Sky Sports News reporter Alan Myers explains how Everton owner Farhad Moshiri hopes to transform the mood at the club and secure a brighter future
Sunday 5 March 2023 15:34, UK
It's been another difficult week for Everton, defeats to Aston Villa and Arsenal putting the club back in the relegation zone with the prospect of a crunch game at Nottingham Forest to come on Sunday, live on Sky Sports.
However, the winds of change are sweeping through the corridors of Goodison as I write. The fans' protestations for a clean sweep at the top of the club have been noted by the owner Farhad Moshiri and moves are afoot which would bring a much-improved mood around the club.
It's not clear yet how deep or far reaching the changes will be but what is apparent is that Moshiri is taking decisive steps to end the current impasse between the fans and the board.
The development of the club's new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock is progressing well and new investment in the form of the purchase of a minority stake in the club by American investment company MSP Sports Capital is in its final stages of completion.
That investment will coincide with the progressive work going on at the site of the new stadium, which has seen the exciting structure rise on the waterfront in recent months.
It will also lead to a new-look board of directors, something which has been demanded by the fans for some time now.
Moshiri is well aware of what needs to be done and will act in order to present a new era which the fans can embrace.
He knows they are looking to him now to take the steps needed to lift the doom and gloom, but also to show those on the outside that Everton is a club that wants to progress both on and off the field.
The current situation is untenable. There is a black cloud hanging over Goodison Park and that needs to be moved on to allow the club to heal itself and allow the fans to enjoy what should have been an exciting period in the club's history.
There is a need for it to shed its 'People's Club' romantic persona and reveal itself as a serious football club looking to be a serious contender in the Premier League.
However, the more pressing need for unity concerns Sean Dyche's efforts to get the team away from the relegation zone.
He and the players will not openly admit it, but the negativity of a hierarchy not being able to attend games will undoubtedly have an effect on them and the whole of the club.
The fans have of course shown that they can protest against the board and support the team at the same time.
They did that with peaceful marches taking place before the last three home games, followed by vociferous shows of support for the team, with fan togetherness inside the ground.
They have also done it by selling out ticket allocations at their away fixtures. But the changes that are expected will bring the club and its fanbase even closer together. Of that there is no doubt.
Before that, though, there is the small matter of Sunday's crucial trip to the City Ground.
A win would put Everton just one point behind their opponents, and likely take them away from the bottom three places.
But Everton's form away from home is not encouraging, something Dyche has recognised as a key area to improve.
A defeat to Nottingham Forest would put them seven points behind the Midlands club, a sizeable gap. However, if Moshiri can get his next decisions right, then the lifting of those black clouds could go a long way to transforming the mood among the fans and around the club as a whole.
