Farhad Moshiri, Denise Barrett-Baxendale and Bill Kenwright squandered Everton cash on ‘industrial scale’ – Phil McNulty
Farhad Moshiri, Denise Barrett-Baxendale and Bill Kenwright have been slammed for the “industrial mismanagement” of Everton to the tune of hundreds of millions by Phil McNulty, amid new calls for the chairman to go.
The Toffees’ Fan Advisory Board made a new plea to the owner to remove Kenwright and the board on Friday (28 April) in the wake of the 4-1 defeat to Newcastle a night earlier.
The result left Sean Dyche’s side on the brink, 19th in the Premier League with five games left, so with relegation a major danger the FAB made their feelings known and so did BBC chief sportswriter McNulty.
The FAB released their open letter on Friday afternoon (28 April) stating they were “making a call of no confidence in the Chair of Everton Football Club”.
And providing analysis on the latest development for BBC Sport McNulty pointed the finger at the entire board, saying: “The scale of mismanagement from owner Farhad Moshiri, chairman Bill Kenwright, chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale and the rest of Everton’s board has been on an industrial scale when measured in money squandered in hundreds of millions and the lack of any coherent plan.”
He didn’t hold back on Kenwright’s letter to All Together Now from last week (21 April), saying: “Kenwright’s letter smacked of “nothing to see here” in the context of a board that has presided over catastrophically bad decision-making in recent years. They bear a huge weight of responsibility.”
Collapse
The chorus of dissent is deafening at this stage and it is currently providing the backing track to the Toffees’ possible first Premier League relegation since its inception.
Kenwright took no responsibility in his public letter a week ago, Moshiri’s messages to the fans are almost blindly positive, and the likes of Barrett-Baxendale are never heard from.
But none can truly ignore the state the club is in, with the hundreds of millions spent since the controlling shareholder came in having only brought with it disfunction and drama.
If nothing had ever been spent and the team was struggling on the pitch that would be one thing, but to have such substantial investment and go backwards in almost every area, including (ironically) financially, is some achievement and not a good one.
Chelsea’s new ownership may be attempting to give them a late run for their money in terms of cash spent for negative return, but it is impossible for anyone in a position of influence at Goodison behind the scenes to put their hand up and say they have got it all right in recent years when the evidence is so plain to see.
Investment and changes to the hierarchy have remained just out of reach for so long that it is now in major danger of only coming when it is too late to prevent a very painful relegation.
Fans are trying to still believe, and in theory there is still time for Dyche to haul the team to safety, but anything positive looks to be coming against the odds when the list of problems at Everton is so long.