Anthony Onifade

Tue 13 June 2023 17:10, UK

Farhad Moshiri persuaded Bill Kenwright to stay put on the Everton Board of Directors amid the recent exodus and the Toffees majority shareholder could be facing more fan backlash as a result.

The much-maligned Everton chairman has become a battering ram for fans along with several of the club hierarchy after yet another disappointing Premier League campaign, with chants of “sack the board” following the final-day relegation escape against Bournemouth on Sunday (28 May).

The Daily Mail reported on Tuesday 23 May, that Farhad Moshiri has entered an exclusivity agreement with the US-based investment firm MSP Sports Capital ahead of a 25% takeover, which will leave room for plenty of change at boardroom level should a takeover be completed.

And such change has already gotten underway with Everton announcing that chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale, chief finance and strategy officer Grant Ingles and non-executive director Graeme Sharp have all left their boardroom roles [BBC Sport, 12 June].

However, Kenwright still remains on the Toffees board with The Guardian reporting that he is expected to leave the club on Wednesday in an uplifting development at Goodison Park.

However, in yet another strange spate of controversy surrounding Moshiri’s disastrous decisions, it’s been reported in The Mirror [12 June] that Kenwright had in fact tried to resign with the others, but was convinced to stay on by Moshiri in order for him to find a replacement.

And although that plan is not set to stay in place long with Kenwright set to leave the Goodison doors over the next 36 hours, this is yet another development that throws Moshiri’s position at the top of Everton into further disrepute and potential backlash among the Everton support.

Kenwright has been slandered for his lack of communication and leadership as club chairman for a number of years, and with the board member reaching the latter stages of his career, MSP Sports Capital were well within their right to finally sack him along with the rest of the club board, with the club potentially coming under new significant investment.

What Moshiri was planning, to keep him on after his colleagues had already left is quite baffling considering much of the Everton fanbase simply have no clue what Kenwright’s role is at the club. And whatever role he does take on, it is evidently clear he’s not doing it well.

The Toffees have been associated with mediocrity for so long and such change among the hierarchy has long been a significant desire for a number of years now and brought further to a head when Rafael Benitez was controversially given the Everton job and then woefully replaced by Frank Lampard who also proved out of his depth.

Everton fans no longer want a chairman incapable of being honest with them and lacking the kind of communication that really makes or breaks such a role. It seems as if Moshiri simply can’t let go of mediocrity after this latest development and Wednesday simply cannot come soon enough for them the Goodison faithful to finally see the back of Kenwright.

Kenwright’s love for Everton is all well and good and may even be deemed as non-existent considering his shared incompetence with Moshiri, but the direction Everton have been locked under these past few years makes his position untenable.

But given this latest development and MSP’s upcoming 25% takeover, Moshiri simply cannot hide from the wave of backlash coming his way. It should really and truly force him to consider his own position with more change expected to take shape around him at the top.