What Angus Kinnear can and can't do with Leeds United information in new Everton role — YEP 15/5/25
By Joe Donnohue
Former Leeds United chief executive Angus Kinnear has
recently begun a new role as Everton CEO.
Kinnear's move is, in a way, Leeds' first transfer of the
summer, swapping Elland Road for the Toffees' new Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium
where he will undertake a similar function to the one he fulfilled at United
for almost eight years.
Leadership changes at Elland Road have seen 49ers strategy
lead Robbie Evans promoted to managing director and appointed to the board with
Leeds keen to ensure Kinnear's exit and the continued smooth-running of club
operations be a streamlined one.
Following Leeds' promotion and Championship title victory,
the club will once again be a direct rival of Everton's next season. With both
teams likely to battle it out in the bottom half of the 2025/26 Premier League
table, if recent seasons' form is anything to go by, Kinnear's move begs the
question: What will the ex-Leeds chief be able to share with his new club?
Supporters may hypothesise of Kinnear briefing the Toffees'
on Leeds' intended targets this summer, or trading secrets pertaining to club
strategy but in reality that is highly unlikely to be the case for several
reasons. Firstly, the two clubs are working with two different budgets and two
very different sets of needs. Needless to say, the new Everton chief is a
seasoned football executive with an acute understanding of what is off-limits
and a track record of abiding by a stringent code of professional ethics.
What Kinnear can share with his new colleagues is publicly
available information, industry contacts he has developed throughout his time
at Elland Road, as well as an understanding of industry regulations and
relevant experience of running a football club.
On the other hand, it is standard practice for the sharing
of confidential financial information, such as contracts and clauses signed
during his time at Leeds, as well as business and recruitment strategies to be
prohibited for the means of benefiting Everton.
A source with intimate knowledge of cross-club executive
moves admitted to the YEP that football is broadly a 'cottage industry', in
which those at the top tend to know 'everyone and everything anyway'.
In terms of explicit protections Leeds will benefit from, it
is common practice for clubs to insert clauses into executives' contracts, at
the time of initial signing, that prevent the sharing of privileged information
if they choose to leave the football club and join another in future.
As for non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), those tend to be
entered into when the parting of ways between a club and an individual tends to
be less amicable, which is not the case for Kinnear.
"At the time an initial contract is signed, clauses are
written in [to protect clubs]. It's done back to front," a source said,
whilst also acknowledging that it is 'difficult to police'.
"The way agents and club officials speak, they
[already] know what buttons to press," the source added, discussing the
potential poaching of transfer targets.
Leeds took the decision not to place Kinnear on gardening
leave once the club learned of his intention to join Everton, highlighting the
level of trust between remaining top Elland Road figures and the new Toffees
CEO.
Have there been similar instances in the past?
The present situation differs somewhat to former Brighton
and Hove Albion sporting director Dan Ashworth, who spent several months on
gardening leave at Newcastle United until the club agreed a financial
settlement with Manchester United, where he would subsequently only remain for
a short period of time.
When Chelsea signed several members of Brighton's
recruitment team after the appointment of Graham Potter, data and systems
unique to the Seagulls was not transferred between the clubs, even if certain
targets were. This is not expected to be the case between Everton and Leeds
with Kinnear playing less of a hands-on role in relation to player acquisition.
In summary, it is unlikely Everton will benefit tangibly at
Leeds' expense by hiring Kinnear. Whilst it is plausible some information may
be shared, directly and indirectly, it will not include the most important
details or anything that would breach the terms of Kinnear's exit agreement.
Discussions between the two clubs inevitable
The two clubs could yet have much to discuss this summer:
Jack Harrison's future, reported links to Beto and the Toffees' long-standing
admiration of Willy Gnonto. Therefore, it is in the former Leeds chief's best
interest to retain the strong relationships he has built at Elland Road over
the past eight seasons.