Everton: Is Aston Villa’s decline a warning for the Blues?

All the talk about Everton changing manager once more only raises a further question – who is really to blame for the mess the club is in?

The current Everton squad is one that Sam Allardyce largely inherited from Ronald Koeman, apart from the January addition of forwards Cenc Tosun and Theo Walcott.

The signing of Tosun though seemed to be much more at the instigation of Steve Walsh, Everton’s recruitment guru, than of Allardyce himself.

So Tosun has barely featured in the team since his arrival, amidst talk of his lacking fitness and needing time to adapt to the rigours of the Premier League.

It seems Allardyce doesn’t really rate him and is reluctant to give him a spell in the team, even though the club shelled out nearly £30 million for him. And this despite the fact that Everton have been notably goal-shy this season.

This situation only seems to underline the sense that there is no consistent strategy and a lack of communication. However, Allardyce certainly shouldn’t take all the blame for that or Everton’s problems.

Walsh himself arrived to much fanfare when Everton recruited him from Leicester City. He was given credit for putting together the Leicester side that so unexpectedly won the title in 2016.

I think the majority of Everton supporters thought this was another real coup for the club along with bringing in Koeman as manager. It seemed they were finally becoming a major player.

These two were considered the kind of individuals to bring success at long last back to Goodson Park.

Since then, Walsh’s golden touch in the transfer market seems to have deserted him and Koeman has left after the disastrous start to this season.

Of the signings the club have made during Walsh’s tenure, only really Idrissa Gueye and Jordan Pickford could be described as unequivocally successful.

Surely then his position must also be under scrutiny as he has been instrumental in bringing in so many of the current squad.

And what of majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri? He has certainly shown ambition and to be fair he has also put plenty of money into the club. Recent transfer spending by both Koeman and Allardyce underlines this.

But I can’t help thinking of what happened to Aston Villa and whether Moshiri’s reign might turn out to be very similar.

Villa, like Everton is one of the traditional giants in the English game. The midlands club are a founder member of the league and just like the Toffees, have massively underachieved in recent decades.

When Randy Lerner took over at Villa, his investment seemed to be just what was needed to restore the club to a position of strength.

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At first he spent big in trying to improve the club’s fortunes. (Sound familiar?) Martin O’Neill was recruited as manager and Villa several times nearly broke into the coveted top four, just missing out.

Ironically it was Everton under David Moyes who usually finished just above them. The Blues also finished outside the top four apart from of course in the 2004-05 season.

After these failures to get a top place, Lerner retreated from his earlier strategy and stopped spending big sums on players to build a winning side. Instead, star players were sold as the owner sought to recoup his outlay.

O’Neill and a succession of other managers came and went and eventually this instability and decline led to Villa being relegated last season, after flirting with the drop for several years.

Lerner has sold the club now and they are battling to get out of the Championship this season. Although promotion straight back to the Premier League is possible, it has been a difficult and traumatic experience for the Villa fans.

Next: Everton need to get next manager right

Aston Villa’s experience is a sobering lesson in what can happen when a wealthy backer loses interest in a club that isn’t generating the return he had expected. Lets hope it’s a lesson Everton don’t repeat.