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Everton: Greg O’Keeffe expects board members to be in attendance on Saturday
Greg O’Keeffe believes that Everton owner Farhad Moshiri and other Toffees board members will be at their game on Saturday.
The Lowdown: Everton in turmoil
It has been a disastrous 12-18 months for the Evertonians, who almost saw their club relegated from the Premier League for the first time last season, and no lessons appear to have been learned as they currently sit inside the bottom three.
What made it even worse was that despite bringing in a new manager in the form of Sean Dyche, the Everton board were unable to hand him any new signings to help in their fight against relegation.
Everton were the only club in January not to make a first-team signing, which is amazing given their worrying position in the table. Meanwhile, things off the pitch aren’t any better, with their board members being told to stay away from their defeat against Southampton earlier this year due to concerns for their safety.
The Latest: Board members to be in attendance
O’Keeffe gave his thoughts on the board members’ current situation when it comes to attending games on the All Together Now podcast, stating that he expects them to be in attendance, despite fans calling for them to stay away on Sky Sports.
He said: “Their own private security and the club’s security will have to assess it, and hopefully, they find that there aren’t any threats that mean they have to stay away.
“I think it’s important for them to be there out of respect for Sean Dyche and his staff and the players and to take some accountability and ownership for this situation themselves.
Will Everton be relegated?
“Now, obviously, equally, if they feel that there’s a genuine threat to their safety, that’s a different matter, because ultimately, life’s too short and these are people doing a job, no matter how we think of how they’re doing that job.
“So it’s going to be fascinating whether they’re there or not. If you asked me now, I would imagine that they will be there.”
The Verdict: Moshiri playing a risky game
Despite Everton having well-documented financial issues, they did receive £40m for Anthony Gordon last month, so surely at least some of that could and should have been reinvested back into the first-team squad with the benefit of foresight.
As things stand, Everton look set for a long and tough season to avoid the drop, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s injury record far from ideal, while Neal Maupay has failed to reach any sort of expectations since his summer move.
Therefore, for Moshiri to then have the bottle and turn up on Saturday would surely only go a long way to make the atmosphere a lot more toxic than it may already be, and distract from the fact that Evertonians should be getting behind the team and Dyche to ensure they can stay up.
