Nathan Hartley
The last couple of seasons has been stressful for Everton fans, suffering back-to-back relegation battles, managing to barely scrape survival in both seasons. Lets see how the Toffees got here and what they need to do to go back up to where they belong.
What happened to Everton?
Everton are a club with a huge history, winning nine top-division titles, five FA Cup's, two League Cup's and a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. The club was part of the founding teams that created the English football league.
More recently, the Toffees were known to be a constant challenger for European places. Everton had stability with David Moyes at the reign. The Scotsman even managed to qualify for a Champions League spot back in 2005. Moyes was able to work on a tight budget, signing players from the lower tiers, and make his teams hard to beat.
However, Moyes would leave for Manchester United in 2013, as Sir Alex Ferguson retired from management. This left a shock to every Evertonian. The club would appoint Spaniard Roberto Martinez as their manager for the 2013/14 season.
Martinez would experience an outstanding first season with the Toffees, finishing on 72 points, securing a fifth-placed finish for Europa League football. The spine of Moyes' team with the combination of Martinez's attacking philosophy worked a treat.
Start of the downfall
However, Martinez would not enjoy the next two seasons, as Everton would finish midtable in the next two seasons, leading to the Spaniard getting sacked.
Everton would appoint Ronald Koeman and this is where things start to get ugly. At the same time of Koeman's arrival, Everton had just been bought my Iranian billionaire Farhad Moshiri. The Iranian had the vision of getting Everton back to the top.
Despite the ambitions, it did not work. Moshiri would give Koeman lots of money to spend on the squad, but would end up being a waste.
Fast-forwarding to today, Everton are struggling with financial fair play regulations, as they had spent over £600 million on players since Moshiri's arrival in 2016. This proves that you can't just spend money, you have to spend it wisely like Newcastle had since their takeover.
Along with the poor investment, Everton's board has always been under-qualified, which has lead to the club's downfall due to their decisions. Fans have been calling for the board to get sacked, which may happen very soon.
What now?
Everton had just managed to survive the drop with current manager Sean Dyche with a crucial home win to Bournemouth on the final game of the season.
The Toffee's 2022/23 season was struck with poor management from previous manager Frank Lampard to several injuries, especially to main striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
The injury to Calvert-Lewin would prove costly for Everton as they finished the season second-least scorers in the league - only Wolves had a worse scoring record. Imagine if Everton didn't score five against Brighton. Also, guess who was in the team when that happened.
The main objective for Dyche when he came in was to keep Everton up, which the 51-year-old impressively managed to do. He would go on to receive a £3 million bonus for keeping Everton up.
Transfers will be crucial
Everton haven't got the transfer windows right as to late. However, this transfer window will be crucial for next season's hopes. Some outgoing has already happened through Mina, Coady and Begovic.
The fans already know what the main areas for concern are. The club cannot rely on Calvert-Lewin for another season, although the English forward is in Germany working with specialists to get him back up to full fitness for next season. However, Everton still has not replaced Richarlison since the Brazilian left the club. The Toffees also lost Anthony Gordon to Newcastle in January. Moshiri promised fans that a striker would be signed in January, but that was not the case.
Everton are in the hunt for a striker this summer. They have been linked to free agent Moussa Dembele, who left Lyon at the end of the 2022/23 season. The club has also been long-term admirers of Udinese forward Beto. The Brazilian is believed to price in excess of £25 million, which may be a stretch. The club was also linked with Roma striker Tammy Abraham. However, the England forward recently ruptured his ACL, which rules him out.
Centre back is another position in which Everton needs to improve. Yerry Mina left the club as a free agent and the club decided against turning Conor Coady's loan into a permanent. However, young prospect Jarrad Branthwaite is returning to the club from a successful loan at PSV. The young centre back is highly rated at Everton with the Englishman also being left-footed, which is seen as rare. Despite him returning, it is seen that Ben Godfrey, Mason Holgate and Michael Keane are not good enough. Therefore, the Toffees should be on the look out.
Central midfield is an interesting topic for Everton. This area of the pitch was arguably their best with Idrissa Gana Gueye, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Amadou Onana as their trio. Furthermore, James Garner impressed when the opportunity was there. However, lots of speculation has been around Amadou Onana, whether he is leaving or staying at the club. The Belgian international is highly rated by many top clubs and is believed that Everton value him at £60 million. If he does go, Everton have been linked with a move for Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay.
Everton will be working on a tight budget this summer. Therefore, free agents may be a big part of their summer, along with loan signings.
Change in board and owner
This has been a topic going on for many years with fans doing multiple protests to try and get their message across. The board has had multiple questionable decisions over their reign, leading to the fans angering towards them.
With relegation fights in the last two seasons, change is expected to happen. It is believed that chairman Bill Kenwright and club CEO Denise Barrett-Baxendale will leave their positions for next season.
Also, it is believed that MSP Sports Capital have reached an exclusive deal with Farhad Moshiri to buy the club. The New York-based company looked to have leapfrogged fellow Americans 777 Partners.
MSP is looking to try and acquire a 25% stake into the club, which is now valued at £760 million with the new stadiums costs needing to be covered also.
Change needs to happen as Moshiri, since his arrival, has spent over £750 million into the club with fans unhappy with his decision-making and not letting the professionals do their job.
In February, Moshiri said that the club was "not for sale". However, it seems as though MSP has made a step forward in negotiations. If they were to acquire part of the club, it is believed that they have some representation in the boardroom.
Overall, it is going to be a long and crucial summer for Everton. Do you think that Everton will finally get it right and make some much needed progress?
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