Are Everton the Worst run Club in the Country?

A founding member of the Football League that has competed in a record 120 top-flight seasons, with only Arsenal having more successive seasons in the top flight. A club steeped in history; it seems a shame that Everton could be on the verge of relegation from the top tier of English football.

The most recent development from the blue side of Merseyside was the departure of Frank Lampard as Everton manager after a year in charge of the Toffees. Whilst it is what some would label as an impossible job in the Toffees’ hot seat, most would agree that it was time for Lampard to go, with nothing working for the Chelsea legend.

Teams are judged on results, and they didn’t stack up well for Lampard. After just about surviving a catastrophic relegation last season with a win in the penultimate game, Lampard and his team failed to build on from that and improve – despite the big-money signings.

Although there is a lot to be said about the way the club is run as a whole, the results on the pitch and their position in the table meant that it was inevitable for Lampard to lose his job. Everton are 19th in the Premier League, level on points with rock-bottom Southampton, after just THREE wins and 15 points from the 20 games they’ve played so far this season. In fact, the measly 27%-win ratio that Lampard had at Everton will go down as the second-worst-ever manager-win ratio record in Everton’s history.

Whilst the results were damning, the actual performances themselves meant that it probably was time to call an end to Lampard’s football. The tactics – or lack of tactics – left the Toffees with no clear way of playing, with the systems in place flip-flopping each game. Although, with the troubles behind the scenes at Goodison Park, many will feel for Frank Lampard due to the circumstances the club finds itself in.

Everton fans will be eager to point out that Farhad Moshiri and the Everton board are the ones who should be looking to leave. Moshiri has thrown over £700million at the club in order to make to it a Champions League contender since acquiring his 94% stake in 2016, but after years and years of awful decisions, the club are in crisis at the other end of the scale.

The Everton faithful also blames Bill Kenwright, who was a majority shareholder in 1999 and has been the chairman since 2004, who has been a constant in the downfall of the Toffees who are without a trophy since 1995.

The board will be searching for Everton’s seventh manager in six years following the dismissal of Lampard, as Moshiri and the directors once again show a lack of organisation when it comes to running the club. The Toffees have also overseen three Directors of Football in that time, with recruitment continuing to be questioned as Everton waste big money on talents that many would argue aren’t at the level needed for them to progress.

The likes of Dwight McNeil for around £20million and Neal Maupay, who was deemed surplus to requirements at Brighton and has scored just once all season, are just some of the names from this year’s list of incomings.

Everton's starting line-up for Lampard's final game included players signed by five different managers; for the loss at home to bottom club Southampton, it was six.

The club has descended into more chaos in recent weeks, with the fractions between the fans and the board becoming as big as they can get. In recent weeks Moshiri and other board members were not in attendance for the last home game against Southampton due safety concerns. Club sources have also claimed that chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale was ‘put in a headlock’ by a fan during one game.

There have been numerous protests, as well as a sit-in protest in the recent defeat against Arsenal, in which fans have voiced for change. There are conflicting reports of whether or not Moshiri is looking to offload the club or just look for new investors after forking out on a new stadium. It would be a fresh start for Everton if the club is to sell and the board were to change hands. Under the current structure – or lack of – it could become even more disastrous if things continue as they are.

• Latest match predictions
• Football tips
• Football accumulator tips
• Football bet of the day