How It All Went Wrong At Everton
Everton's 10-point deduction has pundits tipping them for relegation and fans fearing the worst, but already this season Sean Dyche has the Toffees playing in a way that's made them resilient at the back, and dangerous in attack. The numbers, for now, suggest they'll be absolutely fine.
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00:00 Everton have been docked 10 points, with potential lawsuits of up to £300m from relegated clubs
00:12 and clubs around them to follow the likes of Nottingham Forest, Burnley, Leeds United
00:17 and Leicester City.
00:19 Whether you think it's too harsh or not, it does paint a picture about the current state
00:24 of affairs over on the blue half of Merseyside.
00:27 So here's how Everton's downfall has truly taken place.
00:33 When Farhad Moshiri strode into Goodison Park in 2016, he did so with one key ambition - to
00:40 transform Everton's fortunes.
00:42 Announced as the Toffees' new investor at 4.46pm on Saturday February 27th, the British
00:48 Iranian billionaire walked into a club that had gone 21 years without silverware and sat
00:53 12th in the Premier League table.
00:55 For a club more used to qualifying for Europe, even finishing in the top four under David
00:59 Moyes, that was a disappointment.
01:02 Moshiri wasted little time in attempting to reawaken the perennial sleeping giant, pledging
01:06 to "give everything I have" to re-establish the nine-time English champions back amongst
01:11 the elite.
01:12 He told fans "We don't want to be a museum.
01:15 We need to be competitive and win."
01:17 Over the course of the next seven and a half years, Moshiri did transform Everton's fortunes,
01:22 but not in the way he envisaged.
01:24 In each of the past two seasons, a 12th place finish would have been blessed relief.
01:29 Instead, the Toffees became relegation candidates, jeopardising a top-flight status that will
01:34 soon extend to 70 years.
01:37 All that while facing financial, fair play charges and the substantial costs of a new
01:41 stadium, with Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher labelling them as "the worst-run club in
01:46 the country".
01:47 Last month, Moshiri confirmed he'd finally agreed to sell Everton, but fan worries remain
01:52 amid concerns about the club's potential new owners.
01:55 How did things go so wrong?
01:57 This is how Everton were taken to the brink of despair.
02:01 Moshiri's premiership in the blue half of Merseyside developed at breakneck speed in
02:05 early 2018.
02:07 Just 24 hours before buying Everton, he sold his 15% stake in Arsenal to long-term business
02:13 partner Alisher Usmanov, as the pair's battle with Stan Kroenke for control of the Gunners
02:17 continued to go nowhere fast.
02:20 Boasting an estimated personal wealth of £1.3bn, the Moshiri buy-in resulted in Everton fans
02:26 chanting "We're f**king rich" within days.
02:29 They believed they'd finally found their ticket back to the elite after an 11th place
02:33 finish in 2014/15 had left many worried they were slipping too far behind.
02:37 "I was cautiously optimistic, like most fan bases who come into new money," says
02:41 John Blaine, vice-chairman of the Everton Shareholders Association.
02:45 "We could see he didn't have the buying power of a Sheikh Mansour or Roman Abramovich,
02:49 but," Bill Kenwright used to say, "this is no longer a game for millionaires, it's
02:53 a game for billionaires."
02:54 Actions do speak louder than words, though.
02:56 It's great to spend money, but even in your day-to-day life, spending it badly is
03:00 potentially worse than not spending it at all.
03:03 Moshiri spared no expense on early statement appointments.
03:06 Roberto Martinez was sacked as Everton finished 11th again in 2015/16, replaced by Ronald
03:12 Koeman from Southampton for a reported £6m per year.
03:17 Steve Walsh, who was key in Leicester's improbable Premier League title triumph, became
03:20 the club's first financial director of football that summer.
03:24 The new owner made further waves in his adoptive city by co-purchasing the iconic Royal Liver
03:28 Building, which later housed the club's administrative offices.
03:32 A willingness to court, the media was firmly at odds with the often stuffy nature of his
03:36 inherited hierarchy.
03:38 After Everton's climb to 7th in 2016/17, earning a return to Europa League football,
03:43 the next step in the chartered accountant's master plan was to win the 2017 summer transfer
03:47 window in a concerted attempt to progress the toffees even further.
03:52 Amid the giddiness and vanity signings, in came Gilfie Sigurdsson in a £45m deal, Jordan
03:57 Pickford and Michael Keane who were £30m each, David Clarsen for £26.3m, Nikola Vlasic
04:04 for £9m, plus the return of Wayne Rooney on a free transfer.
04:08 There was an absence of coherent strategy in the £125m total splurge.
04:13 Rooney, Sigurdsson, Clarsen and Vlasic each played similar roles, largely operating off
04:18 of a striker, while the club found itself bereft of the proven marksmen needed to fill
04:22 the void left by Romelu Lukaku's Manchester United exit.
04:26 Koeman later claimed he'd lined up Olivier Giroud to replace Everton's record Premier
04:29 League goalscorer, and even had the Arsenal man in the building before the French dream
04:34 boat's late change of heart.
04:36 Ronald was fighting with the club until the last day of the transfer window, Jan Kluytenberg,
04:41 Everton's then fitness coach, tells 442.
04:43 "If you sell your biggest striker and there's nobody else to come in, you know it will be
04:47 a big problem.
04:49 Everybody was working to get a new striker in, who could score a lot of goals.
04:52 That was a big loss for the club."
04:54 Desperate times forced the Dutchman to swallow his pride and reintegrate Umar Nias in the
04:58 hope of salvaging his flatlining tenure.
05:01 Having banished the Senegalese striker to the under-23s a year earlier, it wasn't
05:05 enough. After winning just two of his opening nine league fixtures, and the Toffees in the
05:09 bottom three, Koeman was dismissed.
05:12 Caretaker David Unsworth, part of the side that won Everton's last trophy, the 1995
05:16 FA Cup, fared a little better as his temporary charges crashed out of the Europa League group
05:22 stage with barely a whimper, losing 3-0 in Lyon and 5-1 at home to Atalanta.
05:27 During a five-week search for Koeman's successor, Meshiri sought the council of esteemed figures
05:32 within Goodison's employ, including Joe Royal, the manager for the FA Cup triumph,
05:36 who'd since rejoined the club as professional development coordinator.
05:39 "I only spoke to him a couple of times. One of the last times was after Atalanta battered
05:44 us," Royal tells 442. "I never told him they were blaming managers. David Unsworth
05:49 was in charge. And I said, 'It's nothing to do with that. The players aren't good
05:53 enough, Mr. Meshiri.' It was all very amiable. But that was probably the last time I ever
05:57 spoke to him."
05:58 Sam Allardyce's eventual coronation instigated another theme of madness over method, with
06:02 no consistent style of play among the club's managerial choices. For the start of 2018-19,
06:08 Marco Silva replaced the one-timed England boss's pragmatism, but the Portuguese lasted
06:13 just 18 months.
06:15 In December 2019, Meshiri finally struck upon a coach whose pedigree and reputation perfectly
06:19 aligned with his vision, Mr. Carlo Ancelotti.
06:23 On the rebound from a 19-month spell with Napoli, when Everton became early Premier
06:27 League leaders in the 2020-21 season, inspired by new signings James Rodriguez, the good
06:33 times finally appeared set to roll.
06:35 As it turned out, Ancelotti's decision to rejoin Real Madrid, just a week after the
06:39 Toffees had botched a season-long bid for European football, coincided with an abrupt
06:43 end to any sort of fan-based optimism.
06:46 The hiring of former Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez was unsurprisingly unpopular. Just as years
06:51 of reckless spending came home to roost, despite cost-cutting measures to satisfy the Premier
06:55 League's profit and sustainability regulations, Di Maregre's £1.7m arrival constituted
07:01 their sole cash signing that summer.
07:04 The club still failed to balance its books, having already lost nearly £400m over the
07:08 previous four seasons. The Toffees later announced a deficit of £44.7m for 2021-22, which culminated
07:16 with the club narrowly avoiding relegation under Frank Lampard.
07:20 Benitez had been sacked in mid-January, mere days after being allowed to sign Vitaly Mikhalenko
07:24 and Nathan Paterson for a combined £33m. That summer heralded a return of the sell-to-buy
07:30 model that had been commonplace under Ken Wright's administration. Amadou Onana, Dwight
07:35 McNeil, Neil Mopé and James Garner were amongst those signed after Richarlison's £60m sale
07:40 to Tottenham Hotspur.
07:42 The club fared no better on the pitch. Lampard was the latest January 2nd, this time during
07:46 a window frustratingly devoid of new arrivals. Only Abdoulaye Dekore's final day goal against
07:52 Bournemouth prevented relegation to the Championship under new boss Sean Dyche.
07:57 Off-field issues have not gone away though, with Everton having now been summoned before
08:01 an independent commission over an FFP breach, for which they have now been docked 10 points
08:06 with potential further ramifications to follow.
08:10 All this has come during the construction of Everton's new stadium at Bramley Moor
08:13 Dock. As Goodison Park began to look more and more of an anachronism, Meshiri agreed
08:18 a deal to purchase the disused waterfront site just a year into his tenure, but its
08:22 scope for redevelopment was stimmied by adjoining Rouse a Victorian-era terraced housing. Bramley
08:27 Moor not only represented a long-term solution to the Grand Old Lady, but also a shot at
08:32 redemption for Everton. According to Meshiri, costs for the stadium total a whopping £760m.
08:39 There had been suggestions that this could be Everton's last full season at Goodison,
08:42 ahead of a possible mid-season move in 2024/25, but the club have since said that relocation
08:48 could potentially take place in the summer of 2025. Construction was also tinged by tragedy
08:53 in mid-August after Michael Jones, a 26-year-old ventilation engineer and match-going Evertonian,
08:59 was killed in an on-site accident.
09:01 Covid and Russia's invasion of Ukraine have been contributing factors to the Toffees'
09:06 financial situation, and last March they severed ties with USM Holdings, the umbrella company
09:11 for Alisher Usmanov's stable of Russian brands, which was heavily intertwined with
09:14 the club's commercial operations. That link-up included an extensive sponsorship deal for
09:19 their Finch Farm training ground, and also incorporated a lucrative option to match any
09:23 name in right bids for their new stadium. "The horrible things going on in Ukraine
09:27 probably kiboshed any chance that Usmanov will come out of the shadows and be proactively
09:31 involved in the football club," says Everton Shareholders' Association's Blaine.
09:36 Stability has not been much better on the football front since Meshiri's February
09:39 2016 arrival. The club have had just three campaigns without a mid-season change of manager.
09:44 When Koeman got his marching orders in October 2017, it was chairman Kemm right who was tasked
09:48 with delivering the news after a 5-2 home loss to Arsenal. Meshiri had been present
09:52 at the game during one of his semi-regular appearances at Goodison, visits which ended
09:56 in 2021. "I was outside with assistant manager Irwin
10:00 Koeman and the squad members who didn't play in that game," remembers Cluttenburg.
10:04 "We came in and saw the chairman. Irwin said, 'I think there'll be a special message
10:07 coming for us.' I thought, 'Well, of course. It's not a good start to the season, but
10:12 maybe he's coming to give Ronald an extra hug and say that for now we'll continue.'
10:15 But he was only two minutes in his office. That was a big disappointment, especially
10:19 for Ronald, because he put a lot of energy and effort into the club. They realised that
10:23 the start of the season was not going well, and I understand that, but it was more of
10:26 an emotional thing because of the fans' reaction."
10:29 Supporter discourse has not always dictated the pace of Everton's managerial changes.
10:33 Benitez was afforded a stay of execution that led to director of football Michael Brand's
10:37 resignation, while Silva and Lampard's exits were prolonged to the point that the latter's
10:41 squad learned of his downfall via the media.
10:44 During a five-hour wait for official confirmation, the former Chelsea and England midfielder
10:47 was disposed at a time when relations between the boardroom and terraces had plunged to
10:51 fresh depths.
10:52 After Kenwright, chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale, chief finance and strategy officer Grant Ingalls
10:58 and non-executive director Graeme Sharp, the club's two-time title-winning striker, were
11:03 advised not to attend January's defeat to relegation rivals Southampton out of concern
11:07 for "real and credible" threats to their safety.
11:11 One of the more serious claims alleged that Barrett-Baxendale had been "put in a headlock"
11:15 by a man while leaving the director's box after a fixture at Goodison in January.
11:19 In the immediate aftermath of the incident, police insisted that they had no reports of
11:23 threats or incidents, prompting further criticism of the board from some supporters.
11:28 Headlockgate became a tipping point for disenfranchised fans to follow.
11:32 "The club did our job for us," says Chris Hannan, from the NSNOW campaign group, their
11:37 name being a tweak on the acronym of the club's Latin motto, NIL SATIS NISSI OPTIMUM, which
11:42 means "nothing but the best is good enough."
11:45 "They basically turned the majority of people who attended the next match against them,"
11:48 Hannan adds.
11:49 "We must have had 5,000 or 6,000 outside before the game against Arsenal.
11:53 The hardest thing about the protest was getting people out of a routine.
11:57 We tried to create one, meeting in the Royal Oak pub, having a drink, then doing the march.
12:01 It worked really well."
12:02 Fan activism continued to play a part whenever to narrowly preserve their Premier League
12:06 status thanks to De Corey's goal against Bournemouth.
12:09 Visceral chants of "sap the board" reverberated around Goodison in the final whistles immediate
12:13 aftermath and were heeded weeks later when three of the four directors who'd been advised
12:17 to stay away opted to leave their posts for good.
12:20 That announcement was accompanied by a statement confirming that the future of Kenwright would
12:23 be communicated in the next 48 hours.
12:27 Some 11 days later, Meshiri's confirmation that he'd decided to retain the chairman
12:30 on an interim board for an "important period of transition" did not go down all that
12:35 well with a large section of the fanbase.
12:37 "Billy's pretty smart, but he also thinks like the fans," says Cluttenberg, believing
12:41 that actually, "when Koeman was fired, a knee-jerk decision was taken to quell angry
12:45 supporters immediately after a heavy loss, rather than patience and calm being shown."
12:49 "Meshiri, I've never met him personally," he continues.
12:53 "So it's a little bit difficult to talk about somebody I never met.
12:57 He was the owner, but sometimes it's also a bit of a problem if you don't really have
13:00 the knowledge of football."
13:01 Avoiding relegation last term did at least stave off even more potential problems.
13:05 September's announcement that Meshiri had agreed to sell his entire 94.1% controlling
13:10 stake to American Investment Fund's 777 partners, who have already stumped up a £20m
13:15 loan to help short-term working capital, carries the potential to bring an end to that financial
13:20 deadlock, while also signalling the long-awaited break with what has become a truly dysfunctional
13:25 ownership.
13:26 If approved by regulatory bodies, the decision is expected by early December.
13:31 The Miami-based operators of a global multi-club network will ascend to power by the end of
13:35 2023.
13:37 But it could just as easily be an archetypal case of jumping out of the frying pan and
13:40 into the fire.
13:41 For now, fans remain concerned amid ongoing scrutiny of their potential new custodians,
13:46 who face dissent from fans at other clubs in their portfolio, including Hertha Berlin,
13:50 Standard Liège and Red Star in Paris.
13:53 "I think we're all scared by the last two owners," admits Hannan.
13:56 "Everyone's got a bit of insecurity about what's going to happen, because it's a
13:59 minefield.
14:00 We'll find out by Christmas what type of owners they're going to be.
14:03 If you were buying a football club, you couldn't ask for a better first 12 months to make a
14:06 difference.
14:07 Just by saying the right things, bringing the right people in and delivering on the
14:11 new stadium."
14:12 I still don't think this is the end of Moshiri at Everton, though.
14:15 No way.
14:16 Hannan's scepticism that this will be the 68-year-old's last ride reflects the sheer
14:19 unpredictability that came normalised under his watch.
14:23 When it finally happens, hardly any Evertonians will mourn Moshiri's departure.
14:27 The man they once believed would be the answer to all their prayers, turned out to be their
14:32 worst nightmare.
14:33 [BLANK_AUDIO]