In case you’ve missed it over the last few days, Marcel Brands has been openly discussing the issues he faced while at Everton.
The Dutchman is starting a new position at former club PSV Eindhoven this summer, which seems to have coincided with the end of a non-disclosure agreement he had with Everton.
He departed Goodison Park at the end of last year after three years as director of football, with Everton reporting that a disagreement between owner Farhad Moshiri, Brands and then manager Rafa Benitez about the direction of the club had led to his departure.
Brands had remained quiet on his departure since then but has opened up on the issues he faced with various comments in the Netherlands over the last week.
He’s now continued that to NOS, detailing how he was overruled when it came to transfers when Benitez was in the dugout.
“A transfer is then pushed through because the manager knows a player, and the owner goes along with it under the guise: ‘Marcel, you may be right, but see it as a gift for the manager’,” he told the outlet when asked about signing players last summer.
Managerial issues have long been a problem for Everton under Farhad Moshiri’s reign, with the Iranian going through several since investing in the club.
Brands worked with three permanent managers during his reign as director of football, first under Marco Silva and then Ancelotti and Benitez.
The Italian was arguably the most successful of those three, but even with the Italian, it appears there was influence from the boardroom causing issues.
“At the time, I had to talk crazily to be able to keep Ancelotti in the saddle,” he added.
“The owners looked at it very simply and said: ‘There have been three losses, Marcel, do something about it’.
“Ancelotti eventually left for Real Madrid because he no longer felt the support of the owners. An awful shame. Ancelotti is not only an excellent coach but also a fantastic human being.”
