Another change to the Everton Board

Everton have today announced that Alexander ‘Sasha’ Ryazantsev will leave his position as the Club’s Chief Finance and Commercial Officer. A long time associate of majority shareowner Farhad Moshiri, Ryazantsev was originally appointed to the Everton Board of Directors in 2016 as the Owner’s Representative. With his background in finance, it was no surprise when he rose in 2018 to the CFO title, with the responsibility of commercial work also added to his shoulders.

In that role he not only oversaw the addition of a number of new sponsors to Everton’s commercial arsenal, he was also involved in the greater plan of developing and now kicking off the construction of the club’s new home at the Bramley-Moore Docks.

The move was announced as part of a behind-the-scenes reorganisation, a month after the promotion of Sporting and Commercial Director of the Everton Women team Sarvar Ismailov and Finance Director Grant Ingles to the Board. Ryazantsev has also been the Managing Director of Everton Women’s side since 2020, who are currently growing rapidly and have continued to improve season on season for the last few years.

Here is his farewell statement -

“It has been a great honour and privilege to serve on the Board of this special Club and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Board and Mr Moshiri for their unwavering support. I feel proud of what we have been able to achieve on the various projects and wish Everton the success the Club truly deserves in the future.”

Club Chief Executive Officer Denise Barrett-Baxendale commended Ryazantsev for his work -

“On behalf of the Board of Directors I would like to thank Sasha for his work with us over the last five years.

“During his time with us Sasha has always acted with integrity, professionalism and commitment. His professional experience proved to be instrumental in arranging various finance and commercial initiatives for the Club, while his work on the new stadium has created a good base for us to move forward with as we embark on this exciting project.

“We all wish him every success as he moves on to his next project.”

This appears to be a planned exit for the CF&CO, with Ingles likely to take over his financial mantle and the stage set for Ismailov to handle the commercial portfolio. As has been previously noted, Ismailov is the nephew of Moshiri’s long-time business partner Alisher Usmanov, and strengthens the ties with USM Holdings as the club continues to grow in stature financially.

Ismailov, though only 26, has done a remarkable job since 2019 with promoting the Women’s team and making Merseyside a marketable destination for both English and European footballers. The Blues have certainly made a step up and right now are easily one of the biggest teams outside of the quartet of Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal. No announcement has been made on who takes over Ryazantsev’s brief as Managing Director of the Women’s side - if Ismailov was expected to take that job as well then likely that announcement would have been added to this press release, so we can only assume there will be another person earmarked for that role.