outside. And so my point is ultimately if you've come to the conclusion that firing Brands would fix the club I think you're going to end up disappointed. We probably should fire him but unless Moshiri brings someone in that he fully trusts and gives full decision making power to it isn't going to matter.

 

[TheBlueBlitzer]

Marcel Brands. He knew we needed a RB, so he let's the rest of our LBs go so we now need a LB. I think he secretly hates everton or flip it and he loves us so much that he wants to stay and and secretly sabotage us hahaha

 

[Brett Angell Delight]

I don’t judge him necessarily on the transfers because it seems that a lot of them aren’t “his”. For a DoF to stick around for so long, though, not be allowed to do his job and still sign on for another 3 years of the same is what disappoints me.

Moshiri wants far more involvement in the running of the club than he should have, and Brands far less than he should have.

Proper, proper Everton, us.

 

[toffee-L]

Brands being happy in his role and everything being his fault are two different things.

I don't want to sit here and defend Brands because there are problems and he is responsible on some level. But there is nuance. There are definitely things going on behind the scenes that we aren't aware of on the outside. And so my point is ultimately if you've come to the conclusion that firing Brands would fix the club I think you're going to end up disappointed. We probably should fire him but unless Moshiri brings someone in that he fully trusts and gives full decision making power to it isn't going to matter.

Outside of hiring and firing managers, I'm not too sure there are areas where Brands doesn't have full control here. You could of course argue that he should have control of that element too but as the owner, Moshiri may feel that the appointment of crucial resources at Everton (like the manager and DoF) are the responsibility of him and the Board and although I wouldn't agree with that, you can't really argue against it.

I would say, and I think many would agree, that recruitment is by far our biggest failing and all of our other problems are spawned from that. Brands, as the Director of Football, is completely responsible for that, just as Steve Walsh was before him. He has failed, by and large, at bringing the right players in and moving the right players on. We have somehow come within a whisker of falling foul of profit and sustainability rules, as if no one was keeping an eye on our accounts, which again points to total amateurism from his Department.

Whilst you are certainly correct that firing Brands wouldn't fix the club completely, I think that everything that falls under his remit is under-performing and he has to face up to that scrutiny.

We need to fix one problem at a time to put our club back on track. One of our problems, in my opinion, is that we have a poor Director of Football and we should fix that problem.

 

[TheBigIguana]

Outside of hiring and firing managers, I'm not too sure there are areas where Brands doesn't have full control here. You could of course argue that he should have control of that element too but as the owner, Moshiri may feel that the appointment of crucial resources at Everton (like the manager and DoF) are the responsibility of him and the Board and although I wouldn't agree with that, you can't really argue against it.

I would say, and I think many would agree, that recruitment is by far our biggest failing and all of our other problems are spawned from that. Brands, as the Director of Football, is completely responsible for that, just as Steve Walsh was before him. He has failed, by and large, at bringing the right players in and moving the right players on. We have somehow come within a whisker of falling foul of profit and sustainability rules, as if no one was keeping an eye on our accounts, which again points to total amateurism from his Department.

Whilst you are certainly correct that firing Brands wouldn't fix the club completely, I think that everything that falls under his remit is under-performing and he has to face up to that scrutiny.

We need to fix one problem at a time to put our club back on track. One of our problems, in my opinion, is that we have a poor Director of Football and we should fix that problem.

I can't see an argument that he's 100% making all the transfer decisions when we're now on our third straight manager who brings in players from his previous club. Each manager is given leeway to make decisions in this area. I wouldn't say that's entirely wrong but if Brands can't say no to certain things that isn't really it either.

 

[toffee-L]

I can't see an argument that he's 100% making all the transfer decisions when we're now on our third straight manager who brings in players from his previous club. Each manager is given leeway to make decisions in this area. I wouldn't say that's entirely wrong but if Brands can't say no to certain things that isn't really it either.

As I said in my previous post though mate, he's been here for three years and is acutely aware at what scope he has/doesn't have on the transfer front. He chose to resign another 3 year contact with that knowledge. I get that your argument is that we might just end up replacing one stooge with another but I don't that's the case. I fully believe that Marcel Brands has absolutely the final say on transfers.

My assumptions as to why he seemingly always goes after the manager's targets are that he either appreciates his limited access to choosing transfer profiles, doesn't care or simply doesn't trust his own instincts enough to go against the manager's wishes.

I could be wrong of course but the end result is the same, he is in charge of a Department that is completely failing against every single objective that you imagine would have been set for him 3 years ago and it is hard to see why he has been shown the leniency that Steve Walsh was not, despite the fact that they both appear to have committed the same mistakes.

 

[TheBigIguana]

As I said in my previous post though mate, he's been here for three years and is acutely aware at what scope he has/doesn't have on the transfer front. He chose to resign another 3 year contact with that knowledge. I get that your argument is that we might just end up replacing one stooge with another but I don't that's the case. I fully believe that Marcel Brands has absolutely the final say on transfers.

My assumptions as to why he seemingly always goes after the manager's targets are that he either appreciates his limited access to choosing transfer profiles, doesn't care or simply doesn't trust his own instincts enough to go against the manager's wishes.

I could be wrong of course but the end result is the same, he is in charge of a Department that is completely failing against every single objective that you imagine would have been set for him 3 years ago and it is hard to see why he has been shown the leniency that Steve Walsh was not, despite the fact that they both appear to have committed the same mistakes.

Or he doesn't have the power to tell them no. I'm not sure why you're discounting that as a possibility.

I'm also not sure why he has to resign if he doesn't have that power. He can be happy enough to work in this system and have it not succeed. We'll all not be, but he's still the head of a PL club and the check still clears. He doesn’t have to give it up even if he knows he's hamstrung.

 

[magicjuan]

He was sold a pup, had a mess and a half to clear up, has the likes of whiny Bill to contend with and Moshiri sticking an oar in whenever he feels like. Hasn't exactly had an easy job. But, I thought he had more about him to be honest, that he was his own man.
However, we are a shambles, let's be fair, so we can only guess as to what circumstances people work in, in the weird and wacky world of Toffeetown.

 

[Cels]

I voted 'Pleased' simply because I'm not sure exactly what Marcel Brands job is or if he's free to do his job, or if he's being undermined at every turn. Does the manager tell him what players he wants and then Brands goes and try to get them? Or does the manager tell him what type of player he wants and Brands goes and sees what's available? All I know is Everton gave him a shiny new contract, so they must be happy with something he's doing. It's a crazy situation.

 

[roy vernon]

He needs to grow a pair, he is either DOF or he isn’t, if he isn’t allowed to make all football related decisions including transfers and appointment of Coaches then he needs to go. It seems that he is constantly over ruled by Moshiri and whoever Moshiri’s current managerial appointment is.

A DOF is there to ensure continuity of the club and to see that coaches coming or going should not have a massive effect on the playing staff, the coach is brought in to coach the players and to fine tune and tweak tactics, not to rip it all up and start again.

If we are to have a DOF and, with apologies to Dave K, I believe we should have one, then Moshiri needs to identify one he trusts, be that Brands or somebody else and then let him get on with directing football.

I voted no by the way, because he is either crap at his job or has no bottle.