The man who will take ultimate responsibility for Everton’s football department has insisted potential new owners 777 Partners can prove their critics wrong and has thrown his support behind manager Sean Dyche and sporting director Kevin Thelwell.
Johannes Spors, 777’s global sporting director, has given a rare interview to Telegraph Sport as the group awaits Premier League approval for their takeover of Everton.
Spors has already held talks with Thelwell, who will continue to be in charge of the club’s day-to-day football operations, and Dyche, and attended Everton’s victories over Newcastle United and Chelsea.
He is hugely impressed with the duo and outlines why he believes Everton could benefit from becoming ‘the missing link’ in the 777 group, which also includes Genoa, Standard Liège, Hertha Berlin, Rode Ster in Paris and Vasco da Gama belong. as minority stakes in Seville and Melbourne Victory.
During an hour-long video call from Saudi Arabia, where he was a guest of FIFA ahead of the Club World Cup and on business for 777, Spors claimed:
Fresh from a two-day conference of all 777 group sporting directors in Berlin, sandwiched between his trip to Everton and trip to Saudi Arabia, Spors described how the group’s model works with him at the top of the football operation.
“The local sports directors report to me,” said Spors. “They have full control on site, but we are involved in the important decisions. I don’t make the decisions on every small contract, academy player or physiotherapy decision. But the most important ones: hiring a player, selling a player, head coach decisions, athletic director decisions. Those are the ones we want on board.
“I am in contact with all the clubs every day. In Europe I see the clubs very often. I saw two clubs a week and the next week I saw another two clubs – I try to combine it that way. It depends a bit on where the pressure is, where the fire needs to be fought or where the situation needs to be resolved.
“It is very important that I am often at the clubs, together with our data and analytics director Mladen Sormaz and Marcel Klos. I have to be there. I see training sessions, I speak to the directors and I also speak to the coach and other people. I have to feel how this club lives. I have to anticipate what is coming and for this I am traveling and I have to be in contact with the boys. I also have one-on-one meetings with each sports director every week.”
Spors started his career as an analyst at Hoffenheim in Germany, working with Ralf Rangnick and following the former Manchester United interim manager to RB Leipzig, where he took charge of recruitment when the German club was still in the second division. His first job as sporting director came at Vitesse Arnhem, where he worked closely with Chelsea and brought in a young Armando Broja on loan, before moving to Genoa and starting his relationship with 777.
Everton’s takeover has led to scrutiny of the 777 business, but Spors claimed every club in the group has benefited from their ownership and outlined how he thinks Everton can expect to make a profit.
“We want the clubs to be the best versions of themselves,” says Spors. “The challenge we have is that every club that has joined the group has had a development in recent history that has gone in the wrong direction. We need to turn around the development of all clubs and they are all in a better situation now.
“So we made the teams younger, we made each team cheaper in terms of wage costs, but we increased the value of the squad. This is what we did at Red Bull, this is what I did in Arnhem with Broja and Lois Openda, who is now in Leipzig. This is what I do everywhere.
“If you see the players we signed for Genoa – we have Albert Gudmundsson, he was a very cheap player and he is now the sensation of Serie A. Morten Frendrup [who has been linked with Liverpool] was a very low signing from Denmark, who now have the best statistics in many aspects in the entire Serie A. We have many examples of young players who are developing to become much better and more valuable.
“We want to identify the players early and take advantage of the development, because honestly I also think that is so important for the success of a team, that you have a group that wants to develop and fight to get better – like the young players. Players at Everton are also on the same page.”
Spors has experience of working at clubs where there was early skepticism about new ownership models and said: “When I was at Hoffenheim we had a lot of attacks because it was the first time in Germany that an owner invested in a club. which was truly unique for a German club. Then Red Bull was the second version of that.
“Of course I am now at 777 and I see new clubs in the group and sometimes supporters are not happy with that at the very beginning. But we see that the reaction is very fast and very positive in all the countries where we are, because we really respect the history and tradition of each club. We’re not changing brands or anything and the expertise is very visible because we’ve turned these clubs around very quickly and made them a much more successful version of themselves.”
‘Everton will be the missing link’
It appears that Everton will move to the front of the queue if a player at any of the other 777 clubs shows that he is ready to play in the Premier League or at a higher level.
“Everton will be the missing link in the group and can be the club that gets the players if, for example, Liège or Berlin prepares them,” said Spors. “This is something they can really participate in.
“We wouldn’t say to Liège or Berlin: you are feeding Everton now. Absolutely not, that wouldn’t be right. But if there is a logical step and someone is really good in Belgium and there are clubs of Everton’s size interested, then we would obviously do everything we can to have this player make an internal group transfer, rather than an external transfer.”
Everton’s impressive young centre-back Branthwaite, who has spent time on loan at Blackburn Rovers and PSV Eindhoven, is another example of how the club could use the group to send their young players out to gain experience.
“They get first-hand insight into what is happening at all our clubs, where our talent in particular develops,” said Spors. “We not only connect the sporting directors, we connect the youth academies, we connect scouting, we connect women’s football. So there are other parts where they can gain exclusive knowledge.
“If we develop players, we can offer every level of football. Playing in the Premier League is difficult as a young player. So in the future we can help them give playing time to young players. At the age of 17-18 you just have to play, you have to make minutes. That’s honestly a secret behind Red Bull. They let them play very young in the first team and if players need playing time at a lower level there is FC Liefering, the second team of Red Bull Salzburg. Many of the players who have had great development like this [Dayot] Upamecano, Dominik Szoboszlai or Patson Daka, they started in that environment in the beginning and this is something we can also offer.
“Everton already sees the benefit of this with Branthwaite. He’s a fantastic player. It’s the combination of his technique, his speed and the way he uses his body, combined with the mentality and combined with experience at that age, that he got from loaning. These are the pillars that are decisive for a great career and he brings everything. He keeps pushing, but where he is now in his career he is really excellent.”
Spors has already approached Everton hands-on. He was at the wins over Bournemouth, Newcastle and Chelsea and has spoken regularly to Thelwell, who will report back to him if and when the 777 takeover is confirmed.
“I have been to Everton very often in recent months and I love the stadium and the supporters, and the surroundings,” said Spors. “I really like what Kevin Thelwell does, the way he has structured the football organization. I think the way he has worked with the team has been excellent, together with the decision on Sean Dyche.
When asked if he has already met Dyche, Spors replied: “Yes, I have. He’s brilliant. The whole training ground at Finch Farm is great, the people I’ve met are great and it was good to meet Sean Dyche. I met him some time ago at a longer meeting and around the games. It’s not just me, but also Mladen [Sormaz] and a few more guys. Sean is doing really well, it’s fantastic.
“He said after the game against Chelsea: ‘This is why I do this job: to help players and see players develop.’ Even a few weeks ago, when he explained what he sees in the players and what he thinks is possible, this is so visible on the pitch. This is what you want. You want the club to go above and beyond in matches and maximize the result out of the options you have, and this is what you currently have.”