Everton owner Farhad Moshiri has acknowledged “mistakes have been made” after a difficult season in which the club only narrowly escaped relegation from the Premier League to the Championship.
Moshiri, 67, has also admitted the club “have not always spent significant amounts of money wisely” during his time as owner, in a letter published to the club’s website on Wednesday.
Everton finished the 2020-21 season in tenth position in the Premier League under Carlo Ancelotti, but made a poor start to the most recent campaign after appointing the former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez.
Everton sacked Benitez in January after just six-and-a-half months in charge with the club 15th in the table, six points above the relegation zone.
They dropped into the bottom three after the appointment of Frank Lampard as Benitez’s successor, only to pick up 10 points from their final six Premier League matches, to escape relegation by the skin of their teeth.
In his letter, Moshiri acknowledged his side had “underperformed in what proved to be a very challenging campaign” and apologized to Everton fans.
He wrote: “Whilst there is no denying that it was an amazing night when we turned around a 2-0 half-time deficit to secure a sensational victory and guarantee a 69th successive season in the top tier of English football last season, it should not be allowed to disguise the fact that we have underperformed in what proved to be a very challenging campaign.
“Mistakes have been made and for that I want to apologize to all of you. It has not been good enough and we need to do better. You have given us incredible support that helped us over the line when we most needed it, and we must repay that support and show that lessons have been learned.”
Moshiri added that he hoped the club would move on to better things following the appointment of Lampard and a much-publicized strategic review.
He added: “During the 2021/22 season, the Board led a strategic review of our operations which included looking at working practices, our recruitment process and the whole structure of our footballing operation in order to clearly identify the causes of our under-delivery on the pitch. Many of the learnings have already been implemented.
“The recruitment of Frank Lampard as our manager is one example. He was the outstanding candidate at the end of a robust and clearly defined process, demonstrating an ability to marry his technical skills with passion, intelligence, humility and in alignment with the values of our club.”
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