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I've set myself the target of transforming Everton into a major title contender and rid the stigma of the club beings a 'selling team', reducing the clubs debt along the way. Overcoming David Moyes success at the club will be tough due the budgets in place, hopefully regular European football can relieve the restrictions.



I've been handed a one-year deal with expectation that I continue Everton's well know tradition of bringing talented youngsters trough the youth system. A policy I am more than happy to abide by, taking full advantage of the tutoring system. The coaching set-up at Finch Farm is very good but could do with a few fresh faces to rejuvenate it, so there will be a few changes to personnel.



With such a small budget for a club competing at this stage in the Premiership, players will have to be sold before any improvement can be made to the club. The board had a minimum expectation that we finish in the top half but I feel with the squad I have and the targets I'm interested in we are capable of better. I will continue Everton's philosophy of not overpaying for players and tend to avoid the inflated English market.



The clubs balance means I need to keep a watchful eye on the finances to stay in the black. The club has debts in the region of £100 million, half of it being the Finch Farm rental agreement until 2057 whereby Everton pay approximately £1m a year to lease Finch Farm back from the developers. Ideally I'd like to keep wage budget around the £700k mark until we have Champions League football to keep the costs down.

The club made a few additions before my arrival, Bryan Oviedo arrived from FC Copenhagen for a small fee, the Costa Rican international offers cover on the leftwing. Belgian Kevin Mirallas signed for £6,000,000 from Greek side Olympiakos, the speedy winger has the ability to hit the back of the net scoring 20 league goals last season. Steven Naismith arrived on a free transfer from liquidated Rangers and offers flexibility across the front 4. Finally Steven Pienaar made his loan deal from Tottenham permanent.

Bobby Davison, Ian Woan, Paul Winsper and Jim Blyth joined the coaching set up.



Craig Gordon was brought in to replace Jan Mucha on a free transfer at half of Mucha's £20,000 wage. Seamus Coleman left to join Leeds on loan for the season, to gain valuable first team football. Ruben Jenssen signed days prior to the big kick off, for a bargain £1,800,000, adding much needed competition to the centre of midfield.

James Forrest was signed for £3,000,000 and replaces Magaye Gueye who left for the same price, at 21 Forrest has the potential to become a top class Premiership midfielder. Wellington Nem and Ademilson arrived from Brazil for a combined fee of £8,000,000, with half spread over 2 years. This transfer was subsidised by the sale of Victor Anichebe

The arrival of another Celtic player Tony Watt meant it was the end of Apostolos Vellios' time at the club. Jari Litmanem signed a one-year deal, heavily weighted on bonuses, and will make an excellent tutor. The wage budget has only increased by £10,000 despite drastically increasing the quality of the squad.



Overall we had a positive pre-season, despite the loss to Ross County. It gave me the chance to rotate the squad and allow formations to be familiarised. The big win over Lens was particularly pleasing as they were our toughest opposition and we overrun them. Nikica Jelavic showed a promising start and an ability to score

The campaign got off to an excellent star picking up maximum points and not conceding so far, leaving us third in the table. In the tactical side of things I've settled with fast, attacking variations of the 4-5-1, with short passing. New boy Ademilson missed the start of the season with a hamstring injury. I rejected a £21 millions bid for Leighton Baines and offered him a new five-year £50k-a-week deal, which he accepted.



With the season under way we got the season off to a perfect start picking up maximum points in the opening two fixtures. A young squad also comfortably beat League 2 side Southend to progress to the next round of the League Cup.

Our good start continued leaving us to of the table going into October. James Forrest injured his back in training which sees him out for up to 2 months and Steven Peinaar retired from internationals. The board decided to start repaying a £14,000,000 loan which means our finances may take a turn for the worse.



September picked up from were we left of in August stretching our winning streak to six games before crashing out of the League Cup to Championship side Blackpool. We also suffered our first league defeat of the season at the Stadium of Light where Wellington Nem joined the injury list with a pulled hamstring keeping him out for 4 weeks.

Another good month meant we sit in second place, a point off top. Most of the youngsters showed signs of improvements, especially Tony Watt, currently tutored by Nikica Jelavic.



A third loss followed at Old Trafford before we turned of the form to claim an excellent 5-1 win over new boys Reading. We picked up another 3 points away to Swansea putting us second in the league.

A very poor month seen us slip down the table three places, throwing away leads has been a problem this month. I replaced Head of Youth Development Alan Irvine with Dave Parnaby from Middlesborough.



The month started well with a win over a stubborn Stoke side in which injury prone Ademilson suffered a sprained ankle ruling him out for 5 weeks. Despite going ahead at the DW Stadium we slumped to defeat, the first of four which ended with a loss agains Merseyside rivals Liverpool.

A turn around in form meant we only dropped one place despite teams playing their games on hand. A few changes in January may be needed to push through the end of the season.



Our slump carried on into December as we slumped to another defeat at St. James Park. A late equaliser for Manchester City spoiled the party at the City of Manchester Stadium. Leon Osman's double secured our first win in six games. Ademilson twisted his ankle again, meaning he's out until January. Another victory over Fulham kept our hopes for Champions League football alive. It took a penalty and an own goal to steal a point at Southampton, another defeat then followed to West Ham.

An average month meant we maintained our league position, but went out of the FA Cup much earlier than I would have liked. Bryan Oveido missed most of the month with international duty.



Neal Eardlry was brought in on loan for free with the option to buy for £1,000,000 to replaced Tony Hibbert who wanted to move despite 14 starts. John Lundstram, Junior and Steven Naismith all left the club on loan for first team football.



The year got off to a good start picking up 8 points to put us in the driving seat for Europa League qualification. Nikica Jelavic's for dramatically improved as he hit the net 6 times. We beat Reading to progress to the FA Cup 4th round, eventually going out in the dying minutes to Arsenal.

February was a decent month, but we just cant seem to find consistency. We are still conceding too many goals which is strange as we have a fairy good defence and Tim Howard is a top keeper, so so tactical adjustments may be in order.



The month started with a big win over league leaders Manchester United at Goodison Park, we were brough back down to earth losing 2-0 to Reading a week later. We bounced back with a high scoring win over Swansea with Ademilson scoring a hat-trick.

This was the month we really had to push for a Champions League spot, but we only managed 4 points. On the other hand I managed to tie down Phil Neville and Jari Litmanen for another year and young left back Luke Garbutt until 2018.



Two disappointing games to start March off, early goals from Chelsea meant we slumped to defeat and an own-goal looked to give us the win before Jonathan Walters scored an injury time equaliser. Our only win of March came over Wigan and keep us in 6th place.

The month was all about cementing a Europa League place, Manchester United won the Capital One Cup meaning that 7th place is enough but my target is 6th. I tied up deals to bring Nacer Chadli and Matteo Destro in on bosman deals as well make Neal Eardley's loan permanent for £250k.



We started the month throwing away more points after going down to 10 men followed by another Merseyside Derby loss, but we still sit above them in the table. Newcastle's visit to Goodison was the biggest match of the season so far, as we battle it out for 6th place. Wellington Nem's 81st minute goal gave us the advantage. We slumped to our biggest defeat of the season at White Hart Lane, losing 5-0.

We finished the season strongly thanks to a tweak in the tactics, I changed Leighton Baines to attacking and Neal Eardly to defensive both from support. Baines replied with 3 assists and a goal in the final games. We managed 6th place which means we're in the Europa League Playoff and I was awarded a new four-year deal.



It looked as if we were taking a point when Leighton Baines equalised in the 83rd minute with a trademark free kick from the edge of the area. Until Sergio Aguero clinched a late winner 2 minutes later. Newcastle also lost to Arsenal meaning that the fight was still on. Our last home game of the season and we bowed out in style goals from James Forrest, Nikica Jelavic and a brace from Marouane Fellaini sealed the win. Newcastle dropped vital points drawing at the Madejski, meaning it was in our hands. The final fixture of the season and 6th place was wrapped up at half time, but with Newcastle on our trail 1-0 up agains Manchester United, ultimately losing 2-1.

Overall we had a good season, qualifying for the Europa League and adding quality to the squad. I would have liked to at least reached the Final of one of the cups. We were named overachievers and Liverpool were underperformers

Premiership champions Chelsea completed a treble the European Super Cup and Club World Cup. Arsenal were crowned Champions of Europe beating Real Madrid 3-0 in the Champions League Final and Marseille beat Napoli to claim the Europa League.

Wolves wont the Championship and promoted along with Hull and Derby. Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Napoli, PSG and Celtic all won their respective leagues.

The squad could do with a few additions but with the bank balance a few million under I doubt I'll have much of a budget to play with. I need long term replacement for Tim Howard and a potential replacement for Leon Osman. Nacer Chadli will looks to be an excellent successor to Steven Pienaar on the left wing.

My top priority was to secure Marouane Fellaini on a new contract, I tied him down until 2018. We will receive over £50 million in TV Rights, which should put us back in the black.



With such a poor budget I had to invest in the coaching staff to get the best out of the players I have. Ricky Sbragia was promoted to assistant manager after Steve Round rejected a new deal. Andrew Cole and Fernando Redondo joined the club, Redondo named reserves manager.

David Weir joined the youth set-up as assistant to Duncan Ferguson, along with David Bowman from Dundee United. David Hamilton joined from Swansea as a scout and Bryan English and John Porteous joined the medical team.



Neal Eardley competed his £250,000 move and was joined by Carl Jenkinson at right back on loan form Arsenal as Seamus Coleman joined SPL side Celtic to gain first team experience. Kolo Toure replaced Sylvian Distan at under half his wages in the heart of defence. Mathias Jorgensen came in as a replacement for John Heitinga who only had one-year left on his deal, and wanted over £60,000.

Nacer Chadli completed his bosman deal and both Valerio Verre and Christian Tello joined on loan.Bryan Oveido and Steven Naismith, for £10,000,000, as they didn't justify their wage. Rivaldo signed a deal simialr to Jari Litmanen

Mattia Destro signed and Tony Watt joined Blackpool on loan for £2,000,000 over the season, covering the cost of his transfer to the club.



We had a very poor pre-season, the tour of Scotland was a disaster and the other fixtures just as bad. The opening day of the season we have newly promoted Derby and drew Roda of Holland.

A sh*t month! We lost to a terrible QPR and were put out of the Europa League. The only good thing this month was capturing Jack Butland with Craig Gordon going the other way.



After a good start beating newly promoted Derby, Ademilson missed a penalty before being taken off injured, ruling him out for up to three month. Wellington Nem was also taken off and faces four weeks on the sidelines. We went crashing out of the Europa League to dutch side Roda. During an unexpected loss at Loftus Road, Leon Osman tore his hamstring and could be out for 3 months.

Another frustrating month leaves us flirting with the relegation zone. We need to pick up a run of wins in the league and turn it around. I did however manage to complete the transfer of Gylfi Sigurdsson for £8,000,000.



The slump continued, failing to win a single game in 90 minutes, failing to beat the likes of Wolves and Hull is unacceptable. Mattia Destro picked up decent form, scoring in the final three fixtures. The League Cup tie against Swansea too over 120 minutes and penalties to progress to the next round.