Moshiri: Ancelotti has the pedigree for ‘very, very difficult job’

Everton majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri believes Carlo Ancelotti’s track record and experience as a manager made him the ideal replacement for Marco Silva at Goodison Park.

Ancelotti, 60, became the new Blues boss on a four-and-a-half-year on Saturday, having previously managed clubs including Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain.

And having previously appointed younger managers from smaller clubs in the Premier League, Moshiri, speaking to talkSPORT, is confident this change of tack is the right one for Everton:

“I’ve been here now for some time. We have had managers from Wigan Athletic, Southampton and Watford FC and they’ve all had their impact. But now, we’ve invested heavily in our group of players, they’re all internationals, so we think they’d benefit from someone of his [Ancelotti’s] pedigree.”

“I think Everton is a very, very difficult job in football because you are two home losses from being disowned by fans. I think it’s very hard, so what we’ve noticed is that it’s difficult to cope for younger managers. You have the bad runs, but I think the fans didn’t give them any time.

“The strength of Goodison is the passion of the fans and once you lose that, you lose a lot. I think particularly Silva was a very talented coach. When the gods of football are not kind to you, what do you do? We lost six points through VAR, he loses 70 per cent of his midfield, everything goes wrong. But I think a good general is a lucky one.”

Moshiri has spoken in the past about the north-west of England being a ‘Hollywood of football’, with A-list managers like Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola, and recently José Mourinho, all working in the area.

But the Iranian added that he has not appointed Ancelotti on name only, and believes it’s far more important that Everton’s players and staff have a rapport with the supporters, as re-established by Duncan Ferguson during his two weeks as caretaker boss:

“It has nothing to do with Hollywood, really. We’ve rediscovered Everton in the past two weeks. I’ve had my most enjoyable time with Duncan and we’re really grateful to him. This is the club and I think we just need to keep this.

“That’s the most valuable aspect of Everton, not Hollywood. This passion, celebrations of fans and the manager together, and Carlo is a real football man. We hope, with Duncan next to him, we keep the passion and build on it.”

On the way he has run the club since first joining Everton in February 2016, Moshiri admitted he did not expect to be as involved as he has been, but said he does everything with the intention of matching the lofty ambitions of the fan base.

With that in mind, then, he reiterated how confident that a manager of Ancelotti’s calibre, with such a wealth of experience to draw on, is the perfect fit for Everton’s present needs:

“It was supposed to be 5 per cent of my time, not 95 per cent. I think it’s just one of the most difficult clubs. We don’t have the financial base, but the fans’ expectation is huge. I think this mismatch somehow needs to be resolved.

“We’ve put a lot of money in to give the club a platform to match fans’ expectation and sometimes, it’s just too much for a young manager. That’s why we hope an experienced manager can cope and deal with it better.”