The role of truth and realism in Everton’s recovery

“The one thing I’ll do is I’ll tell the fans straight, and I’m telling it straight at the moment, we’re having a bit of a struggle getting ones in quickly,”

“My first thought is yes, I’m surprised, because I think Everton’s such a big club, with great traditions and the new stadium’s an exciting move for us. But when you think again about it, we’ve been in or around the relegation positions for the last five years, not far off the bottom, so maybe there’s been reasons for it.”

David Moyes’ honest assessment of where we are as a club.

For what it is worth, from my perspective he’s absolutely right in what he’s saying, and he’s absolutely right to say it. For all the hype that goes around football, honesty and a genuine appreciation for where you stand in the pecking order is almost always in short supply.

Self Awareness

Good businesses, as with good people always have a genuinely high level of self-awareness, an ability to cut away the marketing spin, and admittedly, usually privately, are hugely self critical and know their strengths and weaknesses.

Looking at Everton, it has been the case that since the mid 1990’s we’ve had owners, directors and senior executives who frankly lived in a fantasy world of “being the best in the business”, “other teams ask what would the Everton board do” and Moshiri’s mad ramblings on subjects as broad as “our fab four”, Cenk Tosun, “X company is the most appropriate new owners of Everton”, and “I have full confidence in our board” etc, etc.

It was delusional, it was damaging, it nearly destroyed us. That is the situation the Friedkins volunteered, in fact paid, to inherit. This is not a get out of jail piece for the Friedkins, nor is it a Moyes is without fault or weakness piece. The reality is all humans have frailties. No organisation gets everything right first time around. Successful businesses formulate strategy and then adapt to changing market conditions as necessary. 

The club as it is & where we stand competitively

It might be a surprise to Moyes that we’ve not progressed as far as he (we) would like with our recruitment so far. But let’s examine the facts – everyone in football knows our needs, they know the scale of the challenge we face in recruitment terms and as a result the price and timings of a deal are in the favour of the seller (the player and agent) not the buyer (Everton).

Understandably, we are looking for what we consider to be the most appropriate players at the best possible price – a direct contradiction in negotiating terms with that of the player and agent.

We are also asking the player or agent initially at least to be committed before the full extent of our success in the window (or not) is known. That’s a leap of faith, especially when one takes an objective view of who or what Everton currently are.

The positive pitch would present Everton as about a clean as possible canvas upon which to share your footballing career with. A club of vast potential, untapped opportunities, an opportunity to enter Everton folklore as getting in at ground level and making this great club great and competitive once more.

Sounds interesting, but also potentially risky, especially when a number of mid-range Premier League clubs can offer a more stable base, European football participation and possibly, less demands than a newly expectant Everton require.

All of that comes with a premium, the player and agent want greater rewards for perhaps taking a higher risk in their next career move. 

But what about the new owners, the new stadium? Doesn’t that mean anything? Doesn’t the prospect of being lauded in front of 50,000 fanatic Evertonians at a brand new stadium carry any weight? It might do – but only at the margins. They’re all nice to haves, icing on the cake – in themselves, they’re not big enough reasons to join Everton.

The truth

The truth is, our standing in football has taken a huge hit in recent years. The chronic mismanagement of our beloved club, the fundamental dishonesty of the people who owned us, what they offered as against what they delivered and what the offering was in competitive terms, as of today works against us. We carry the legacy of the most acute dysfunctionality of previous owners. In a business with relatively few operators and in which control of player movement is in the hands of even fewer operators, some of which were scarred by their previous association with the club, it is going to take time, rare skill, diplomacy and conviction to put right all these shortcomings.

This is where the Friedkins, Angus Kinnear, David Moyes and the recruitment team come in. They have to present a new version of Everton. Not only that, but they have to demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that they have a plan for it, and even more so that they have the resources (management capabilities, other new player entrants and of course, the cash) and skills to execute the plan effectively and within a reasonable period of time. Reasonable in this case is in the context of the player, not the long term objectives of the owners. The players’ time horizon is much shorter.

It’s a modern necessity, of course, for the club to participate in this North American Premier League showcase. It generates revenue, builds awareness and helps promote the Premier League. The reality is that the timing of Everton’s participation in this tour couldn’t be worse. It exposes Everton’s fundament squad weakness, it draws attention and management resource away from the key task of rebuilding an empty shell.

With the hype and marketing, expectations are set, and fans spend their hard earned money participating fully. Yet, because of the position Moyes and the squad are in, inevitably we are under-performing which sets a cycle of concern, criticism and potentially distrust in Moyes, his recruitment abilities and even his qualities as a manager.

To be frank, this is unfair on everyone, fans, players, managers and those executives whom I bet have much more important things to do (in the short term , at least) than spend time on a branding exercise which can’t possibly deliver the branding we all would like for Everton.

Honesty

Moyes’ honesty needs to be admired. If it’s part of a strategy to get more out of those above him that’s fine also. It’s difficult for fans to accept though. Yet, in my opinion, the honesty is vital. It’s one of the key characteristics of how Everton have been run for many years that is so badly missing.

Self-awareness, a true acknowledgement of where we stand is always the first part in any recovery process. We need so much more obviously to become a success, and everyone has to play their part.

The US trip, as I said above is badly timed for Everton, I understand the reasons for it, but I’m not in the slightest convinced it’s what we should have done.

Let’s accept Moyes’ honesty as a sign of realism returning to the club. A time when progress is built (possibly more slowly than we would like) in reality not fiction. After all, look where the fiction based operating model got us over the last three decades.