New director of football Kevin Thelwell is expected to start work at Everton this week but just what might his first tasks be in the role?
After the club held a strategic football review and decided to retain the position – as revealed in the ECHO – following Marcel Brands’ departure in December, less than eight months after he had penned a new contract until 2024, Thelwell becomes the third man to hold the title after it was first created for Steve Walsh in 2016.
The 48-year-old has previously held positions in English football at Preston North End, Derby County and Wolverhampton Wanderers – spending 12 years at the latter, the last three-and-a-half of which were as Sporting Director.
Thelwell comes to Everton from Major League Soccer side New York Red Bulls.
Although the franchise – for whom fans’ favourite Tim Cahill left Goodison Park to play for between 2012-15 – finished first overall as recently as 2018, Thelwell’s time with them came in a transitional period.
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As part of the global Red Bull football organisation that also funds German side RB Leipzig and Austrians Red Bull Salzburg as well teams in Brazil and Ghana, less cash was being pumped in than in the past with New York finishing 13 th and 14 th overall in MLS in the 2020 and 2021 seasons respectively as Thelwell had to bring in several players on loan to save money.
Here’s a look at what activities will be high on his agenda at the Blues.
Frank discussions
At Chelsea, Frank Lampard’s long-time team-mate Petr Cech took up the role of technical director in 2019 in the same summer he took the reins in the dugout.
A week before Thelwell’s appointment was announced, the Everton manager was asked on his thoughts about the prospect of working alongside a director of football at Goodison Park.
Lampard said : “I think the model can look different depending on the club.
“At the moment, as I said before, I've got a very good relationship with the chairman and the owner.
“I think it can be very good as long as each department within that hierarchy is aligned.
“Of course everyone wants the best, but practically you have to work in a similar direction.
“That relationship between myself and a sporting director, it will be very important to know our roles and to work together for the good of the club.
“If you get that right it can be very good, and that's why the club have to take time to get the right one and the right person if they see fit.
“It's a fantastic club, and if you get the right fit for that I will certainly be very happy working with anyone who can help this club be more successful.”
Lampard also stressed that “the key for me is the communication.”
Given that he and Thelwell, unlike Cech, will be working together for the first time, they need to make sure they’re singing from the same hymn sheet as that did not always seem apparent with Brands’ relationship alongside either Rafa Benitez or Carlo Ancelotti.
Home-grown heroes
Sometimes they can find the Goodison Park crowd even more demanding of them, but everyone at Everton loves it when one of their own progresses through the club’s academy to become a first team star.
Anthony Gordon, who celebrated his 21 st birthday last week, is the latest graduate of the Finch Farm conveyor belt of talent to nail down a regular spot but in truth the supply line has dried up somewhat in recent years.
Given that Thelwell’s own background is in youth football – he started off as academy boss at Preston, Derby and Wolves – he’ll be eager to ensure the next generation of prospects are in top shape in time for the move to the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock in 2024.
In the same way that discussions with Lampard will be crucial, a joined up strategy with Academy Director David Unsworth is required to ensure this area becomes more fruitful going forward and youngsters have a clear pathway to the first team through progression up the club’s junior ranks and any potential loans required to assist their development.
Contract talks
There are half a dozen first team players whose contracts expire at Everton this summer.
Many of them are big earners and you’d expect them to be cleared out to free up valuable funds when it comes to Financial Fair Play ‘wriggle room.’
Jonjoe Kenny, 25 next month, is the youngest of the six and the only one in the side right now and even he has no guarantee of earning a new deal.
Back-up goalkeepers Asmir Begovic and Andy Lonergan are each set to become free agents although the former has the option to extend by a year if both parties agree.
You’d expect Fabian Delph, Cenk Tosun and Gylfi Sigurdsson to depart too.
Identifying new signings
According to former Everton goalkeeper Nigel Martyn, one of the big pulls of bringing in Lampard as manager would be his ability to attract players to the club.
The Cornishman told the ECHO : “Frank has got good contacts in the game because the difficult thing for the Everton manager is getting the right players because it’s always difficult, no matter how much money is behind you, it’s whether or not the player wants to come and play for Everton.
“It’s often down to the manager’s sell and I think Frank is somebody who people would want to come and play for.”
However, as has been outlined already, these targets need to tally with the kind of players that Thelwell believes fit his vision so going forward, he and the manager need to draw up a list of potential targets for the summer.
The players they identify will have to be able to fit into the tactical systems the pair want to implement – both have been known to be advocates of a three-man defence – and presumably be comfortable on the ball given that there is now an increase emphasis on a possession-based game under the current regime.
