Everton’s escape from relegation will not automatically free them from problems which caused that predicament and proposed new investment will have to inevitably bring changes at boardroom level, according to a leading academic.
While Premier League revenue has been secured for another season – extending their top-flight stay into a 70th season – a club which has cumulative losses of more than £430million in the last four years will have to make significant changes.
And while American investors MSP Sports Capital are poised to buy into the club, Kieran Maguire – from the University of Liverpool Management School’s Centre for Sports Business – believes that will not come without strings attached.
Fans who have been protesting against what they claim is mismanagement by the current board, including chairman Bill Kenwright and CEO Denise Barrett-Baxendale in particular, will welcome that prospect but what impact it has on owner Farhad Moshiri’s approach remains to be seen.
“Someone suggested £150million for 25 per cent, which would value the club around £600m. Newcastle went for £300m,” Maguire, speaking about the new investment, told the PA news agency.
“If a new person was coming in, they’d be looking for board representation, more concessions from Moshiri and then where does it leave him: owning three-quarters of a football club and he’d walk away with a big loss.
“MSP are looking to bring two directors onto the board and for there to be changes on the existing board.”
However, a new, albeit partial, boardroom will not sweep away all Everton’s issues.
There are deep-rooted problems at the club which the £600m Moshiri has spent on transfers alone have failed to solve.
That means it will take some turning around and – after back-to-back seasons of narrowly avoiding relegation – it could be a painful and complicated process with a squad overhaul likely to have to take place on a budget, potentially funded by existing player sales.
“It is not Football Manager where you think ‘It’s not going too well, I’ll delete and reset’,” added Maguire.
“You have costs in terms of the infrastructure, legacy costs in terms of player recruitment.
“There won’t be a lot of money to buy players but you still have the issue of wages at 90 per cent of turnover and this overhang of the Premier League charges.
“We don’t know how long that will take to conclude – and the worst-case scenario is a points deduction.
“Football is a talent game and the talent follows the money. It could be you do a Brentford or a Brighton and you succeed at a point in the market but there is no evidence to suggest Everton are capable of doing that.
“How do you get around that? You pay them more money – and that extra money doesn’t exist.”
On the horizon is the new 53,000-capacity stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock but that, too, will be no panacea for finances.
“It will start to kick in for 2024, but it is not going to move the dial a huge amount,” said Maguire.
“And Everton have a fanbase who are traditional supporters from Liverpool so monetising the corporate element may be more difficult.”
Barcelona battle to draw while Juventus edge out Lecce
LaLiga leaders Barcelona twice had to battle from behind as Fermin Lopez’s first goal for the club earned a hard-fought draw at Real Mallorca.
Xavi’s side have been the early pace-setters as they look to defend their league title but the visitors had to settle for a 2-2 draw at the Iberostar Stadium.
Vedat Muriqi and Abdon Prats goals had twice had the hosts in front but Raphinha cancelled out the opener before substitute Lopez struck to earn Barca a share of the spoils.
Two early goals set Sevilla on their way to an emphatic 5-1 home win over Almeria.
Youssef En-Nesyri headed home with seven minutes on the clock after Loic Bade had hit the woodwork and just a minute later the lead was doubled courtesy of a fine solo strike from Dodi Lukebakio.
Suso’s curling effort wrapped up the win before the interval with Erik Lamela adding a fourth before a Luis Suarez penalty reduced the arrears, only for Kike Salas to make it five in stoppage time.
In Italy, Juventus moved two points behind early leaders Inter Milan with a 1-0 win over a Lecce side who finished with 10 men.
Arkadiusz Milik’s close-range effort proved to be enough for Juve, who saw out the game to wrap up the win as the visitors had Mohamed Kaba sent off in injury time after picking up a second yellow card for simulation.
Meanwhile, Lille’s inconsistent start to the Ligue 1 season continued as they fell to a 2-1 home defeat to Reims.
Paulo Fonseca’s side have won just two of their six opening league games and early goals from Mohamed Daramy and Keito Nakamura saw them slip up once again despite Benjamin Andre’s second-half consolation.
Elsewhere, a much-changed Bayern Munich side made light work of third-tier Preussen Munster in the first round of the DFB-Pokal.
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting put the Bundesliga giants ahead early on and they were out of sight by the break as Konrad Laimer and Frans Kratzig got in on the act.
The 4-0 win was wrapped up by a late Mathys Tel effort as Thomas Tuchel’s side advance with ease.
‘There is no magic wand’ says Wolves boss after Carabao Cup exit at Ipswich
Gary O’Neil painted a bleak picture of the situation at Wolves and admitted “no magic wand” will fix their problems after a 3-2 loss at Ipswich in the Carabao Cup third round.
Wolves slumped to a fifth defeat in eight matches under the former Bournemouth manager, who only took over on August 9 following the departure of Julen Lopetegui by mutual consent.
O’Neil made 10 changes for the Portman Road clash and despite taking a 2-0 lead via goals by Hwang Hee-chan and Toti, the Premier League outfit were on the end of an upset after Championship high-flyers Ipswich responded through Omari Hutchinson, Freddie Ladapo and Jack Taylor.
Asked for a message to disgruntled Wolves supporters, O’Neil insisted: “To stick with the group.
“We are six weeks into a process and there is no magic wand. I can guarantee you when I arrived the place was not running perfectly and ready to go into a Premier League season.
“There are a lot of things that need fixing and of course I am willing to take responsibility, but the facts are you need some time to put things in place. That does not look like a team that I have worked with for very long at this moment, which it isn’t.
“Do I accept that we need to get results? Of course. Do I want the fans to enjoy every game we play and come away and support the players? Of course and we will work tirelessly to make sure we get it there and we will get it there.
“But there is no transfer window. The transfer window is closed and we are together as we are and need to get the maximum out of the group.
“We’ve named a strong team with 11 players that should be capable of winning here and we don’t, so it is my responsibility to make sure we get some more out of them.”
Life does not get any easier for Wolves with Manchester City set to visit on Saturday and it will be a return to Molineux for Matheus Nunes, who left in a £53million deal last month.
O’Neil pointed out the club’s net spend this summer when asked to reflect on the issues at the Midlands outfit.
“I think when I arrived the culture of the club needed a shift and some of it needs to move towards more togetherness,” O’Neil admitted.
“Yeah, there is a big list of things that need fixing. Of course I understand it is my responsibility and people will say, ‘they did fine last year,’ but the truth is they got 41 points and we made an £80million profit on players in the summer.
“So, we’re £80million short of where we were and last year we got 41 points.
“We need to move it from that in a more difficult situation now than the club was then player-wise, so that’s the facts of the job.
“I understood that when I took the job, I understand it now and every weekend is not going to be rosy. We’re going to suffer some tough weekends and we’ll need to crack on and go again.”
While Wolves were left to reflect on a sorry defeat, Ipswich’s highly-rated manager Kieran McKenna toasted his own first win against top-flight opposition.
After Hwang and Toti netted within 15 minutes, the Championship’s second-placed club continued their terrific form with three unanswered goals.
Chelsea loanee Hutchinson started the comeback with a right-footed effort from eight-yards before Ladapo fired home inside the area before half-time.
Taylor completed the turnaround with a 25-yard thunderbolt and the 58th-minute strike sent Ipswich into the fourth round of the competition for the first time since 2010.
“We need to enjoy tonight because it is the first time we’ve had a Premier League team here in quite a few years,” McKenna acknowledged.
“It is 11 years since we beat a Premier League team so a good night for progress and the regrowth of this football club again, but it is a cup game.
“The result tonight does not win us anything but it is really significant as a marker point for the development of the squad, so we’ll take it as that and enjoy it for a sign of progress.”
‘We bottled it’ says Peterborough boss after shoot-out shock at Mansfield
Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson called his players ‘bottlers’ after they lost a Carabao Cup penalty shoot-out 3-1 at League Two Mansfield.
Posh came from behind to lead but the game ended 2-2 when Lucas Akins netted a stoppage-time penalty.
Former Peterborough goalkeeper Christy Pym then saved two spot-kicks before Davis Keillor-Dunn netted the winner as the Nottinghamshire team ensured they remain the only EFL side unbeaten this season, making the fourth round of the competition for the first time since 1975.
Ferguson said: “I don’t like criticising my players in public and I very rarely do as a manager. But I am not letting them get away with that one. They absolutely bottled it.
“For the first 65-70 minutes, the penalty aside, I thought we were really, really good and they couldn’t get near us.
“But all of a sudden Mansfield started going back to front a bit more and we just bottled it, pure and simple. I can’t dress this one up.
“It is terrible result, there is no other way of putting it, and it is a massive opportunity missed.
“It was a massive chance to get in the last 16 and I hope Mansfield now get Manchester United away or something like that so our players can see it tomorrow night.”
Will Swan put the Stags ahead from the penalty spot in the fifth minute but the visitors piled on the pressure and levelled when Jonson Clarke-Harris’ 25-yard free-kick went through the wall and past Pym on the half hour.
Clarke-Harris swept home a second in the 47th minute but Mansfield raised their game and began to dominate and were rewarded with Akins’ spot-kick success three minutes into added time, before emulating their shoot-out win at Sheffield Wednesday in the previous round.
Delighted Stags boss Nigel Clough said: “We are into the next round for the first time in nearly 50 years, which is a hell of an achievement, but so is going 12 games unbeaten.
“For quite long spells we were second best as they were so good. There wasn’t too much we were doing wrong. They were just very competent.
“The respect they showed us by naming a full side said everything. They are a top side in League One and you can see the big difference, the pace and the speed they move the ball.
“We just hung on in there, trying not to concede a third goal and at 2-1 anything can happen in the last 20 minutes.
“I thought the equaliser was coming after Lucas Akins’ goal that was offside. It was no more than we deserved for hanging on in there.
“We have been good taking penalties in training and at Sheffield Wednesday so we saw no reason why we couldn’t win the shoot-out.”
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