![]() Moshiri insisted to talkSPORT that he was an owner who “puts his money where his mouth is”, but Everton have squandered incredible amounts of it since he took charge, and are paying the price big time right now. The trouble is, it’s hard to have stability when relegation looms large, when your team is in decline and when there are no funds available to make it better. Stability, he insisted, was key now, with the club going through significant changes. “I am confident that we have skilled, experienced and focused professionals at all levels of the club,” he wrote.Ī couple of days later came an interview with talkSPORT’s Jim White, in which Moshiri backed supporters’ “democratic right” to protest, but suggested that his ‘hire ‘em and fire ‘em’ approach to managers – Everton have had seven permanent bosses in seven years under his ownership – had been “driven by the fans, not me.” In a letter addressed to the Everton Fans’ Forum, and published on the club’s official website, the 67-year-old reiterated his faith not only in Lampard and Kevin Thelwell, the director of football, but also in the board of directors. Moshiri’s response has, it is fair to say, not gone down particularly well. As of Friday evening, it had attracted almost 12,000 signatures. This week, the Everton Shareholders' Association launched an online petition calling for a vote of no confidence in the board. Earlier this month, 17 fan groups published an open letter to the British-Iranian businessman, urging him to make “sweeping changes at chair, board and executive levels” in order to “save the club from continued decline”. That’s certainly the feeling of supporters. How did it come to this? Everton have been the sixth-biggest spenders in the Premier League since 2016, and will soon have a new 53,000-seater stadium on the banks of the River Mersey to call home, but they feel like a club which has not only stagnated, but moved significantly backwards under the stewardship of owner Farhad Moshiri. Such ugly scenes, unsurprisingly, garnered national attention, although it should at this point be pointed out that the sit-in protest was conducted peacefully and that, on Monday, Merseyside Police issued a statement confirming that no threats or incidents involving Everton board members had been reported prior to the Southampton game.Įverton sources insist they did indeed take place, and that other staff members needed security escorts to their vehicles after the Southampton game, but the mere fact that their version of events is contested or doubted by supporters says plenty. Yerry Mina with Everton fans after the loss to Southampton today! □□ /ZjJlV2GIwG- EuroFoot January 14, 2023 The day started with the news that the Everton board – the chairman Bill Kenwright, chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale, finance director Grant Ingles and the non-executive director Graeme Sharp – would not be attending the game due to “a real and credible threat” to their safety and security.Ī report in the Liverpool ECHO subsequently claimed that Barrett-Baxendale had been physically assaulted after the 4-1 defeat at Brighton on January 3, and that Kenwright had received death threats.Ī sit-in protest was then held inside Goodison after the game, which Everton lost 2-1 having led at half-time, while outside the stadium players were confronted by angry supporters as they tried to leave in their cars.ĭefender Yerry Mina was filmed speaking to fans in the street, while another video showed the vehicle of Anthony Gordon surrounded, as a chant of ‘You’re not fit to wear the shirt’ was directed at the home-grown winger. Not only did it leave Frank Lampard’s side 19th in the Premier League and facing the prospect of a relegation battle for the second season running, but it also laid bare the complete, and quite staggering, breakdown in the relationship between the club and its long-suffering supporters. ![]() Saturday’s defeat to Southampton marked a new low, in that regard.
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