Annual Next Everton Manager Thread - Rafa Benitez Hired

[RandoEFC+]

 So very meh.

[Dave]

46 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

 So very meh.

Will the Mendes connection undermine Brands? 

[RandoEFC+]

2 minutes ago, The Palace Fan said:

Will the Mendes connection undermine Brands? 

Isn't Mendes connected to Wolves, not Santo?

[Danny]

3 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

Isn't Mendes connected to Wolves, not Santo?

Mendes is connected to everyone which I think is the problem

[Dr. Gonzo]

5 hours ago, Danny said:

Mendes is connected to everyone which I think is the problem

I think his role at Wolves goes beyond his normal role as an agent. He’s got an ownership interest, so he can use the club as a way to display talented players he’s representing.

But I think as an agent, he’s just your “normal” super agent. Sooner or later every club in the top flight has to deal with him.

He might push his manager clients to try to sign players he represents as well, but I don’t think it’s going to be quite as dodgy feeling as him being part owner of Wolves and suddenly Portugal plays for Wolves.

[RandoEFC+]

Everton Twitter not particularly impressed with the prospect of this one. Can't say I blame them. I'm not quite as downbeat but I'm also not remotely excited about it. All I can say is that his Wolves side weren't exactly high pressing and bombastic so if he brings that approach to Everton it probably suits our players in the short term more than a manager with more of a typical modern style of play.

Also question marks again over whether this is driven primarily by Brands or Moshiri.

[LFCMike]

5 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

Everton Twitter not particularly impressed with the prospect of this one. Can't say I blame them. I'm not quite as downbeat but I'm also not remotely excited about it. All I can say is that his Wolves side weren't exactly high pressing and bombastic so if he brings that approach to Everton it probably suits our players in the short term more than a manager with more of a typical modern style of play.

Also question marks again over whether this is driven primarily by Brands or Moshiri.

I was going to ask who it is making the decision over managers. Also, what's the general opinion of Brands these days?

[RandoEFC+]

15 minutes ago, LFCMike said:

I was going to ask who it is making the decision over managers. Also, what's the general opinion of Brands these days?

Reliable insiders were saying that Brands is leading the search for a new manager this time. Moshiri always wants to be involved though and all the Santo reports mention his name, not Brands. Still conflicting reports flying around that Dominic King might be wide of the mark. 

The opinion on Brands is mixed. Done some good and some bad but hard to judge. If the owner who has no footballing expertise is sticking his oar in to managerial appointments that should come firmly under the remit of the Director of Football leaves it murky as to what else gets interfered with on the footballing side and how much responsibility he's actually given. Clearly it was Ancelotti who wanted James and Allan for example, not Brands, so how can you fully judge him if even after 3 years it's unclear what he does and doesn't do. 

The opinion "if Brands doesn't choose this next manager then what's the point in having a Director of Football" isn't an unpopular one.

[Lucas]

I think we always realistically felt Nuno would be the man for Everton. They seem to fit hand in hand with the way Everton are at the moment and the players at their disposal.

Shame because that doesn't bode well for being any 'easier on the eye' but I guess if Everton became tough to beat and eliminated the silly defeats at home to the bottom half clubs, this would probably be accepted for the time being.

Inevitably, makes you wonder if he'd try to sign any of his previous players.

If he adopts his 3-4-3 formation, I could potentially see Matt Doherty there actually if Spurs aren't too fussed keeping him. He'd be an upgrade on Coleman at least and would slot into the Right wing back position well if Nuno went with 3 centre backs (Godfrey, Keane, Mina)

You'd also wonder whether he'd be half tempted to try bringing Coady back to the place of his birth, as a ball playing centre half with Godfrey and Keane either side.

Presuming he stuck with DCL in the central role and Richarlison off one side, you'd think he'd be looking for another winger/inverted forward to compliment that front three.

[RandoEFC+]

If we go anywhere near Conor Coady (28, signed for a specific manager who might be gone in 18 months) then we can get absolutely fucked because it means we haven't learned anything again. Likewise Matt Doherty (29, Spurs reject who couldn't keep Serge Aurier out of the side). 2010s Everton failures written all over them and I honestly despair if either of them even get mentioned in the board room. Brands has been trying to secure a deal for Denzel Dumfries (25, on the way up) for the right back position and that's the sort of transfer I want to see more of. This is far more important than which manager we get for the next few years.

[Lucas]

12 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

If we go anywhere near Conor Coady (28, signed for a specific manager who might be gone in 18 months) then we can get absolutely fucked because it means we haven't learned anything again. Likewise Matt Doherty (29, Spurs reject who couldn't keep Serge Aurier out of the side). 2010s Everton failures written all over them and I honestly despair if either of them even get mentioned in the board room. Brands has been trying to secure a deal for Denzel Dumfries (25, on the way up) for the right back position and that's the sort of transfer I want to see more of. This is far more important than which manager we get for the next few years.

I know what you mean, its not the way forward. But you could easily see it happening because of transfer activity in the past.

If you did get Dumfries, I hope he works out better for you than Drenthe, Van der Meyde and Klaassen. Seem to be a bit cursed with the dutch players.

[Smiley Culture]

I don’t think it’s a bad appointment. They were a little unlucky with injuries this season just gone but after a few seasons of massive upward trajectory, I do wonder if expectations had grown too far. He’s worked under a club where someone else is sorting the transfers, as he will with Brands, they played some good football and have achieved some decent results against the clubs who typically get into Europe and he’s not done terribly in Europe either. 

I don’t think he would try a “jobs for the boys” approach either and want to bring in mainstay players from Wolves and I don’t think Everton would allow it under Brands either. 

[LFCMike]

A mate sent me this earlier

[Honey Honey]

Nuno managing to fall upwards.

[Dave]

41 minutes ago, LFCMike said:

A mate sent me this earlier

Must be boiling wearing that in this weather.

[Rick]

20 hours ago, LFCMike said:

A mate sent me this earlier

That’s looks fake af tbf 

[Lucas]

44 minutes ago, Rick said:

That’s looks fake af tbf 

To be fair, the fact 'NES' is written on the training gear would contradict that.

Edit - Nope, you're right  Fair play.

[Whiskey]

Seen better mock ups in MS Paint.

[RandoEFC+]

Talk that Moshiri is bored of his Nuno fixation already and has a Rafa Benitez fixation now. The man is utterly deluded and as long as he keeps trying to control the football side of things too much, the lack of expertise is just going to continue cancelling out the extra money be brings to the table.

If he hasn't learned by now to leave the football issues to football people, he isn't going to. It's just totally boring by now. Of course the majority shareholder is going to have a say in the next manager but looking at the names he's employed in the past and continues to be linked with just betrays the total lack of direction that exists. Completely scatter gun. Brands should be driving the process and Moshiri should be ticking it off.

It always amazes me how bad these people are at football when they've clearly enjoyed success in other fields, probably by investing in a project or company and then letting the people who know what they're doing run it day to day. Tony Fernandes always struck me as this type, Moshiri is starting to look the same and unless I get proven wrong or he eventually gets an appointment right there just isn't any prospect of things changing at Everton.

[Smiley Culture]

That’s a pretty poor knock up. 

Benitez, Liverpool links or not, just isn’t the right sort of manager, IMO. Properly stinks of Everton going for the wrong type of manager altogether (as they did with Rotund Samuel) or going for the latest flavour of the month and being baffled that it doesn’t work (as they did with Silva). 

[RandoEFC+]

8 minutes ago, Smiley Culture said:

That’s a pretty poor knock up. 

Benitez, Liverpool links or not, just isn’t the right sort of manager, IMO. Properly stinks of Everton going for the wrong type of manager altogether (as they did with Rotund Samuel) or going for the latest flavour of the month and being baffled that it doesn’t work (as they did with Silva). 

Completely agree although with Allardyce I will always argue that I don't count that as a proper managerial appointment. A glorified caretaker manager. Also, ironically, objectively the only manager we've had since Moyes who achieved what he was brought in to do.

The Benitez appointment seems imminent and just feels like the worst of all worlds. Personally I can get past the Liverpool history but the second we go on an iffy run it'll get held against him by the fanbase. A good tactician, sure, but no prospect of him building a genuine philosophy at the club and you can't expect him to play attractive football. Basically a continuity Carlo appointment without the same aura and the almost universal buy in from the fans that he had.

If Brands had a big say in this and he thinks an appointment like this serves any sort of long term progression then he should resign, and if he's been overruled by Moshiri because he's more interested in another big name vanity appointment than eventual success, then he should resign. What is the actual point?

[LFCMike]

I love Rafa so I hope he doesn't go there (wouldn't hold it against him at all though). On the other hand, the thought of him causing utter chaos there with Brands and Moshiri is highly amusing

[Dr. Gonzo]

Fuck the idea of Rafa having anything to do with that lot.

C'mon Moshiri, appoint someone else.

[RandoEFC+]

The thing is if there's one owner in the league who would bottle a decision at the last minute because fans are making nasty comments about it on social media it's Farhad Moshiri. If that happened, you could argue about whether he should listen to what the social media mob say when he's deciding how to run the club but you can't pretend it wouldn't be embarrassing that an owner who cares enough about fan opinion to react that way wouldn't see this reaction coming from the fanbase in the first place.

People absolutely fuming, I'm just so bored that I'm going to try to sit back and enjoy the circus instead.

[Whiskey]

56 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

The thing is if there's one owner in the league who would bottle a decision at the last minute because fans are making nasty comments about it on social media it's Farhad Moshiri. If that happened, you could argue about whether he should listen to what the social media mob say when he's deciding how to run the club but you can't pretend it wouldn't be embarrassing that an owner who cares enough about fan opinion to react that way wouldn't see this reaction coming from the fanbase in the first place.

People absolutely fuming, I'm just so bored that I'm going to try to sit back and enjoy the circus instead.

This is me.