The Everton Manager's Job Description

If it does not work out and things become desperate, then we would still have time to make whatever managerial change was necessary to do the bare minimum, which is to stay in the Premier League.

Moyes was the right choice at the right time - just 4 years too long. I never wanted Martinez and certainly not Koeman and my objections were at the time of the appointment so not in retrospect. So I can put my hand up and suggest who not to choose but I have no idea who should be chosen - no doubt plenty on TW will have their opinions and voice them with one poster dominating the thread and telling the manager what he should be doing.

It's difficult to imagine them not going for a high-profile manager, given that we've already hired and fired one, and given the salary likely to be offered (at least what Koeman was getting as one of the highest paid managers in the world). The salary alone could well attract potential targets.

As ever, we are waiting too long. We did so, very damagingly, before getting rid of our last two managers and we are doing the same now before appointing the new one. We will end up with an Unsworth compromise without giving him the tenure to have authority, or to allow for proper planning.

Not surprising when you have a Board constituted like ours.

Disaster Recovery Plan

We are competing in a league where 6 or 7 clubs now have billionaire owners and at least 4 of them have the ability to spend far beyond the means of the rest.
That means we have to think outside the box, not try and squeeze ourselves in one of the corners.

The answer for me is a long-term game-plan and a long-term appointment.
We need a coach who knows the type of football he wants to play and the type of footballers he wants to recruit.
If we change managers every 3 years, there are at least 12 months of squad re-shaping to take place before we can say we have that man's team out and THEN start to judge performances.

The Manager has to have a 6+ year plan to take the club forward.
If you think the man you appoint will have designs on Barcelona or Man United in 4 years if he does well, then don't appoint him.
If you think he is going to retire in 3, then don't appoint him.
If you think he is going to struggle to understand or cope with the demands of Evertonians, then don't appoint him.

So who does that leave us with?

Honestly - 3 names crop up for me: Mancini, Howe and Unsworth.
I can't see any of them leaving for a "bigger" job and I think they all have some understanding of the size and potential of the task ahead of them.

If it's thought that he's the only realistic option available, why is the position likely to be different in summer? I suppose it might be easier to get a Silva or Dyche then but they would surely come now if we went for them seriously.

If Unsworth is going to be appointed then the club should back its judgment and give him a proper contract.

The successful candidate should have demonstrated their unique plan to develope the squad and proffered playing style. Discussed a budget and framework to achieve the targets set and be ready to leave when/ if they fail.

Sadly football somehow doesn't work like that. The media seem to get to involved and the board are swayed by a gang of charlatans.

Sorry mate, I don't buy into the 'Martinez and Koeman' theory of being hounded out the club. Both of them were consistently dire in their own right. In the case of Martinez, I honestly thought he should have been 'sectioned' under the Mental Health Act at some stage.

He was totally delusioned with his inane comments after each game and the player's had sussed him out long before he got the sack. With Koeman, he was the total opposite with his largely pragmatic views but equally as stubborn as Martinez.

After being given ample opportunity by the Board of Directors to recognise what was going wrong, both refused to change the tactics/or lineups one iota.

At least they were both consistent in that respect. But I have to say in regard to your 'post', I saw absolutely NO evidence that either Koeman or Martinez were even near turning the mess around any time soon.

No, I didn't want Moyes anywhere near our club, but at least West Ham looked as though they had a plan. Everton have not been proactive, they are yet again being reactive.

I suspect they hoped that Unsworth would win a couple of early games and they could appoint him till the end of the season, thus saving money, and then review the situation. They may well still do this as they do not seem to have a plan or a person in mind.

Nobody knows how decisive the board are, how they base their decisions, whether we'll attract an elite manager, or who might have been interested in the job (particularly given that the previous incumbent was on £6M/year!).

All we can do is consider the range of options, and there's no reason to be pessimistic about how decisive the board are, given that they've sacked two managers in the last two years.

Do you like to play 4-4-2?
Do you like to keep a settled team?
Do you believe in playing players in their best positions?
Are you willing to use the players we already have and only sign a player for a position when really necessary?
Will you be willing to give the up-and-coming players a chance?
Will you give the team a good footballing mentality?

If any answers are no he doesn't get the job. Any pie-in-the sky promises like getting us in the Champions League in 3 years he doesn't get the job. Preferably Bill Kenwright goes on holiday during the interview process.

It shouldn't really need an in depth interview or a master presentation as most candidates work can be seen in evidence and it should be obvious who to go for:

Ambition = Tuchel, Ancelotti, Simeone, Conte (why not)

Acceptable = Dyche, Silva, Espirito Santo (just for the name), Wagner

Will do for now = Allardyce

Desperation = Unsy

If we, for arguments sake, take it that the "elite" managers in the Premier League are at Man City, Man Utd, Spurs, Arsenal and, hate to say it, the RS, even for £6m a year do you think any of them would come here??

Would the "elite" managers at the top clubs in Germany and Spain come here?We're already being laughed at throughout the country. Can you imagine us approaching these "elite" managers clubs and being told to piss off!

Jason at 14 reckons we should interview them, think about it and then give them a second interview. Somehow I can't see these guys going for that even if their Clubs give us permission. Can you imagine Mourinho, Pocchetino etc waiting for us to let them know if they've got the job or not?

Sorry guys, I just can't see it.

Let's get Zidane in from Madrid. He is about to be sacked for sure. If it's silly buggers time with the name-dropping then I'm dropping Zinadine Zidane.

Knows the Premier league, knows what it takes to win the league (and other trophies) and his teams generally play good attractive football.

It might take money to get him but we would see how ambitious Moshiri really is if he got him, as he would also need to splash the cash on big signings to take us to that fabled "next stage".

Brainwashed by Kenwright Mediocrity: Silva, Dyche

Desperation: Allardyce

Unknown: Unsy

Playing it safe, they call it!

If we end up with a Sean Dyche or similar I think it will tell us we don't have that kind of cash/ ambition. If we end up with Fat Sam then survival and mediocrity is all we can look forward to.

Never mind anything else – Koeman and Walsh are fully responsible for this mess. Unsy may not be the answer but he has had to deal with not only out-of-form players but attitude problems from, by all accounts, more than the two in the media.

Whoever comes in, things won't change overnight. His first games may well be on a par with Unsworth: P4 L3 W1. Then what?

Oh, I know – blame Kenwright!

That either comes out of your transfer or wage budget or you don't replace the manager and fund it with his lost wages while the caretaker continues to pick up his U23's cheque.

If you're safe then you can leave an Unsworth in charge until summer at the loss of whatever gains an incoming, experienced manager can get you in £2m/league placing, if any.

I don't think we have the nerve to risk doing nothing..

I don't think Allardyce is a dinosaur or a backward step but rather just an unfashionable choice to the casual observer (IE most fans). He's actually a pioneer of the technology and sports science practices adopted by all managers in the British game. I have reservations about his integrity and that is a big consideration when you are appointing a senior representative to an institution of world football, like Everton football club.

Guus Hiddink seems like the perfect fit to me - if he will come. Based on his track record he probably only wants a short term "project", he has ties in to our Russian (possibly) benefactors, he could attract top players, he has (successful) experience of the Premier League, he will move the club, and it's relatively inexperienced senior management team, on to a new level with his vast experience of elite level club management and, for what I know of him, he is a bonafide gentleman of the game (- unless you count tax evasion, which I do not at a personal level in fact I think we should all evade as much tax as possible while this government's spending it!!).

From his Wikipedia page:

"Hiddink only lost once during his tenure as Chelsea manager... The players, including Terry, Ballack and others, begged him to stay and bought him an engraved watch when he left"

- what did the players buy our last three managers when they left?

Break the bank to get Guus is my verdict.

We'll still go with Unsworth though, if we possibly can. For a bit.

I'll get me coat!

I think that is a very good point.

Ian – "You might as well have listed all the names and asked Lyndon to run a vote on TW for everybody's opinion."

My point really was that we (well, the board ultimately) have to work out whether this is a rebuilding job vs making the best of what we have; or a short-term firefighting appointment vs getting someone in for the long-term etc. Very different personalities fit those bills.

I think he is a figure that his respected in the game. He would be stabilising and the players would accept his leadership.

He would buy us valuable time to get the right man in long term at the seasons end. Simeone? Tuchel?

I think fans would see it as a sensible choice. David Unsworth would be happy to work with Hiddink I expect.

With our options limited at this stage of the season. I feel that this is could be, hopefully, a viable solution.

The club should make him an offer he can't refuse.

A Mancini, Ancelottie or even a Tuchel are not going to even bother turning up for the interview. Silva might pick up the phone but he is more likely to say no thanks than I'll think about it.

Everton is currently a squad of players who lack confidence, cohesion and dare I say it, spirit. They can turn on the pressure for 10-20 min per game but if the goal doesn't come they collapse in on themselves. Which is why we are only 2 points above the relegation zone and with games against pretty much the whole bottom half of the table between now and Christmas plus the RS our chances to start moving up without vastly improved performances is limited.

If the club and especially the board is sensible and realistic, they will go for a short term appointment and bring in manager who can provide the most important act of all, preventing relegation and getting us to mid table respectability. If they want to prove that they should get a longer stint in charge then once they achieve mid table safety the can start to show us how the will start us playing in a way that delivers results in a way that is consistent with the wishes of both board and fans. But only once we are safe.

Right now everyone has rejected the one man who has a reputation to deliver saftey. The board now needs to find an alternative to that and the answer is not Sean Dyche. I would suggest that they either look at a manager from the Championship or one from an overseas club that has shown the can grind out the 1-0s we will need between now and Christmas. In the meantime I would like Unsworth to go back out in to the harsh world of management and get some real management experience for 3 years and having shown us that he can delvier there, to come back and be our next great manager.

Unsworth and his team are currently left in limbo, and the players are just drifting from game to game not knowing what is going to happen so its no wonder there is a lack of commitment.

We were so lucky last Sunday in what was a game we could have ended up losing quite heavily due to some terrible defending.

I just have no faith in Kenwright or Moshiri, who appear to be a pair of dreamers and I really fear for the future of our club.

That's the equivalent of making the patient comfortable and giving him a cup of tea whilst he bleeds out.

We need to get to 20 points by then. If we don't then we could appoint who we like after Christmas (they wouldn't come by the way) and we will still go down.

We need a pragmatist who will make the best of what we have in making us hard to beat as a priority. We then need to build on that confidence and try and sneak four wins.

I thought the penny had dropped with Unsworth when he set us up initially against Lyon. The changes he made after the first goal showed that he was not serious about embedding a shape and a method. Sunday confirmed that, a game Watford lost rather than one we won.

Someone who knows the players, who has seen them play regularly and understands the teams we will face is essential. Allardyce or Dyche, preferably announced last week but tomorrow will do.

We are 3-4 decent seasons away and £500M of spending away from attracting the Simeone type managers. So let's just keep grounded and focused.

I genuinely do fear that, if Unsworth is appointed, then we will be relegated. I have seen nothing from his performances to suggest he is simply out of his depth and a run of bad results under him could genuinely spiral into disaster.

Get Sean Dyche in on a 3-year contract and let him rebuild the squad. Anyone who thinks managers attract players are talking out their backside – it's cold hard cash. Let's see what Dyche can do.

None of those things stop a high-profile manager taking the job, so long as the money is there, both for his high salary and to enable him to sign better players. We are no different.

The money is there (Moshiri has basically said so, when Koeman arrived). The big salary and commitment for better players is there. There is some learning from the first go at it, so the process of hiring and firing isn't a one-off to success. It goes in successive stages towards success.

The posts about not being able to secure a top manager are just the natural pessimism of supporters, especially given the perceived state of affairs at the club. The reality is (to paraphrase a line from a film), finance it, and they will come.

Must be prepared to work short hours
During transfer windows must book annual leave to play golf in Portugal
Must be prepared to travel extensively in the UK
For cup competitions must be prepared to travel for first round proper and possibly second round if unfortunate
European travel will not be necessary for at least the first five years
Must be prepared to say yes to whatever the chairman says or suggests
Must be prepared to work with certain sections of the team and squad completely missing
Must be able to deal with four suitable candidates vying for one position
Would be an advantage having worked with the elderly
Would be an advantage having worked with youth
Working with pace will not be required
Shooting practice sessions are also not necessary
Must be adept at coaching passing backwards and not using one pass when six or seven will suffice
Coaching sessions should concentrate on straight through the middle, wing areas not necessary

Applications should be submitted in extra large block capitals such that the elderly can easily understand it

Let's be realistic on whom is going to come as manager. No Champions League for at least three years (at least).

Other clubs are years ahead in finance and squad quality. I appreciate the owner aiming high but certain managers want to build on success – not hope for success.

Everton are not a basket case, but at this moment in time they need someone with the skills to turn around a team that is massively low on self confidence and are not working as a unit. I doubt that a top manager (i.e. one who gets teams in to the Champions League or wins La Liga) necessarily has those skills. The consequence means we need to look at managers who do, even if it is just for a short period of time.

For all his sins (of which he has many) Allardyce is one of those who can probably deliver safety this season. He is not the manager I would want but he does have the skills and records to deliver Everton to a middle of the table spot this season. There are a few other managers around who can fit that model but the reality is that they are few and far between.

The end.

What on earth is going on? Fuck all? Or some covert, shrewd, James Bond style secret negotiations that are about to bear fruit?

I was hoping for some stability and clarity before the Crystal Palace match. Further delaying an appointment will cost us vital points.

Business life, and that includes footy, has to embrace the creative, the inspirational as well as the structured and well-planned, side by side. Really understanding this is what comes with experience, (age?) as well as the right attitude of mind.

I hope the Board are still wrapped up in their due diligence and will make the right decision in a timely manner. I honestly don't know if the right time is a fast decision, which is already looking a bit late, or the right appointment – almost regardless of how long the 'right appointment' may take.

In any event, I don't see the role of Unsy as being undermined by the research and offers on the table for alternatives. He has had the inside track, he is still in the race and, whichever way it turns out, I am sure he will be amply rewarded and retained in a respectful position which he deserves.