MARCO SILVA will become the next manager to pay for the one thing that Farhad Moshiri lacks – leadership.
As a billionaire the British-Iranian had the money – oodles of it – to fund his grand plan when he became Everton’s majority owner in February 2016.
Marco Silva looks nailed on to be the next Premier League manager to lose his jobCredit: Getty
His initial outlay was £89M for a 49.9% stake in the club and he has subsequently increased his holding to almost double that.
He has over seen a transfer spend of £450M, almost half of that since Silva was brought in at an ultimate coast of £4M to the manager’s former club Watford over an earlier illegal approach.
Moshiri has also provided the Toffees with £200M – plus of interest – free loans.
He also has a friend in a very high place, having jointly held a tranche of Arsenal shares with Russian Alisher Usmanov who sponsors Everton’s USM Finch Farm training complex.
Yet while he has put his money where his mouth is what he has lacked is leadership.
THE ODD COUPLE
Too often Moshiri, it is understood, has shied away from confrontation especially with chairman Bill Kenwright who now holds only 5% of the club.
The pair have been the odd couple of Goodison almost since the start of their relationship.
An so it was that nine days ago they clashed on what to do about the Silva situation.
The Portuguese’ position had become untenable following the 2 – 0 home defeat by Norwich.
By then Kenwright believed he had former boss David Moyes lined up to return.
But Moshiri dithered, Silva was still in charge of what turned into a cruel VAR defeat at Leicester City and the Toffees boardroom has one again become a vacuum.
Kenwright does not have the power to move on his own.
Moshiri, who will listen to anybody and everybody because he seriously lacks any real football knowledge, is again sitting on the fence, his indecision final.
And that grand plan of his, to turn Everton into a Champions League club?
Majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri has been trying to decide whether to sack SilvaCredit: Getty Images – Getty
SILVA THE ILLUSIONIST
It has become as much of an illusion as Silva himself is and may always have been.
True enough when Silva arrived on these shores in January 2017 he appeared to have an impressive CV.
And after taking over from Mike Phelan he had a decent fist of trying to keep Hull City in the Premier League.
But the one major achievement of his career up until then was winning the Superleague Greece with Olympiacos.
He did so by creating a 21st century European record of 17 domestic wins and took the title with six games to square.
Except that Olympiacos already happened to be a powerhouse in Greece and this was their 43rd triumph.
After quitting Hull he made a good start in his job as Watford boss but that illegal approach by Moshiri cost him and the Hornets focus and he was sacked in January last year having lost 13 league games with a win rate of 30.8%.
By then Sam Allardyce was in charge of Everton and stabilising the club that had drifted down following the sacking of Ronald Joeman, Moshiri’s first indulgence in believing that foreign managers were the bees knees.
Allardyce, of course, is anything but foreign and so Moshiri listened to the club’s fans who hated his football and Silva found himself at Goodison.
Yet even by January the supporters were questioning his tactics and man management skills.
Now, like Allardyce and Koeman before him, he is awaiting the call from above that will end his reign.
At the age of 42, having one been talked of even as a potential successor to Arsene Wenger, he has a lot of work ahead of him to make that CV read better than it now looks.
Meanwhile Moshiri, having again listened to the supporters who made it clear that they would not appreciate the return of Moyes, is understood to have targeted Bournemotuh’s Eddie Howe and not foreign to the core.
But one of the brightest English coaches of his generation will surely have been listening himself.
And watching the pantomime now running on Merseyside and one which could go on well into Christmas.
Quite apart from tomorrow’s Merseyside derby there are also games coming up against Chelsea, Liverpool, a Carabao Cup meeting with Leicester then in between lashes with Manchester United, Arsenal and Burnley.
Who would want to take that little lot on at the start of a new career challenge?
And who, given the lack of leadership an decisiveness under Moshiri’s watch.
Or work with a director of football in Marcel Brands who did not bring in a proper centre forward and left Everton with only three senior defenders last summer?
Just to buy into the illusion created by Moshiri.
Sam Allardyce says Everton have gone backwards since he left and tips David Moyes to stabilise the club
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
