Why Everton Need To Rip Up Their Flawed Blueprint And Start Again

Why Everton Need To Rip Up Their Flawed Blueprint And Start Again
16:13, 17 Apr 2018

If Everton and Sam Allardyce was initially a marriage of convenience, then a quick and fractious divorce could well be on the cards. For even though the Blues have had worse seasons than this one statistically, there is now a growing feeling that the 2017-18 campaign represents a Premier League nadir for the Goodison Park outfit.

On the pitch, a listless, imbalanced squad has flitted between something akin to relegation form and mid-table obscurity, with the logical byproduct in the stands being varying degrees of apathy and anger from sections of the fanbase.

It would be reductive in the extreme, of course, to lay all of the blame at the door of the increasingly unpopular Allardyce - no matter how tempting it may sound for parts of the club's alienated support - and so, what must happen instead is a thorough post-mortem to get to the root cause of this latest false dawn.

With confidence in the trajectory of the team at its lowest ebb, the decision taken this week to survey supporters online could well result in a rude awakening for the likes of Moshiri, Allardyce and Co. Indeed, questions surrounding the efficiency of the club's coaching staff and boardroom-level management raise the possibility of few among the Everton hierarchy emerging unscathed from the timely - and much-needed - consultation.

In a manner befitting this 'post truth' age of misinformation, what is particularly striking is the way in which Allardyce, for his part, is either totally oblivious to all dissenting voices or instead calculatingly writing his own counter-narrative.

"You are professional journalists," he recently told the assembled media. "You shouldn't listen to speculating unprofessionals which is what you are doing to get your stories.

"So be real and say that there are a few that are complaining and there a few that speculate that my reign at the end of the season will not be here - on many fronts, on radio, on TV, in the papers and social media.

"You create the stir but really for me that's only a small minority."

Away from the propaganda machine, though, what has been most striking this season has been the way in which Farhad Moshiri's Everton project has stagnated. As matters spiralled out of control in the early part of the campaign, Allardyce's appointment became a consequence of a lack of leadership rather than the catalyst. In the parallel universe dreamt up by Moshiri, this was actually meant to be another year of progression under Ronald Koeman on the way to an eventual top-four challenge in 2018-19.

The fall since has been stark and humbling for all concerned with the L4 club - even for someone as high-profile as Moshiri. There is still, however, enough scope to turn momentum around if concerns are swiftly addressed.

Perhaps, certain lessons have already been learned.

A brief look at national and local media gossip columns surrounding Everton shows that the futures of Allardyce, director of football Steve Walsh and CEO Robert Elstone are all up for debate this summer. Add in talk of a mass clearout of up to 15 players and maybe pennies have finally dropped for the otherwise well-intentioned Moshiri.

Certainly, it simultaneously seems the case that not only is the link between manager and supporters fractured beyond repair, but the recruitment department that has spent over £200 million to see Everton significantly further away from the top-six that before is in urgent need of overhaul. Even clubs with billionaires at the helm cannot afford to make mistakes of this magnitude on a regular basis.

Under the review, every single aspect of the functioning of the club should be under the microscope. What must follow is more direction from the top, an altered recruitment strategy crafted afresh and a new model of being that harnesses under-utilised talent at club such as youngsters Ademola Lookman and Nikola Vlasic. An identity as a nouveau riche landing point for players no longer deemed good enough by teams such as Arsenal and Manchester United will not even come close to usurping the established order. In fact, it will just cement it.

All of this can only ultimately be realised by a bold, progressive manager prepared to take a jaded squad and shape it in a more appropriate modern image. So often this season under Allardyce, the Blues have appeared ill-equipped for the high-tempo tendencies of a Premier League dominated by the likes of Pep Guardiola, Mauricio Pochettino and Jurgen Klopp. With gegenpressing and so-called 'heavy metal football' currently à la mode, Allardyce seems more cut-adrift than ever before; the direct antithesis of the three aforementioned top-six coaches, if you like.

Repeated links with Shakhtar Donetsk manager Paulo Fonseca and PSV Eindhoven technical director Marcel Brands hint that such a vision may not be a mere pipe dream, after all. The pair, if reports are correct, would represent the first positive strides taken to right the wrongs of this glummest of campaigns. In the short-term, excitement is the minimum requirement for supporters starved of success.

Ending the link between Allardyce may seem the logical starting point, but for Everton it can only be the beginning.

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