Three weeks on from Everton’s latest relegation escape and the focus is on how long Bill Kenwright will remain chairman of a board with a population of one. Him. Sean Dyche would be forgiven for asking if anyone at the club was listening when he delivered that blunt, honest and overdue appraisal of Everton’s predicament.
“There is massive amounts of work to be done, not just from me but from everyone at the club,” the Everton manager said after securing the club’s top-flight status for a 70th successive season with victory over Bournemouth. Other managerial messages from that fraught day included: “There is loads to change here;” and: “It’s a big club but we are not performing like a big club. We have to find a way of changing that. This is two seasons now.”
The response has merely reinforced the dysfunctional state Everton find themselves in under Farhad Moshiri and Kenwright and offers little encouragement to Dyche. There have been changes. The departures of Denise Barrett-Baxendale as chief executive, Grant Ingles as chief finance officer and the club legend Graeme Sharp as a nonexecutive director were finally confirmed on Monday, 15 days after Premier League survival was secured. There will be more changes.
Kenwright will exit and interim boardroom appointments will be made in due course, only not within the 48-hour deadline that Everton unnecessarily set on Monday and unsurprisingly failed to meet by Wednesday. MSP Sports Capital, the New York-based investment company, remains on course to buy its first stake in the club and appoint its own directors. Andy Bell and George Downing, successful local businessmen and Evertonians, are in the frame for boardroom positions.
But the MSP deal is unlikely to go through before Kenwright’s future is resolved and as the statement from supporters’ collective #AllTogetherNow has made clear protests against the club’s hierarchy will continue while the divisive and damaging chairman remains. Moshiri can remove Kenwright as chairman whenever he wishes, irrespective of the 77-year-old holding 1,750 shares in the club. Dyche called for action; Everton are in stasis.
The boardroom manoeuvres and their consequences cannot disguise the amount of work required from Dyche and the director of football, Kevin Thelwell, to avoid a third successive season of relegation angst. Dyche wants two new forwards added to his squad this summer. Gambling on Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s fitness again and failing to recruit a recognised goalscorer, as in recent transfer windows, are not on his agenda.
Central defensive options are already lighter than last season. Yerry Mina is leaving on a free transfer having not been offered a contract extension and Conor Coady has returned to Wolves after Everton opted against signing the England international for £4.5m. Mason Holgate, Michael Keane or Ben Godfrey could be sold. Jarrad Branthwaite, however, is returning from a successful loan season at PSV Eindhoven. The 20-year-old will get an opportunity to play his way into Dyche’s plans after competing for England at the European Under‑21 Championship in Georgia and Romania that starts on Wednesday.
Everton also require greater competition at left-back and cover for Jordan Pickford, the first-choice goalkeeper, with Asmir Begovic rejecting the club’s offer of a new contract. There will be a hole in central midfield to fill should Amadou Onana, one of Everton’s few profitable assets, be sold. Chelsea retain an interest in the Belgium international although unlike 12 months ago with Richarlison’s transfer to Tottenham Everton appear under less pressure to sell before the end of the month to improve their financial results.
The club have already raised around £70m this year through the sale of Anthony Gordon to Newcastle and Juventus’s obligation to buy Moise Kean after a two-year loan deal. Everton are awaiting a decision from Tom Davies on whether he plans to sign a contract extension with interest from other Premier League clubs. The homegrown midfielder’s deal expires this month and he did not start a game after Dyche succeeded Frank Lampard.
There is an awkward, expensive decision to be made on Dele Alli. The 27-year-old has a year remaining on a lucrative Everton contract but few other certainties over his future having failed to resurrect his career on loan at Besiktas last season. Everton have to pay Tottenham £10m once the playmaker makes 20 appearances. He is on 13.
Everton cannot afford luxuries any more but whether they can find another taker for Alli on loan remains to be seen. André Gomes and Jean‑Philippe Gbamin, £22m and £25m midfield signings respectively, are also back from loan spells and 12 months away from becoming free agents.
Dyche and Thelwell have an extensive to-do list to tick their way through. Meanwhile, Moshiri procrastinates, Kenwright remains in situ and the “massive amounts of work” sits there waiting to be done.
