Season › 2021-22 › News The Rumour Mill Kovac surprised by Everton links Lyndon Lloyd | Sunday, 01 September 2024 7comments | Jump to last Niko Kovac says he was surprised to be so strongly linked with Everton last month, saying that he wasn't ever approached in regard to the manager's role. The former Bayern Munich and Monaco boss was reported in a number of places as being on the Blues' shortlist of candidates to replace Rafael Benitez and was said to have been contacted but he wasn't interviewed for the position. The Everton hierarchy eventually plumped for Frank Lampard and Kovac says he wasn't ever in the running because he was keen to take some time after leaving Monaco late last year. “I was very surprised that my name was reported everywhere,” Kovac told Sport Bild. “Nobody spoke to me. "I want to do something again from the summer and not replace someone in the middle. [Club football] is really very intense, especially when you play every three days, travel a lot and also have to watch other games. “So I said to myself that I needed some free time. I want to do everything that I couldn't do in the past.” Article continues below video content Reader Comments (7) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer Michael Kenrick 1 Posted 15/02/2022 at 18:14:12 Just proves (as if proof were needed) that so much of the shite which gets tagged for the NewsNow Everton feed is completely fabricated. But the perennial challenge is discerning fact from fiction. T'was ever thus. Lyndon Lloyd 2 Posted 15/02/2022 at 18:28:38 It was more than just NewsNow, though. There were reports in major newspapers linking him to the job. In most cases it's agents; sometimes, as seems to be the case here, it's journos either putting two and two together or just making stuff up because there's a high-ish profile manager out of work and a Premier League club looking for a manager. Dale Self 3 Posted 15/02/2022 at 18:28:42 Well, he is speaking in contingencies so I take it he would have been interested. Let's just score that as an imprint of a big club on a turnaround. I still would like to have seen Kovac or Garcia in the interview process. Andrew Brookfield 4 Posted 15/02/2022 at 20:59:52 I think the bigger question is why he wasnt approached, not the reliability of NewsNow. Why would you shortlist three unproven managers and not approach the likes of Kovac, Garcia etc. Jerome Shields 5 Posted 16/02/2022 at 09:37:23 The whole management selection process was a play between Kenwright & Co and Moshiri & Co. Moshiri was advised by Kia who was associated with the nutter Moshiri selected. Kenwright & Co wanted Martinez, but their attempts where a second play to what Moshiri wanted. Both side were only involved in the selection on a self-interest basis. The selection process was a debacle as a result.Lampard was not even considered at the start, becoming a late runner when Moshiri had made his decision, only to fall at the last jump.It was the fans that selected Lampard. Kenwright & Co jumped on the bandwagon to get back some control from Moshiri & Co. They think they can work Lampard. Moshiri panicked under fan pressure. The whole last London Interview was a Kenwright production, with Duncan having a walk-on part. Sharp nodded his head throughout.Other management candidates were put in the fray by their agents. None of them where considered as the football interests of Everton were secondary. That is why the fans had to intervene and may have got it right.The January transfer window is a mystery. Who and how did they get it so right? Joseph Walsh 6 Posted 23/02/2022 at 22:40:24 Lets be honest - the truth of it is Kenwright will have never heard of any of these foreign managers - his usual selection process doesnt extend outside of the M62 and the other fella relies on what he is being told by his agent mate Joorabchian. So no matter how many times we are linked with up and coming foreign coaches we can rest assured our next manager after Lampard with be Rooney, Mickey Mellon or Roly Howard Justin Doone 7 Posted 01/03/2022 at 09:26:54 I agreed he should have been on the shortlist and in the conversation before and after the Rafa incident.Incompetent board, incompetent owner who will now have the lack of funding to worry about. Could the whole Bramley-Moore Dock and Russia's power grab all be Kenwrights biggest play yet to ensure we don't get a new stadium. No, of course not, but I'm sure some will still blame Kenwright anyway. My question is, is Frank the best candidate to ensure our Premier League survival?or..Was he put in place to help us win promotion back from the Championship with very little budget, knowing what is likely to happen?Sorry, I've been watching too many conspiracy TV shows. Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. About these ads Find out how to browse ad-free and support ToffeeWeb © ToffeeWeb