Thelwell to step down as Everton Director of Football
Written by
Training Ground Guru
March 8, 2025
Kevin Thelwell will step down from his role as Everton’s Director of Football when his contract expires at the end of this season.
Thelwell joined the Toffees from New York Red Bulls in March 2022 and helped them navigate a very difficult period in which they were docked points for breaching Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) and put up for sale by owner Farhad Moshiri.
During Thelwell’s time in charge, Everton generated £226m of transfer income while spending only £145m on the team during six windows – and maintained their Premier League status. They now enter a new era under The Friedkin Group, who bought the club in December, and a decision has been made that Thelwell will exit when his contract expires in the summer.
Everton Executive Chairman Marc Watts said: ”Kevin has been integral in ensuring Premier League survival in this difficult period. By resolving PSR issues through significant player trading we believe we have an extraordinary squad that can be the foundation for future success.
“This future success will also be supported by our talented sporting department assembled by Kevin. We are pleased Kevin will remain with us in this interim period.”
Thelwell added: “I am extremely proud of what we have achieved in the most challenging of circumstances over the past three years and believe I’ll leave the club in a much stronger position than when I joined in 2022. It has been a privilege to work for Everton Football Club and I would like to thank the players, staff and of course the fans for their fantastic support during my time here. I also look forward to seeing the club progress on and off the pitch in the years to come under the stewardship of TFG.”
Thelwell was our guest on Episode #57 of the TGG Podcast in November 2023. He said: “Everybody at Everton wants to get Everton back where we all believe in belongs. The vision has to be, for a big club like Everton, how do we get back among the elite, how do we start competing for trophies, how do we start to get back into Europe.
“And of course we’ve got this world-class stadium on the horizon, so we want to build a team that’s going to be befitting of that. That has to be the ambition, because we work at a very big football club where enough is never enough.
“I think it’s a privilege to work for a big club like Everton. It’s not so much about saying we need to finish here one year and there the next, it’s more about saying how do we find solutions to these short, medium term problems we’ve got and then get back to where we really want to be and people expect us to be.”
The Toffees will move into their new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock at the start of next season and will also be able of spending in the region of £150m in the summer transfer window under PSR.
Everton say they will now “transition from a single Director of Football to a wider sporting leadership team.”
They added: “Planning for the summer transfer window is already under way, led by the sporting department and David Moyes, and senior appointments will be announced in due course.”
Meanwhile, Angus Kinnear will join from Leeds United as Everton’s new CEO in the summer. Chief Commercial and Communications Officer Richard Kenyon is leaving after more than 11 years in a variety of senior leadership positions.
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