Everton’s Strategic Change
Everton confirmed in April that Director of Football Kevin Thelwell will depart for Rangers at the end of the season, ending a three-year spell marked by severe PSR constraints. (trainingground.guru)
Rather than seek a like-for-like replacement, new owners The Friedkin Group and incoming CEO Angus Kinnear opted for a broader “sporting leadership team”, a shift first flagged in March by The Guardian. (theguardian.com)
Kinnear has since stressed that the aim is to embed expertise “across data, talent ID, operations and trading” so that no single departure destabilises the club. (toffeeweb.com)
The Mechanics of the “Flatter” Structure
- Nick Hammond – Head of Trading: The former Reading, Celtic and Newcastle deal-maker has already started work, taking charge of all outbound and inbound negotiations.
- James Smith – Head of Recruitment: A City Football Group alumnus with long-standing ties to Moyes, Smith will sit atop scouting once his gardening leave ends.
- Chris Howarth – Strategy Lead: An analytics entrepreneur whose company, Insight Sport, was recently acquired by TFG; he will build AI-driven player-profiling models.
- Nick Cox – Technical Director: Lured from Manchester United’s academy, Cox will oversee sports science, medical and youth pathways, starting next week.
Collectively they reassemble the classic DoF job description—talent pathway, senior recruitment, negotiation, data integration—into four separate lanes, each accountable to the manager and CEO. (toffeeweb.com)
Implications for Football Agents: New Map, New Contacts
- Negotiations divided: Contract talks and fee structures now flow through Hammond, not Moyes or a single DoF. Speaking to Hammond is key for any move, so establish a direct line.
- Scouting conversations: If you’re pitching an emerging player, Smith and Howarth form the evaluation gateway—one human network, one algorithmic. Make sure your player data is relevant and up to date when presenting to either or both.
- Pathway assurances: Cox controls academy integration and sports-science risk profiling. Direct all talk about academy signings to Cox.
- Managerial influence: Moyes still signs off on profiles, but he is no longer the first stop for market intel.
Questions Agents Should Be Asking
- Clarity: Who has final veto power on your client’s deal—Hammond, Kinnear or Moyes?
- Velocity: With decisions distributed, is the approval cycle shorter—or does it risk paralysis when the different specialists mentioned disagree?
- Data Access: Will Everton share anonymised performance thresholds so you can tailor presentations?
- Succession Risk: If one specialist is poached, does their lane stall, and who picks it up?
Could Others Follow?
Tottenham operated for 18 months without a functioning DoF after Fabio Paratici’s worldwide ban, relying on a mix of committee and external consultants. (theguardian.com)
Manchester United’s drawn-out pursuit of Dan Ashworth shows how brittle a single-point DoF model can be in the face of gardening-leave battles. (espn.com)
The Premier League itself notes that a DoF ideally delivers a “360-degree strategy”, but that ideal is seldom met in practice—hence clubs experimenting with distributed leadership.
If Everton’s model accelerates transfers while reducing personality risk, expect copycats among owners wary of headline DoF salaries and public fall-out.
How Agents Can Adapt
- Map the Org Chart: Build a stakeholder matrix for every club you have strong relations with - especially those rumoured to rethink recruitment.
- Speak Data: Translate traditional scouting language into metrics that resonate with strategy leads steeped in AI and performance science.
- Segment the Pitch: Present deal structure to Hammond, technical fit to Smith/Howarth, and developmental pathway to Cox. One deck no longer fits all.
Conclusion
Everton’s shift is more than a cosmetic tweak—it is a live experiment in de-risking recruitment by turning one almighty DoF into a collaborative grid of subject-matter experts. For agents, that means a broader—but sharper—set of conversations, each demanding domain-specific credibility. Understand the matrix now, because if Everton succeed inside their new £500 m stadium, the flatter-structure could sweep the Premier League.
