Business With Blain: How Soon Is Now?
Change must come at Everton.
The traumatic events of the 2021-22 Premier League season, when Everton secured their status with a 3-2 comeback win over Crystal Palace in the campaign’s penultimate game, had barely, if at all, healed by the time 2022-23 got underway.
Fans expected, and even perhaps accepted, that the new campaign would be no easy ride. Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s injury issues needed to be addressed, and most likely through the transfer market. Supporters also knew that the club was close to breaching the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (P&S).
The strength of Everton’s following cannot be doubted. Complete sell-outs of home and away ticket allocations, season in, season out is evidence enough of the fans’ unwavering devotion.
They are also among the most engaged, connected, opinionated and, crucially, they hold an unquenchable appetite for insight when it comes to their beloved club.
Richarlison was sold to Tottenham to ease those P&S concerns. Yet at the start of August, Everton found themselves shorn of Calvert-Lewin again, the striker having sustained a knee injury while kicking a ball in training. It would take Everton almost four weeks – and the first five league games of the season – to bring in a forward, with Neal Maupay arriving from Brighton and Hove Albion.
No further attacking additions were made. A clear failure that ultimately played a major part in another final-day scrap for survival; the third such occasion in Everton’s Premier League history.
Yet to compound matters, there had been no direct communication with the fanbase. Everton, instead, stuck to briefing journalists, for local and national publications alike, both on and off the record. Tensions continued to rise. The fans wanted answers, they wanted to know why the most obvious of needs had not been satisfied. Sadly, these answers were not forthcoming.
Everton have a reputation for looking inwards. The proverbial ostrich with its head in the sand, failing to face the constraints or challenges but above all, failing to control the narrative when matters get difficult.
A demanding fanbase can be perceived as confrontational and impossible to appease. Consequently, many Evertonians have a belief that the club’s traditional approach to the challenges of an animated fanbase has often been a period of radio silence. As sure as night follows day, there was little in the way of club-to-fan communication throughout the first half of the season.
That silence was broken in bizarre fashion in mid-January. A club statement explained that due to “a real and credible threat to their safety and security”, the Board of Directors would not be attending a crucial meeting with fellow strugglers Southampton at Goodison Park.
The wording of the statement itself was questionable. The timing, mere hours before kick-off, was horrific.
One hopes that whoever approved the publishing of the statement, and the subsequent briefing of journalists, now realises that it was at best misguided and at worst, something more sinister and potentially self-serving.
Whatever the truth is, it has never been adequately proven. Polar-opposite views exist but many observers agree the result was a huge, potentially irreparable chasm in the relationship between the club’s leadership and its most valued and loyal stakeholders – the fans.
Since then, the Board of Directors have not attended games at Goodison Park. Public statements made by Farhad Moshiri and Chairman Bill Kenwright only managed to make matters worse.
Fans began to mobilise, pulling together to back the team while demanding the ousting of the Board and Moshiri for not taking what they thought to be the necessary action.
Come the end of the January transfer window, and despite the promises of Moshiri that the club would indeed recruit the much-needed striker, Everton’s squad was weaker than before. No forward had arrived, Frank Lampard had been sacked, and Everton were in deep trouble, with Sean Dyche tasked with getting them out of the mire.
At Everton, though, there always seems to be a lower ebb. Drama apparently lurks around every corner and in mid-March, prior to the publication to shareholders of Everton’s Accounts for 2021-22, the Premier League announced a referral to an independent commission for an alleged breach of the competition’s financial regulations.
The potential punishment, should Everton be found guilty, could have an existential impact on the club’s future; a future that was starting to look increasingly bleak.
As late in the day as May 8, as Everton headed down to Brighton, the Toffees were the favourites to drop into the Championship. That extraordinary 5-1 win on the south coast, followed by Yerry Mina’s last-gasp equaliser at Wolves, meant Dyche’s side wrested their fate into their own hands going into the final day.
In a low-quality game charged with emotion and fuelled by the vociferous Goodison crowd, the Blues found a way.
But do not be fooled: Everton are in a dark place.
The one ray of brightness is the wonderful stadium emerging from the disused dock at Bramley-Moore. Financing for that is still within the gift of Moshiri, whose financial commitment has not wavered, and positive news is expected imminently in regards to new investment.
The squad needs major work. Players are sure to leave, finances are sure to be challenging and the fear amongst fans is that if drastic changes are not forthcoming, then next season will be no better.
Revolution is what the fanbase wants, but evolution is perhaps what Everton need and in the medium to long term, would likely result in a better outcome.
Fresh ideas are required in the boardroom. Change at that level is not optional, but critical, if the club are to begin the healing process.
Communication and engagement must improve. A suitably qualified and respected individual must be appointed to oversee that process as a board-level Chief Engagement Officer. Their credibility must be unquestionable, and Everton need to give them access to the truth – the whole truth – on all club matters.
The time for these changes is now, or for Everton, it really could be never.
By JohnB
Business With Blain is a regular feature on Toffee TV Premier.
Well written piece. Good read John. 😬
A great summation of the sh*t show of our season. . Our 2nd season on the bounce !!!
I wonder. . "What would Everton do?" Bill