Expert season review: 'Relentless appetite'
For a team with Everton’s rich and illustrious history, finishing 15th in the Premier League table doesn’t seem to be something to be getting too carried away with it.
But it really is worth bearing in mind that a few short weeks ago, Everton were amongst the favourites to be relegated. In the end Sean Dyche engineered a remarkable revival that saw them end the season with 40 points, even after an eight-point deduction.
Never mind the on-the-field difficulties the PSR related deductions brought about, it also cost the club the thick end of £10m in Premier League merit payments that are related to where you finish in the table. How useful would that money have been to Dyche, to strengthen the squad?
The biggest success for the club this season
It might be indicative of just how far the mighty have fallen, but make no mistake about it, avoiding relegation is without doubt the biggest success for the team and the club this season. Lesser teams and managers might well have buckled under the strain of two desperate Premier League points deductions as well as a seemingly endless catalogue of negative stories surrounding the ownership of the club.
If Everton the club has lost its way in recent years for many and various reasons, Everton the team have again showed a relentless appetite to get the job done and to make sure that the Premier League sanctity of the club is preserved.
Biggest let down and frustration
In a campaign when “A Plague On All Your Houses” visited Everton, your spoilt for choice when looking for frustration and let downs that have hampered the season. But in the end one dark and dangerous episode stands head and shoulders above anything else. Or should I say two dark and dangerous episodes ?
The Premier League and its Independent Commission’s brought football down to a new low with the way they sought to punish Everton for wanting to get better on and off the field. Of course financial rules need to be adhered to, but the League and the commission’s lack of understanding of a multi layered series of extenuating circumstances, paints them in a particularly poor light.
Quite how going into administration is worthy of a nine point deduction, but Everton’s charges and penalties were initially worth a ten point penalty, shows just how unfit for purpose PSR has proved to be. Never mind the independent commission that act as the arbiters of it.
Too much of how Richard Masters has operated during his time as the Premier League chief executive, has smacked of 'making it up as you go along'. He really should be doing much, much better.
Key Item on the summer agenda
This has to be the resolution of the farcical situation surrounding the future ownership of the club.
Farhad Moshiri wants to sell the club, but his preferred owners, 777 Partners, don’t seem to have either the financial muscle to complete the deal or the business acumen that would give you any real confidence in their ability to get the club back on a firmer footing.
Moshiri has extended his deadline for 777 Partners to come up with the money and and meet the conditions laid down by the Premier League for them to be able to complete the purchase.
That new deadline is 31 May.
If they fail to meet the necessary requirements then MSP Capital and Liverpool born businessmen Andy Bell and George Downing could step in. There are rumours of other interested parties, but only rumours.
Given that there’s a state of the art new stadium taking shape on the Mersey waterfront, Everton need new owners with vision, ambition and common sense, and not forgetting pretty deep pockets.
How would you strengthen Everton on a budget this summer? Tell us here
