23 January 2023 , 15:35
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Two words that symbolise the calamitous decline of Everton - Rafa Benitez.
Not that Rafa is not a fine fellow and a good coach and he is certainly not to blame for the perilous situation in which the club finds itself.
But his appointment as manager at the end of June 2021, just happens to be one of the starker examples of the rank-awful decision-making that has been a constant thread through Farhad Moshiri’s ownership.
Seriously, who on the Everton board thought appointing Benitez was a good idea? Presumably, the same people who have overseen a player recruitment policy based on little more than potluck and that left Frank Lampard with a thankless task.
Again, there have been so many poor decisions, it is almost cruel to single out mistakes. But other than the fact he was relatively cheap - the fee was undisclosed but the suggestion is it was not much in excess of £10million - what was the point in signing Neal Maupay in the summer?
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Smashing pro but, essentially now, a non-scoring striker. Before moving to Goodison Park, Maupay had scored once in his most recent 17 Premier League appearances for Brighton. Unsurprisingly, he has one in 13 Premier League appearances for Everton.
But if Maupay proves to be a poor signing, he will merely be one of a multitude since Moshiri took over almost seven years ago. And that is the bottom line - disastrous recruitment of players and managers on an industrial scale.
As far as the blame game is concerned, that is easy. The people who have made the decisions are to blame. Chairman Bill Kenwright, chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale, ex-sporting directors Marcel Brands and Steve Walsh, and, of course, Moshiri.
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Frank Lampard has been sacked as Everton manager (Getty Images)The owner actually went to a game on Saturday, presumably because his time in England is generally spent in London, where his head has been consistently spun by agents trying to palm off expensive players and managers on him.
There is no escaping the fact that Moshiri, who has parted with over half a billion pounds for a succession of duds, has been regularly taken for a mug.
And those in the boardroom, including Kenwright, and on the managerial staff, should carry a lot of the responsibility for that. No wonder the supporters are calling for an executive overhaul, to put it politely.
That is easier said than done but, as long as Moshiri would not be asking for an outlandish profit on his investment in Everton, the club should still be an attractive purchase.
It has a great fan base, is moving to a new stadium on the banks of the Royal Blue Mersey, has a global name and is in a wonderful footballing city.
If Moshiri can sell in the near future, he should. But one thing is for sure, years of mismanagement at every executive level means there is no quick fix of the grand old club.
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The squad needs a complete overhaul under a manager who can forge a close relationship with a sporting director and assemble a group of players that are young, hungry, ambitious and driven - not costly cast-offs from clubs Everton should be striving to compete with.
If the rebuild has to take in a stint in the Championship, then so be it because this is a mess created and compounded by a stream of bad decisions that simply cannot be tidied up overnight.