It’s never too late to apologise – as long as Everton and Moshiri have learned painful lessons

Everton survived relegation and their owner has apologised for cutting it so fine. That doesn’t mean they don’t have work to do this summer.

Well, better late than never. He’s been pretty quiet since the end of last season, but in an open letter to Everton supporters, club owner Farhad Moshiri has apologised for last campaign’s slow motion car crash and confirmed that changes have already been made behind the scenes.

A new Director of Football has been appointed, Kevin Thelwell – a former journeyman non-league player, coach at the Football Association of Wales and the academies at both Derby County and Wolves, and most recently the Head of Sport at New York Red Bulls. Kevin Nicholson has also joined as a ‘Coach Educator’ (which is more or less what it says on the tin) within the club’s academy system. In other news, the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock is proceeding as expected, and they have offered a friendly match to Dynamo Kyiv.

No-one should be blinded by the drama of that second-half performance against Crystal Palace. Everton’s season was sprinkled with such moments. They took four points from a possible six against both Manchester United and Chelsea, beat Arsenal and Brighton, and held Spurs to a draw. In some respects, this was the most frustrating thing about them. They were capable.

Lampard has taken Everton from 16th to 8th, yet not one journalist is mentioning it now pic.twitter.com/sviPudbnIr

— Tay (@taytomkins) June 9, 2022

Whether Moshiri’s mea culpa will be accepted by the club’s famously tetchy support is another matter. To gauge where this Grand Old Team stands at the moment, there are three things that we need to bear in mind. Firstly, as above, this wasn’t a team built on a limited budget. It was a