Everton have had plenty of staff overhauls in recent years, with six different manager’s taking the helm permanently in the last five years.

Each departure often meant a brand-new set of backroom staff, and when Rafa Benitez was replaced with Frank Lampard, the same was true yet again.

However, under the Spaniard, the Toffees fell victim to plenty of injuries, with the most notorious one being Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s struggle.

In November of his short reign, Benitez conducted a complete overhaul of the medical staff. In that process, he sacked long-time director of medical services Danny Donachie, who admittedly had struggled to keep the England international fit and manage his return.

However, one man who surprisingly survived this review was the head of injury prevention at the club, Carl Howarth.

The man who joined under Roberto Martinez’s tenure in 2015, he has overseen some terrible injuries to many of his first-team stars.

At this current moment in time, the Toffees are sat with six players who would be in and around the starting team injured, with Abdoulaye Doucoure having just returned from injury too.

It begs the question as to what role he actually fulfils for the Toffees when all they seem to suffer is bad injuries.

Last season The Athletic reported that Everton saw 34 separate lay-offs and a combined total of 1,255 days missed by players.

As aforementioned, the most notable absentee is Calvert-Lewin due to his importance to the team. Since his 16-goal haul in the 2020/21 season, his fitness has prevented him from a valid chance at repeating it.

Although it seems harsh to pin down the failings of an entire medical staff on one member, his title does him no favours as to tying him to the crime of a lack of injury prevention.

On the flip side, Howarth has dealt with some freak injuries, such as breakages of the bone, but he has also overseen plenty of seemingly preventable muscle injuries too.

By the end of his time at Goodison Park, Martinez had become a “poor” manager - as described by BBC Sport's Phil McNulty - for a club he held so dearly.

This underpins yet another terrible decision made just before he was eventually sacked. This season alone stands to prove how much of a total disaster the appointment has been.