Sean Dyche: I would have stopped Everton’s financial meltdown

Everton manager Sean Dyche says the club’s financial chaos would not have happened had he been at the club to stop the worst excesses of the Farhad Moshiri era.

Dyche says he would have safeguarded Everton’s future by resisting the risky expensive deals which have had such serious long-term repercussions, leading to the prospect of a second points deduction of the season.

“It wouldn’t have happened on my watch. Trust me. Because I would have been saying ‘No, no, no, no’. Because the health of the club is important to me,” said Dyche.

“I wouldn’t be throwing the club under the bus by saying:‘I am the manager, I need £250 million.’ I would be going: ‘No, how can that work for this club? We cannot afford it.’

“I would be saying: ‘Hold on a minute. I’m not going to be here forever.’

“I would not have let that happen because it would not be good for the club and eventually it is going to hurt the club. I know I can say that because I did that at another club [Burnley]. I can stand true to that.”

Everton’s breaches in profit and sustainability are in part a knock-on impact of Moshiri’s reckless spree when he first bought the club in 2016, with a series of managers given licence to spend big on transfer fees and wages.

Ronald Koeman was the biggest culprit, but Sam Allardyce and Carlo Ancelotti were also indulged by the owner with some ill-advised, expensive purchases. The club has been paying a hefty price ever since, with Dyche suggesting he and current director of Kevin Thelwell were ‘thrown a few hand grenades’.

Everton’s most recent accounts show yearly losses of £89.1 million, Moshiri having squandered over half a billion in eight years.

“The club needs to be in a healthier position than it has been, so someone has got to jump on the grenade,” said Dyche.

“I didn’t think there was going to be quite as many. I just got my Kevlar vest on. I heard a lot of stories from fans about ‘the truth’.

“If fans are ever asking, ‘Why aren’t you signing him, why aren’t you doing that’ here lies the truth. The accounts come out and they say: ‘OK.’

“Everyone wants a new stadium. That’s fair and right. Goodison is an amazing, historic ground but it is creaking. That costs a lot of money, obviously. The competitive side on the pitch costs a lot of money.

“I was aware of it when I came here. I was not quite aware of all of it, as you can imagine. I certainly wasn’t thinking we would have 10 points taken off us. Look, the hardship is that is the truth. There will still be some asking me why I don’t sign a centre-forward, or like last pre-season why don’t I sign two centre-forwards.

“Well, it costs a lot of money to buy two centre-forwards. We did in the end but by building deals that were future proof. It is the current, ongoing challenge of Everton Football Club.

“That was part of the remit. I’m not crying it in. When I got here they were not saying you are going to get loads of money. Obviously no one in football knew that 10 points [deduction] was coming. All fans were wondering where that came from. But there is no crying it in from me. These are the points we’ve got and these are the points that have been taken away, pending what happens next.

“The demand is high. The demand for the stadium. The demand to help the community. The demand on the pitch. With high demand usually comes high outlays. With high outlays, down the timeline, comes some form of trouble.”

Everton face Burnley on Saturday in a huge game at the bottom of the Premier League.

Dyche’s side would be reasonably comfortable with 32 points but for the deductions. Despite no win in 13 games, he believes that is a sign of progress.

“I would say it is a step forward from where it was over the last two seasons,” he said.

“When I got here the first job was to keep us up, the second was to move us forward. That is it, no more than that. And while I am doing that can I cut some money, while I am doing that can I cut the wages as well, and while doing that you realise we are not going to sign a load of players. It is not a radical step forward, but I think we all agree that this club is moving forward at a slow rate at the moment.”