Every year the Premier League produces an official handbook featuring key information about each club competing. It lists ground details, key members of staff and even kits and sponsors.
In 2024/25, with the club still languishing under the farcical ownership of Farhad Moshiri and about to be sold to the 777 Ponzi scheme, there were 18 key members of staff listed.
The 2025/26 has some major changes. The club’s home ground has been updated to the magnificent Hill Dickinson Stadium but it is in the staff section where the size of Everton’s transformation in just 12 months becomes clear.
Moshiri is now thankfully erased from the list of directors along with John Spellman, to be replaced by Dan Friedkin, Marc Watts, Ana Moriera-Dunkel and Eric Williamson. Colin Chong is the only remaining director having moved to focus on stadium development and the club’s pursuit of Nelson Dock.
Out of 18 key staff members only eight now remain at the club and they are almost exclusively in non-footballing roles such as ticketing manager Lee Newman, CEO of Everton in the Community Sue Gregory, Fan Engagement Manager Christine Edwards and Broadcast and Liason Manager Darren Griffiths.
The complete overhaul of Everton’s key staff is laid bare in the rest of the document. Manager Sean Dyche is gone, along with Director of Football Kevin Thelwell and Academy Director Gareth Prosser. The club’s Chief Finance Officer James Maryniak has gone, as had Chief Commercial and Comms Officer Richard Kenyon.
The roles of Club Doctor and Head Groundsman have changed hands, while new additions include Chief Partnerships Officer Mark Rowlings.
But the document doesn’t tell half of the story. Everton have an entirely new ownership, an entirely new board, and an entirely new first team management team that even includes promoted coaches Leighton Baines and David Lucas from the academy. They work with a new leadership team featuring a new Technical Director in Nick Cox, a new Head of Scouting in James Smith and a new CEO in Angus Kinnear. There is a new transfer ‘guru’ in Nick Hammond and even a new Academy Director in the form of interim choice Carl Darlington – although rumours suggest he may be replaced by Liverpool’s Alex Inglethorpe.
Everton have a new u21 assistant and a new u18 manager in Keith Southern. They are recruiting for academy coaches to help with progression of players from academy to first team. New scouts and goalkeeping coaches at academy level are also being recruited.
It is easier to talk about who is still at the club. Baines and Lucas were u18 coaches, while u21 manager Paul Tait remains. At senior level Colin Chong continues to do excellent work for the club, while a handful of academy coaches including Jose Baxter remain.
That’s it. In just 12 months Everton have taken every major footballing role and ripped it up to start again. They have even bought an entire company in Pursuit Sports and hired its owner Chris Howarth, to add a new level of analytics to the scouting and playing side of things.
All this has happened against a backdrop of a move to a brand new stadium, where Everton are bidding to be the first team in the Premier League to actually perform better in the first season of their new home compared to their final season in their old home. Every single bit of data suggests moving to a new ground is an incredibly difficult and taxing task and can negatively impact results.
It is even more difficult when even the playing side has been remarkably transformed. Everton were left with just 13 senior players in the summer and while a backbone including the likes of Jordan Pickford, James Tarkowski and Idrissa Gana Gueye remained, there was a point when Everton had a single goalkeeper, one striker, one left back and two wingers on the books in a summer when transfers were notoriously difficult to get over the line.
Upheaval at board level, a complete coaching team revamp, a dramatic rebuild labelled ‘unprecedented’ in Premier League history, and a new stadium. Each of these things could knock a club. For all of them to be happening at once is astonishing. For all of them to be happening to a club still reeling from a decade of complete mismanagement and a fanbase exhausted from dragging a flagging side over the line time and time again, is terrifying.
Against the backdrop of all of this Everton have actually outperformed previous seasons. They ended a run of losing their first three games of the season – the first time in the club’s history. They are two points and two places above their own position last year having played City and Liverpool away already.
They have two wins against excellent teams in Brighton and Crystal Palace, and an away win at Wolves. It’s not perfect. The draw at home to West Ham matched last season’s result but was a major disappointment. The Leeds defeat was a false start to the season that still rankles. The lack of goals is still a concern and unrest is growing.
But Everton fans should really take a step back and take in the whole picture. Everton are in a better place in pretty much every area imagineable. David Moyes will get it right and we know better than anybody that he often excels in the second half of the season.
He may not be the manager some people want but he feels like the manager we all need at this point. He needs to make sure the club can walk before it can run and provide stability in an environment that offers none. In January he had to pick it up.as it crawled towards relegation.
Nothing is guaranteed and fans have every right to be disappointed with recent performances. A bit of perspective in needed when looking at the overall picture. This is a brand new Everton and we need to be patient.