Cast your minds back to 23rd January 2023 – 1 year, 7 months, and 28 days ago.
Everton sacked manager Frank Lampard following a 2-0 defeat to West Ham which left the club 19th in the table with just 15 points from 20 games – the fewest at that stage of any campaign in our history (accounting for three points per win).
We were on our arse.
We had been on our arse for a long time.
The table below ranks all Premier League and EFL teams, placing Everton 87th out of 92 teams for points per game during the 2022 calendar year. If you scroll long enough, and pinch/zoom/squint – you’ll see an average of just 0.92 points per game over the 2022 calendar year.
Enter Sean Dyche. Appointed on January 30th, just seven days after Frank Lampard’s sacking, but only after Marcelo Bielsa declined the daunting challenge of keeping this struggling Everton team in the Premier League. And who could blame him? Most had written Everton off by then…
The fixture list for the new manager was anything but forgiving. In his first five Premier League games, Sean Dyche faced league leaders Arsenal twice and a Merseyside derby at Anfield against Liverpool.
Still, Sean Dyche enjoyed a dream start as a much-improved Everton side stunned Premier League leaders Arsenal to pickup our first victory in 11 games.
Over his 18 league games, Sean Dyche’s Everton earned enough points to remain a Premier League team.
Now, in the wake of Doucoure’s stunning volley that secured Everton’s Premier League status, imagine posing a question to Everton fans.
Picture this: after back-to-back seasons where Everton needed dramatic final-day victories at home to stay in the Premier League, fans are asked whether the club would stave off relegation for a 3rd time in Sean Dyche’s first full season under these circumstances — facing a summer where the club sells more than it buys, and suffers a significant points deduction…
Even the most optimistic Evertonian would find it hard to believe. This is a team that’s been on the brink of going down for 2 seasons. To make another profit in the transfer window, and to pile on a points deduction wouldn’t bode well.
But stay up we did, earning 48 points on the pitch. Without the deduction, that’s 22 points from relegation.
It all meant in our annual end of season survey, Sean Dyche enjoyed a 95% approval rating from the 3,281 Evertonians who voted. Some pundits, and Evertonians were even disgruntled that all considered, Sean Dyche wasn’t included in the nominees for manager of the season…
Then come another summer. The third successive summer in which Everton didn’t invest. Everton, the only Premier League club to go through three consecutive summer transfer windows (2022, 2023, and 2024) and make a profit in each. A team that has been circling the relegation drain for years, again did not invest in it’s playing squad.
I dare say Dyche’s 95% approval rating after last season has all but gone now. In 4 Premier League games. Brighton (H), Tottenham Hotspur (A), Bournemouth (H), Aston Villa (A).
Harsh?
Perhaps. But that’s football. If he wins the next 4, the picture changes.
We’re all sick of the negative, ‘pragmatic’, percentage football. We’re all sick of “hard yards, “nuts and bolts”, “on the grass” and “control the controllables”. We’re all sick of the constant barrage of snippets like – ‘Everton have never won a game at Goodison Park under Sean Dyche when they’ve conceded a goal’. Yes, that’s true.
But, I figure Everton need their medicine right now and I’ll tolerate it. I’m sympathetic to the challenges Dyche has. I can tolerate the style of football if it gets a squad of relegation fodder over the line to Bramley Moore with sensible ownership a Premier League team.
But when you’re conceding 13 in 4, and pissing away a 2-0 win from 87 minutes… suddenly, you’re looking at Dyche thinking hang on, if you’re not making us hard to beat. What’s the point? If you’re openly telling us the players aren’t listening to your instruction. If you’re still rubbing your hand around your face complaining and talking about what was before you – then what is the point of you being here?
Evertonians are left questioning whether this cycle of relegation battles will ever truly end. The future feels uncertain, and patience is wearing thin. Fingers, inevitably get pointed at the manager. Perhaps often easy to forget, the symptom of Farhad Moshiri’s Everton, rather than the cause.
In my view, Everton’s problems run deeper than the manager. We’ve been in this mess long before Dyche. I fear we will be after him, too. The club needs leadership and ownership. The team needs investment. But first and foremost, we desperately need results—starting tomorrow against Leicester.