Marcel Brands has claimed that Everton’s owners are “easy to influence” which made his job as director of football “very difficult.”
Now back at PSV Eindhoven having been with the Blues for three-and-a-half years between May 2018 and December 2021, the 60-year-old has lifted the lid on his time at Goodison Park which ended in acrimonious circumstances when he was confronted by a fan in the Main Stand after a 4-1 defeat to Liverpool with the angry supporter who asked whether he had recruited those on the pitch, to which he gave the cryptic reply: “Is it only the players?”
Speaking to ESPN in his native Netherlands – via Sport Witness – on his first official day back at PSV as chief executive, Brands said: “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. It is a wonderful country for football, a wonderful club, but very difficult to manage.
“Especially because the owners are very involved, which makes them easy to influence. That makes it very difficult sometimes.
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“I think more English clubs suffer from that, but I wouldn’t have missed the experience I gained there for anything. Let’s put it this way; of course, we did good things.
“Only that was also the frustration. You don’t get the grip that is needed to really change things.
“We have made steps internally, in the youth academy and with the transfers from the first year. But then you see the impatience, and you fall back after having made steps by simple things. That’s a real shame because it’s a beautiful club with beautiful fans.”
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