It took Liverpool four years to find their perfect manager - Everton can't even afford to wait another four weeks

Farhad Moshiri’s understanding of business and finance is helping Everton push forward off the field, but that has not been matched by what is happening on it

Everton are running out of time to salvage their season (Getty)

It might not be deemed the most appropriate place to start and it would be understandable if Evertonians chose to stop reading at the end of this paragraph but if you want to know how to hire a manager in the course of a football season, there is a book about Jürgen Klopp that explains how it happens.

There are dates mentioned skilfully in Raphael Honigstein’s Bring the Noise that offer detail Fenway Sports Group did not want you to know. Klopp’s first meeting with Liverpool’s owners, it is claimed, was in the Lexington Avenue offices of law firm Shearman & Sterling in New York on 1 October 2015. This was late on a Thursday afternoon and so, discussions continued the following morning at a nearby hotel. They went well. By the Sunday, Brendan Rodgers had been sacked following a 1-1 draw in the Merseyside derby.

In the aftermath of Klopp’s appointment Fenway were desperate to stress they had gone about their business “respectfully,” removing Rodgers first and only then moving for Klopp – conscious of the media headlines that might be pointed in theirs and Klopp’s direction if it had seemed like they had gone behind a manager’s back.

Initially, Fenway had hoped to approach the issue this way but as the pressure grew on Rodgers, a cold reality dawned that sacking a manager without having someone else lined up to replace him would potentially leave them in a vulnerable position. By hiring Klopp, they could not be accused of not being pro-active, of lacking vision, nor could anyone accuse them of being complacent; that the right manager would land simply because it was Liverpool.

Liverpool is certainly not a club that does everything right and it is not necessarily one to follow as an example, but this was a process Fenway got right: delivering a manager whose reputation stretched across Europe seven days after first physical sight, with the truth about the circumstances of the deal only really emerging a couple of years later when nobody cared so much about the practice involved.

This has everything to do with Everton, of course, because although Farhad Moshiri has indicated this morning he is "close" to sourcing Ronald Koeman's replacement, yesterday marked a month since the Dutchman's dismissal.

Everton could learn a thing or two from Klopp's appointment (Getty)

In that time, Moshiri’s first choice Marco Silva has proven unobtainable and after finding out that he was not the leading candidate, Sam Allardyce – who was considered as a back-up option should Silva not happen – has insisted he is out of the running. Since Koeman was fired, meanwhile, Everton have lost four out of six games in all competitions, conceding 15 goals in the period under David Unsworth.

By going through Jim White to say Everton would soon have a new manager, it would appear to discount Unsworth's own claim and so, did he find out through Talksport he was no longer in contention?

It has been a strange 24 hours at Everton, one which began with news of a 200-year lease being confirmed on the land where their new stadium at the Bramley-Moore dock is supposed to rise; then their latest defeat at their current home to Atalanta following in the most excruciating fashion - in front of less than 18,000 spectators.

Less than 18k fans turned up for the Atalanta game (Getty)

It would seem Moshiri’s understanding of business and finance is helping Everton push forward off the field, but that has not been matched by what is happening on it. It is easy to lay blame at Ronald Koeman, at Everton’s players, at Steve Walsh, and, indeed, at Bill Kenwright, but Moshiri is making the most important decisions at Everton now so everything that is happening at the moment links back to him.

Listen to those who have spent a fair amount of time with Moshiri and similar stories are told: this is an eccentric who would usually throw himself entirely behind something fresh but at Everton has so far managed to resist, perhaps on Kenwright’s advice – someone who knows through experience that even being Everton’s number 1 fan does not mean love or even trust follows naturally when you are in a position of leadership.

There are some parallels between what is happening now at Everton and what happened when Fenway first came to Liverpool. Everton’s slump has been more dramatic and the chronology is not exactly the same but similar themes are there: the sacking of a manager, the appointment of a short-term replacement in Kenny Dalglish – someone who “gets the club,” a director of football arriving, enormous trust in his judgement and huge investment with questionable at best subsequent outcomes.

It took Fenway four years to find a manager they felt comfortable with. Considering Everton’s league position, they cannot even afford another four weeks.