Everton have announced that Chief Executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale, Chief Finance and Strategy Officer Grant Ingles, and Non-Executive Director Graeme Sharp have left their boardroom roles. The Toffees said that interim appointments and Chairman Bill Kenwright’s future will be decided within the next 48 hours. Last month, Everton entered into an exclusivity agreement with MSP Sports Capital over investment in the club.
The club’s Premier League survival was secured on the last day of the season with a 1-0 victory over Bournemouth at Goodison Park. However, fans have been vocal in their discontent with the running of the club, leading to protests calling for the board’s removal. The key decision-makers last attended a home game in January, having been warned of a “real and credible threat to their safety” due to “threatening correspondence”.
The construction of Everton’s new 53,888-capacity ground on Bramley-Moore Dock is well underway, but costs have soared from £500m to £760m. Owner Farhad Moshiri has been searching for investment to cover these costs, and talks with MSP have progressed. It is understood that the New York-based company will likely expect representation in the boardroom if it does complete a minority investment.
The departing directors issued a joint statement expressing their disappointment at leaving Everton, but also expressing pride at the projects they had worked on during their time at the club. Chairman Bill Kenwright also expressed his close relationship with Denise Barrett-Baxendale and thanked her for her many achievements, particularly her work on the new stadium.
Meanwhile, court records show that Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti is suing Everton at the High Court. The claim relates to “general commercial contracts and arrangements”, but no further details are given. Ancelotti managed the Toffees between December 2019 and June 2021.
BBC Sport Chief Football Writer Phil McNulty commented that the boardroom changes were the inevitable consequence of years of bad decision-making that had led to a second successive near miss with relegation from the Premier League and a complete breakdown of relations with the club’s support. He added that if Kenwright somehow stays, then the discontent and protests aimed at Everton’s hierarchy will continue. It looks likely that Kenwright’s increasingly untenable position is about to end in his departure, as a result of catastrophic policies at boardroom level and under owner Farhad Moshiri. Moshiri has now entered into an exclusivity agreement with MSP Sports Capital for investment in Everton, primarily for the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock. MSP will want their own representation on the board, and what looks like a clean sweep of Everton’s boardroom hierarchy is underway. The outgoing board have also presided over policies that have seen Everton referred to an independent commission by the Premier League over an alleged breach of Financial Fair Play rules – which the club strenuously denies.
It is clear that Everton had to do something to clear the poisoned air around the club and inject fresh ideas in order to avoid another season of crisis. This is just the start, and it remains to be seen whether more big changes will follow.