Its Silva.
Sam Allardyce has left Everton after meeting with major shareholder Farhad Moshiri in London this morning.
Everton will now step up their efforts to recruit Marco Silva as a replacement for the 63-year-old but first have to resolve the tapping-up row with Watford over their failed attempt to hire the Portuguese last year.
Allardyce met Moshiri at 8.30am and his departure comes six months after he was appointed, having steadied Everton’s fortunes by leading them from 13th position up to eighth in the Premier League table.
He is due a bonus of around £2 million for staving off the threat of relegation, while his severance package will include a portion of the £6 million he was due to earn over the final year of his contract.
New Everton CEO Denise Barrett-Baxendale thanked Allardyce for bringing “some stability” in a statement and said the process of appointing his successor would begin immediately.
“Sam was brought in at a challenging time last season to provide us with some stability and we are grateful to him for doing that,” she said.
“However, we have made the decision that, as part of our longer-term plan, we will be appointing a new manager this summer and will be commencing this process immediately.
“Again, we’d like to place on record our sincere thanks to Sam for his work with us over the last few months and wish him well for the future.”
Everton want to recruit Silva, who was their original target before AllardyceTIM IRELAND/PA
Everton want to recruit Silva, who was their original target before Allardyce following the sacking of Ronald Koeman last October, and were prepared to pay Watford more than £12 million to secure him.
However, the situation is complicated by his former club, Watford, having lodged an official complaint with the Premier League over the tapping up of the Portuguese.
The Premier League are urging mediation, but arbitration is a possibility with Watford are seeking at least £8 million in compensation from Everton. It is understood that Watford officials met their Everton counterparts last month when a compensation package was proposed by the Goodison Park club. That was rejected.
There is no contractual reason why Silva could not be appointed immediately as Allardyce’s successor, but Watford would see that as strengthening their grounds for complaint to the Premier League. It is therefore in Everton’s interests to reopen talks and reach agreement over compensation with their rivals rather than allow arbitration to follow. That would only lead to Watford’s position becoming further entrenched. Theoretically, the ultimate sanction could be the deduction of points, although that is unlikely as this is a contractual issue.
They sacked 40-year-old Silva two months after Everton’s approaches following a downturn in results that the club claim was due to the destabilising of Silva after an alleged illegal approach by Everton.
It is likely that assistants Sammy Lee and Craig Shakespeare, and goalkeeper coach Martyn Margetson, will leave along with Allardyce in what is shaping up to be a major overhaul of the club amid a summer of change.
Marcel Brands is leaving PSV Eindhoven to become the club’s director of football which has obvious repercussions for Steve Walsh, who currently occupies the role.
Barrett-Baxendale has succeeded Robert Elstone while director Keith Harris is replacing Jon Woods as deputy chairman and will take the lead in a number of projects from first team football to the new stadium project at Bramley-Moore Dock.
Alexander Ryazantsev is taking responsibility for the club’s financial and commercial performance.
In addition, Moshiri has a planned meeting with Wayne Rooney’s representatives today as the forward looks to resolve his future.
Officials from Everton hawked Rooney to DC United which has left the player understandably annoyed given the commitment he made in returning to his boyhood club last summer.
Everton have since backtracked, but Rooney will want to know what the club’s true plans are for him.