Former Everton director of football Marcel Brands has claimed that he was overruled by Farhad Moshiri when he wanted Mikel Arteta as the club's next manager - and that he disagreed with the appointment of Rafa Benitez and signing of Salomon Rondon.
Back in December 2019 struggling Everton were searching for a new boss after sacking Marco Silva, who is now performing impressively at Fulham. Carlo Ancelotti stunned football fans by moving to Merseyside and he helped steer clear the Blues to a 12th-placed finish.
However, any prospect of Ancelotti building a dynasty at Goodison Park was short-lived as he re-joined Real Madrid following his first full season in charge, in which Everton came 10th.
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And now Brands has revealed the Italian, who last season led Madrid to a La Liga and Champions League double, was not his first choice for the job - instead it was former Blues hero Arteta.
The Spaniard, who made 239 appearances for Everton, scoring 35 goals, took over Arsenal at the same time that Ancelotti arrived at Goodison. Arteta went on to win the FA Cup later that season and this season has transformed the Gunners into Premier League title challengers.
And in an interview with NRC, Brands, who is now back at PSV Eindhoven, said: "In my second year, Marco Silva was fired, I tried to prevent that, but it was beyond my control. While I knew: he is a good trainer, he is now proving that at Fulham.
"The owner also determined that there should be an experienced successor, while the chairman and I wanted Mikel Arteta. In the end it was Carlo Ancelotti."
When asked what happens when you are the mercy of an owner, Brands replied: "People are trying to survive. The nasty thing is: many good club people often go along in those rounds of redundancies. Physiotherapists, analysts, you name it.
"I then had to send people away who were good, hard-working. That's difficult. And it doesn't work either. In the first years I still had the idea that I could change something at Everton. But that did not work out."
Asked how working in England compared to the Netherlands, Brands, who left the Blues in December 2021, said: "It is completely different. English culture makes fans and media think that the manager (the coach) is about transfers. And the owner determines a lot.
"He wanted Rafael Benitez as a coach in 2021, which was not my choice. And Benitez wanted Salomon Rondon, I couldn't approve that. He was already in his 30s, was not on the scouting list, he was not going to bring Everton anything.
"Way too high salary too. I said I thought it was a bad idea. Think of it as a present for the trainer, said the owner. Then you are powerless."
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