Watching the Fulham game on Saturday has given me so much confidence and excitement for the future of our team under its current management. It’s really thrilling to see the team embrace the Manager and Director of Football’s footballing philosophy of attacking football whilst giving youth a chance.

Early in his tenure Marco Silva commented:

“It is important to talk about desire,” he added. “And, for me, when you talk about desire, you can talk about ambition, commitment and attitude – all these things that you can expect are important in our team.

“After, you can talk about style. My style is to play to win matches, of course. And, for me, it is clear that if we play better than our opponent, if we have better football than our opponent, then we are closer to winning the match.

“Of course, that is not 100 per cent because in football some things are not easy to explain but I believe that if you play better than your opponent, you are closer to winning the match.”

(www.evertonfc.com)

With these word fresh in our memory I personally feel that Saturday’s performance offers many green shoots for what we can come to expect in the coming months of this season. If we take a moment to ignore the standard negativity of social media and actually look at our club for what it is by the method of a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis.

 

Strengths

Everton has an extremely strong youth academy with a track record of excellence boasting a number of youth players who have broken in to the first team. Previous graduates include Anichebe, Ball, Barkley, Davies, Dunne, Hibbert, Jeffers, Osman, Rodwell and Rooney to name a few with a heap more breaking through as we speak. Currently both our U23’s and our U18 teams are flying!

(PL2)

(U18)

 

Money:

For the first time since the Merseyside Millionaires and the Moores family have the club got serious funds behind them. Moshiri has changed the mentality of the club from the top down, for the first time under his control the club have a clear philosophy both on and off the field and hopefully with the new ground move we’ll see improvements to the commercial side of the club.

Transfer team:

It’s fair to say Everton won this year’s preseason transfer window, with our new Director of Football Marcel Brands I get the feeling that all of our youth teams will be complimented with new talent moving forward. We’ve not seen Gomes or Mina in the first team yet but it’s fair to say that the signings that were made up until this point have been fantastic! so long may this continue.

Fan base:

Social Media aside, Evertonians are desperate for a team who they can feel proud of, under Big Sam last season might have been the worst it’s ever been for many a blue? Hopefully all Evertonians will now be treated to a team with identity, passion and a group of players who will go out to try and win every game. Everton is a sleeping giant of a club and any sort of success on the field will give any manager a huge atmosphere in the stadium along with impressive attendances both home and away for years to come.

Weaknesses

Commercially:

Everton are currently years behind their rivals, personally I don’t understand why on earth we’re sponsored by an African betting business. Nothing against Africa or betting but does this brand fall in line with our values as a club? Short answer is NO. Our commercial sponsorship agreements are pitiful for a club of our size and are communication to the fans has been painfully minimal, sporadic and inconsistent for way to long.

European Football:

We’re currently not an established Champions League club and we’re not currently in any European competitions, this will prevent us from attracting a number of top players.

Lukaku replacement:

I hope Dominic Calvert-Lewin becomes a great future Everton number 9, I also hope Cenk Tosun will prove everybody wrong to become a quality regular goal scorer. Regardless we need to sign a quality striker as soon as possible and until we do we’ll struggle to push on to the next level.

 

Opportunities

I honestly think persevering with our younger players is a complete priority, seeing Kenny, Davies and Calvert Lewin get a start for the second week in a row on the weekend was simply thrilling. It would be great to see more of Holgate, Lookman and Dowell before the season is through but opportunities for these players might not present themselves as often. Either way if we look at what Marcel Brands managed to achieve at PSV transforming their recruitment strategy whilst winning the league with the youngest ever team gives us optimism for the future. I feel if we focus on the recruitment and retention of fantastic youth talent moving forward then this for me is the most sensible way of cracking the top 4 without breaking the bank.

The new stadium will bring a massive platform for a number of major sponsorship deals for the club, I’d personally not be surprised at all if we saw USM on our new Stadiums naming rights either. I feel that the club are at a position of strength to attract a lot of investment and the opportunity to work with the local authorities has to be viewed as a positive one for all concerned. If the club can carry on the good work of Everton in the Community and give back some more by helping the city’s North Liverpool dock’s regeneration project whilst increasing local employment opportunities then long may that continue.

 

Threats

The club are currently at a very pivotal stage of their journey, if they get the infrastructure, personnel and strategy nailed then the future will be an extremely positive one. The threats to this not being achieved are numerous, rival and more established clubs can always poach talent from the boardroom down to the playing staff so the right internal incentives will be key. An example might be if Everton hire the wrong person to manage the new stadium project and the budget escalates out of control then this could have an extremely detrimental effect on the club and the team on the playing field. Moshiri and Barrett-Baxendale have a big job ahead of them, their performance will be scrutinised as much as any.

The Premier League is currently attracting numerous other wealthy investors to rival clubs that have the same ambitions for success as Everton. The Premier League doesn’t look like it’s slowing down commercially anytime soon, the type of investment and management required by Everton as extensive as it currently sounds might well become the minimum standard to compete in future competitions.

 

Summary

Everton Football Club seems like it’s on an upward trajectory, the club has massive ambition to improve its infrastructure and personnel both on and off the field. The clubs youth academy is performing at a very high standard and this should be celebrated by offering its youth players more first team opportunities whenever appropriate. Our transfer team has improved exponentially since the years of David Moyes, let’s all remember Rome wasn’t built in day but the early signs of attacking intent  by the club are very positive indeed. This project will take time and we’ll see lots of costly individual mistakes along the way – of this I’m certain. As a fan base we should be thrilled with the early signs of progression made by the club, as frustrating as the commercial performance and communication from within can be I’m quietly confident that as a club and as a team Everton are on the right track.

For all the negative social media trolls – positivity breaths positivity!

Karl Rowlands