Everton owner Farhad Moshiri has only himself to blame after Rafa Benitez prank and sacking

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Owner Farhad Moshiri relieved Everton manager Rafa Benitez of his duties on Sunday afternoon with the Merseyside club hovering above the Premier League relegation zone

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Even Farhad Moshiri, an owner notoriously deaf to the opinion of supporters and even his own board, could no longer ignore the crescendo of anger.

At an emergency board meeting on Sunday, his own boss told him in no uncertain terms that keeping Rafa Benitez in place would simply amount to making the unpopular manager a “walking dead man”.

The hard truth though, is that Benitez has always been that, from the moment he crossed Goodison’s threshold. It was a ridiculous appointment, unfair even to the Spanish coach himself, in the way he so arrogantly dismissed the feelings of the fans.

There was a moment on Sunday afternoon that told the whole sad story of the microcosm. In the middle of the match between Liverpool and Brentford, the Kop, hearing the news of his dismissal, began to sing loudly: “Rafa, Rafael, Benitez”.

At that point, we had perhaps the most damning indictment against Moshiri and his absolutely insane decision.

How would you rate Rafa Benitez’s time at Everton? Let us know in the comments below!

Rafa Benitez was sacked by Everton on Sunday (

Picture:

REUTERS)

And it’s not like he hadn’t been warned. Those close to him in the Everton organisation, the board members he himself appointed, the executives he employs, former players and top fans, even the newspapers. They all lined up to tell him it couldn’t work.

At the first sign of trouble, fans would turn around. And they would have every right to do so, because it is their passion that drives the whole club… in fact THEIR club.

In the end, they didn’t just turn on Benitez. They turned against the painting and against Moshiri himself. And that’s really where the blame should lie – with the owner himself and his main backer, tycoon Alisher Usmanov.

Both live in tax exile and are so far removed from the club they own, it means they have little to no insight into the feelings of the fans, club staff, players. They take advice from agents who push their own agenda, no matter what damage it may do to the club.

And there is real damage. There is anger among fans on a scale never seen before. They’re sick of dates like Benitez, who almost seem to relish their provocation. Sam Allardyce was the same and produced a similar response.

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They are also fed up with the lack of direction at the club. Moshiri bought the club SIX years ago and promised to spend big to get Everton into the top four.

He kept some of that market, with big outlays for some bad players. But there has been no progress in those six years, and they are now further from the top four than at any time in the past 20 years.

The spending has been as reckless as his leadership appointments. £30m for Yannick Bolasie? £26m for Cenk Tosun? £40m for Alex Iwobi? The list is endless and embarrassing, and points to the club’s problem.

Moshiri makes all the decisions, but is not a footballer. He goes there on impulse and on his last advice.

He appointed a director of football in Marcel Brands and then chose to ignore him altogether – even when the Dutchman passionately told him that Benitez was a catastrophic mistake and couldn’t happen.

Farhad Moshiri wasted millions of pounds at Everton (

Picture:

Getty Images)

There is a void at the heart of the club, and unless the Monaco-based owner starts listening to the fans, listening to what the club really needs, it will continue until he is finally driven out.

It needs to start with a nomination that recognizes what the fans want: a style they can embrace, a culture that recognizes the club’s history and what it means.

And they want a manager to build on that, bringing in younger players and playing on the front foot to a defined, modern philosophy. With Benitez, there was no idea what his philosophy was.

There are few candidates who fit this bill. Brighton’s Graham Potter is a no-brainer but there’s no way he’ll join such a hopeless case as Everton just yet.

It’s Moshiri’s fault and his problem, and unless he approaches it with humility by admitting that he’s been arrogant in his dealings with fans and arrogant in his impulsive and illogical decisions, the unease will continue and fans will stop coming.

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