The comment about the players struck me. Unsworth - who they know and like - couldn't get the Everton Dressing Room Anarcho-Syndicalist brigade to respect him and the job he had to do, so imagine what any outsider manager faces.
They've seen off Martinez, Koeman, Unsworth and probably Allardyce. The next one in is a lamb to the slaughter. That will only change by getting shut of the arl arses: Baines, Jagielka, Williams, Rooney, Schneiderlin. Just end their contracts or sell them.
The players certainly abandoned Martinez by the end, although the manager has to be as culpable as the playing staff in that regard. As much as the likes of Baines et al ultimately refused to buy into Martinez's methodology there's also a case against the manager's inability to get the team in line.
With Koeman I'm not so sure. His heart was never in it: too arrogant from that start and lacking the kind of commitment we required. The players wouldn't have helped the issue but he was a poor appointment.
The Unsworth tenure was particularly disappointing. Not all, granted, but a lot of Evertonians expected at the very least to see an upturn in commitment from the players, which didn't really happen. It's at this stage that things appear most concerning. I don't doubt something close to 'chaos' was the norm around Finch Farm at this time and the performances were woeful. Moshiri and the board are also to blame here, though, as it was one of the most desperate and pathetic periods of attempted recruitment we've ever seen. Which brings us on to Allardyce.
Allardyce isn't being shifted out by the players. It was clear to everyone, including him, that he wasn't wanted. Moshiri and the board didn't want him and neither did the fans, and the appointment was, to be extremely generous, a circumstantially pragmatic one in a moment of panic. I don't think the players have particularly failed him, either, as we've performed pretty much exactly as an Allardyce side should. The key instigator's you've signalled out, Baines and Jagielka, have returned to the first team and played relatively well (emphasis on
relatively) and there doesn't appear the kind of mutiny in the squad that was in the air around the Unsworth and late-Martinez periods. This was a big opportunity for Allardyce and he blew it by reverting to type. His narrative has attempted to sustain the myth he's been cultivating since he left Bolton but pretty much everyone sees through him now if they didn't before.
I'm all for a serious clear out this summer though. Certainly Williams and Schneiderlin should be shifted, while I don't think Rooney's own personal psychodrama over his deterioration needs to be played out at Everton any longer. I have no personal issue with Baines or Jagielka although one would imagine they will be phased out over the next 12 months if not sooner. There's easily another 5-6 names that could be added to the list.
Root and branch overhaul at board, coaching and playing level. That's the only option we have left and it's plain for anyone to see. If that fails to happen the blame sits squarely on Moshiri.
