Everton takeover: Chaos, waste & dysfunction - how Farhad Moshiri's reign will be remembered
- Published
Moshiri (right, alongside director of football Kevin Thelwell) bought a 49.9% stake in the club in February 2016 before increasing his shares to 94% in January 2022
In the hazy glow of his first serious transfer spree as Everton's major shareholder, Farhad Moshiri declared he wanted the club to be a monument to success and not "a museum".
As the businessman who bought a 49.9% stake in Everton in February 2016 announces the sale of his now 94.1% shareholding to American investment fund 777 Partners, it is more akin, in football and financial terms, to a badly preserved graveyard.
Moshiri, if the deal moves successfully through to completion, leaves Everton in arguably the most parlous and dysfunctional state in their 145-year history.
Everton have narrowly avoided relegation for the past two seasons. Spending in the transfer market has been chaotic and largely squandered. They will face an independent commission in October after being referred by the Premier League for an alleged breach of Financial Fair Play rules.
This a charge Everton deny and will robustly defend but it plays into the maelstrom that has swirled around Goodison Park in the Moshiri years.
Moshiri has changed managers at indecently hasty intervals, made ill-advised appointments, presided over a transfer strategy without structure and has driven a fiercely loyal fanbase to peaceful protests about the way the club has been run.
There were occasions when Moshiri delivered on his high ambitions, such as when Carlo Ancelotti was appointed manager in December 2019, but shafts of light were always obliterated by storms ahead.
Moshiri has not attended a game at Goodison Park since Watford won 5-2 in October 2021, effectively the beginning of the end for Rafael Benitez, another managerial punt that went awry.
Until early 2022 there had also been the controversial presence of Moshiri's business associate Alisher Usmanov, who had been with him when they were shareholders at Arsenal. Usmanov was regarded by many as the unseen Everton presence, sponsoring the training ground, parts of Goodison Park and also having an exclusive option on naming rights for the new stadium.
Everton suspended sponsorships with Usmanov in March 2022, when he had his assets frozen after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
This has all happened with Bill Kenwright as chairman, divisive and largely unpopular, who hailed Moshiri as "the perfect partner" when he brought him into Everton seven years ago after what he claimed was "an exhaustive search".
For most Everton fans, seven years of Moshiri have proved imperfect and exhausting.
Everton fans spent much of last season calling for those at the top of the club to go amid protests. Chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale, chief finance and strategy officer Grant Ingles and non-executive director Graeme Sharp have since left their boardroom roles and Moshiri seems likely to follow, although chairman Bill Kenwright remains in place
Moshiri's initial intentions were good as money was lavished by a club that had existed on a relatively shoestring budget compared with their rivals.
Sadly for Everton, Moshiri's good intentions were executed so appallingly - with the help of Kenwright and a board too keen to congratulate themselves on a job badly done - that what was meant to be a bold new era was transformed into a mind-boggling nightmare.
If there is one thing Moshiri can at least point to as positive, tangible evidence of his ownership, it is the magnificent new stadium being built on the banks of the River Mersey at Bramley-Moore Dock.
Moshiri made an early statement of intent by sacking Roberto Martinez in May 2016 to lure Ronald Koeman away from Southampton.
Koeman got Everton into Europe in his first season but the summer of 2017 delivered ominous signs that this was a club without direction. A huge transfer outlay brought in Jordan Pickford, a wonderful success at £30m from Sunderland, but also three players for the identical 'number 10' position in Ajax captain Davy Klaassen, the returning Wayne Rooney and Gylfi Sigurdsson from Swansea City for a club record £45m.
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After less than two years on Moshiri's watch, the wheels were flying off and by October 2017 Koeman had gone, a ham-fisted attempt to appoint Watford's Marco Silva became publicly messy and he was forced, in desperation, to turn to Sam Allardyce.
Allardyce took Everton to eighth, but Moshiri could not escape the strength of ill-feeling from fans. The old campaigner was out after six months and Silva, regarded by Moshiri as an up-and-coming coach in the Jose Mourinho mould, was in. He lasted 18 months.
It was then Moshiri pulled off his coup after Ancelotti was sacked by Napoli. This was an opportunity too good to miss for an owner who always craved a "Hollywood" manager who could stand in Everton's technical area and bear comparison with Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
Ancelotti's one full season started well and contained many big moments, such as a first win at Liverpool since 1999, but they ended in 10th. Everton were stunned when the call came from old club Real Madrid in June 2021 and Ancelotti went back to the Bernabeu.
Moshiri was then moved to take his biggest gamble with the appointment of former Liverpool manager Benitez.
Everton were not only bringing in a Liverpool icon after their Champions League final win in Istanbul in 2005 but someone detested by large swathes of his new support for describing the Toffees as "a small club" after a derby game.
It started well but went downhill fast. Benitez was sacked amid supporter mutiny after less than seven months following only one win in 13 games.
There was talk within football that too many people were involved in Everton's deals, that Moshiri himself was too easily swayed by favoured agents pushing players towards Goodison Park.
Moshiri utilised the director of football model but his first, Steve Walsh, was a poor fit with Koeman and successor Marcel Brands seemed short on real power despite having a place on the board. He did not recommend Ancelotti, with the owner's controversial appointment of Benitez proving the final straw for the Dutchman.
After Benitez came Frank Lampard, who saved Everton from relegation in the penultimate game in 2021-2022 but was sacked after less than a year as another struggle for survival loomed.
There was further evidence of Everton's lack of straight thinking when the two main candidates to succeed Lampard ended up being former Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa, regarded as Moshiri's favoured choice, and ex-Burnley boss Sean Dyche.
Bielsa flew into England with a hefty suitcase full of plans but then insisted he manage Everton's Under-21 team until the summer, only taking a watching brief on the first team.
Everton had no time for experimentation so Dyche, the polar opposite in footballing philosophy and personality, stepped in. They avoided relegation by beating Bournemouth 1-0 on the final day of the season to stay up.
By this time, Everton's then board, including chairman Kenwright, chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale and club legend Graeme Sharp, were not attending games, citing security fears. Moshiri never came near either.
A reshuffle saw Barrett-Baxendale and Sharp leave, Kenwright staying on as chairman and Moshiri joining the board.
It was only a sticking plaster as Moshiri sought a route out with a new stadium to pay for, a thin squad, little money to spend and Everton supporters demanding change.
Talks on investment with New York-based MSP Sports Capital collapsed, allowing the door to reopen for 777, who had shown previous interest.
Presuming this is signed off by the Premier League, Moshiri's seven-year reign will not be fondly remembered. It will be recalled for chaos, waste and dysfunction on a grand scale.
It remains to be seen how Everton will recover from it.
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