Everton were regarded as a model of stability during the 11-year reign of David Moyes from 2002-13.
However, Moshiri replaced this serenity with a rapid-fire revolving door approach during which he made seven full-time appointments, the first six lasting an average of only 309 days each between their first and final games before current incumbent Sean Dyche.
Moshiri made his intentions clear and set the tone for his tenure quickly after buying into Everton, his purchase funded by selling his 15% share in Arsenal to business associate Alisher Usmanov for £200m.
Roberto Martinez, the manager Moshiri inherited, was sacked 72 days after his arrival. Ronald Koeman was then lured from Southampton by a deal that was worth a reported £6m a year.
Koeman was joined by Steve Walsh, regarded as one of the driving forces behind Leicester City’s remarkable Premier League title triumph in 2016.
Walsh, Everton’s first director of football, was portrayed as the man behind signings such as Riyad Mahrez and N’Golo Kante when he was assistant manager with the Foxes.
It was Walsh’s first director of football role. It was Moshiri’s first mistake.
This arranged sporting marriage of convenience never seemed a comfortable fit. Despite a united front, there were whispers behind the scenes about “Koeman signings” and “Walsh signings”. Never a good sign.
Everton’s transfer strategy certainly hinted at confusion.
Koeman guided Everton to Europe in his first season. But for a club that successfully existed on limited finances under Moyes, the problems really started when Moshiri began throwing his financial weight around in the summer of 2017.
Jordan Pickford has been a wonderful success since signing for £30m from Sunderland that summer, but elsewhere a scattergun strategy was desperately flawed – the failure to adequately replace striker Romelu Lukaku following his £90m move to Manchester United a decisive error.
It was exposed by Everton signing three players for the number 10 role at the same time. Wayne Rooney returned from Manchester United, Ajax captain Davy Klaassen was out of his depth after his £23.6m arrival, while Moshiri ended a transfer impasse with Swansea by paying a club record £45m for Gylfi Sigurdsson.
Koeman was out in October with Everton 18th and after a run of poor results under caretaker David Unsworth, Moshiri turned to Sam Allardyce, an unpopular appointment that raised the first serious questions about the owner’s capabilities and judgement.
Allardyce guided Everton to eighth but was sacked at the end of the season after six months in a wholesale managerial revamp.
Moshiri next fulfilled a desire to appoint Marco Silva, who he had unsuccessfully targeted before Allardyce and had now been sacked by Watford with the club blaming Everton’s initial ham-fisted approach for his and their decline.
Also arriving at Goodison Park was PSV Eindhoven’s highly regarded director of football Marcel Brands to replace Walsh.
Brands created such a good early impression that Moshiri rewarded him with a place on Everton’s board and “a broader remit, responsible for the whole footballing strategy at the club, rather than just player recruitment”.
Once more, Moshiri’s plans never came to pass.
Brands ended up frustrated and marginalised, not helped by his own mixed record in the markets, with buys such as Moise Kean and Jean-Philippe Gbamin, who cost more than £50m combined, failing to bear fruit.
When it came to selecting managers, strategy was driven by the volatile whims of Moshiri, not Brands.
For a time, the new partnership worked as Silva’s Everton finished eighth in his only full season, playing attractive football along the way. It was another false dawn.
Silva was sacked in December 2019 after a 5-2 loss at Liverpool, the decision taken against the advice of Brands, who was an admirer and keen to give him more time.