Director of Football Kevin Thelwell provided an update on recruitment and the Club's strategic football framework when he attended the latest meeting of the Club's Fan Advisory Board in early February.
Thelwell was joined by interim CEO Colin Chong and other members of Everton's leadership team at the quarterly meeting, which also included a discussion about how the Club is progressing plans to migrate Season Ticket Members from Goodison Park to Everton Stadium.
With the meeting coming a week after the closure of the January transfer window, Thelwell reflected on the reduced spending across the whole of the Premier League and reiterated that whilst the Club was always vigilant, incoming transfers to Everton’s Senior Team during the month had not been likely, and that keeping the squad intact was a key positive as we enter the final third of the season.
He went on to explain how the make-up and approach of Everton's recruitment departments has altered since he took up his position in February 2022 as part of a more holistic and longer-term approach to building the Club’s playing squads.
Thelwell later presented elements of Everton’s strategic football framework, outlining how it is built around four core pillars focused on setting an identity (‘Who we are’), developing a clear way of playing across all teams (‘How we play’), benchmarking all football departments against best practice (‘How we support’) and continually enhancing the knowledge and expertise within Finch Farm (‘Staff development’).
During the meeting, the Fan Advisory Board asked to be updated on the Club's ownership and appeal against the 10-point sanction for alleged breach of Profit and Sustainability rules. It was confirmed that the appeal hearing had taken place but that no comment could be made. Chong added that Everton and 777 Partners continued to await Premier League approval of a proposed takeover and that no timeline had been set.
Everton's Senior Data Science and Insight Manager Mike Gittins later presented initial feedback from the Club's stadium migration survey and supporter focus groups.
He said that, in addition to the survey issued to Season Ticket Members and supporters on Everton's Season Ticket waiting list in late 2023, a process is being undertaken to ensure focus groups represented a diverse range of Evertonians.
Richie Gillham, representative for the Everton Heritage Society, closed the meeting by thanking the Club for its response to the devastating wildfires in Viña del Mar, home of Everton's Chilean namesake Everton de Viña del Mar.
The next meeting of the Club and the Fan Advisory Board will take place on Wednesday 22 May. To read a full committee summary, click here.
