Everton Football Club are on a kamikaze nose-dive into relegation. Under Frank Lampard, Everton have won just one game in their last 13 competitive fixtures.
Included in those losses were two against free-falling Bournemouth and one against Wolves, and now a 2-1 defeat to then rock-bottom Southampton.
Such form and performances are simply unacceptable. Under Frank Lampard Everton will be relegated into the Championship. Something that the fans don’t want to see, and the club cannot afford.
Relegation would be an ugly watch on the field and would be extremely costly financially off the field.
Financial Fright
As it stands, every one of the 20 teams which compete in the Premier League receive approximately £100m from broadcast revenue. Dropping into the Championship would mean a £40m hit to the club’s revenue in that first season.
This is because relegated clubs receive ‘parachute payments’, designed and named aptly to stop clubs who drop down from being in instant financial trouble.
The club would receive 55% of the revenue they would have taken from the league in the first season they reside in the Championship. It then drops to 45% in the second year and then to 20% in the third.
Such a gargantuan hit to the revenue is extremely damaging to larger to bigger Premier League clubs, particularly to those already recording losses each financial year and have players on high contracts.
Revenue streams including sponsorship would also take a huge hit. Fewer businesses would want to pay the club to play in their name if those fixtures were in the Championship.
There are far fewer eyes on the second tier than there is the first. Those who do opt to sponsor the club would be paying a cut rate compared to those this season.
Fire Sale
Should Everton go down this season there would be a fire sale. It is extremely likely all key assets would be sold, and at a cut price. The vultures would circle the club and would love to sink their talons into the club’s best players.
This would mean seeing players who hold the most value, like Jordan Pickford,, Anthony Gordon, Dominic Calvert-Lewin,, Amadou Onana and Ben Godfrey all being likely to leave. For their own good, but ultimately to keep the club afloat.
It would also see any players on high wage contracts which don’t expire this summer such as Idrissa Gueye and Dwight McNeil being given the option to accept a lower wage or be moved on.
Any players who have relegation clauses in their contracts will also be able to move for specified lower fees, but it is likely only players signed this season may have these in place.
The relegation clear out is an annual event. Everton were on the other side of it this season when they picked up McNeil at a cut price and managed to sign James Tarkowski for free.
Nottingham Forest also managed to sign Emmanuel Dennis from relegated Watford, another name that was linked quite heavily with Everton.
Watford did manage to keep some of their key assets and have done so a couple of times. Ismaila Sarr stayed with The Hornets through two relegations.
Everton may be able to keep hold of some decent players, but it is less likely due to the higher wages they have given out over the years.
Young players would have a big role to play next season if relegation wasn't avoided. Younger players on lower wages who also have Championship experience like Ellis Simms would play huge roles.
Though, should exciting young players receive offers from Premier League clubs who could argue with them for leaving.
The strict Championship
The Championship are under far stricter financial regulations than the Premier League. Everton have so far been fortunate in avoiding FFP but could never get away with such if they took the drop.
Heavy punishments are dished out, most recently and notably to Derby County who received in total a 21-point-deduction in the 2021/22 season after filing for administration – which eventually saw them drop into League One.
This isn't to say Everton are in danger of administration, but if they made the drop and tried to buy their way out they would end up in a lot of trouble.
Loss after loss
There is also a new stadium being built on the docks of Bramley Moore. Said stadium is very expensive and isn’t sustainable for a Championship club. Its construction has put Everton into even further debt.
In each of the last three years, Everton have recorded losses of over £100m. Years of misspending combined with a covid-stricken season have left Everton very unstable financially.
In the last seven years, Everton have recorded a profit just once, that being in the 2016/17 season when Farhad Moshiri first took over and hadn’t yet thrown money at everything.
The club have been setting money on fire for years now and it has finally caught up with them. Bad decision after bad decision has put the club in a torrid place.
From bad to worse
Such decisions have been made in just the last two weeks. Frank Lampard has been given chance after chance to turn it around, and the lack of transfer activity is likely due to the Board seeing whether Lampard should be given signings or the next poor soul through the door.
There is a little over two weeks left in the transfer window and Everton will soon be manager-less and still be operating with a squad worse than what kept them up by the skin of their teeth last season.
A new manager is needed immediately, and he needs to bring some decent goal scorers with him or the club are inevitably going to be relegated into a league they’ll struggle to get out with.
Someone with experience in making a poor bunch of players over-perform should be coming through the revolving door as soon as physically possible, as the club is running out of time.
There is a good enough core of players to finish north of the drop zone but fresh ideas need to be put across to these players.
It doesn’t look good for Everton Football Club. Big changes are needed from top to bottom should they wish to keep a club alive, which is loved by so many. It's going to be a rough season.
