PLUS: Rashford has shown he was not up for the challenge at Man United
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By GRAEME SOUNESS
Published: 12:00 EST, 20 December 2024 | Updated: 12:00 EST, 20 December 2024
Farhad Moshiri will not be remembered by Evertonians with great fondness. He promised a great deal, laid the foundations of a new stadium but generally his tenure will be regarded as nothing short of a disaster.
He has overseen an investment of more than £750million in Everton but with that, the purchase of a lot of very average players. In footballing parlance, he has had his trousers pulled down and has probably been listening to the wrong advisors who have since galloped off into the sunset.
This is a club from a football mad city that has the potential to be one of the big guys in our league.
I'm not alarmed by the fact, that despite Everton having £660m worth of debt, we see yet another American owner in the Premier League. That's 10 of them now, but these are hard-nosed businessmen who, when signing the contracts to buy the club, will have a five or ten year plan with an exit date already in mind to maximise the return on their money.
Look at the money the Glazers have made on the back of Manchester United. Apart from the asset value going through the roof, and the benefits that will create across their business empire, they have taken enormous dividends along the way since they first took over in 2005.
Look at Fenway Sports Group, they won't have invested a better £300m than when they paid that to buy Liverpool in 2010. Forbes valued the club at £4.2billion only last week and, like it did for the Glazers, that will bring enormous benefit to other assets in their portfolio.
Farhad Moshiri's ownership will not be remembered by Evertonians with great fondness
Moshiri invested more than £750million in Everton but signed a lot of average players
Everton fans must hope the Friedkins, led by Dan Friedkin, will be able to make better decisions
Consequently, I don't expect the Friedkins to be the last to come shopping in the Premier League.
Americans have made fortunes out of buying our institutions.
These are billionaires who continue to see enormous growth in the Premier League, looking both East and West to the huge TV audiences in Asia and the Americas. They recognise how our product remains increasingly attractive to TV companies who are willing to make money out of it. It's prime time investment particularly when you consider more broadcasting negotiations are just around the corner.
Even though I'm a Red, having lived in the city when their team were simply challenging for success, I understand the passion the Everton supporters have for their club. They will be praying the Friedkin Group make good owners with smarter decisions going forward.
There will be a demand for change, though the Profit and Sustainability Rules, a shadow that loomed large over Moshiri's time, will restrict what they can do immediately.
Everton's recruitment pattern over the years is already being discussed as a case study for football business degrees at the local university, the emphasis being on how not to do it.
It is with perfect synchronicity that the Friedkins' first fixture will be against Chelsea, another American owned club, who have taken a more extreme view of how to invest. We have still to see if that particular policy bears fruit but I doubt the Friedkin Group will follow suit.
Inevitably, there will also be questions around what role Sean Dyche will play going forward. I would say he has endured a very difficult job. If you consider Carlo Ancelotti, one of the best club managers of recent times, only finished tenth at Everton and with greater resources, it underlines the challenge of working at Everton recently.
Put Arne Slot or Pep Guardiola in there and could they have done any better? I doubt it.
There will be questions over Sean Dyche's role but he has endured a very difficult job
Arteta must deliver Arsenal major honours
For the vast majority of Arsenal supporters over the past five years, Mikel Arteta has earned plaudits for winning an FA Cup, reaching a Carabao Cup semi final and for the brand of football his team plays. But he must realise, for the investment made by his bosses, a Premier League or Champions League will be expected in the near future.
Arteta and those supporters know that to shake off that 'nearly-men tag' Arsenal need to take another step up.
He had a difficult start to his tenure. Despite winning the FA Cup, he admitted he was 'overwhelmed' by the scale of the job. He got rid of older, big earners such as Mesut Ozil, he confronted Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang and when he then started bringing in young players, I said at the time, I felt he was buying for the next Arsenal manager. But he rode out that early storm, he has calmed down the touchline antics and I think the players have benefitted from that.
However, time is not your friend as a manager unless you deliver trophies.
Arsenal have backed him, like with the £105million they paid for Declan Rice, and, despite losing the sporting director Edu, who Arteta had a close relationship with, I expect they will look to strengthen his arm again with a striker.
Gabriel Jesus may have grabbed a hat-trick on Wednesday, but he is not the answer. That was his second, third and fourth goals of the season and all have come in the Carabao Cup. If he was the calibre of goalscorer they really needed, he would still be at Manchester City.
Yet, as is always the way with spending big money, and it's been a £500m net spend since he was appointed, the pressure to deliver one of the big trophies is enormous.
The decision makers will want more than just a domestic cup as a return on their investment. Arteta has credit in the bank but he soon needs the Premier League, the Champions League or at worst the Europa League to satisfy their expectations.
Mikel Arteta is celebrating his fifth year anniversary of being appointed Arsenal manager
Arsenal's ownership have heavily backed Arteta, shown by the £105m signing of Declan Rice
The expectation will be for Arteta and his side to win the Premier League or Champions League
Pep's proving my theory on management
Pep Guardiola has voiced his frustrations over trying to get a new tune out of his squad so Manchester City will refresh it for him and back him in the January window.
It is an interesting step. For City to improve on the current group they are going to have to go big and in the winter window it will be expensive because there will be a premium; a premium because it's Manchester City and a premium because no-one wants to sell.
But it's also interesting as it tells me they are confident about the 115 charges they are facing from the Premier League.
However you perceive Pep saying 'he's not good enough' following their defeat to Manchester United, it confirms my belief that management is ten percent down to the man in charge and 90 percent down to the players.
Examine his career, wherever he has been, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, he has always had the best group of players in whatever league he has been working.
There are so many parts to being a good player: athleticism, good ability and a strong character, one that, when tough moments come along, knows how to respond. There are no strokes of genius from the manager. I had the same luxury at Rangers when I had players like Terry Butcher, Richard Gough, Ray Wilkins and Mark Hateley, there was very little for me to do as a manager. I'd like to think the same applied to the Liverpool managers under whom I played, except then those were the guys who made the judgement calls on the recruitment also. It's like having one of those pianos you see in hotels or shopping malls that play a tune all by themselves.
City have won one in 11, they face Aston Villa next so there are no guarantees the run will improve. If these players aren't responding to Pep's tuning, then it's obviously time to refresh as City must be in the Champions League next season.
Pep Guardiola claimed after Man City's derby defeat to Man United that 'he's not good enough'
Man City look in need of a refresh and Guardiola looks set to be backed with January signings
Rashford proves he was not up for the challenge
Marcus Rashford says he is ready for a new challenge and has proven he was not up for the first one thrown down to him of becoming a proper player at Manchester United.
For me it's like he has put his hands up in the air and is saying he can't deal with the expectation levels on his shoulders.
He has failed at proving he is able to hold down a place in a team where you play cup finals every week. In ten seasons at United, he has scored over 20 goals on just three occasions. That's proof that he is he is not up to taking on the challenge or the responsibility of playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world.
In his head he is quietly accepting he has to go and play in a less challenging league.
It will be interesting to see where he ends up because, as I said last week, I fear it will only be downhill for him from United.
Rashford has not proved up for the challenge of becoming a proper player at Man United