Kevin Thelwell from an Everton household, couldn’t turn job down
Everton director of football Kevin Thelwell has a childhood history with the club and couldn’t turn a big opportunity down, The Athletic reports.
The former Wolves man arrived from New York Red Bulls, who reportedly did not want to lose him, with a strong reputation, and has a major job on his hands considering the mess he has inherited.
Despite the quality of the job he was apparently doing in America, and the difficulties the Toffees currently have he was still motivated to make the move.
Greg O’Keeffe writes in The Athletic: “Chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale led initial interviews with candidates and, as a childhood Evertonian herself, is likely to have smiled at Thelwell’s admission that he comes from a family of ardent Blues and the first match he attended was at Goodison Park.
“The Athletic understands that the MLS side were disappointed at Thelwell’s departure, with some key figures in the franchise rating him as one of the best directors of football across their clubs.”
An MLS source is quoted as saying: “By the end, he was bringing real value to Red Bulls on a very small budget – nothing like what they can spend in Salzburg and Leipzig.”
O’Keefe writes of the final decision: “But in the end, the new man was convinced that it was simply too big a job to turn down.”
Rebuild
It should be reassuring for supporters that Thelwell has a life-long connection to the club.
The assumption is that he should therefore see this as more than just a job, and has a personal stake in the club’s welfare.
What will be crucial is if he is still independent enough to challenge Bill Kenwright and Farhad Moshiri’s way of thinking.
BBC journalist Phil McNulty derided the appointment of Graeme Sharp to the board in January, for not being outside of the “old Evertonian bubble” when an outsider was required.
The type of role is clearly different, but Thelwell will need to be able to back his own ideas to bring about change in an environment that is currently reaping what it has sowed in terms of mismanagement.
That will however require the ownership to listen, as predecessor Marcel Brands was ignored too often in favour of Rafael Benitez, ultimately leading to his resignation.
The appointment of Thelwell looks at first glance to be a positive one, but he will not be a success if the decision makers continue to not take advice.
In other Everton news, Frank Lampard is reportedly showing particular focus on two members of his squad.
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