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on June 21, 2026, 11:46 pm, in reply to "I think you need to separate off and on the pitch .."
I 100% agree that there will need to be visible improvement next season - and not just by the end of the season - or there will probably be a change, I just don't think it needs to happen yet, and I don't think TFG do either.
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I agree with you that TFG's financial prudence is welcome and represents stability. Mortgaging the club's future on a punt and hoping for the best - which was the club's MO under Kenwright, was never going to work and Moshiri (Usmanov's) fall from grace via the Ukraine War (plus the introduction of PSR) put the club in a terribly precarious position.
We're at the point now where it's clear TFG will never allow "Everton" (the footballing entity) to get near to points deductions / needing to sell a player on Transfer Deadline Day to appease the bank. So in that respect, I would agree the club is stable (and unless something very bizarre happens) and will remain so for the foreseeable.
Alongside that sensible financial management, TFG also need to implement an 'on the pitch' strategy one which should allow the club the greatest chance to succeed.
And it's at this point, where you and I disagree quite strongly. I think 'stability' on the playing side is pretty much a misnomer. I think the key thing a club needs is alignment.
Players inevitably come and go, that's just part of football (always has been). And actually, managers (unless they perform) also come and go. The idea that 'stability' is the necessary attribute, I don't think is true. The clubs who are successful (and the managers - coaches - who are successful) is where there is alignment. Put simply, the strategy (how you plan to win) aligns with how the manager/coach implements that strategy. And the alignment across the football club (Execs/Recruiters/Coaches) is what leads to stability.
Last close season was a stuttering start for TFG's 'new regime' primarily because not all of the people were employed and working at Everton, in time for that Transfer Window. But despite that, I think you can see the strategy that TFG propose to implement - buy primarily young players with upside / room to grow and supplement with older more experienced players.
We clearly don't have alignment. The manager is not implementing that strategy. There are ad nauseum examples which demonstrate that to the point where I don't think the counter argument can even be made. You cannot function properly as a club when the manager does not play the players he's been bought, where his beliefs are at odds with the people holding the purse strings - where he is not aligned with the strategy.
I think last season (on the pitch) was a total failure of process. The Manager took short-term decisions (at the likely cost of the Club's longer term prospects) and it backfired badly. As frustrating as that is to look back on, the opportunity last season presented (the lowest points total required to qualify for the Conference League) has gone. We need to focus on next season.
And it boils down to this - does this manager (with his accumulated history/baggage) and with just 1 year left on his contract, have the capability to work within the strategy that the club very much appears to want him to?
We could keep him for 1 more season - or worse, even longer and have our 'stability'. I suggest that employing a manager/coach who is prepared to work within the strategy the football execs are working to (to create alignment across the Club) is significantly more likely to create success.
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...but for me, given the context of where we had been in the last 3 decades and particularly the last few years at Goodison - off the pitch an appalling financial situation, poor commercial partnerships, PSR concerns, and a "that'll do" attitude/culture, on the pitch, relegation battle after relegation battle, scraping together bargain transfers/loans and being left with the bare bones of a squad - then yes I'd definitely say that the club is more stable as a whole than it was 12 months ago.
Off the pitch, the refactoring of the finances to a manageable level rather than the payday loans with sky-high interest, improved commercial partnerships and recruitment of football professionals throughout the club has stabilised things in my opinion.
On the pitch - and again in the context of where we have been and a pretty much constant dread of the threat of relegation every time you're going to the match - then last season was a massive change for me in terms of my demeanour. Steering completely free of any relegation worries from day one, whilst also having some great results and improved performances dotted throughout the season while improving the squad with the likes of KDH and Grealish alongside potential in some of the others and missing out on Europe by a couple of games after a very poor end to the season - I enjoyed going to the match again without that dread. While I full accept that we are still nowhere near as consistent and stable as I'm sure we'd all like us to be, for me that was a LOT more stable than things have been for a long long time and Rome wasn't built in a day.
That might not seem very "Nil Satis" and again - I'm as disappointed as anyone with the end to the season - but I think context is everything and for me, TFG & co have only been here 18 months and inherited an absolute clusterfuck of a football club that had been in limbo for nearly 2 years and had an appalling culture of just keeping our heads above water. They needed to stop the rot and I think they're only just getting going - and of course, they've also had the once-in-a-lifetime task of moving us into the new stadium on top of everything else mentioned above.
I'm not completely married to Moyes staying, I'm just not a fan of rocking a boat that - in my opinion - is as steady as it's been for the last 3 decades since we last won a trophy.
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the central tenet of your arguments appear to be predicated on a word I think you have wholly misinterpreted.
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...apparently stability is worthy of mocking and is synonymous with "unambitious" despite being something that we haven't had for 30+ years and something that most successful clubs have as a baseline to build upon.
Balls to stability - it's apparently overnight success or nothing
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on the one hand loads of teams are changing managers so stability looks attractive and could help as other teams settle
on the other hand we know what we are getting, its going to be a bit dull and boring.
Perhaps the time to 'gamble' and make a change, is when everyone else is doing so, and there will be chaos.
New managers next season
City
United (sort of)
Liverpool
Bournemouth
Chelsea
Fulham
Palace
Ipswich
Could throw in De Zerbi too
nearly half the league
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