Steve Walsh - no longer our Director of Football

[Blue Cheese]

Not a fan of DoFs i've decided. Based on nothing.

 

[neil999]

Can't see us getting any more than 2 in January. And even that feels a lot.

Tbh I think it would be a bit weird signing alot of players in January, most clubs don't do this right?

 

[Nil Satis Niasse Optimum]

Not a fan of DoFs i've decided. Based on nothing.

Good enough for me.

Walsh out ffs.

 

[BlueToff]

Tbh I think it would be a bit weird signing alot of players in January, most clubs don't do this right?

Unless they're scrapping for survival, no.

2-3 quality additions are probably needed in Jan though. Whether we get them remains to be seen I suppose.

The only January window where that has happened was 2011-12.

That month we got Donovan (loan), Gibson (£500k), Pienaar (loan) and Jelavic (£6m).

 

[brieverton]

The Sam Wallace article in The Telegraph after the end of the window seemed to suggest a blurring/duplication of roles, with Walsh having to work in tandem with Kenwright & Elstone. No doubt that would not have done us any favours.

Even allowing for the fact he was appointed six weeks before deadline day, I always thought it was unrealistic to expect that a conveyor belt of signings would click into motion after his appointment. The bulk of preparatory work for transfers should have already been done by then, we were well into July when Walsh was appointed. It seems Gana was "his" signing and that is fair enough.

Everyone in a position of footballing-related authority at Everton is culpable in my book for the series of unfortunate events that unfolded on TDD, and more importantly, the lack of activity in the fortnight before. It is fine to add a signing on TDD as the last piece in the jigsaw to top off weeks of good work, but floundering about as we did for 3/4/5 players showed nothing but inept planning and execution. It is only a success if you sign 75% of your targets.

Our whole effort for subsequent windows needs to be better on all levels. I realise that there is a natural momentum towards the Sky bore fest for TDD dealings, but I don't ever want to see a repeat of deadline day just gone at Everton. Walsh will have significant responsibility, and I hope, authority, to deliver on that. I would rather be told at the beginning of January that we were not expecting to sign anyone rather than go through that deadline day again.

 

[The Esk]

Sounds nice, but you can look at it both ways.

Your way, or the other way which was he had plenty of time to identify (he's surely got a huge list of players) targets and make suggestions to the manager, just the board refused to put their hands in their pocket to fund the moves.

We all saw how it turned out to be, yet again, sell to buy, so I guess this version makes more sense than your "hindsight" one above.

Yet another attempt to spin a negative about the club. Funding for transfers was available all summer, the narrative that there wasn't just does not fit the reality.

I'd love you to explain the positives you derive from supporting Everton, because all I ever read is unfailing negativity. Forgive me, this is not a person attack on you, I'm genuinely curious as to how you always have to promote any negative angle on the dealings of our great club.

 

[catcherintherye]

The Sam Wallace article in The Telegraph after the end of the window seemed to suggest a blurring/duplication of roles, with Walsh having to work in tandem with Kenwright & Elstone. No doubt that would not have done us any favours.

Even allowing for the fact he was appointed six weeks before deadline day, I always thought it was unrealistic to expect that a conveyor belt of signings would click into motion after his appointment. The bulk of preparatory work for transfers should have already been done by then, we were well into July when Walsh was appointed. It seems Gana was "his" signing and that is fair enough.

Everyone in a position of footballing-related authority at Everton is culpable in my book for the series of unfortunate events that unfolded on TDD, and more importantly, the lack of activity in the fortnight before. It is fine to add a signing on TDD as the last piece in the jigsaw to top off weeks of good work, but floundering about as we did for 3/4/5 players showed nothing but inept planning and execution. It is only a success if you sign 75% of your targets.

Our whole effort for subsequent windows needs to be better on all levels. I realise that there is a natural momentum towards the Sky bore fest for TDD dealings, but I don't ever want to see a repeat of deadline day just gone at Everton. Walsh will have significant responsibility, and I hope, authority, to deliver on that. I would rather be told at the beginning of January that we were not expecting to sign anyone rather than go through that deadline day again.

This is a good post. The best DOF's for my money slowly build as opposed to go off at a massive tangent. When you consider guys like Commoli maybe he could spot a player, but he never sought to work closely with managers and made it all about him. Walsh doesn't seem that way. He seems like he is looking to build relationships that are more longstanding than this. This can often mean it takes a bit longer than just 6 weeks to have that impact.

This summer was always going to be difficult. New manager, new head of recruitment, new board members, higher level of targets expected, unhappy "star" players and new method of recruitment. We had to bed in new practices in the crucible of getting a squad ready for a new season and having 6 weeks to do our business. Ultimately we failed to recruit well enough but that doesn't mean we didn't do some good bits of business.

The hard work starts now for Walsh though. He has 4 months to start putting in place changes that can hopefully aid us come January. We can have a proper look at the squad, as can Koeman. If we remain in the top 6/7 we will also look like a side that may have Europe to offer next season that may help in recruiting foreign targets. The lad Ghezzal almost said as much and we may well be in for him again.

I am very excited at what Walsh will bring. I think he started tentatively but you can see him growing in the role. Everyone will have different opinions of what we require. For me at least 1 centre forward (I am not a fan of Valencia and have been clear on that from day 1). I also think a wide left sided player and some more physicality in central midfield would be good.

You can see what Koeman is looking to do. Palace at home you could see we were a player or two short. Had Cleverley been Sissiko it would have been a big upgrade. I also think he sees Bolasie as a key man but also a lad who can play in a variety of positions across the front so having a natural wide man like Ghezzal (or Brahimi) would give us the flexibility to do that. Had we got a lad like Benteke in as well, we'd have beaten Palace.

We failed last window but there are mitigating factors. We were close as well, had we have closed Sissoko, Brahimi and Gabbiadini on the final say our net spend would have been close to 100 million. I don't buy this idea there was no money, if there was then they were playing a very risky game relying on 3 lads to turn us down at the last minute. I am hoping come January there is a clearer approach and we can get things done in a calmer more precise manner.

 

[catcherintherye]

I find it both interesting and encouraging that Walsh is now getting some publicity and visibility about his role at the club.

It seems with the benefit of hindsight, that his entry into the club at the height of the transfer window may have been quite disruptive and (without blame) may explain part of our difficulties and apparent change of strategy and targets in the latter part of the window.

All in all it suggests we will be better prepared for the January window, despite its limitations, and that is encouraging to say the least.

Good post. Just looking at Walsh as a fella he seems quite a humble, down to earth and quiet type of guy. There is obviously a steal to him and a huge competency, in that he has both identified players from a variety of talent pools and also helped build them into a team working alongside a manager. He did largely work in the shadows at Leicester.

I think he came in and didn't want to overly rock the boat. In all honesty we got him in neither early enough for him to make an impact in the window or late enough so that the wheels would continue in motion. I have seen that in companies with talented guys, it can take them a little time to feel they are in a position to lead and that it is there moment to stand up. I do think over the last couple of weeks we have began to see that from Walsh and he's slowly coming out of his shell.

In any role in recruitment he would have wanted probably a 6 month period to have a full assessment of what he is working with. That wasn't possible to begin with but he certainly has that chance now. As the window went by it began to resemble all of the panic of the Kenwright regime and none of the calculated efficiency by which he operated at Leicester.

Anyway it's pleasing to see him growing in confidence and I hope (and believe) we will see a very different approach come January when he has had around 6 months to get his foot in the door.

 

[Nil Satis Niasse Optimum]

Yet another attempt to spin a negative about the club. Funding for transfers was available all summer, the narrative that there wasn't just does not fit the reality.

I'd love you to explain the positives you derive from supporting Everton, because all I ever read is unfailing negativity. Forgive me, this is not a person attack on you, I'm genuinely curious as to how you always have to promote any negative angle on the dealings of our great club.

I'm offended by this. I'd never queston the integrity of any Evertonians who spend a considerable amount of time on this forum. I welcome all view and opinions, even if they differ from my own. We all support and love Everton.

 

[blueblue]

I think we all hoped to some degree that we would "do" a Chelsea or City style takeover.
Over inflated cheques being thrown casually across Europe signing players just because we could.

The window itself was not a disappointment overall , we certainly have strengthened the squad, but the last week was desperately disappointing as well failed to make the final one or two signings that we needed.

January will be interesting and the possible silver lining is that both Walsh and Koeman have four months longer to assess their squad and decide on targets.

I think it also gives the young players a chance to prove themselves before the cheque book comes out again.

 

[catcherintherye]

I think we all hoped to some degree that we would "do" a Chelsea or City style takeover.
Over inflated cheques being thrown casually across Europe signing players just because we could.

The window itself was not a disappointment overall , we certainly have strengthened the squad, but the last week was desperately disappointing as well failed to make the final one or two signings that we needed.

January will be interesting and the possible silver lining is that both Walsh and Koeman have four months longer to assess their squad and decide on targets.

I think it also gives the young players a chance to prove themselves before the cheque book comes out again.

I think this is a sensible post. In all honesty, with the rules about FFP and the continued hyper-inflation of football it is very hard to replicate that sort of performance. Certainly in the premier league which is awash with money. Chelsea managed to turn a side that was similar to where we currently are into title winning contenders with an initial outlay of 150-200 million (minus whatever incoming they had).

Manchester City only a few years later did something similar, again with similar sort of fees being thrown about. Maybe it was 200-300 million net that did this.

The blunt reality is, United spent over 100 million in the summer to take them from 5th to maybe 2nd/3rd this season. The investment required to blow clubs like Manchester United out of the water would now be astronomical. If Usmanov were to come on board, or another investor of Moshiri's profile I have little doubt it would be possible, but I would also be surprised if that is what he envisaged. So I'm not sure where the press got the idea we would be investing so heavily.

What we have tried to do is raise the competency of the staff. We still need more at board level. However we have gone and got a manager who has led a side with a similar, if possibly an inferior squad to our own to two top 7 finishes. He is also a manager that has proven he can handle expectations and has delivered trophies at a number of different clubs including league titles.

We have also added a man who revitalised Leicester from a 3rd division team into one that ended up winning the league. Of course it's not all down to him, but he was the one constant on that journey. Ranieri got the players to over perform, but even without that his recruitment allowed Leicester to come from the 3rd division to being an established Premier League side.

Both Koeman and Walsh have unique and different skill bases. Neither are faultless, particularly as a younger manager (pre Feyenoord) there is an inconsistency with Koeman that exists in people who hold very high standards and sometimes struggle to adapt to less talented individuals. Likewise with Walsh he has never held a role an encompassing as DOF or for a club as big as Everton. At Leicester he would have remained a hero to keep them in the league. At Everton a lot more will be expected.

The unique and differing skill bases make for a potential very good partnership but also one that may not immediately set off flying. Koeman is a thoroughbred used to managing the top teams in a country. PSV, Ajax & Benfica are all bigger than us, while we probably hold a similar domestic profile to Valencia, Feyenoord & AZ, while being bigger than Southampton. Walsh is a grafter who has risen through the ranks and this is his biggest job at the biggest club he could get.

They both seem to get along well. They both seem straightforward and overall seem to target a similar method of playing football and player. They seem on the same page, it's easy to see how Vardy, Kante, Huth, Morgan & Mahrez would all fit in a Koeman side. It's best encapsulated with the signing of Gueye who they both seemed to really favour. That gives me hope going forward, that the differing skills and backgrounds of both will be a good partnership.

There's little doubt though, that in the short term of the last window it led to a muddled strategy. For me the window was a failure overall, but that doesn't mean we aren't stronger nor does it mean there weren't positives. There's a lot of anger from Evertonians currently. 16 years of Kenwright, 3 of Martinez have led people to carry over their anger from last season. Walsh is top class in the work he has done. Arsenal wanted him. He does need time though. He also needs people to be realistic in the time frames things can be achieved. Vardy took a season in the premier league to start delivering, as did Mahrez.

 

[MartyMcFly]

Holgate played well - and looks like he could be a very good player. Regardless, our returning first-choice right-back (one of the best in the league) was back from injury, which means the need for a 19-year-old CB to play there wasn't as pressing...

To get a run of games you have to perform. I'm sure if we had an alternative to Barkley then Ross may also have found himself out of the team for a match or two.

I never beat Martinez with the Cleverley stick personally. We can do better and there's no way he should be starting every game, but with the injuries we had and the fact that he came on vs Bournemouth and added something to a poor display meant he had every right to start. Koeman clearly said it was to make us more compact (he said this in the pre-match interview).

Bolasie has been our best attacking player (behind Lukaku) this season. He's created very good chances every game he's played, despite his inconsistencies, totally making the 'no end product' argument invalid. He doesn't set the price tag and I think he's playing how most of us would have expected him to - he offers us something different to what we had before as well.

I agree with that on Barkley, but it is the fans who are giving him stick - even the media have laid off since Koeman himself has defended Barkley several times. That being said, Ross's form in the last few games hasn't been up to his usual standard and he needs to step up.

Well we aren't really in a false position at all. We've had more than enough chances to win games, even when playing badly, which we didn't take. It happens in football, just like how goals get disallowed (correctly in Palace's case btw).

We are where we are - the table doesn't lie. Were Leicester in a false position all of last season?

We finished 11th last year because we were the 11th best side, just as we were the 5th best side two years before that.

We've hit a rough patch and I'll be the first to say that we need to improve (and part of that will be the upcoming window where Walsh comes in) on recent performances. But I refuse to panic, or say that our season is over, based on one defeat and a draw - whoever it's against in the most competitive league in the world...

The January window won't make a bit of difference to our season. If you are relying on that to be an argument against our season being over then I think you are clutching at straws.

I don't think our season is over because I don't think it's a foregone conclusion we won't do well against the top teams. Our strong defense and Rom means we should nick a few points over that time.

 

[Mogwai]

I think this is a sensible post. In all honesty, with the rules about FFP and the continued hyper-inflation of football it is very hard to replicate that sort of performance. Certainly in the premier league which is awash with money. Chelsea managed to turn a side that was similar to where we currently are into title winning contenders with an initial outlay of 150-200 million (minus whatever incoming they had).

Manchester City only a few years later did something similar, again with similar sort of fees being thrown about. Maybe it was 200-300 million net that did this.

The blunt reality is, United spent over 100 million in the summer to take them from 5th to maybe 2nd/3rd this season. The investment required to blow clubs like Manchester United out of the water would now be astronomical. If Usmanov were to come on board, or another investor of Moshiri's profile I have little doubt it would be possible, but I would also be surprised if that is what he envisaged. So I'm not sure where the press got the idea we would be investing so heavily.

What we have tried to do is raise the competency of the staff. We still need more at board level. However we have gone and got a manager who has led a side with a similar, if possibly an inferior squad to our own to two top 7 finishes. He is also a manager that has proven he can handle expectations and has delivered trophies at a number of different clubs including league titles.

We have also added a man who revitalised Leicester from a 3rd division team into one that ended up winning the league. Of course it's not all down to him, but he was the one constant on that journey. Ranieri got the players to over perform, but even without that his recruitment allowed Leicester to come from the 3rd division to being an established Premier League side.

Both Koeman and Walsh have unique and different skill bases. Neither are faultless, particularly as a younger manager (pre Feyenoord) there is an inconsistency with Koeman that exists in people who hold very high standards and sometimes struggle to adapt to less talented individuals. Likewise with Walsh he has never held a role an encompassing as DOF or for a club as big as Everton. At Leicester he would have remained a hero to keep them in the league. At Everton a lot more will be expected.

The unique and differing skill bases make for a potential very good partnership but also one that may not immediately set off flying. Koeman is a thoroughbred used to managing the top teams in a country. PSV, Ajax & Benfica are all bigger than us, while we probably hold a similar domestic profile to Valencia, Feyenoord & AZ, while being bigger than Southampton. Walsh is a grafter who has risen through the ranks and this is his biggest job at the biggest club he could get.

They both seem to get along well. They both seem straightforward and overall seem to target a similar method of playing football and player. They seem on the same page, it's easy to see how Vardy, Kante, Huth, Morgan & Mahrez would all fit in a Koeman side. It's best encapsulated with the signing of Gueye who they both seemed to really favour. That gives me hope going forward, that the differing skills and backgrounds of both will be a good partnership.

There's little doubt though, that in the short term of the last window it led to a muddled strategy. For me the window was a failure overall, but that doesn't mean we aren't stronger nor does it mean there weren't positives. There's a lot of anger from Evertonians currently. 16 years of Kenwright, 3 of Martinez have led people to carry over their anger from last season. Walsh is top class in the work he has done. Arsenal wanted him. He does need time though. He also needs people to be realistic in the time frames things can be achieved. Vardy took a season in the premier league to start delivering, as did Mahrez.

Wow!

 

[MartyMcFly]

I think this is a sensible post. In all honesty, with the rules about FFP and the continued hyper-inflation of football it is very hard to replicate that sort of performance. Certainly in the premier league which is awash with money. Chelsea managed to turn a side that was similar to where we currently are into title winning contenders with an initial outlay of 150-200 million (minus whatever incoming they had).

Manchester City only a few years later did something similar, again with similar sort of fees being thrown about. Maybe it was 200-300 million net that did this.

The blunt reality is, United spent over 100 million in the summer to take them from 5th to maybe 2nd/3rd this season. The investment required to blow clubs like Manchester United out of the water would now be astronomical. If Usmanov were to come on board, or another investor of Moshiri's profile I have little doubt it would be possible, but I would also be surprised if that is what he envisaged. So I'm not sure where the press got the idea we would be investing so heavily.

What we have tried to do is raise the competency of the staff. We still need more at board level. However we have gone and got a manager who has led a side with a similar, if possibly an inferior squad to our own to two top 7 finishes. He is also a manager that has proven he can handle expectations and has delivered trophies at a number of different clubs including league titles.

We have also added a man who revitalised Leicester from a 3rd division team into one that ended up winning the league. Of course it's not all down to him, but he was the one constant on that journey. Ranieri got the players to over perform, but even without that his recruitment allowed Leicester to come from the 3rd division to being an established Premier League side.

Both Koeman and Walsh have unique and different skill bases. Neither are faultless, particularly as a younger manager (pre Feyenoord) there is an inconsistency with Koeman that exists in people who hold very high standards and sometimes struggle to adapt to less talented individuals. Likewise with Walsh he has never held a role an encompassing as DOF or for a club as big as Everton. At Leicester he would have remained a hero to keep them in the league. At Everton a lot more will be expected.

The unique and differing skill bases make for a potential very good partnership but also one that may not immediately set off flying. Koeman is a thoroughbred used to managing the top teams in a country. PSV, Ajax & Benfica are all bigger than us, while we probably hold a similar domestic profile to Valencia, Feyenoord & AZ, while being bigger than Southampton. Walsh is a grafter who has risen through the ranks and this is his biggest job at the biggest club he could get.

They both seem to get along well. They both seem straightforward and overall seem to target a similar method of playing football and player. They seem on the same page, it's easy to see how Vardy, Kante, Huth, Morgan & Mahrez would all fit in a Koeman side. It's best encapsulated with the signing of Gueye who they both seemed to really favour. That gives me hope going forward, that the differing skills and backgrounds of both will be a good partnership.

There's little doubt though, that in the short term of the last window it led to a muddled strategy. For me the window was a failure overall, but that doesn't mean we aren't stronger nor does it mean there weren't positives. There's a lot of anger from Evertonians currently. 16 years of Kenwright, 3 of Martinez have led people to carry over their anger from last season. Walsh is top class in the work he has done. Arsenal wanted him. He does need time though. He also needs people to be realistic in the time frames things can be achieved. Vardy took a season in the premier league to start delivering, as did Mahrez.

I agree with all this except the FFP part.

The reason is simple. It takes more money than Moshiri has. It probably would even take more money than Usmanov has who looks like a pauper compared to a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund and someone like Man Utd can raise 600m from one commercial deal.

That said. There's only so many players out there and they want to play every week. There's nothing stopping us from building a team with maybe not the best players but the best mix of players (look at Spurs) and frankly our first team already didn't need too much. It hasn't needed too much for 3 summer windows.

We just refuse to buy even when presented the player we need on a silver platter. Moshiri could have given us the money to do that. Now whether we tried and failed. Who knows but I don't want to restart that debate. All I'm saying is that it still is possible but the minute we lose Rom then it's not.

 

[technojoe]

So Steve Walsh then guys! Boss coup by the club in my view proof in the pudding etc but he ain't even put the Walshy quick mix together yet!