Everton have announced several changes to how the club will be run under The Friedkin Group, with Angus Kinnear arriving as CEO from Leeds and Kevin Thelwell leaving as director of football when his contract expires this summer.
Everton’s new owners intend to end the director of football model and transition to a wider “sporting leadership team”. Thelwell has been director of football since 2022 and helped steer the club through a turbulent period under Farhad Moshiri, including two points deductions and serious financial constraints, but will leave at the end of the season.
“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,” Thelwell said.
Senior appointments to the new sporting leadership team will be announced in due course. Everton have been without a permanent chief executive since Denise Barrett-Baxendale departed amid fan protests in June 2023. Colin Chong has acted as interim CEO since then and is to remain with the club overseeing the new stadium at Bramley-Moore dock, the regeneration of its surrounding area and the future of Goodison Park.
TFG’s search for a new CEO has ended with the appointment of Kinnear, who has been in the role at Leeds since 2017. The 47-year-old, who has also worked for Arsenal and West Ham, will start work with Everton on 1 June. A club statement said: “Planning for the summer transfer window is already under way, led by the sporting department and David Moyes”.
Everton have also announced the departure of their long-serving chief commercial and communications officer, Richard Kenyon.
