New director of football Kevin Thelwell has lifted the lid on his conversations with Farhad Moshiri after stating that the club’s owner, chairman and chief executive had all given him compelling reasons to join Everton.
The 48-year-old former Wolverhampton Wanderers Sporting Director has arrived from Major League Soccer side New York Red Bulls and speaking in his first interview since his appointment, Thelwell told evertontv: “I was very lucky through the interview process to have good conversations with Mr Moshiri, very good conversations with the chairman and also Denise.
“I thought they were very, very clear in terms of the vision of the football club; the direction of travel; where they were currently and all of the things we needed to do.
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“After that, plus the opportunity to talk to Frank and talk about his vision for the football club, I was left with no doubt this was going to be the right move for me to make.
“I’m glad to say, I get a very strong feeling about what we can achieve here at Everton Football Club.”
When asked what Goodison Park top brass had told him in terms of what they saw his role entailing, Thelwell said: “Number one they recognise there’s some work to be done in from a football perspective.
“They recognise that Frank as the manager needs some support and the conversations that I’ve had so far with Frank have been excellent.
“He’s very, very clear about what he wants to do and how he wants to do it.
“We’re very clear about making sure we build departments that can support Frank and the football club to be as strong as it possibly can be.
“So when we say ‘Nothing but the best is good enough,’ certainly throughout the conversations that I’ve had so far, it’s clear that’s what the board want to achieve and so I’m hopeful that we can try and achieve some of those things as quickly as possible.”
Meanwhile, Thelwell, who was a non-League player in Cheshire with Northwich Victoria, Winsford United and Congleton Town, has revealed his family links to Everton and the city of Liverpool.
He said: “It’s a club that I know well. My family is originally from the North West area, my first ever game was at Everton, at Goodison Park, so the opportunity to come back to the Premier League and work for a club with the tradition, the history and also the ambition of Everton Football Club was something I just simply couldn’t turn down.
“Both my parents are from the city, my dad has been an Everton supporter for 68 years, there have been lots of conversations about the traditions and games that he’s been at so it’s a fantastic feeling to come back to the area and hopefully do a great job.
“I’ve grown up with stories of Alex Young, the Golden Vision, I watched all of the games in the 80s, I grew up with Harvey, Kendall, Ball, the School of Science, all of those stories and all of those things so I think that I know a lot about the football club.
“I’m also lucky to know quite a few people who work at the football club currently so hopefully that means that settling in and getting started will be a lot easier.”
