The dust has settled on Everton’s dramatic escape from relegation, if not the relief that accompanied victory over Crystal Palace, yet awkward realities linger for the club’s hierarchy and Frank Lampard as they seek to avoid a repeat next season. That was underlined even before the transfer window opened.
Almost three weeks after Everton extended their top-flight residence into a 69th year the owner, Farhad Moshiri, sent an open letter to the supporters who played an instrumental, impassioned role in the survival. He apologised for mistakes that produced a campaign of “frustration and fear” but there was no mention of his ill-fated decision to appoint Rafael Benítez as manager at the start of it all, no promise to stop meddling in the work of football professionals or to cease listening to the agents who have cost him a fortune over the past six years.
