I am no different from the vast majority of football supporters when I make judgements on footballers and managers more on “gut feelings”, and what I think I know about their abilities, than on actual facts.

I realised this nearly 12 months ago when I did a little exercise on the comparable merits of two Premier League managers.

It was when Rafa Benitez had been sacked and Everton were looking for a new manager.  One of the names mentioned was a young(ish) up-and-coming and highly regarded manager in Graham Potter. 

 

He seemed to be looked on favourably by many of our fanbase, but with the generally held notion: Why would he even consider applying to become the manager of a dysfunctional club like Everton when currently managing a well-run club like Brighton?

 

So the perception of Potter was extremely favourable for many (including me) but, at the same time, the perception of a manager such as Sean Dyche was negative (a manager who regularly flirted with relegation at Burnley).  So I set about looking at their relative records.

 

Before comparing their relative performance metrics, you have to look at their respective clubs.  Although polar opposites, both clubs have clear and precise strategies. 

 

At Burnley, the strategy is to maintain Premier League status with the absolute minimum spending outlay possible. This would mean maximising the revenue that Premier League football brings but with the ever-present danger that relegation is always on the horizon.  This would be acceptable. 

 

In the event of relegation, the plan would be to regain Premier League status (with the help of the parachute payment) within one or two seasons. A dangerous but acceptable strategy for a club like Burnley.

 

The blueprint at Brighton is totally different from that of Burnley.  Their sights are set far higher and their approach is totally different. It is far more progressive and they have developed into an extremely well-run club, both on and off the pitch, whereby their net spend is relatively high but with the clear intention of initially becoming a consistent Top 8 club which will eventually become a contender to be a Champions League club.

 

So how did the two managers' records compare (considering the expectations of their respective clubs)?

 

Season 2018-19

Dyche 40 points; net spend €25M

Potter 36 points; net spend €73.5M

 

Season 2019-20

Dyche 54 points; net spend €10.3M

Potter 41 points; net spend €53.24M

 

Season 2020-21

Dyche 39 points; net spend €-1.2M

Potter 41 points; net spend €7.9M

 

So, over the three season, Dyche outperformed Potter (133 points compared to 118 points) with a net spend of a quarter of that of Potter.  Not what most of us would have expected…

 

Of course, not everything can be gauged on statistics. Dyche was sacked by Burnley in April 2022 (widely criticised by football pundits) when in the relegation zone (4 points behind Everton) and Burnley were eventually relegated on the final day of the season.  It should be remembered that this was following a negative net spend in the transfer market prior to the season start.

 

On the flip side, when Burnley spent some money (a very modest €25M) their season ended with European qualification.  A quite exceptional outcome.

 

Potter has gone on to manage Chelsea, a perennial Top 4 Premier League club.

 

Of course, this is all immaterial to us Evertonians as we do not have a managerial vacancy.  However, if we did, he may be unfashionable but I would have Dyche in a heartbeat.

 

This in no way absolves the Board for the long-term mismanagement of our beloved club who have to take overall responsibility for our current plight.

 

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Dennis Stevens
1 Posted 04/01/2023 at 18:38:00
So, it seems we'd be best off swerving Potter if he should apply for the job!
Joe McMahon
2 Posted 04/01/2023 at 18:42:59
But Brighton played attractive football and Burnley certainly didn't. Ask any Burnley fan if they would want Dyche back when Vincent has moved on.
Colin Glassar
3 Posted 04/01/2023 at 18:44:53
Harry Potter couldn't save us this time around. If it's Dyche I'll back him, like I backed all the other useless buggers before him. I hope it's not Dyche
Andy Crooks
4 Posted 04/01/2023 at 18:49:27
A really interesting and informative article, Bob. I guess if Frank is sacked, and I believe our board are too inert to sack him, we are really are just taking pot luck. Many, myself included thought that appointing Sam was a panic driven blight on our club.
However, I believe that had he not been sacked we would not be where we are now. I think we would be dull and safe with people like me demanding he be sacked. How good does dull and safe sound now?
Anyway, never go back, be it Roberto or Moyes or big Dunc. I had dismissed Dyche in a sort of snobby relegation tainted way. Your article has certainly made me think again.
We need a tough, focused battler, we need to get lucky and we need to start now. Frank looks shell shocked, battered, beaten, bewildered and needs to be led kindly away to punditry. Now.
Kieran Kinsella
5 Posted 04/01/2023 at 19:06:27
Bob

Those stats don't surprise me much as Hughton did well at Brighton but was hounded out for being “boring.”

The problem is that people don't like watching boring football. I think Sam would have done better than the Rafa/Frank combo last year but people were hounding him out because he was boring. The boring style managers Sam, Pulis, Kinnear, Dyche can get a team to produce solidly but they never seem to win an actual trophy. So for perpetuity the club exists at a glass ceiling based on it's size. The entertainers like RM and Howe are more unpredictable they entertain may win a trophy possibly once in a blue moon or get relegated. I don't see us being successful ever with the former type and don't know if I want to roll the dice on the roller coaster of the latter. Moyes was kind of a halfway house between the two but couldn't win because of his own ingrained inferiority complex. If we could find a Moyes with a hint of optimism in his soul we would be golden.

Barry Rathbone
6 Posted 04/01/2023 at 19:18:40
Personally I like Dyche he comes across as a man not engaged with sentimentality a trait that has suffocated this club for years BUT we had this with Allardyce and fans chased him despite relative success.

Perhaps now teetering on the edge of Walter Smith days the Dyche method might get a free pass as per Moyes but with such a schizo fanbase who knows?

Paul Tran
7 Posted 04/01/2023 at 19:24:23
Thank you for the stats, Bob. I've always felt Dyche an under-rated manager. Kept Burnley up, and one season in Europe, on a pittance. An absolute pittance. Good organiser. Bought 'rubbish' strikers who could compete in the scoring srakes with our more expensive purchases. Gets the best out of mediocre players, often selling the better ones at a decent profit. Has always merited a chance at a club with a bigger budget.

History tells you that an under-resourced team will eventually drop. Happened to Wigan, Norwich and eventually, Burnley. I understand relations between him and the leverage-buying owners was strained. And like these kind of owners always do, they got a 'big name' to replace him, after they went down.

His teams play awful football? What have we been watching the last few years?

He's been out of work for a year? Didn't do Howe any harm, did it?

This isn't a time for 'the future'. We need results, points desperately. We need to be feared. We need to make other teams feel uncomfortable.

I'd take Dyche in a heartbeat. Best chance of keeping us up. Best chance of bringing us back up, if the worst happens. And you know when the next owners come in, they'll probably bin him for a 'big name'...unless he does such a good Job that even thick new money would keep him.

Eddie Dunn
8 Posted 04/01/2023 at 19:25:58
After many false dawns with supposedly "progressive" managers failing miserably, Martinez, Silva, Koeman and now lampard.
I couldn't give a toss about how we get the ball from A to B just as long as it ends up in the net enough times for me to enjoys the moment of a goal being scored and a bif fat "W" on the board.
There is nothing wrong with power, pace, aggression and simplicity. At the recent World Cup some of the best goals were very simple, some route one.
If Old Dyche can get this lot up out of their composite confusion and give them some clear instruction, I will be happy and I think we would all be feeling better.
Frank and his massive crew of assistants have managed to cloud the minds of this group of lads. They seem to like him because he ain't there half the time. He is a nice guy, from a football dynasty, with celebrity friends and a TV wifey.
Our players probabaly love it.
In fact I know a few facts from a club employee regarding just how fucked-up some of our players are. It's no surprise to me to see the brittleness on the park.
Trouble is that the soft twats have relaxed into a torpor of xbox-induced lethargy.
How I would like to see big Sean squeaking commands at them.
They coud look a very different animal with the right preparation.
Get him in.
Martin Reppion
9 Posted 04/01/2023 at 19:36:14
Frankly, my dears, I don't give a damn about the style of football. I want a winning Everton team. Or at the very least a team that goes down fighting. Not one that capitulates like we did yesterday.
It is currently embarrassing to be a blue. It shouldn't be.
Mid table mediocrity? I'd snap your hand off for that.
We need a management that fires players up.
Gets them on the front foot so that the crowd can become excited enough to cheer them on.
If we gone down whimpering and being hopeless and clueless like yesterday it will be a disgrace. If we go down fighting there will at least be some hope of a return.
Under Dyche, Burnley lost games because their players weren't good enough. NOT because they just didn't try.
If Dyche is the man top put a rocket up their collective arses, then get him in. But for God's sake. Do it quickly.
Lee Courtliff
10 Posted 04/01/2023 at 19:46:19
Last weeks performance at City shows Frank can set a team up to play defensive, percentage football and get a result. And that's exactly what Dyche and his type would do. Every week.

Frank's failings have come when he's actually tried to turn us into a modern football team and we've not been good enough to do it. Last night was a crazy example of that, and it certainly hasn't been the norm.

If we button down with Frank and let him play the same kind of game we played at City last week then we'll get the exact same points return as if we appointed Dyche. Obviously, I don't know that for certain but I'm pretty confident.

Playing percentage football and grinding out results is pretty straightforward for a competent, Premier League level manager. And if Frank can do that away at City then he should be able to do it for the rest of the season and get us to safety.

We don't need Dyche.

Jerome Shields
11 Posted 04/01/2023 at 19:54:15
Vítor Pereira is starting to look attractive to me.Why not some madness, everything else has been tried.Someone that would grab someone by the throat.

Lee#10

Even that Everton set up like that needs players engaging and tracking back.In the play prior to Brighton scoring there was no evidence of that .The players looked a spent force after the City game.They need to be consistently putting the effort into the training ground to do that., which looks as if they are not , even with Frank's odd tactics and set up on the Brighton game.

Tony Abrahams
12 Posted 04/01/2023 at 20:22:32
I know Dyche, I actually used to live in the same house as him, and have been very impressed, with what he has achieved in football. I actually bumped into him last year, when having took my stepson, to play against Burnley during pre-season, I was told that nobody could go in and watch the game. I was fuming because I then had to drive him to Morecambe, after the game, so I said to the security guard, go and get me your manager.

He thought I was being a cheeky scouser, (it must have been my mannerisms!) and told me this was impossible. A member of staff was on the other side of the barrier, I shouted him over and he said their gaffer was busy, and that Stone & Woan where taking the two teams, so I said get me Stoney then!

The security guard was definitely thinking I was at it, especially because nothing happened for about 20 minutes, then this member of staff came back and said, they said you can come in if you pass a Covid test.

I was impressed with this because Dyche, who was overseeing the two games, came and had a good twenty minute chat, mostly going over old times, and then came back at the end, for another good laugh, something he didn't have to do.


Dyche, did a great job at Burnley, but constantly firefighting isn't a great job in the EPL, so it was no surprise he struggled last season with that squad.

Lampard has spent quite a lot of money, this season, but I was reading his net spend, is in the bottom four?

Dyche's teams play with aggression, Lampard says after every game that he's looking for more intensity.

Everton fans, love aggression, especially if their team can play on the front foot, so maybe Dyche, managing Everton isn't the silliest idea, especially in our current predicament.

Imagine getting the Everton job, and on arriving at finch farm, having me waiting to tell you all about the club. What have you done Dychie - this c**t Kenwright is gonna put you in an early grave, but if you play 4-4-2 and get plenty of crosses in, there's this fella on ToffeeWeb called Ian, and he will fuckn love you,

Tony Everan
13 Posted 04/01/2023 at 20:27:41
Thanks Bob for the article interesting looking at those comparisons. Dyche may be boring, but maybe at the moment the institution that is Everton Football Club needs boring *

* In the sense of setting a team up that is very hard to beat, organised, motivated and plays to its strengths in attack. In short trying to build a team with no weak links based on hard work. It could be the best route to get us to the BMD with Premier League status.

Maybe for a few years we have to stop reaching for the stars and settle for something more terrestrial. It goes against the DNA of an Evertonian but we need to learn to run again before we can fly.

You would hope that the club has done some contingency planning for this current situation. Especially considering the dramatic downturn in form prior to the World Cup.

Nick Page
14 Posted 04/01/2023 at 20:34:15
Brilliant that Tony. Fans are always too quick to judge, and then groupthink takes over and it becomes consensus. I have nothing against Dyche. I had nothing against Allardyce either - in fact, I was happy he came and I said to my old man (RIP) he'll give us some structure and aggression….cos he has a bit of nous. Now some want him back despite calling him for everything. Weird.
Brian Murray
15 Posted 04/01/2023 at 20:36:24
Whether it Dyche or not the question is can we give frank more time or is it just too risky. Think we should be looking seriously at kompany or the other frank at Brentford. Still all scatter gun obviously with the attempt to get Danny ings so no proper scouting these last six weeks. Amateur pathetic club do the right thing moshiri and sack the people you left in charge.
Danny Baily
16 Posted 04/01/2023 at 20:43:29
Brian 15, to answer your questions: no and yes. It's staggering to me that he's still in post.
Jim Burns
17 Posted 04/01/2023 at 20:46:00
Tony - Everton? Contingency ? planning?

The only evidence of that I've seen recently was Mr Kenwright heading for the exit last night - well before full time - and presumably to avoid any cool headed supporters who may have hung back at full time to offer him constructive observations in the interests of the Club they love - as much as he does.

David Cooper
18 Posted 04/01/2023 at 21:10:33
Even with Tarks and Coady being praised for bringing defensive ability to EFC we still lose games. If not for a once in a season hit from Demari we would be on an even worse run of defeats. Getting a draw at City was like winning the game so what is the oldest maxim in coaching? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Ok maybe Godfrey was not able to play, he still had Seamus or Mina available to stick with 3 at the back. I know he was stuck for a midfielder to replace Onana so it was toss up between Davies and Doucoure. But there was no need to change formation and every reason to stay tight against Brighton.

I think under Sean Dyche we would get a consistent approach and not change formations according to the opposition. We would have strong defensive set up and look to pinch a goal on the break. Isn't that what we do now but without the strong defensive base? Dyche would certainly not put up with the attitude of Gana who I thought showed that he didn't care at the end. I might be wrong about that.

So after another defeat on Friday with 2 hugely important games against Southampton and West Ham coming up who do you fancy to get us 4 points or even right now I would take 2 points.

Shane Corcoran
19 Posted 04/01/2023 at 21:30:47
What we'll do is wait until one of the other appoints him.

I can't believe how big a price Martinez is to get the job.

Ray Jacques
20 Posted 04/01/2023 at 21:33:01
Get Bielsa on a 6 month performance related deal. We may still go down but at least there would be some fight and spirit. We are currently sleepwalking to oblivion. Doesn't bore well that we have recently lost to three of the teams near the bottom with us, two of those at home.
Christy Ring
21 Posted 04/01/2023 at 21:34:52
Brilliant story Tony, all I can say about Dyche, he kept Burnley in the Premiership, way past there sell by date, with little resources. An honest bloke.
Tony Abrahams
22 Posted 04/01/2023 at 21:42:31
David@18, says something that I personally think is massively important when trying to build a football team.

Under Dyche, we would get a consistent approach and not change formations according to the opposition. Whoever gets the job, has got to identify our strengths and try and forge a team that is difficult to beat, whilst also having the ability to go and cause problems at the other end of the pitch.

If Lampard remains does anyone think he will try and do this?

Paul Kernot
23 Posted 04/01/2023 at 21:47:44
So we're back exactly where we were Xmas 2017. I came home from NZ to watch all 3 home games under Allardyce:
Beat bottom place Swansea.
Drew nil - nil with Chelsea.
Lost to United.
4 points out of nine from Sam's boring arse football. We need saving, pure & simple. Wolves & Forest are improving. If we carry on as we are, we're gone.
Robert Tressell
24 Posted 04/01/2023 at 21:59:38
Back when Silva was sacked, my comment was appoint Ancelotti if we're going to throw money at it, appoint Genesio of Lyon if we're going to develop players and appoint Dyche if the money has run out.

Dyche is far and away the best candidate for our present status as a cash strapped club. He got Burnley promoted and kept them up year on year with a side and budget that is mid Championship level.

He turned Keane, Trippier, Pope and Tarkowski into internationals.

He does not get a look in for bigger jobs because of the agricultural style of play but also, let's be very honest, because he has a silly voice and a ginger goatee.

I would take crap football for the rest of the season. Again, let's be very honest, we've been watching almost exclusively crap football for 30 years.

To organise, to motivate and to keep a club in the Premier League Dyche is an overwhelmingly better bet than Lampard.

As a manager, Lampard now has a consistent track record of underperforming the level of investment in the playing squad - at Derby, Chelsea and now Everton.

So if we aren't going to back him, sack him and give ourselves a chance.

Christopher Timmins
25 Posted 04/01/2023 at 22:06:34
Unfortunately if we don't change the manager we are likely to be relegated. The only calculation to be made is whether or not a new manager improves our prospects of staying up.
Jeff Armstrong
26 Posted 04/01/2023 at 22:16:08
Interesting Eddie #8, I've often thought that Lampard must get off back home as often as he can, leaves it all to his vast array of coaches as much as possible, turns up on the training videos and pressers a day or two before the game, hasn't a clue what's gone on half the week, picks the team based on all the info fed to him from his vast array of coaches and then looks a chump most game days, the selected players must love him, I'd like someone like Rondon to come out with a critique of the last 12 months, apparently he came to blows with D.Ferguson a while back, both now gone of course, but I'd love to know what really goes on at FF?.
Not much I'd say
Mal van Schaick
27 Posted 04/01/2023 at 22:28:27
Irrespective of the manager, what about the player's responsibility in our current bottom three plight.

The owner and the chairman should be laying down the law to the players after we all witnessed the debacle against Brighton.

Nick Page
28 Posted 04/01/2023 at 22:30:13
That Southampton manager hasn't picked up a point yet in the league. Who they playing next…..us, for the love of God.
Paul Hewitt
29 Posted 04/01/2023 at 22:37:14
I don't think the Southampton manager will last much longer. Terrible appointment.
Barry Robson
30 Posted 04/01/2023 at 22:37:18
Jeff 26. I know someone who works at FF. The information I got is that most days Lampard is there from 7 in the morning till 7 at night.
I'm not saying he's a good manager but from what I've been told he puts the hours in.
David Cooper
31 Posted 04/01/2023 at 22:42:34
Tony - I think if I were trying to get a tune out of our players I would pick my best XI based on ability, attitude, courage and fitness. I would find a way to get them all into the starting team.
Jeff Armstrong
32 Posted 04/01/2023 at 23:25:25
Barry# thats good to know, I'd love to be wrong about him and any factual information goes a long way towards my negative (baseless) thoughts about him.
James Stewart
33 Posted 04/01/2023 at 23:50:36
@20 I like your thinking. Would love Bielsa!
Jim Bennings
34 Posted 05/01/2023 at 08:05:36
It's not the time to appoint a Bielsa type character.

You may as well just reappoint Martinez.

Bielsa is great when he has energetic dynamic runners, imagine him working with our wasters that can't run, won't run?

Dyche had 11 workhorse players at Burnley, again he wouldn't have that at this club, none of our players consistently work hard enough, not to gain enough points in this league anyway.

Also you think the fans at this club now that are so impatient (understandably so) would tolerate more Sam Allardyce lite standard football?

I'm not against Dyche as a fella or Bielsa, I'm just realistic that it can't be managers that are the problem when so many have failed in the last six years.

The problem is the likes of Silva was never given the chance to turn around some poor form, I think to this day if we had backed Silva then he would have come good at this club as he's proving at Fulham now.

The lack of patience here now means no manager is ever going to be allowed a poor run of results, but the players that create them will continue getting wheeled out weekend after weekend.

Tony Abrahams
35 Posted 05/01/2023 at 08:24:36
I'm not advocating Dyche, but sometimes I think when a new manager goes into a football club, like Vincent Kompany, has done, and starts doing well almost immediately, then surely this has got to reflect on how the club, has been run for years?

Shearer and Ian Wright, were both talking about Everton's problems the other day, and whilst I've never been so impressed before with how Shearer spoke (he normally puts me to sleep) it was Ian Wright who said the thing that resonated the most.

Everton's foundations have been built on sand, and after reading the views on this thread, I would argue that Burnley under Dyche, made incredible strides, and have been built on proper foundations. (I remember first going to that training ground years ago, and the difference the last time I was there, was massive - it's been built over time)

This could be because Burnley have had a lot of stability, and stability only happens when you keep the same manager in charge for a few years, and you have also devised a plan, like Brighton look to have done.

If Everton's board would have listened to Ian Wright, they would have saved themselves a lot of time money and effort, on their strategic review, because the obvious answer is that our club has been built on quicksand for years.

Joe McMahon
36 Posted 05/01/2023 at 08:58:58
I see a Burnley a few times a season as my wife supports them. The Vincent Kompany team is on a different planet to the Dyche one. The only manager they had that tried playing football that wasn't hoof and run (in the years I've been seeing them) was Howe.

Vincent Kompany has a plan about how he wants his teams to play. If he had gone to Southampton at the beginning of the season the media would be waxing lyrical about them. Its unfair to say any foundations were left for Kompany, as what little was there has been ripped up and (rightly) binned.

Tony Abrahams
37 Posted 05/01/2023 at 09:12:35
It's not unfair imo Joe, and what I am saying, does not mean that I am trying to take away any of the credit that Kompany obviously deserves.

Do you think Kompany could have came into Everton this season, and found it easy? I don't, and this is what I'm trying to say.

Burnley have made giant strides as a football club, over the last ten years imo, and this is because they had a plan Imo, although you will obviously know more about this Joe, but I'm talking about the foundations, and the way they have built their club up?

They came up and down a couple of times, and never panicked or decided to go and just throw money at it, and although they went down again, maybe they are getting their reward with Kompany and the exciting brand of football they are playing, because they have had a plan and appear to have had a very professional outlook behind the scenes, although I don't know anything about these new owners.

Im aware the last owner made a fortune, which would normally back up what I'm trying to say, but so has William Kenwright, so that fucks up this argument right away!

Robert Tressell
38 Posted 05/01/2023 at 09:24:55
Joe # 36, Kompany is in a good position because Dyche gave them a legacy to build on. They had a low wage bill and no / modest spending debts so are able to reinvest the parachute payment and money from sales of Cornet, Pope, Collins and McNeil etc back into the playing squad.

To follow a trend, they have acquired a lot of low cost young (mostly) foreign talent + loans / frees / low cost acquisition from City and Chelsea reserves / academy which they are developing alongside the bulk of the settled, hard working Dyche side.

This is possible because of the stable spell in the Premier League that Dyche gave them against considerable odds.

Kompany has done really well - but this is not from a standing start.

Kevin Prytherch
39 Posted 05/01/2023 at 09:29:38
Tony, Robert - not too dissimilar to Martinez. Great first season, but built on the solid stable foundations of Moyes.
Joe McMahon
40 Posted 05/01/2023 at 09:32:35
Tony, you are correct as a club they have changed as football itself has and that has benefited the town. The new(ish) main stand (James Hargreaves) has also brought in extra income with matchday and non matchday hospitality.

To answer your question about Kompany doing well if he came to Everton, the answer would be only if he could have done what he's done at the Turf and bring in about 10 new players. The money they got from losing Pope, Cornet, Wood, and (ahem) McNeil has been wisely used. Tarks and Mee left on a free, but that was also addressed.

This is I feel it went wrong at Everton with Koeman, money was ridiculously wasted on players without a specific plan or vision. Our ownership is killing the club.

Robert @38 I do agree, Dyche keeping them in premier league for a few seasons helped enormously, its just there is a feel good factor I've never known there before.

Tony Abrahams
41 Posted 05/01/2023 at 09:50:44
Koeman didn't want to come to Everton, and was only persuaded by the money, imo, and this should have ruled him out right away.

Imagine acquiring a football club, and your first managerial appointment was someone who never really showed much appetite for the club?

I think we have just gone from bad to worse since that appointment (although I will always maintain that Marcel Brands, helped to destroy Marco Silva's appetite) and now we are probably keeping hold of our current manager (already to long) because we have sacked that many over the previous 8/9 years?

Danny O’Neill
42 Posted 05/01/2023 at 09:53:28
I think the point about foundations is the key. Working to a plan and supporting the manager to achieve it. Just about every manager coming into Everton is set up to fail. And no that doesn't exonerate managers from criticism for results and tactics.

On the Dyche - Kompany discussion, you can flip it to the other end of the spectrum.

I believe most managers of successful teams come in on the foundations built by those they succeeded. Guardiola at City, Mourinho at Chelsea. I could even suggest Klopp over there.

Mourinho on the back of Ranieri going close, who himself profited from the gradual progression Chelsea made in the 1990s. They've rivalled us for managerial changes since Mourinho MK1, but the foundations were in place for those who came and went and the expectation bar raised.

Pep succeeded title winners who had themselves profited from the foundations City gradually started to build during the 2000s. They have gradually upscaled in their quest for Champions League success. Their strategic plan.

I remember watching a documentary about City a while back and there was a boardroom meeting, where they went through their strategy, targets, objectives and players they needed. I don't think the manager was in the room.

Lord knows how the conversation went in our strategic review, but I'd liked to have been a fly on the wall.

But manager after manager was supported by those clubs who had a plan. I know some disagree and that it is all down to the manager, but for me, there are many moving parts and it starts at the top. Yes they have to improve on what they inherited and get results on the field, but they had the foundations, which extended way beyond the dugout.

Your quicksand reference gave me a worry Tony. As positive and optimistic as I am about Bramley Moore, it is, quite literally, built on sand!!

Christopher Timmins
43 Posted 05/01/2023 at 09:55:04

It's 3 from Leicester, Leeds, Forest, Bournemouth, West Ham, us, Wolves and Southampton for the drop. We have 15 points from 18 games, 1 more than we had after 7 games last season. We would get just over 30 points over a full season at this rate of point accumulation.

The run we are on is starting to look very similar to the one that we went on under Rafa and he was not able to arrest the situation.

I want Lampard to succeed, I want his team to go on a long unbeaten run and put any worries of relegation to bed sooner rather than later. I was in the stick camp a couple of weeks ago, the defeats on the south coast shock my confidence and manner of the capitulation on Tuesday night really scared me.

I don't want our club ever to fall through the trap door not even if it resulted in the ousting of the current owner and chairman. Nottingham Forest took over 20 years to make it back to the top flight so there is no guarantee that we would make an immediate return.

My only calculation at this stage is short term in nature, will a change of manager gives us a better chance of staying up.

So given a straight choice between Lampard and Dyche, I would have to pick Dyche at this stage.

Tony Abrahams
44 Posted 05/01/2023 at 09:58:52
I was waiting for someone to say this Danny, but the whole stadium has been piled, and the sand has been dredged from the river Mersey. Whoever came up with the phrase about selling sand to the Arabs, might not have been as clever as we think!
Dale Rose
45 Posted 05/01/2023 at 10:06:11
Not the correct thread for this comment, but the BBC News have been ripping into the club this morning over "Abhorrent Chants" in relation to Hillsborough. There was also a minor mention about Munich, no doubt the club are being singled out here.
Raymond Fox
46 Posted 05/01/2023 at 10:26:56
If I was in charge of this club I would get Dyche in a flash.

He's always impressed me as a no nonsense upbeat manager, forget how his team played when at Burnley. It was a case of needs must, play to your strengths.
In any case he could no doubt play attractive football given better quality players, its not rocket science!

We desperately need points, I don't give a dam how we get them.
City et al can play pretty football because they have the class of players to do it, we don't.

Supporters need to stop living in the past, the Prem. is far more competitive from top to bottom now than it ever was.

Its more important to win than look pretty, who cares if we play well and lose.
I like Frank but as it is its not working is it.

Charles Brewer
47 Posted 05/01/2023 at 10:32:29
Dale, what's the reference? Not that I would regard anything from the diseased propaganda organ that is the BBC as worth listening to. Have they still got that low IQ junk food salesman we had on our books for our least successful mid- late 80s season?
Paul Tran
48 Posted 05/01/2023 at 10:37:40
Perception can be a peculiar thing.

Last year I listened to an episode of The High Performance Podcast (worth a regular listen, by the way), which featured Sean Dyche.

Speaking with friends around the UK who support other teams, I was clearly one of many who were impressed with how he came across. His views on tactics, transfers and man-management were clear, coherent and made perfect sense.

I couldn't help thinking that if, say, Joao Goodnumbers from Poirtugal spoke like that, with a different face and accent, people would be crawling over each other to appoint him.

Dale Rose
49 Posted 05/01/2023 at 10:49:32
It was on their breakfast programme this morning. I was quite surprised, it they got stuck into us, admittedly they had a video of people shouting to Liverpool fans, that they were all victims. It then moved to Man Utd, and shouts about Munich. They did cover some other bits and pieces, not as prominently as Everton though.
Paul Tran
50 Posted 05/01/2023 at 11:00:12
Tony #41, you're dead right about Koeman. The Dutch press, which I read regularly, mentioned that Koeman was happy at Southampton and was 'persuaded' by an increasing offer he couldn't refuse.

Moshiri wanted a 'big name' manager that he had heard of, so got it into his head that Koeman was the one. What I'll never understand is, if Moshiri thought Koeman was such a good manager, why did he allow a situation where Koeman, Walsh, Kenwright, Moshiri (and Kia?) were all running around buying players without seemingly talking to each other?

And this is after he sat on his hands for a year, allowing Lukaku and Stones to slip away.

'Successful businessman', or oligarch's mate? Discuss.

Lynn Maher
51 Posted 05/01/2023 at 11:04:50
If you go on BBC red button now, under Wednesday's premier league reports it has Crystal Palace 4-0 Tottenham!
Then still on red button, when you go to yesterday's results it has Crystal Palace 0-4 Tottenham
Another organisation run by idiots.
Danny O’Neill
52 Posted 05/01/2023 at 11:13:17
I watched that this morning Dale.

Yes, they called out fans from several clubs including Everton, Liverpool and United for chants.

I was irked about the Everton one. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but the victim chant has been around before the tragedy of Hillsborough and related to Heysels when that club came out and tried to claim it wasn't Liverpool supporters and that the NF Chelsea fans were present and to blame. I was young, so I'm going off memory.

I hate how that club airbrushes that from its history and saw how the Juventus supporters in the Anfield Road snubbed their gesture by turning their backs a few years ago.

The Liverpool Munich chants and the United fans' reference to the Sun being right are out of order.

Bizarrely, I found myself agreeing with Klopp on his interview Dale; ignore it. You're more likely to stoke the flames if you poke the fire.

Calling for points deductions? A bit extreme in my opinion. Football has come a long way since the 70s and 80s when racism, violence and what we now call vile chants were much worse. Can it improve? Of course, but let's not go over the top because of a minority.

Dale Rose
53 Posted 05/01/2023 at 11:19:59
Thanks for that Danny. I can't find any trace of it on the BBC now. I was starting to doubt myself.
Tony Abrahams
54 Posted 05/01/2023 at 11:43:01
I was always thought that sticks and stones would break my bones, and think anyone singing songs about any disasters, are just making an absolute show of themselves.

A points deduction, for supporters shouting obscenities or a points deduction for your players backing someone who had made racist remarks?

It's Liverpool fans who have twinned the victim shouts with Hillsborough, because whilst they have short memories and an agenda, some of us have memories like elephants, and can remember how much Everton Football Club and our supporters, helped our neighbours, in one of their darkest hours

Brian Williams
55 Posted 05/01/2023 at 12:03:02
Well said, Tony, and 100% spot on.
Darren Hind
56 Posted 05/01/2023 at 12:21:06
"Successful businessman or Oligarch's mate?"

I think there is a little of both in there somewhere. He certainly isn't a football man but I simply don't get the hammering he gets on here.

Moshiri has made a couple of howlers. The first: being duped by Uncle Bill. The second: appointing Benitez, but he has tried everything to get this club moving. By my reckoning, he has had about a dozen directors, half a dozen managers, three DoFs, and multiple coaches.

He as paid them all handsomely to run the club, recruit and develop players and manage match days. They've all failed, but some are giving Moshiri the flack?

I don't get why a guy who is taking us to a shinny new Everton Stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock after stumping hundreds of millions of his own money gets hammered while so many others walk free?

Roberto Martinez left this club with bubbles coming out of his mouth. Yet this week we see a spate of posts calling for his return.

Carlo Ancelotti cost this club around 㿞M in wages, signings and staff. He left us in a free fall we still haven't recovered from, yet barely a day goes by without somebody lamenting his departure.

There are directors who get away with murder. Grant Ingles barely gets a mention... Marcel Brands was apparently hard done by.

Kenwright deserves what he gets... but Moshiri? Are we not throwing bricks at the fire brigade as the arsonists slip away into the night?

Len Hawkins
57 Posted 05/01/2023 at 13:18:07
I was quite happy when we got Silva in but right from the off he was battered on here. 18 months to turn a few tons of pigs ears into silky footballers.

Alex Ferguson was on the verge of the sack before he went on a massively successful run winning everything in sight. Kendall the same except his dynasty was cut short by Liverpool and European ban they won for us.

I watched Silva's Fulham on TV and they are playing a type of football Everton used to be famous for; they are just outside the top 4 and I bet a ٟ to a pinch of shit Fulham supporters would be outraged if Silva went.

Perhaps we should realise, no matter who comes in, they are on a hiding to nothing (1) from the players and contracts inherited, and (2) the supporters who demand success from Day 1.

The clueless board and the supporters demanding immediate success are driving the club down. No industry on Earth can succeed swapping the leader every few months.

As worried as I am about relegation watching Everton, it is obvious to anyone that a reset of the club has to happen from the top down.

We have no divine right to reach the heights of Fulham, Brentford, Brighton, and anyone else who show us up for what we are — a bloody shambles.

Jim Wilson
58 Posted 05/01/2023 at 13:40:02
Good article, Bob.

Dyche gets my vote for one simple reason: he plays 4-4-2 and that is what we need right now to stay up.

We are too open with the 4-3-3 system and the 3-5-2 system has never ever worked for us over a period of time. Sure, we can get a one-off draw against Man City or Chelsea, if we get a bit of luck, but we will soon hit a brick wall with it.

But the 4-4-2 formation has a second-to-none track record.

Moyes got us to 4th with the 4-4-2 system (using Cahill to make it 4-5-1 a lot of the time) and Martinez had us unbeaten for half a season using 4-4-2 (only when he started his squad rotation did we stall).

Liverpool's most successful period was when they used the 4-4-2 system in the '70s and '80s. Same with Alex Ferguson's Man Utd.

And Everton's great team of the mid-'80s was never anything but 4-4-2. Kendall changing the system to a back 3 or 5 was unthinkable.

No team should need 3 central defenders. If your team is struggling in a game an extra midfielder is the solution – not another central defender.

So Dyche gets my vote but I would have a clause in his contract that he must play the 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 system!

John Hall
59 Posted 05/01/2023 at 14:24:52
Who can keep us up? Frank and his idea that nice free-flowing football is what we want to see.

Bollocks to that notion based on who we have and who he has bought. Transfer window impending with no sign of anyone coming in. Who would want to come in to this shit show and be part of a relegation battle which we are surely in?

Dyche might seem a managerial dinosaur but kept little old Burnley in the top flight for a number of years with basically no cash. Takes no shit and insists on battling for points as a minimum commitment from average players.

Some of the tossers we have masquerading as top-flight footballers, earning fortunes for doing naff all other than turn up, I'm sure would get the shock of their lives under him.

He stands for nothing but commitment and effort which may not be good to watch but it mainly keeps his charges in the Premier League. Five at the back until the end of the season is a must as we have no alternative other than to pick up draws or sneaky wins. Carlo did it while nobody complained and he was a Hollywood draw.

Rooney, Martinez, Moyes, Silva back would be yet another sign of boardroom lunacy – as if we haven't had enough. The lunatics running the asylum has gone on long enough so let them stand back and give an autocrat the room to assemble some order in the place. To stay up is an absolute necessity with the new ground under construction.

New ground or not, who would buy a dysfunctional under-achiever mired in so much debt that they couldn't afford to finish the ground anyway? We could end up like Everton Ladies – playing on Walton Hall Park.

Get shut of Frank now and get a hard-nosed, hard-arsed, no-nonsense, straight-talking realist in to try and save us. Smooth-talking, soft-centered, quiet-man Frank is not the answer. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Tony Abrahams
60 Posted 05/01/2023 at 14:55:14
He his a good talker, John, because he mostly says the right words but, without that added pragmatism that is definitely required right now, then he will be talking us all the way to the Championship.

I know if I was an Everton player now, I'd be telling the manager to sit down and watch both the City and the Brighton games again.

With 4-3-3, the team that are 8th were constantly cutting through us like a knife going through butter. But 5-4-1 and the manager of the best team in the country was heard to say "I'm not moaning, but Everton's system made it really difficult for us to create chances today."

John Gall
61 Posted 05/01/2023 at 15:51:02
There is such a thing in football culture as 'soft power' – the appeal of a club beyond the hardcore fans – how it is perceived, talked about, remembered. Take Chelsea: the ultimate nouveau riche club with a truck-load of trophies, but nobody loves them, the mere mention of their name attracts derision.

And soft power means something – it gives you a chance of getting the occasional manager of quality - an Ancelotti, or, back in the day when Everton meant something - we could have had Clough or Robson (though poor decision in the boardroom by the blessed Moores and Co blew it).

More than our recent flirtations with relegation, I'd say it was the Dogs of War stuff, The People's Club, and the appointment of Allardyce that had eroded much of what made Everton Football Club what it once was. It wasn't a club of snide and aggression; it was associated with style and glamour.

Appoint Dyche and you have another Allardyce, an anti-football, "results are all that matter" bloke whose teams have no swagger, nothing to fall in love with.

Call me a romantic fool, but I'd sooner Everton were beautiful losers than ugly winners.

Tony Abrahams
62 Posted 05/01/2023 at 16:02:20
Although I really enjoyed Roberto Martinez's first season, I ended up enjoying Joe Royle's Dogs of War season a lot more, and the season Moyes got us to his only ever cup final wasn't bad either.

I enjoyed the season we lost to Fiorentina and think we might have gone further if we would have had a more savvy manager who trusted his team that little bit more. But mostly we have just been very ugly losers and we haven't even had any beautiful football to keep us entertained.

Andrew Ellams
63 Posted 05/01/2023 at 16:03:46
A lot of the good that Dyche did at Burnley was based on having two battering ram strikers.

There is nobody at our club that can kick lumps out of defenders like Ashley Barnes or Chris Wood.

Steve Brown
64 Posted 05/01/2023 at 16:19:06
Tony A, why do you think that Lampard switched from 4-5-1 after the City game?

I couldn't fathom why he thought he should match formations with a team who love the space to play. Lampard must know after one year that this group of players are not capable of controlling an open game.

He should revert back to 4-5-1 for the FA Cup tie, and stick with it for however many games he has in charge this season.

Paul Tran
65 Posted 05/01/2023 at 17:54:03
Darren, I'll praise Moshiri to the heavens for his financial commitment and his lasting legacy that will be BMD. I'll even praise him for his willingness to make us genuinely successful.

But repeated failings in recruitment and an unwillingness to make sure that the place is run professionally is in my view, negligent. It's his money, his club, he's free to do what he chooses with it. A well-run club/business wouldn't have the number of managers we've had, three directors of football and a relationship with an agent known for wasting clubs' money on poor players.

By all means we can blame the highly-paid non-achievers, but the real issue is the people repeatedly recruiting non-achievers and not removing the people/things that get in their way.

Tony Abrahams
66 Posted 05/01/2023 at 17:56:36
Only Lampard could answer that Steve. What might he say? Despite some appalling results I can see some progress in our formation? Even if it's very clear that this just isn't the case.

I said on this or another thread, that no matter what formation he uses, our centre forward, is generally isolated, and this is the bit that I couldn't understand. The formation (4-3-3) doesn't really make us anymore of an attacking threat, but it definitely weakens us defensively, whilst the way we played at City, definitely has some merit for this team, because I think it makes us a lot harder to score against?

The only thing that is definitely apparent, is that Everton are in real danger. If our squad was full of quality, I'd say we might be able to play ourselves out of danger, but because it isn't, I think the only way we are going to get ourselves out of trouble is by being horrible, and very hard to play against by constantly frustrating the opposition?

This might change if we gain some confidence, but confidence is very, very low right now, and I don't think it's going to get any better, by trying to go toe to toe, with teams who have got a lot more nouse, and appear to understand what they are trying to do, whilst we simply look bereft of ideas.

Tony Abrahams
67 Posted 05/01/2023 at 18:06:51
A man is in jail because someone who he thought he could trust, turns Turk on him. He can blame the snitch all he wants, but the snitch isn't going to do his jail for him, and as much as he can feel sorry for himself, or blame the dirty rat for snitching on him, it won't alter the fact that it's his own fault, because he should never trusted the fucker, in the first place!
David Cooper
68 Posted 05/01/2023 at 19:01:31
The only reason I can think of as to why Frank changed to 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 against Brighton are
1. Godfrey had not recovered enough to play in a 5 at the back despite the fact that Seamus or Mina could have played on the right side of the back 3.
2. Frank's philosophy of changing tactics/formations depending on his assessment of the opposition.
3. Frank was surprised to see that Di Zerbe was going to play an 18 year old alongside Trossard. His thinking was that 4 at the back could deal with Trossard and the threat from Brighton would come from their players running through our midfield and we would need 4 or 5 in midfield to deal with this. As it turned out we couldn't deal with them.

To be fair to Frank, he could not have foreseen us giving up 3 goals in 6 minutes 15 minutes into the 2nd half. Take away those individual mistakes, we are 0-1 down with the chance to get back into the game in the next 30 minutes.

Tony Abrahams
69 Posted 05/01/2023 at 19:11:12
But not only were we, one - nil down, we were not being aggressive enough, and nor were we playing with any real intensity. Add these two things, and we might just have a chance of surviving, otherwise I think the writing is already on the wall, with regards to relegation.

Everyone was happy after the Palace game, but the players got a lot of praise, especially for the ten pass move that led to a goal, and things just haven't been the same since then?

Brian Williams
70 Posted 05/01/2023 at 19:17:45
Tony the annoying and totally dumbfounding thing is how we can follow a game where we hold one of the the best teams in Europe at their own ground and follow it up with a total shit show of a performance. We just never know which Everton will turn up.
Baz Daly
71 Posted 05/01/2023 at 20:12:44
@68

David that was a clear 4-3-3 against Brighton the other night. Frank's fave and and easy 3 points for whoever we're playing.

De Zerbi is a modern manager with a clear idea of what he's doing.

All night long Brighton toyed with us, yes toyed with us. Short passing into seemingly tight spots to invite us to press, pulling us around the place and opening spaces. A couple of times they actually stopped moving waiting for the press, and that opens up options as we rush at them. Cat and mouse, except turning the press against itself, very smart. Watch that game again, that is the modern game. We need that kind of thinking.

Tony Abrahams
72 Posted 05/01/2023 at 21:22:44
I thought the Brighton number six, showed us how a defender should come forward with the ball at his feet, although I think our lack of desire, intensity or willingness to go and play on the front-foot, definitely helped the whole Brighton team, play a game that really suited them.

I'm convinced that the tactics didn't help Brian, but we never had any of the things I described above. This is highly embarrassing, and also very stupid, when you consider that as the home team, you will only really get a genuine home advantage by working hard, because this helps to really engage the crowd?

David Cooper
73 Posted 05/01/2023 at 21:34:14
Baz maybe 433 for the odd time we had possession and were moving forward but out of possession which were were for most of the meaningful game ie the first 60 minutes. But McNeil spent most of his time doing defensive duties (not very well) making 4 in midfield. Add to both DCL and Demari trying to defend from the front it could have been 460.
Maybe this was the first real time that Frank had a chance to play both McNeil and DCL from the start. Wasn't the reason we got McNeil was his ability to get the ball into the box for DCL?
Ernie Baywood
74 Posted 05/01/2023 at 21:43:35
Baz, yes that was their approach. But only because they were good enough to do it.

Could you imagine trying that with our full backs and midfield? We can't string three phases together, never mind doing it while inviting a press.

John Raftery
75 Posted 05/01/2023 at 23:34:19
An informative article. There is more support on here for Sean Dyche than I expected. That possibly reflects the desperate situation we now find ourselves. I still fear the fan base as a whole would react negatively to his appointment. As happened with Benitez and Allardyce it only takes a couple of defeats for the ‘out' banners, or worse, to be unfurled.

Had he been available Dyche would have been my choice twelve months ago. He knows the league and how to get the best out of a squad. Although the playing style would not be to the taste of many, any style which puts points on the board is preferable to the rubbish we have suffered over the last fifteen months.

I still hope Frank can bring himself to adopt a pragmatic formation and tactics in every game, as he did at Manchester City and some of the crucial matches towards the end of last season.

Paul Kossoff
76 Posted 05/01/2023 at 00:04:04
Latest odds for our next, keep your. mouth shut. don't rock the boat.

Wayne Rooney 11/8 Paddy Power

Sean Dyche 3/1 BetVictor

Roberto Martinez 8/1 BetVictor

Marcelo Bielsa 12/1 Paddy Power

Mauricio Pochettino 12/1 BetVictor

Duncan Ferguson 12/1 BetVictor

Ange Postecoglu 14/1 Paddy Power

Brendan Rodgers 16/1 BetVictor

John Terry 25/1 Paddy Power

*Odds correct as of January 04, 2023

Wayne's D C record.

12 July 2022 Present P14 W2 d3 L9

win /%14.3.

Dave Lynch
77 Posted 06/01/2023 at 00:30:11
So its between Rooney and Dyche then, as bookies get very little wrong.

Dyche I could just about stomach...Rooney and I'm truly finished with this shambles of a club.

I won't sleep now thinking of that.

Steve Shave
78 Posted 06/01/2023 at 09:26:00
What has Wayne done to merit getting this job ? Does anyone know how he's getting on in the States? As I stated on another thread, to go for Rooney would be to choose the romantic option without there being a romantic story behind. Very Everton that so we'll probably hire him.

I am not at all enamoured by the idea of us having Dyche though it's likely the safest option. If we do hire him then I hope its on a rolling contract (having learnt from the past, also a very un-Everton thing to do). I have stated previously a preference for Moyes but I am not totally averse to the brown shoed one returning, though right now that would present the biggest risk.

Tony Abrahams
79 Posted 06/01/2023 at 09:49:55
Ian Woan, who is from the Wirral, has always been Dyche's assistant manager. He signed for Forest from Runcorn, had loads of quality, and was a real technical footballer.

I have only really met him once. I had already left Forest, but was in Nottingham for some reason, and he gave me a lift back home to Liverpool. I'm not doing this to name drop, but to sing his praises as a very decent lad. His parents lived on the Wirral, but he drove me right to my mothers house in Norris Green, and was dead genuine, considering he had never even met me before.

He told me he was going to sign for Harry Rednapp at Bournemouth, but then Forest came in for him, but his biggest disappointment was when the Everton manager, Colin Harvey went to watch him playing for Runcorn, because he had a stinker, and he would have loved to have signed for the blues. I don't know if Woan, was a boyhood Evertonian though.

Chris Leyland
80 Posted 06/01/2023 at 10:01:38
Rooney? Why the hell would anyone appoint him as manager? Is the thought process: we've got an inexperienced manager who was a top player and mformer England international with a bit of management experience before taking over at Everton. It's not working out so what we need is someone who was a top player and England international with a bit of management experience to replace him.

We need a solid, pragmatic, experienced manager who knows how to organise the basics and who will solidify us and make us difficult to beat to help ensure our safety. Rooney, much like Lampard, isnot any of these things.

Robert Tressell
81 Posted 06/01/2023 at 10:18:34
This isn't a routine fire and hire.

The last two failed appointments have been made in distressed circumstances (Benitez and serious financial issues; Lampard and looming relegation).

This time it is an even more distressed situation. Financial issues and looming relegation.

That is why Rooney might be in the running - because the club is readying the fans for relegation, rather than seriously making a fist of survival.

Rooney then performs much the same role as he did at Derby, taking the club down but in circumstances which leave his reputation relatively unscathed.

If he shows promise then he gets the chance to take us back up. If not, he leaves.

There is even a chance he gives us enough of a bounce to keep us up, who knows.

The more logical choice is Dyche in my view - but this would be the rationale for Rooney.

John Raftery
82 Posted 06/01/2023 at 10:19:51
Chris (80) Well said.
Trevor Peers
83 Posted 06/01/2023 at 10:23:25
Rooney would be an abomination, I don't think he's even as good as the awful Lampard. Don't even mention Martinez or Moyes both would also be a disaster.

Dyche is the only option at this stage to give us any hope of survival, unless Pochettino or Tuchel can be persuaded to take the poison chalice which is extremely unlikely. Just watch Moshiri and Kenwright fuck this right up and land us in the championship!

Jim Wilson
84 Posted 06/01/2023 at 10:23:49
I would go for Dyche

But what you can see happening is Southampton will appoint him next week they will then beat us next week and we will then be bottom and floundering around for a new manager

WE SHOULD APPOINT DYCHE NOW

Danny O’Neill
85 Posted 06/01/2023 at 10:54:37
Steve, I would imagine for some, it's because he's an Evertonian and Scouser.

He actually spoke really well in his recent interview, but I don't think he's a gamble we can take.

He would be another Lampard for different reasons. Gets the club, managed Derby but hasn't met the standard.

It's interesting when you look at the current young crop of British coaches. Just as those who went before them, they are not setting the world alight and are in danger become the Dyche's, Moyes and Pardew's of their generation.

Potter could become a Moyes if we use the Everton to United "what could he do at a big club" theme.

It pains me to say it, but years of neglect at grass roots has led to decent players but the successful teams are full of foreigners and led by foreign managers and foreign owners.

No surprise to me that England's one and only World Cup success was 66 bordering on 67 years ago.

Anthony Murphy
86 Posted 06/01/2023 at 11:24:42
I think we need to be sensible and prepare for life in the Championship - hard to admit, but that's where we are heading and not a chance those likely to be appointed will keep us up, With this in mind, I'd skip the fire fighters or old faces with links to a previous (failed) regime at the club. I'd much rather we focus on change at the top and let Thelwell bring in the very best young, progressive coach we can get who can rebuild the team and bring us back up. Those managers exist - Poch was one as was Potter. Let's start again with a young, hungry manager and team. The real concern is that yet again we are reactive rather than proactive.
Roger Helm
87 Posted 06/01/2023 at 13:28:20
I am probably a philistine but I would rather watch us play route one/KITANO under Dyche and win 1-0 than lose 2-3 playing beautiful tikka-takka possession football.
Jim Wilson
88 Posted 06/01/2023 at 13:31:17
I agree Roger
No hesitation get Dyche in this weekend
Bob Carlton
89 Posted 06/01/2023 at 14:12:48
Thanks to all TWebbers for responding to my article which was penned before the Brighton game.
I had thought that any managerial changes (if any) would be made after the West Ham game, giving Frank the optimum chance to redeem his reputation as being able to stave off relegation.
However, the nature of the debacle against Brighton has, in my opinion, made that timescale impossible.
More than the defeat, it was the response of the crowd and, more importantly, the response of the media, in condemning the Board more than the Manager that has made change necessary in an attempt to deflect criticism from themselves.
I think Frank's time is up and we start the "merry-go-round" again.
Michael Boardman
90 Posted 06/01/2023 at 14:43:51
Roger, we do neither under Fat Frank - plus we lose 1-4 rather than 2-3. Again I pose the question, Moyes, Martinez or Dyche? AND GIVE THEM SOME TIME (I know it's ironic given I'm advocating the end of Frank, but that was never going to work).
Tamhas Woods
91 Posted 06/01/2023 at 20:00:21
With each passing minute, Dyche becomes more appealing. I can't imagine anyone keeping Everton up, so the thought now has to be who can get them up at the first attempt with zero cash.

For that reason, I'm not against this.

Mark Murphy
92 Posted 07/01/2023 at 09:47:06
Not for a minute advocating the return of Allardyce but in the one job that he's held for a decent length of time his team, Bolton, played decent football. He's earned his negative image from constantly taking on relegation fodder. Too late now but ten years ago he may have been an option to follow Moyes. Maybe Dyche IS what we need but we need to decide fast. We either stick with Frank whatever happens or bring in a new guy and give him a five year contract for stability. We can't keep doing this.
Peter Neilson
93 Posted 07/01/2023 at 16:01:59
Some good news at last, Martinez taking the Portugal job.
Gerry Quinn
94 Posted 07/01/2023 at 16:03:00
From today's Echo
Former Everton manager Roberto Martinez has a 'verbal agreement' in place to become the next man in charge of the Portugal national side.

Martinez left his role as Belgium manager after they failed to make it out of the Group Stage of the World Cup, but he now looks set to take over another international role.

TFFT

Dave Abrahams
95 Posted 07/01/2023 at 16:09:57
Gerry (94) God help Portugal!!
Bill Fairfield
96 Posted 08/01/2023 at 11:12:44
Mike Bassett would be perfect fit for the club. He'd understand Moshiri,Kenwright and co.
Derek Taylor
97 Posted 08/01/2023 at 19:49:14
Asked to name half a dozen failed or failing managers and my grandson reeled off Martinez, Moyes, Jones, Potter, Rangnick and Hasenhuttle. 'Oh, he added,. and Lampard, of course !

What's the betting one of those six replaces Frank ? '

Dennis Stevens
98 Posted 08/01/2023 at 19:53:19
I still reckon Dyche would be a contender, Derek. However, I suspect the Club are desperate not to have to find the money to sack Lampard & co. Nonetheless, if they do make the decision to dispense with his services, I wonder if Carsley might be one they'd consider for the job - & would he want it?!
Derek Taylor
99 Posted 08/01/2023 at 20:07:25
Dennis @98,Dyche would be on my list of failures but not on my shortlist for Lampard's replacement. Horses for courses and Dyche would definitely be training at Cartmel !
Dennis Stevens
100 Posted 08/01/2023 at 20:12:02
Haha, well put Derek! I wouldn't suggest I know who the best replacement would be, should the situation arise, but I'll be keeping my fingers crossed they get it right. Although, it seems to me the appointment is something of a poisoned chalice for anybody brave or stupid enough to accept the offer.

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