Everton would have ‘chewed up and spat out’ Mikel Arteta, relegation on the cards amid ‘fault’ verdict – Martin Samuel
Everton are asking to get relegated even if they escape again this season because they are an “accident waiting to happen” says Martin Samuel.
The Times writer is scathing in his assessment of the mismanagement of the club and the lack of responsibility for endless missteps that have blown through managers and millions under Farhad Moshiri only to leave the Toffees fighting back-to-back battles against the drop for a club “where it’s always the other person’s fault”.
And after former director of football Marcel Brands revealed he wanted to appoint current Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta instead of Carlo Ancelotti [NRC, 28 April] Samuel has written off the prospect of it leading to the kind of success the former Goodison midfielder is now having at the Emirates.
Samuel writes in The Times: “This is a big club, but not a successful or well-managed one. They underachieve, they regularly flirt with danger, and if this season is when the luck finally runs out, nobody can say they did not see it coming. Everton keep sticking their head around the door at the barber’s. Eventually they are going to get a haircut.”
The short-sighted attempt to hire Marcelo Bielsa before Sean Dyche came in this season is seen as evidence of the ongoing poor decision-making, while he goes on to say: “Who takes responsibility for these missteps? The bad buys, the accounts now under investigation at the Premier League, the many managerial upheavals?
“Brands wanted Arteta, but does anyone think that Arteta would still be the Everton manager now? He would no doubt have been chewed up and spat out like the rest of them. It isn’t as if Everton afford managers the time, and the budget, of Arsenal.”
Hard to argue
None of Samuel’s assessment of the club is positive but it likely isn’t much different from the vast majority of the long-suffering fanbase.
The Toffees were dicing with danger a year ago under Frank Lampard and managed to scrape over the line through a combination of the Richarlison, Jordan Pickford and the fans.
But they don’t appear to have learnt any lessons from it, as one of those three elements was swiftly sold to Tottenham to deal with the never-ending financial concerns, while the supporters have been worn down by 12 more months of struggle.
They are still there, as usual, but a club run by a dysfunctional and dismissive board gives them nothing to cheer about and turns fire on them when it suits.
Some of the deeply unpopular figures among the hierarchy, including Bill Kenwright, Denise Barrett-Baxendale and Grant Ingles, are slated to leave when new investment is secured by Moshiri.
That can’t come soon enough with the direction of travel under the current board quite clear, but with Sean Dyche’s side inside the relegation zone with four games remaining it might be too late.