Sometimes known as ‘the silly season’, we’re currently experiencing the time of year for wild speculation when it comes to football comings and goings but at Everton it seems such rumour extends even beyond players.
Indeed, with transfer funds understood to be tight at Goodison Park as Financial Fair Play restrictions continue to bite, the squad rebuilding so patently required after the lowest equivalent points total in the club’s 135-year Football League/Premier League history has so far proven to be a slow process. Manager Sean Dyche was last week spotted enjoying a well-earned break at the Glastonbury music festival after guiding the Blues to safety on the final game of last season, having taken on the role in late January when the team were joint bottom of the table.
When the former long-serving Burnley gaffer – who celebrates his 52nd birthday on Wednesday – gets back to work at Finch Farm, he and director of football Kevin Thelwell will be plotting how to reshape Everton’s pool of first-team players, which is lacking in both quality and balance and get the first signing of the current regime over the line. A couple of new attackers plus a full-back are the priority areas and it’s difficult to find recruits of suitable pedigree in the former area on the cheap.
Such issues have not just been foisted upon Everton, though. The ECHO understands that Thelwell was looking to bring in a brace of forward-thinking players in January but the Blues failed to come up with the £12million Aston Villa wanted for Danny Ings – who went to West Ham United instead – while even after the £45million sale of Anthony Gordon to Newcastle United, uncertainty over funds prevented the club from bringing in any new faces despite the “hard work” Dyche said he saw from colleagues who were “on the phone constantly” in the latter days of the winter window.
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The off-the-field turmoil at Everton cannot have helped with doing business swiftly this summer though. At 5pm on Monday, June 12, the club announced a boardroom exodus with chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale, chief finance & strategy officer Grant Ingles and non-executive director Graeme Sharp all departing.
The club added that a statement about interim appointments and the future of the chairman was to follow in the next 48 hours. That wait stretched out to almost nine days even though the results produced a distinctly familiar ‘new-look’ hierarchy.
Bill Kenwright, for now at least, continues as chairman after being persuaded to stay on by Farhad Moshiri despite initially offering to step down from the role. Moshiri himself – who hasn’t attended a match at Goodison Park for 20 months – has come on to the board with Colin Chong, who is currently overseeing the development of the club’s new stadium, and John Spellman, a chartered accountant and Everton supporter, while current director of finance James Maryniak has also been promoted to a more senior position.
The changes are set against the backdrop of news that the long-running saga over investment into Everton is heading toward a positive conclusion after paperwork filed in the US provided some clarity on the issue. MSP Sports Capital are understood to be acquiring a 25% stake in the club through a preferential share structure, which are loans with warrants that can be converted into equity further down the line, with the initial sum thought to be around £100m, although the deal might not be completed until late this summer.
Both the group’s co-founders Jahm Najafi, vice-chairman of the NBA basketball team Phoenix Suns and Jeffrey Moorad, who has served as CEO at Major League Baseball outfits the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres, are highly-experienced administrators in US sport, so either personally or through another representative of their New York-based investment fund, they could also acquire a boardroom presence at Goodison Park. It remains unclear just where Raul Sanllehi might fit within a reshuffle though, especially with the holistic approach being implemented by Thelwell and his 120-point plan to overhaul the footballing side of the club from top to bottom.
The Daily Mail have published an article claiming that Sanllehi, the former Arsenal head of football and Barcelona director of football is being looked at over a potential role at Everton. Sanllehi spent close to three years at the Emirates as part of the attempt to rebuild following Arsene Wenger’s departure after more than two decades at the club.
After leaving the Gunners in 2020, Sanllehi returned to his native Spain and currently occupies the role of director general for La Liga side Real Zaragoza. The reports says that Sanllehi has admirers on Merseyside – but it remains to be seen if he would make the switch if offered a role.
Talk of the 56-year-old’s name has been met with surprise by club insiders, unaware of any apparent interest, but Sanllehi’s past dealings with football advisor Kia Joorabchian – an influential figure known to have the ear of the Blues’ majority shareholder – could go a long way to explaining this particular link. Meanwhile, loyal but long-suffering Evertonians will be looking forward to that simple pleasure that all football fans enjoy – seeing new players come through the door – because Lord knows they need to.
