Latest news with #FarhadMoshiri
Yahoo
10-08-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Everton cannot escape transfer reality after Hill Dickinson Stadium warning
Depending on where you want to start, this was a day either four years, nine years or even 133 years in the making for Everton on the banks of the Mersey. The Blues started construction of the 52,769 capacity arena that would become Hill Dickinson Stadium in 2021 when they came on site at Bramley-Moore Dock. They first identified the enviable location for their future home in 2016 when architect Dan Meis and then owner Farhad Moshiri – back here today – were both present among a delegation to assess the location. Then, if we go back to 1892, that's when Everton moved across Stanley Park from Anfield to construct Goodison Park as the first purpose-built football ground in England. Over her existence, 'The Grand Old Lady' as she became known, was for a long time the pre-eminent club ground in the country and by the time she closed for men's senior football, had staged more English top flight fixtures than any other venue. READ MORE: Everton player ratings as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and one more impress at Hill Dickinson Stadium READ MORE: Everton suffer early injury scare in Hill Dickinson Stadium friendly However, in the modern era, many of Goodison's rivals overtook her and by the time she finished, she was in the Premier League's bottom three in terms of generating matchday revenue. As David Moyes wrote in his programme notes: 'It will take us some time to get used to our new surroundings but the important thing is we know that we are now in our new home, and we want to enjoy many special times here over the next hundred years. 'I am incredibly privileged and honoured to be the manager who is taking us into this new stadium. I am excited about the future which looks so much brighter for Everton Football Club as we move away from some dark days in the past. 'We are starting from a blank page. We have built the stadium, and we are starting to rebuild the team.' That was evident here though as the Blues – whose only win in pre-season came in a behind closed doors game here against League One Port Vale – were beaten 1-0 by Roma. Moyes won by the Trent against Nottingham Forest and by the Thames at Fulham last season, but with Everton recording just five Premier League home victories in their final season at Goodison – the joint lowest in the club's history – it's clear that there is still a lot of hard work to do on the pitch.
The Guardian
07-08-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Premier League 2025-26 preview No 9: Everton
Guardian writers' predicted position: 13th (NB: this is not necessarily Andy Hunter's prediction but the average of our writers' tips) Last season's position: 13th Building a new stadium befitting Everton's ambitions proved a fraught and costly process. The same is true of David Moyes's attempts to build a new team to realise those ambitions. Everton must hope that, like Hill Dickinson Stadium, their exhaustive efforts eventually pay off. The feel around Everton is at odds with the reality of Moyes's summer at present. The move to a modern new home – which, despite Unesco's objections, is the finest development along the River Mersey in decades – has generated a positivity unfamiliar to Evertonians after too long in the doldrums. But it is not the only source. A blessed end to the Farhad Moshiri era, stability and common sense under The Friedkin Group, the team's uplift under Moyes in the second half of last season, Moyes himself, with his ability to rebuild a side and connection to the fanbase, all point to a club turning their troubles around and moving forward. But the squad? Not so much. Everton took 31 points from 19 league games under Moyes last season, a dramatic improvement on the 17 from 19 collected in the fag end of Sean Dyche's reign. Extrapolated across the campaign, Everton's form under the returning Scot would have been good enough to finish eighth. That, in Moyes's view, is where Everton should be aiming next and the bare minimum for a club of this stature. He want European qualification and an end to the club's 30-year trophy drought, not a modest step to mid-table. But nine members of last season's first team squad departed this summer – many with considerable Premier League experience – and attempts to replace and upgrade them have been largely frustrated. Moyes, now part of a football leadership team that shapes recruitment, has missed out on numerous targets with first-choice options deterred by the lack of European football and too many recent scrapes with relegation. It doesn't promise to be a hectic end to the transfer window; it has to be one. The Friedkin Group's first big call as Everton owner could not have worked out better. Everton were one point above the relegation zone and in dismal form when Dyche was sacked in January. Moyes was quickly invited back after a 12-year absence and swiftly improved the team in all departments to banish relegation fears with ease. Age and the demands of the modern dressing room may have mellowed the 62-year-old, who received an OBE in June for his services to football, but he is as ambitious as ever and the perfect foreman for the reconstruction that Everton require. Last season was dominated by an emotional farewell to Goodison Park, home to Everton's men's team for 133 years and now the new home for Everton's women, and a stadium will take centre stage again as the club relocate to a magnificent new residence on the banks of the River Mersey. Hill Dickinson Stadium heralds a much-needed fresh start and will help improve Everton's finances with greater commercial opportunities at the 52,888-capacity venue. Access to and from the stadium will take some getting used to, and Moyes will be keen not to lose the intimidating advantages that Goodison offered. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion At the time of writing there is not a great pool to choose from but Everton's standout signing is undoubtedly the France Under-21 forward Thierno Barry from Villarreal. Barry, as he prefers to be called, is 6ft 5in and had an impressive impact after joining the Spanish side from Basel last summer. He scored 11 goals in La Liga as Villarreal secured a return to the Champions League with a fifth-placed finish. An emerging prospect who cost £27m and is 23 in October, the striker fits the profile of signing that Everton want as they develop a team under Moyes. The 18-year-old Harrison Armstrong is on the right pathway, although Everton's fortunes in the transfer market may determine his next step. The Liverpool-born midfielder made his Premier League debut last season, impressed on his first FA Cup start and signed a long-term contract in February before joining Derby on loan. There was also an international debut for England Under-18s, who he captained against France in March. Armstrong benefited from 15 appearances for Derby and has looked sharp in pre-season. Another loan move has been mooted but there could be opportunity at Everton given their shortage of midfielders. A late decision beckons. Everton's captain, Séamus Coleman, has nothing to prove and could bow out a celebrated figure without making another appearance. But that is not how he will approach his 17th and possibly final season as an Everton player. A series of injuries limited the defender to four starts last season but his presence behind the scenes, continually upholding standards and reinforcing what it means to play for Everton, made it important for Moyes that he received another 12-month contract. Coleman led out Everton in their final game at Goodison and could do the same in their first at Hill Dickinson Stadium, but he will be desperate to contribute more on the pitch.
Telegraph
02-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Inside Everton's mass exodus as new owners look to clean up Moshiri's mess
When Everton's outgoing director of football, Kevin Thelwell, left at the end of last season, one wonders if he was tempted to leave behind a pithy note for the revamped executive team. 'Sorry there are no players left. Best of luck xx' David Moyes' squad return to training this Friday and the coach might struggle to organise an internal match, the Finch Farm dressing room doubling up as a departure lounge. In all, 15 players were out of contract on July 1. Exciting South American Carlos Alcaraz was signed on a permanent deal and veteran club captain Seamus Coleman was retained. Both Idrissa Gana Gueye and Michael Keane are understood to be close to agreeing new contracts, too. There is also a possibility Jack Harrison will return after successive loan spells. The rest constitute an exodus. Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Abdoulaye Doucoure, Ashley Young, Jesper Lindstrom, Armando Broja, Orel Mangala and back-up goalkeepers Asmir Begovic and Joao Virginia moved on. Individually, none are irreplaceable. Indeed, departures such as the already exiled striker Neal Maupay prompted sighs of relief more than anxiety. But as a collective, Moyes has a chasm to fill to ensure his squad is competitive. This is the remaining debris of Farhad Moshiri's legacy in need of cleaning up. The former owner recently broke his silence to assume credit for the £750 million Hill Dickinson Stadium which represents Everton's future. He can accept due applause for that. It should not disguise the challenge the new owners Friedkin Group (TFG) face ensuring a squad of 18 first team players will be available to play in the first Premier League home game against Brighton and Hove Albion on Aug 23. The contract situation is the consequence of years of scratching around trying to cobble a squad together, Everton maximising loan deals while paying the price for the profit and sustainability breaches of the more reckless Moshiri spending era. The problems were being pushed along the road for a later date, and now the calendar is eating up the days as the club endeavours to find enough players. 'I'm going to keep you busy this summer' The start of July was always going to bring more clarity, particularly with those who were pondering their future having been offered reduced terms - most notably Calvert-Lewin. His departure, alongside Broja's return to Chelsea, means Everton need two strikers. They also want a full back, central midfielders, wingers and at least one back-up goalkeeper. 'I'm going to keep you busy this summer,' Moyes said in the final press conference of the season, forewarning of transfer activity. Tellingly, he said this with a smile and spring in his step. Despite the work ahead, no-one at Everton is fretting yet, seeing this summer as an opportunity rather than a personnel nightmare. Internally and among the fanbase, the club has not felt so upbeat for years, the expectation being short-term difficulties will precede the longer-term stability and eventual success which eluded Moshiri. Everton are starting again under a new regime, the refresh which began with Moyes' return midway through last season gathering pace with what was described as a series of 'leadership appointments' overseen by new chief executive Angus Kinnear. Thankfully, TFG's takeover ensured Kinnear did not join a sinking ship. He still has to navigate the choppiest of waters before reaching dry land, but the strategic changes are a notable direction shift. Rather than find a like-for-like replacement for Thelwell (who has since joined Rangers), Everton have created a football unit, headhunting Technical director Nick Cox from Manchester United's academy, and Director of Scouting and Recruitment James Smith from the City Group. Chris Howarth was also appointed to direct the club's football strategy and analytics operations, while Nick Hammond is leading the club's player trading activity. For however long they are at Everton, they will never have a busier, more complicated period than their early months. Moyes had already tentatively begun working on targets towards the end of last season. Critically, there is a transfer budget available as the previous regime's PSR woes were dealt with. But Moyes and the recruiters must weigh up the merits of spending big on a couple of game-changers or spreading out the resources on those who will add to the numbers, but not necessarily transform the club's ambitions beyond Premier League preservation. Moyes is inclined to think bigger, eager to buy proven talent at a price before exploring the loan and bargain market again to swell the numbers. But as he discovered when missing out on Liam Delap to Chelsea, securing coveted targets is nigh on impossible when Champions League clubs are rivals for the signature. Even a move for Fulham's Kenny Tete was frustrated as he chose to stay in London. The core of the team which was unrecognisable in form and resilience to that which stumbled into another relegation fight under Sean Dyche remains intact; Jordan Pickford, James Tarkowski, Iliman Ndiaye, James Garner, Jake O'Brien and Dwight McNeil are the foundation of a competitive line-up. And then there is the first truly symbolic move of the summer as Jarrad Branthwaite signed a new five year contract on Wednesday morning, Everton in a stronger position to resist moves for prime assets. 'We believe he can have a huge role to play in an exciting new era at the football club,' said Moyes. Keeping Branthwaite was a necessary and reassuring statement of intent. More will be needed over the next six weeks. The 2024/25 campaign was the season of goodbye at Everton; to coaches, players, executives, owners and even the beloved stadium. Now they need this to be the summer of hello.
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Everton transfer ambitions transformed as club today enters new era after PSR change
Everton are now in a new era of financial freedom. Today marks the beginning of a new year in terms of the Premier League's spending regulations - rules the Blues have twice fallen foul of. And with it the worst of the excess that characterised the Farhad Moshiri regime will disappear from official calculations, allowing the club to be more ambitious in the transfer market. Advertisement Top flight clubs are allowed to lose £105m over a three-year period under the league's Profitability and Sustainability Regulations (PSR), after some permitted expenses are taken into account. Failure to comply can lead to points deductions, as Everton found out when league chiefs pursued the club through two landmark cases that pushed the club to brink. READ MORE: Michael Keane transfer latest as Everton contract talks continue READ MORE: What the ECHO knows about Idrissa Gueye, Thierno Barry and Kenny Tete as Everton step up transfer plans The deductions, for consecutive breaches, did not derail Everton's efforts to avoid a catastrophic relegation but the PSR struggles have cast a long shadow over the business conducted by the club in recent seasons. Advertisement Not only were concerns over the club's position behind the sales of key players like Richarlison, Anthony Gordon and Alex Iwobi, they also led to the gutting of the academy of some of its brightest talent. When it came to incomings, the focus of recent summers has been on loan deals, free agents and, when money has been spent, on deals that have allowed the club to stagger payments over time. The need to operate with such caution is the main reason behind the threadbare nature of the squad that David Moyes enters July with. A lack of funds and a desire to drive down the wage bill has led to players being allowed to leave and the postponement of new contract talks. Advertisement The net spend of Everton under now-departed director of football Kevin Thelwell was £120m lower than any other club that was ever-present in the Premier League during his stint on Merseyside. Despite that, most recently the legacy of the first summer he oversaw - one in which the club had to rebuild after surviving on the penultimate game of the season - has been the one that proved troublesome. The spending of summer 2022 led to Everton accruing £62.7m of PSR losses - leaving little room for a transfer spree across the seasons that followed. The losses of that year will fall out of the calculation period for the three-year cycle that will be judged from July 1, opening up substantial regulatory leeway for Moyes to address his squad issues . Advertisement The positive news extends further given that the new financial year will be the first in which Everton will benefit from the increased commercial and matchday revenue driven by the move to the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
BBC News
21-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
£200m written off - lessons Everton must learn in pivotal summer
On 11 January, David Moyes was appointed Everton manager for a second spell following the sacking of Sean Dyche, with the club one point above the relegation zone. They ended the campaign in 13th place, 23 points clear of the bottom recent years of points deductions and relegation battles, there is hope that the return of Moyes, new owners and the move to a new 52,888-seater stadium can lead to a brighter future for the Toffees. With the feeling of a fresh new start across all aspects of the club, BBC Sport looks at the lessons that must be learned this summer as they prepare to begin life at Bramley-Moore Dock. £200m worth of signings leave for free Everton are currently navigating their first summer transfer window under the ownership of the Friedkin Group, who bought the club for in excess of £400m in finance expert Kieran Maguire estimates that Everton will have between £50m-100m to spend in this summer transfer window – a dramatic increase in contrast to the past four seasons when the club has essentially spent nothing, totalling £85.5m of profit from player trading. Such frugality has been a consequence of reckless financial planning that led to Profit and Sustainability Regulation (PSR) breaches, two points deductions and narrow escapes from must now learn from past mistakes in terms of getting value for near nine-year ownership of Farhad Moshiri, who bought a majority shareholding in 2016, was marred by a scattergun transfer policy and merry-go-round of seven permanent managers which saw Everton splurge money on inflated fees and huge Doucoure's decision to reject a new deal in May means that eight players signed for at least £20m during Moshiri's reign have now left for nothing, effectively writing off £188m in transfer fees. Should out-of-contract defender Michael Keane, signed from Burnley for an initial £25m in 2017, also depart this summer, that figure will climb well past £ Everton midfielder Leon Osman believes it's something that "must improve" going forward. "It's not ideal when you're paying for a player and getting no return," he said. "It's been a difficult 10 years with regards to bringing players in and moving them on for a profit, but that's an awful lot of money to spend on players to see them walk away." £25m for two Premier League starts Of the big money signings who left for nothing, midfielder Doucoure was arguably the best value, making 149 Premier League appearances and scoring the goal that ensured Everton's Premier League survival in other end of this particular spectrum is more congested, including the injury-plagued Jean-Philippe Gbamin, who made just two league starts after joining from Mainz for £25m before leaving for the French second tier four years Bolasie, who cost £25m from Crystal Palace, scored two Premier League goals before being loaned out four times and then leaving for Tosun scored five goals in 14 games after joining for £27m but then made 14 starts in the subsequent four seasons as he was loaned out to Palace and theme is clear: when Everton have had larger sums of money available, they have often spent it poorly, a failing that cannot be repeated if the Toffees are to build towards the European football that Moyes has said he craves. A dozen set to depart There have been transfer successes since the more chaotic days of Moshiri's ownership. Jake O'Brien and Iliman Ndiaye, both signed last summer for initial fees of under £17m, have been prudent investments – although both purchases had to be funded by the £50m sale of Belgium international Amadou Onana to Aston ability to recruit effectively, and Moyes' savviness in the transfer market, will be tested by the necessity to overhaul an entire squad, with 12 players, including 10 from the first team, out of contract this Seamus Coleman and midfielder Idrissa Gueye are in negotiations to extend their current deals, although striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin could yet leave the club, along with Young and Doucoure have already confirmed their departures, along with back-up goalkeepers Asmir Begovic and Joao Virginia, while loanees Jack Harrison, Jesper Lindstrom, Orel Mangala and Armando Broja have returned to their parent confirmed the permanent signing of Carlos Alcaraz for £12.5m in May but major gaps still exist in terms of goals, creativity and who made 437 appearances for the club between 2003 and 2016, believes that the exodus provides an opportunity for a "fresh start". "This is where we build from," said the 44-year-old. "Everton have had so many managers over the years and so many different styles of player who play different systems. David Moyes knows what Everton are." 'A demanding dressing room' Patience may be required for any rebuild as the Friedkin Group continues to navigate the implications of PSR. The club's most recent accounts for 2023-24, external show a loss of £53.2m, a reduction of £36m on the previous year, while revenue rose by 9% to £187m – an encouraging picture although one that means that money must still be spent wisely. Osman, who was given his Everton debut by Moyes in 2003, believes that Everton must retain key players such as Jarrad Branthwaite, James Tarkowski and Jordan Pickford, while recruiting more leaders to bolster a rapidly thinning squad."A Moyes dressing room is hard, demanding," he said. "Having spoke to a couple of the squad, they love the clarity and what he's asking of them. "A manager has to ask for that level and he always did that when I played for him. You also look at O'Brien, who has excelled at right-back when people thought he couldn't do it. We need to make sure these people stay on the pitch."The failed pursuit of new Chelsea striker Liam Delap, who was spoken to by Moyes, shows that centre-forward - and more goals in the team - is a priority, along with a right-back, right-winger and central midfielder. Departures, though, mean that recruitment is needed in almost every position to provide squad club are reportedly interested, external in Villareal striker Thierno Barry, who is currently playing for France in the European Under-21 have taken steps to streamline their process, moving away from a director-of-football model following the departure of Kevin Thelwell to a sports leadership team headed by new chief executive Angus has said that Everton will utilise experts in data and analytics, football operations, recruitment, talent ID and player trading as part of the club's evolving has also already met with supporters group the Fan Advisory Board – a far removal from the previous regime when former manager Dyche described communicating with then-owner Moshiri by "Whatsapp and the odd phone call". Osman has backed the new structure to succeed and added: "It's time to get behind the new hierarchy and I expect they would lean into Moyes' experience as much as they can. I trust David Moyes more than anyone."
