Everton's new structure is getting its first big test.
A best-practice process managed and executed by good people provides the best environment for delivering good outcomes. A good organisational structure is a mandatory enabler: a structure in which each department understands what a good outcome looks like and those involved know who, and more importantly, when, to consult and when to inform.
Among the changes made at Everton, and with more to come out of necessity, that have happened since the arrival of new CEO Angus Kinnear, is a different approach to the recruitment process.
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Previous owner Farhad Moshiri was an advocate of the Director of Football model — an all-powerful individual (in theory) who has total control over the playing side of the football club.
It is fair to say that despite employing three different Directors of Football in Steve Walsh, Marcel Brands and Kevin Thelwell during his ownership of the club, Moshiri, and more importantly, the football club, never seemed capable of making it work. Partially, one suspects, because of the direct involvement of Moshiri and former Chair Bill Kenwright.
Whatever one thinks about the individuals, or the caveats, none of them seemed able to establish an effective process, despite in general terms, all of them individually being considered good people. So, Everton meandered from transfer window to transfer window without particular focus or with an end goal in mind.
From the outside looking in, Everton often seemed to behave like an impulsive adolescent that lacked experience or risk awareness. Inevitably, accountability was in short supply — those responsible for delivering consistent outcomes lacked the direction and leadership that should come from above. The biggest failure endured during this period was the inability to spend wisely the huge investment made by Moshiri.
Time, though, is a healer and over the years, players’ contracts ended, managers left, and mistakes unravelled, albeit slowly, as Everton suffered multiple punishments for failing to comply with Profitability & Sustainability Rules. Some of those who should have been held accountable, amazingly left the club with their reputations intact or with a big bag of money. and in some cases both, as excuses and reasons became conflated — they left behind them a mess for someone else to clean up.
Kinnear has been decisive in setting out his stall for how recruitment in the round will be done going forward. We are now into the business end of the summer transfer window, and while Kinnear has spoken directly to fans via an Everton TV interview, manager David Moyes has also spoken publicly about failings in the new process.
He does not yet have all the players he wants — the pre-season results, and performances, were poor, and the start of the season proper, a 1-0 defeat to Leeds United at Elland Road on Monday, ultimately showed were Everton are at. They are undercooked.
Everton lost 1-0 to Leeds on Monday (Credit: Instagram - @premierleague)
What, then, is the process that Kinnear has implemented, and what are the roles and responsibilities of the key actors that have so far delivered six new players to the manager but have yet to fill most of the priority positions that Everton have known about for months, if not years, in the form of right wing, right-back and centre-midfield.
In simple terms, the club under Kinnear has replaced the Director of Football role with a team — a committee, if you like — of experts who work collectively to deliver optimal outcomes from the end-to-end player recruitment process.
As a committee, chaired by Kinnear, there will be natural tensions from the almost immediate needs of the manager to the medium and long-term needs of the club. Productive tension is good; challenge and counterchallenge should drive better outcomes, but only if it co-exists with trust and is supported by clarity around roles and responsibilities as well as tight consult and inform loops that mean the team always remains on the same page.
The key roles in this committee are those of the Director of Scouting & Recruitment (James Smith), who is responsible for player identification and alongside the Director of Strategy & Analytics (Chris Howarth) brings expert opinion and insight to the committee and specifically the names of the players they believe can satisfy the agreed needs of the club and the manager. Alongside them, the Technical Director (Nick Cox) provides insight around academy graduates, the status of their development and the likelihood of them making the first team or generating income through sales. However, neither Smith, who is joining from Manchester City, nor Cox, who is leaving Manchester United, have yet started officially.
In theory, the committee, with significant input from the manager and the CEO, will agree what is needed, including affordability criteria, which positions and specific players to target and to what timetable they expect the roles can be filled. With that known, and with the budget defined, the Player Trading Lead (Nick Hammond) is tasked with closing the deals.
As it stands, then, key components of the committee are absent, and the onus this summer has fallen on Moyes, Kinnear and Hammond.
Kinnear has asked the fans to be patient and assess the success of the transfer window once it has closed, which means at the beginning of September. This might be sensible, but it can also come across as an excuse.
Jack Grealish has joined Everton, but the right-wing position is still vacant (Credit: Instagram - @everton)
Everton, committee in place or not, should have known what was needed heading into the summer. Moyes clearly believes he had made it clear — he has, on numerous occasions, explained that the right-wing position was a priority. Last week, in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Leeds game, Moyes said that the club would like to sign a right-back, though conceded it was a lower priority than the other deals they were attempting to complete first.
Asking for time is all well and good, but Everton have had time, and perception is everything. Fans will be fans, and with the 24-hour news cycle, plus journalists and ‘in the knows’ offering an opinion on a daily basis, pressure builds. That pressure will now only intensify after an underwhelming display at Elland Road. Winning games makes things easier, but Everton won only once in pre-season (behind closed doors against Port Vale) — lose, and the pressure only becomes more intense.
Managers can talk to the fans directly multiple times each week, from pre-match press conferences to the immediate post-match interviews, and managers at the elite level rarely have a problem with deflecting responsibility for poor outcomes and (lack of) recruitment is an easy reason (or excuse).
It is critical, then, for Kinnear and the rest of his team to trust in their process, trust in the decisions they have already made and trust in their team-mates to close the deals or re-target as appropriate. The pressure to deliver, which fuels better outcomes, should be maintained, but without public finger-pointing, and all the actors should remember their cabinet responsibilities; failure will be collective as will success.
This transfer window has, numerically, been a solid effort from Everton — seven players have arrived. But even accounting for injuries to key players such as Jarrad Branthwaite and Vitaliy Mykolenko, who both missed Monday’s season opener, there are still glaring holes in the first XI that have not been addressed.
Today’s perception of ‘good’ will be history tomorrow. Everton’s needs must be satisfied; failure is not an option and come September 1st, whatever the outcome, Moyes will be held accountable for getting the best out of what he has, and the club, from the Ownership Group downward, need to ensure that he does not feel he is standing alone.
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