In an open letter to supporters Everton owner Farhad Moshiri has reiterated his commitment to the club after another week of chaos and confusion.
This news might not fill many Everton fans with a great deal of confidence given the now constant crisis and failure which has come to characterise his time as owner.
Since he first took control of the Blues in 2016, Moshiri has hired and eventually fired five managers while results on the pitch have steadily declined.
And once again, the Toffees are searching for yet another new coach following the latest failure, Rafa Benitez, who Moshiri sacked after last Saturday’s defeat at Norwich.
The problems at this club start from a structure that lacks clarity and any discernable strategy and for that Moshiri must ultimately be held accountable as he owns and leads the organisation.
In his statement Moshiri says that his commitment to Everton is ‘unwavering’ and as if to underline that he has invested another £100 million to take his share to over 90%.
In other comments the owner has insisted that the club will carry through it’s strategic review while seeking a new manager, which will then give clear direction going forward.
We will see, but based on past evidence I’m not very optimistic. This review whatever exactly it is, will have to address some deep-seated and chronic problems.
The first of these goes back to when Moshiri first took charge at Goodison Park. When he became majority shareholder in February 2016 his first major decision should have been to appoint a Sporting Director with a strong background in the game and give him the power to reshape the football club from top to bottom.
That individual should have had a three to five year brief to turn Everton into a truly competitive side with Champions League qualification being a benchmark.
None of that happened of course. Instead, the focus seemed to be always on securing a big name manager and hope he could wave a magic wand and through spending big on star players deliver results and success.
He did bring in a Director of Football, Steve Walsh after Leicester City’s astonishing title triumph in 2016. But, Walsh didn’t seem to dovetail with Moshiri’s first manager Ronald Koeman and many of their transfer decisions weren’t successful evidencing a confused approach which has continued to this day.
Results kept fluctuating, and as the Blues went through this manager and that and brought in another Director of Football Marcel Brands, whose exact role and influence was never clear, the Toffees seemed as far away as ever from competing for the CL or winning a trophy.
Now Brands and the latest big name manager have both left the club and Everton are facing a relegation battle without a permanent boss.
If the club were being marked for it’s achievement and success under Moshiri, then it would be a negative score with Premier League finishes the easiest test. The final finishes since the end of the 2016-17 season are: seventh, eighth, eighth, twelth and tenth.
In truth, a business with that record of decline having spent half a billion quid would surely lead to the head of that business losing their job, or least facing calls to do so. Obviously, the owner isn’t going to sack himself however!
Again, after such a disasterous first half this season is looks as though, even with a dramatic improvement, it seems unlikely to be a finish higher than about tenth or eleventh at best.
As we wait for further news on a new long-term manager this track record means the next decisions Moshiri takes, have to succeed.